INTRODUCTION

We have already looked at the overall theme of Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin, which is that God’s presence is not locked in a box somewhere. He is not a freeze-dried god, and not contained or bounded by anything that we might say, do, or think. Wherever God is, that place is holy. Whenever God is in fellowship with someone, that person is holy, that person is a saint. The filthiest dungeon could be holy ground, and a saint chained to the wall of that dungeon could be someone of whom the world was not worthy (Heb. 11: 38).

THE TEXT

“And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran” (Acts 7:2).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Stephen is a man of genuine faith, and so he understands the nature of true glory. He begins his speech by referring to God as the God of glory. But worldings don’t really understand the nature of glory. Stephen is using a true Temple measure, which means that he responds to the presence and blessing of God, wherever that presence and blessing manifests itself. Worldlings select an arbitrary indicator, and then evaluate everything by that. They get stuck. For some it is posh velvet clothing in marble palaces, and for others is a vow of poverty and degradation—one or the other. But look at the men that Stephen cites. Look at Moses—a prince of Egypt and a shepherd of Midian. Or look at Abraham—a nomadic chieftain and father of nations. Or then there is Joseph—degraded slave and prisoner and second only to Pharaoh. We see the same understanding in the great hall of fame in Hebrews 11. Faithful servants both subdued kingdoms and were also tortured, not accepting deliverance (Heb. 11: 32-40). Men of faith have preached in great cathedrals and on the run in mountain meadows, and sometimes it has been the same men. We see the same thing with the Lord Jesus. How was He glorified? He was glorified on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:2), and He was glorified on the cross, when He drew all men to Himself (John 12: 23-24).

400 YEARS?

Our point here is not to veer into a math class, but rather to illustrate our understanding of the infallible nature of the Scriptures. God’s Word contains no errors. That said, Stephen says this: “And God spake on this wise, that his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years” (Acts 7:6). He does this on the strength of Gen. 15:13. But then we are also told that the time was 430 years—Ex 12:40-41 and Gal. 3:16-17. So which is it? A simple solution might be to say that the 400-year passages are just an example of a biblical rounding down. This is possible, but I think too simple.

A better solution would be to say that it is a simple difference of start dates. A better solution is to start the “affliction” of Israel with Ishmael’s taunting of Isaac, which occurred 430 years before the Exodus. But Ex. 12:40 says that Israel “lived in Egypt” for 430 years. But Israel includes the father of Israel, Abraham, who also sojourned in Egypt . . . 430 years before the Exodus. A few fun facts: Isaac was still alive when Joseph was sold into Egypt. Moses was born just over 60 years after Joseph died. The Exodus was in 1446 B.C. (1 Kings 6:1), which makes Amenhotep II the Pharaoh of the Exodus.

THE LAND OF MIDIAN 

Constantine’s mother, Helena, was the one who settled on a site in the Sinai Peninsula as being the biblical Sinai. But this actually cannot be right. Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb are two different names for the same mountain, and Paul clearly states that the mountain was in Arabia (Gal. 4:25). The Sinai Peninsula was actually part of Egypt, and you don’t flee from Egypt . . . to Egypt. “Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.” (Acts 7:29). Mt. Sinai is there in Midian (v. 30). Moses saw the burning bush there, and it was the place where he brought the Israelites back. Elijah fled there, and it is possibly where Saul of Tarsus went after his conversion (Gal. 1:17). This makes the Sea of Akaba the place of the Red Sea crossing.

THE HEBREW MIDWIVES

Stephen simply assumes the wickedness of Pharaoh. “The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live” (Acts 7:19). He also tells the story of Amram and Jochebed, Moses’ parents. As it happened Jochebed was also Amram’s aunt. At this same time, Moses tells us the story of the Hebrew midwives, who disobeyed Pharaoh’s unrighteous decree, and who moreover lied to him about it. What did God do with them? He rewarded them handsomely (Ex. 1:15-21).

