Stephen’s message and martyred (Acts 7:1-60)
By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce
Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music
Scriptures reading (Acts 7:1-60)
1Then
the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” 2 To
this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of
glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in
Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God
said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ 4 “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in
Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are
now living. 5 He
gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on.
But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the
land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four
hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own,
and they will be enslaved and mistreated. 7 But
I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they
will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’ 8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of
circumcision. And Abraham became
the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later
Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the
twelve patriarchs.
9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him
as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He
gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of
Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.11 “Then
a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our
ancestors could not find food. 12 When
Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their
first visit. 13 On their
second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned
about Joseph’s family. 14 After
this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five
in all. 15 Then Jacob went
down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16 Their
bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had
bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money. 17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill
his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly
increased. 18 Then ‘a new
king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’ 19 He
dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them
to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three
months he was cared for by his family. 21 When
he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her
own son. 22 Moses was
educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and
action. 23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided
to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He
saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and
avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses
thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue
them, but they did not. 26 The
next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to
reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each
other?’ 27 “But the man who was mistreating the other
pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you
killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When
Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had
two sons. 30 “After forty years had passed, an angel
appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount
Sinai. 31 When he saw this,
he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the
Lord say: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses
trembled with fear and did not dare to look. 33 “Then
the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals,
for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have
indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning
and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’
35 “This is the same Moses they had rejected
with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their
ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in
the bush. 36 He led
them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the
Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. 37 “This
is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own
people.’ 38 He was in
the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount
Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass
on to us. 39 “But
our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their
hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They
told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who
led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ 41 That was the time they made an idol in the
form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own
hands had made. 42 But God
turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon
and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: “‘Did
you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of
Israel? 43 You have taken up the
tabernacle of Molek and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to
worship. Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.
44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the
covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed
Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 After receiving the tabernacle, our
ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the
nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time
of David, 46 who enjoyed
God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of
Jacob. 47 But it was
Solomon who built a house for him.48 “However, the Most High does not live in
houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: 49 “‘Heaven
is my throne, and the earth is my
footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? 50 Has
not my hand made all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked
people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just
like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors
did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the
Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was
given through angels but have not obeyed it.”
The Stoning of Stephen
54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this,
they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to
heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of
Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling
at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began
to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the
feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit.” 60 Then he
fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold
this sin against them.” When he had
said this, he fell asleep.
Acts 7:2-53 Stephen’s sermon is the longest
recorded in Acts. The text is :”you are doing just as your fathers did”(51),
Stephen recited the privileges of the nation Israel and their rejection of
God’s messengers; then he laid blame for the slaying of Jesus squarely on his
hearers (v.53).
Verse 2 God’s call to Abraham
came first when he was in Mesopotamia (Gen.15:7;Neh.9:7). Later he went to
Haran (Gen.11:31-32) and later to Palestine. The glory of God. It might have been visible glory (v.55), as when the
cloud and the fire appeared to Israel
(Exo.16:10;24:16-17;Lev.9:23;Num14:10;16:19;20:6;Deut.5:24) and filled the
tabernacle and the temple (Exo.40:35;1Kings8:11). It was the God of such glory
who appeared to Abraham and called him.
His glory was a great attraction to him. It separated (sanctified) him from the
world unto God (Exo.29:43) and was a great encouragement and strength that
enabled him to follow God (Gen.12:1,4). In the same principle, God calls the
New Testament believers by His invisible glory (2Pet 1:3).
Verse 4 Apparently Abraham
journeyed into Canaan (Gen12:4-5), but actually God removed him into the good
land.
Verse 14 Seventy-five in all. Compare
with seventy in Gen.46:27 and Exo.1:5. Stephen quoted this number from the Septuagint,
which mentions five additional descendants of Joseph in Gen.46:20. Hence, the
number he mentioned of the house of Jacob who came to Egypt was seventy –five
instead of seventy. Septuagint (Greek translation of the O.T.) Which arrived at
seventy-five by including the son and grandson of Manasseh and two sons and a
grandson of Ephraim. (Gen 46:2) which reflects a different way of numbering
Jacob’s family, totaling seventh.
