INTRODUCTION

The early church father Tertullian once famously said that the “blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”  This aphorism has been proven to be true in countless ways down throughout the history of the church. And the great Augustine made the same point:

“The earth has been filled with the blood of the martyrs as with seed, and from that seed have sprung the crops of the church. They have asserted Christ’s cause more effectively when dead than when they were alive. They assert it today, they preach him today; their tongues are silent, their deeds echo round the world. They were arrested, bound, imprisoned, brought to trial, tortured, burned at the stake, stoned to death, run through, fed to wild beasts. In all their kinds of death they were jeered at as worthless, but ‘precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.’”

THE TEXT

“When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word” (Acts 7:54–8:4).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

As the members of the Sanhedrin listened to Stephen’s conclusion, they were completely convicted, and gnashed their teeth at him (v. 54). But he, full of the Spirit, looked up into heaven and saw two things—the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (v. 55). And so he declared it, saying that he saw heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God (v. 56). That was too much for them, so they shouted, stopped their ears against the “blasphemy,” and they all rushed at him together (v. 57). They cast him out of the city, and stoned him there (v. 58). The witnesses against him were casting the stones, and so they laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul (v. 58). This is our first introduction to Saul of Tarsus. As he was being stoned, Stephen called out to God, asking Him to receive His spirit (v. 59). Stephen then knelt, either because of the stoning, or in order to pray, and he prayed (in a loud voice), asking the Lord not to lay this sin to their account (v. 60). Saying this, he fell asleep (v. 60). Now Saul was in full agreement with all of this (8:1). The murder of Stephen was a spark that set off a great persecution against the Jerusalem church, scattering everyone (but the apostles). They were scattered into Judaea and Samaria (v. 1). Devout men buried Stephen, and mourned greatly (v. 2). And for Saul’s part, he made havoc of the church (v. 3). He raided their homes, and hauled believers off to prison (v. 3). But the believers who scattered took the Word with them, preaching as they went (v. 4).

CUT TO THE HEART

These men were infuriated by the things Stephen said (Acts 7:54), and when he said that he saw heaven opened . . . they rushed at him. When God cuts our hearts open, there are two different ways it might go. But there is a way for this to happen that leads to murderous thoughts. A few chapters earlier, this same body were resolving to murder the apostles . .. until Gamaliel warned them off. “When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.” (Acts 5:33).

But in the second chapter of Acts, when they were pierced or cut to the heart, the response of the people was one of repentance. “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).

One notable thing about this incident is that they went straight to the execution. Even though they had no legal authority to execute anyone (John 18:31), in this case they didn’t go through the Romans at all. They apparently got away with it because Stephen was not “a famous name” like Jesus or the apostles were.

THE PATTERN OF PRAYER

The normal pattern of prayer for Christians is to pray to the Father, in the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit. We address the Father at the beginning of the prayer, and we conclude the prayer by saying something like “in Jesus’s name, amen.” We are stirred up to this task by the Spirit of God, who dwells within us. But while this is the normal pattern of prayer, we have to remember that all three persons of the Trinity are fully God, and are worthy of our adoration. It is not unlawful to address the Son or the Spirit directly . . . just unusual. Notice that in this place Stephen sees Jesus directly, and he prays to the one he sees. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He also asks the Lord (Jesus) not to hold this sin against those who hated him so murderously. At least in the case of Saul, this prayer was gloriously granted. In this prayer, Stephen was privileged to be appointing his successor from among his enemies.

THE LEGACY OF STEPHEN 

We are not Darwinians, meaning that we do not consider survival to be the greatest good. What matters is faith and the faithfulness that faith produces. This was very much the case here. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). Stephen’s life was short . . . but it was exceedingly fruitful. We can see this in two places.

We have already discussed the impact that Stephen had on Saul. Saul was from Cilicia, which was one of the regions represented in the synagogue of the freedmen—the men who lost in their attempts to debate with Stephen. Those men suborned the witnesses against him, who did the actual killing, with Saul right there approving. This was the man who was to write the majority of the New Testament.

The second place we see this is in Luke making a point to tell us that the scattered followers of Christ went everywhere preaching. It was as though the unbelieving leadership in Jerusalem saw a puddle of quicksilver on their table, and sought to solve their problem by slapping it. Quicksilver evangelism.

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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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