A REMEMBERED COVENANT 

Notice that God remembers His people. In Stephen’s version, it is the “affliction of my people.” “I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt” (Acts 7:34). This involves more than God simply seeing a people who are suffering. No, God is a covenant-keeping God. “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (Exodus 2:24).

THEOPHANIES

In the Old Testament, appearances of the Lord, called theophanies, are frequently described in terms of the angel of the Lord.

“And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush” (Acts 7:30), but then the angel said, “I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold” (Acts 7:32). “This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us” (Acts 7:38). “Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it” (Acts 7:53). Paul connects the giving of the law to angels also (Gal. 3:19).

THE ULTIMATE THEOPHANY

To close this discussion, we are going to look ahead just a few verses. When Stephen was on the point of being stoned, he looked into Heaven, and he saw two things. First, he saw the glory of God. Remember that this is how he began his speech, and remember what we said about glory earlier. And also he saw the Lord Jesus, standing at the right hand of the Father (Acts 7:55)—Christ being the ultimate and final theophany of Scripture. This is why we look to Him, and to Him alone.

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INTRODUCTION

A superficial reading of Stephen’s speech will mislead you into saying what George Bernard Shaw once said, arguing that Stephen was a “tactless and conceited bore.” He recites the history of Israel, which the Sanhedrin already knew, and then wraps it all up by insulting them. No wonder they killed him, was Shaw’s sentiment. It was like addressing the joint houses of Congress and saying “In fourteen hundred ninety-two/Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” and making sure to use a sing-songy whine. But this take is myopic in the extreme. What Stephen is doing here is answering the actual charge, and the way he does it is a work of art.

THE TEXT

“Then said the high priest, Are these things so? And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child . . .” (Acts 7:1–53).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The high priest asked if the charge was accurate (v. 1). Stephen replied that the God of glory appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia (v. 2), telling him to depart (v. 3; Gen. 12:1). He left and made his way eventually to Israel (v. 4). Abraham lived there, but as yet possessed none of it (v.5). God told him that his descendants would be enslaved for 400 years (v. 6), and God would deliver them and bring them back (v. 7; Gen. 15:13-14). God gave Abraham circumcision, Isaac, then Jacob, and then the twelve (v. 8). The twelve envious patriarchs envied Joseph, and sold him into slavery in Egypt (v. 9). God delivered him from his afflictions, and made him ruler over Egypt (v. 10). Then came the famine and Jacob sent his sons to Egypt for food (vv. 11-12). Jacob and Joseph and his brothers were reunited, and reconciled—75 in all (vv. 13-14). Jacob died in Egypt but was buried in Israel (vv. 15-16). The Israelites flourished in Egypt until an evil Pharaoh arose, and required them to expose their infant sons (vv. 17-19). Moses was born, hidden for three months, and then technically exposed (v. 20). Adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, he was educated in all the ways of Egypt, and was mighty “in words and deeds” (vv. 21-22). When he was forty, he attempted to lead an insurrection, which failed (vv. 23-29; Ex. 2:14). After another forty years, he encountered the burning bush (v. 30). The God of his fathers spoke to him there, which terrified him (vv. 31-32; Ex. 3:6). Take your shoes off, for the ground is holy (v. 33). God has heard the groaning of the people and intended to send Moses to Egypt (v. 34; Ex. 3:5,7,8,10). The rejected Moses became the deliverer Moses (v. 35). God brought them out and was with them for another forty years (v. 36).

This Moses is the one who Stephen was accused of blaspheming, but who had said another prophet “like me” will be raised up (v. 37; Dt. 18:15). This Moses was with them, along with the “lively oracles” that they wouldn’t obey, and they yearned for Egypt instead (vv. 38-39). They pressured Aaron to make a golden calf, and rejoiced to worship the work of their hands (vv. 40-41; Ex. 32:1). So God turned them over to gross idolatry (vv. 42-43; Amos 5:25-27).