Verse 15-16 Jacob was buried at
Hebron in the Cave of Machpelah, which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite
(Gen.23:16). Joseph was buried at Shechem in a piece of ground Jacob bought
from the sons of Hamor(Josh.24:32). The two transactions are simply telescoped
in these verses because of the pressure of Stephen’s circumstances and need for
brevity.
Verse 20 From v.20 through v.44
Stephen purposely gave a long narration in the most positive way concerning
Moses. He did this to vindicate himself before his opposers, who had accused
him of blaspheming Moses(6:11).
Verse 30 Angel Here and in
vv.35 and 38 the angel (Messenger) in the Old Testament was Christ the Lord,
who is Jehovah, the Triune God (Exo.3:2-16;Judg.6:12-24;Zech.2:6-11). This is
proved by the Lord and God in the following verse.
Verse 31 the Lord and God in
vv.31-35 are the Angel (Messenger) in vv.30, 35 and 38.
Verse 38 the assembly in the desert. I.e., the gathering of the people to
receive the law. The word translated “church” (or congregation, assembly,
gathering) is used in the N.T. of four kinds of groups: 1) the children of
Israel gathered as a nation.2) in Acts 19:32,39,41 a group of townspeople
assembled in a town meeting. 3) in a technical sense, all believers who are
gathered together in the one Body of Christ, the church universal (Col1:18),
and 4) most frequently, in reference to a local group of professing Christians;
e.g., the church at Antioch (Acts13:1)
Verse 42 book of the prophet. Probably referring to the twelve books of the
minor prophets, from Hosea through Malachi, counting them as one book.
Verse 43 Molech…Rephan. Molech was a title for various Canaanite deities to
whom human sacrifices were offered. Rephan was the name of a god connected with
the planet Saturn.
Verse 44 tabernacle of the Testimony. I.e., the tabernacle was a testimony
to the presence of God in their midst.
Verse 48 Stephen called God “
the God of glory” (v.2) and “ the Most High” to vindicate himself before his
opposers, who had accused him of blaspheming God (6:11). Not live or not dwell Implying that God would abandon the material
temple of the Old Testament and initiate a new dispensation, that His people
might worship Him in the spirit (John4:24), in which is God’s spiritual
habitation, the church.(Eph.2:22).
Verse 49 This quotation from
Isa.66:1-2 indicates that the Lord was seeking a spiritual habitation in man’s
spirit. This is proved by the unquoted part of Isa.66:2 that says, “But to
this kind of man will I look, to him who is poor and of contrite spirit.”
Verse 51-53 Stephen’s
indictment of unbelieving Jews, amply illustrated in the previously cited
history of Israel. Since Stephen was full of the Spirit (v.53) and was one with
the Lord the Spirit (1 Cor.6:17), to oppose him was to oppose the Holy Spirit.
Hence, the Lord indicated to Saul, one of Stephen’s persecutors (v.58;8:1) that
he was persecuting Him (9:4).
Verse 55 Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Jesus’ priestly work of
offering a sacrifice for sin was finished on the cross; He is therefore
sometimes pictured as seated at the right hand of God (Heb.1:3). But His
priestly work of sustaining His people continues (as here with Stephen);
therefore, He is portrayed as standing to minister (Rev.2:1).
Verse 56 The earth rejected
Stephen and was closed to him, but the heavens opened up to him, indicating that
the heavens were with him and for him.
Verse 58 Saul, who later became
an apostle (13:9), helped the persecutors in their slaying of Stephen. The
mention of witnesses suggests that they went through the motions of a legal
execution (Lev.24:14), though probably without securing the official approval
of Pilate.
Verse 60 Stephen prayed for his
persecutors in the same way that his Lord, whom he loved and lived, had prayed
for His (Luke23:24). He fell asleep. This expression is used of the physical
death of believers (John11:11;1Thess.4:13,15)
Bibliography,
Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim,
CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.
Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible (NIV). Chicago,
IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.