The Jewish fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness (v. 44), which Joshua brought into the promised land, down to the time of David (v. 45). David wanted to build the Temple, but Solomon was the one who did it (vv. 46-47). But temples are not to be thought of as God-boxes, not at all (vv. 48-50; Is. 66:1-2).

You men of the Sanhedrin are just like your fathers, stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears (v. 51). Name a prophet that your fathers didn’t persecute (v. 52). They slew the forerunners of the Christ, and now you people have murdered the actual Christ (v. 52). You received the law from angels, but keeping it is another matter (v. 53).

ALL IN ONE PLACE

Stephen was accused of blasphemy. Among other things, it was said that he was saying that Jesus would destroy the Temple. This was quite true, but not at all in the way they were saying. (Acts 6:14).

Stephen’s first point is that all through the history of God’s dealings with Israel, He had been with them in many places that were not within the “holy land.” How did God first call Abraham? He appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia (v. 2). The patriarchs, the honored patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt . . . but God was with him (v. 9). And then Moses fled to Midian (modern Arabia), and there, in Midian, Moses was told to take his shoes off because it was holy ground (v. 33). Why was it holy ground? Because God was there. And God brought them into the wilderness (v. 39), accompanying them. As the glory cloud moved, it was not in the holy land. As the tabernacle moved, the Holy of Holies was located in any number of places.

SEVERE COMPANY 

Another point that needs to be made is that God was “with” disobedient Israel throughout her history as well. But His presence is not to be desired if you are not doing what He says to do. It was in the presence of God that they fashioned the golden calf. As Paul says elsewhere: “But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness” (1 Cor. 10:5). They had been baptized in the cloud and in the sea. They ate Christ in the heavenly manna. They drank Christ from the spiritual rock. And what did it get them but covenantal judgment.

GOD IN A BOX?

Stephen’s point is that he is the heir of all the faithful Israelites, and his accusers are the descendants of a long and murderous line. For example, Solomon built the Temple (v. 47), but what did he say when he built it? “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?” (1 Kings 8:27)—the same thing that the great Isaiah had said, and which Stephen pointedly quoted.

A COVENANT LAWSUIT

Remember that all of this is unfolding in a doomed city. And remember also what Peter had said in Acts 3:22-23—he also quoted Deuteronomy 18:15, to the same effect that Stephen had. When the prophet like Moses arrived, Peter had emphasized that those who refused to heed him would be destroyed. And an emissary of this latter Moses—someone who did great miracles and had a radiant face, say—should also be given a respectful hearing. But what did they do? They did what they always do. They killed him, thus sealing the destruction of everything around them.

What must we learn? We must learn that a filthy Egyptian prison is a holy place. We must learn that when iniquitous ministers approach the Holy Temple, God cannot endure it. “I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting” (Isaiah 1:13, NKJV). And last, we must also remember that nothing we have in our possession—churches, liturgies, confessions, rituals, or costumes—contain God in any way. In Christ, we are contained by Him, and never the other way.

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INTRODUCTION

One of the hallmarks of worldliness is when the curators of museums subvert the legacies of the men they are ostensibly honoring. The Lord Jesus referred to this common pattern when He said that the men who build memorials to deceased prophets are the descendants of the men who murdered the prophets. As the stage is set for the martyrdom of Stephen, we see the very same dynamics in play.

THE TEXT

“And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel” (Acts 6: 8-15).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Along with six other men, Stephen had been elected and ordained as a deacon. But he was given more in his ordination than perhaps was anticipated. Full of faith and power, he began to do wonders and miracles, and all out in public (v. 8). This brought about a verbal confrontation between Stephen and certain men from the Synagogue of the Freedmen (v. 9). These men were from various places around the empire Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia. In modern parlance, they were from Libya, Egypt, and various places in Turkey. In this confrontation, they were unable to deal with Stephen’s wisdom or spirit as he spoke (v. 10). Rather than give up, they then secretly induced some other men to lie about Stephen, testifying that they had heard him blaspheming both Moses and God (v. 11). With that lie started, they then stirred up the people, elders, and scribes, and then came upon Stephen, arresting him, and bringing him to the council (v. 12). They had false witnesses prepared beforehand here as well, who said that Stephen never stopped blaspheming the Temple and the law (v. 13). They reported that Stephen had said that Jesus was going to destroy the Temple, and that the customs delivered by Moses would be changed (v. 14). But when the members of the council looked at him, they saw that his face was radiant, like that of an angel (v. 15).    

DISCIPLES OF MOSES WHO WEREN’T 

In their back and forth with the man born blind, the Pharisees had this to say. “We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is” (John 9:29). But how had Moses established his authority in Israel initially? God gave him power to work wonders (Ex. 4:1-5). But what had Stephen been doing at the beginning of our passage? Great wonders.

But there is more. When Moses came down off the mountain, having met with God, his face was radiant and shining (Ex. 34:29-30). And when the council here looked at Stephen, just before his defense, they saw that his face was radiant, like the face of an angel (v. 15).

In short, the defenders of the ways of Moses had a Moses return to them, and he began to minister in their midst. And so what did they do? They arrested him, in the name of Moses, and put him on trial for blaspheming Moses.

BLASPHEMY CHARGES 

One of the great contemporary topics is that of Christian nationalism. And one of the first objections that is raised is brought up on the basis of a fear that Christian nationalists would start arresting freethinkers in order to charge them with blasphemy—as though our biggest concern would be the village atheist who puts out a newsletter with a circulation of 153.

But one of the central goals of any true-hearted Christian nationalism would be to radically reduce the power of the state? And why? Because in Scripture you deal with beams and poles before you deal with specks and floaters (Matt. 7:3). In Scripture, the greatest threat when it comes to blasphemy is found in the ruling authorities. The beast from the sea had the name of blasphemy on its head (Rev. 13:1) The great Harlot was full of the names of blasphemy (Rev. 17:3). When Saul of Tarsus was a persecutor, he would force believers to blaspheme (Acts 26:11). The rich men who control the courts blaspheme the name (James 2:7).

Not only do they blaspheme, but they do so while charging faithful believers with blasphemy. Never forget that the Lord Jesus was convicted on a blasphemy charge (Matt. 26:65). And here, in Acts 6, this same terrible travesty is happening over again. Convicted of blasphemy by blasphemers.

When we have ensured that this can no longer happen, then would the time to worry about the village atheist.

THE INFLUENCE OF STEPHEN ON SAUL

We know more about Saul of Tarsus than we think we do. First, his hometown of Tarsus was located in Cilicia. Note that this was one of the regions mentioned when the Synagogue of the Freedmen was being described. Second, we are introduced to Saul by name for the very first time when he was watching the cloaks of those who were stoning Stephen (Acts 7:58). In Jewish law, those who testified in a capital case were required to participate in the execution. But the men throwing stones in this case had been suborned by the synagogue men who had lost their debates with Stephen. These synagogue men were the agents of this judicial murder, and one of them was clearly Saul. He consented to the death (Acts 8:1).

But we know from all our available information that Saul was a zealous man, and a world class intellect, far surpassing other men of his generation (Gal. 1:14). We also know that he was insolent, conceited, and proud, as he acknowledged later (1 Tim. 1:12-13). Now how do you think such a man would react to losing a debate with a Christian soup kitchen guy? Not well, we can pretty much guarantee. But someone with such a mind would also know that having a man set up and murdered is not the same thing as answering him. So after the execution of Stephen, when Saul erupts in a rage (Acts 8:3), we know that internally he is wound tight. That was his condition, exhaling threats and murder (Acts 9:1) on the Damascus road. This was just before the Lord appeared to him, and humanly speaking, it was all thanks to Stephen.

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