Stephen's Speech to the Sanhedrin
1Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?"
2To 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 Haran. 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 Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6God spoke to him in this way: 'Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 7But 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.' 8Then 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 10and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
11"Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food. 12When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. 13On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. 14After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died. 16Their 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 greatly increased. 18Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt. 19He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers 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 in his father's house. 21When he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22Moses 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 fellow Israelites. 24He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26The 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? 28Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' 29When 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. 31When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord's voice: 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; the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I 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 whom 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. 36He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.
37"This is that Moses who told the Israelites, 'God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.' 38He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us.
39"But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40They 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!' 41That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made. 42But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:
" 'Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
43You have lifted up the shrine of Molech
and the star of your god Rephan,
the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile' beyond Babylon.
44"Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45Having received the tabernacle, our fathers 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, 46who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47But it was Solomon who built the house for him.
48"However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. 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?
50Has not my hand made all these things?'
51"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."
The Stoning of Stephen
54When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55But 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."
57At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Commentary/Significant points of discussion:
- [See v.1] '"Are these charges true?"'- back in Acts 6, Stephen was charged with speaking blasphemous words against Moses and against God (the temple where they thought was the only place God dwelt)
- Instead of answering the question by trying to defend himself or prove himself innocent, Stephen goes on the offensive and proclaims the truth about Jesus
- [See v.3] "'Leave your country and your people,'God said"- Stephen begins his sermon going all the way back to the beginnings in the Old Testament when God had commanded Abraham to leave his hometown and family
- [See v.4] 'settled in Haran'- Abraham did not completely obey God's command to go to the land that God had in mind for him and to leave his family behind, going to Haran instead of Canaan with his father and his nephew Lot
- [See v.5] 'God promised him...even though at that time Abraham had no child'- when Abraham does finally obey God's command God's promise for his descendants to possess the land of Canaan is reinstated; God's promises for us are kept on hold when we do not obey His commands
- [See v.2] 'The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham'- from the start of Abraham's journey God had been with him, guiding him and blessing him; Abraham didn't need a temple like the high priests to be with God
- [See v.9] 'God was with him'- again the emphasis here is on God's intimacy with Joseph, who did not have a temple to go to be with God
- Stephen mentions Joseph for good reason; in Joseph, we are able to see his likeness to Jesus because he was rejected by the sons of Israel ('twelve patriarchs' [see v.8]), sold as a slave into Egypt and became their savior later on when God made him 'ruler over Egypt' [see v.10] and helped them when 'a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering' [see v.11]
- Although he does not say it outright, Stephen is clearly trying to get across the point that the leaders of the temple need to stop rejecting the saviors God has sent, beginning with Joseph, and now, Jesus
- [See v.16] 'the tomb that Abraham had bought'- this happened to be the only piece of land in Canaan that Abraham had paid for with his own money; the rest was given to him by God as a result of his faith in God
- Stephen's next story is about Moses who was born into a time when the Israelites were being oppressed in Egypt
- Moses, much like Joseph but unique in his own ways, resembled Jesus in that he was favored by God from birth being 'no ordinary child' [see v.20], was miraculously kept from harm when he was thrown away into the river as a baby and 'Pharaoh's daughter took him and brought him up as her own son' [see v.21] and was 'powerful in speech and action' [see v.22]
- [See v.25] 'God was using him to rescue them'- when Moses avenged his people, the Israelites, 'by killing the Egyptian' [see v.24], God was using Moses as their savior to deliver them from the Egyptians; but the Israelites did not realize this and rejected Moses, denying that he had any right to be 'ruler and judge over us' [see v.27]
- Stephen uses Moses' rejection as another case of where the Israelites throughout their history rejected God's appointed saviors; and even worse now they reject Jesus, who is greater than Moses or Joseph and is literally the ruler and judge over the Israelites
- Despite Israel's rejection of Moses, God's divine appointment was revealed to Moses when 'an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush' [see v.30]; this is another case where Stephen emphasizes that you don't need a temple to be in the presence of God just as Moses encountered God in the desert, of all places (one might figure there isn't much out in the desert)
- [See v.37] 'God will send you a prophet like me'- Moses spoke of the prophet that was to come next, Jesus, who was like him in a lot of ways, leading God's congregation, being close to God and bringing forth the revelation of God
- [See v.39] 'they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt'- the Israelites continued to reject Moses, even after God had clearly shown signs and wonders that Moses was the appointed leader
- [See v.41] 'made an idol in the form of a calf...held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made'- while with Moses the Israelites had rejoiced in worshipping the works of their own hands; in the same way Stephen is using this analogy to show how the leaders of the temple are worshipping the temple and not God
- [See v.42] 'But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies'- God detested any kind of idolatry and his judgement was to let the Israelites continue to worship their idols- the sun, moon Gods, etc.
- Stephen is saying, "If you reject Jesus do you know what you will be given up to ?"
- [See v.44] 'Our forefathers had the tabernacle'- when Moses was with the Israelites in the desert they still had the tabernacle which they supposedly thought represented their intimacy with God; yet they rejected God's messengers and thus God Himself
- How many Christians today believe that they can only meet God at church and that God is absent once they go home and back to their lives ?
- As Stephen was stressing to the worshippers of the temple, we cannot confine God to one place because 'the Most High does not live in houses made by men' [see v.48]; Heaven is God's throne and the earth is His footstool- His hand has 'made all these things' [see v.50]
- [See v.51] 'uncircumcised hearts and ears'- Stephen rebukes the people of the temple who have rejected Jesus; what good is circumcision as a sign of God's people if their hearts are hardened and they won't listen to God ? In a way they are no different from the Gentiles (non-Jews) who have rejected the Lord
- 'You always resist the Holy Spirit'- Stephen lets them know that they are not only rejecting Jesus but the Holy Spirit, another messenger sent by God
- Instructed by the Holy Spirit, Stephen conveyed one of Jesus' teachings from Matthew 9:17, '17Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins'; just as old wineskins cannot hold new wine, the old traditions of the Israelites cannot hold this new offer of salvation- the blood of Jesus Christ
- Stephen's absolute fearlessness despite his impending conviction and martyrdom is the kind of courage it takes to spread the gospel
- [See v.53] 'you who have received the law...but have not obeyed it'- Israel received the law of God and were appointed to protect it but they failed to keep it; Stephen's remarks are equal to "you are all betrayers and murderers"
- [See v.54] 'When they heard this, they were furious'- after Stephen delivers his history lesson of the Israelites, the crowd's bells have been rung and they are convicted by the Holy Spirit; but instead of responding by submitting to the Holy Spirit they become filled with rage
- 'gnashed their teeth at him'- these men who have the outward appearance and reputation of being prominent, successful and highly religious in their society suddenly reveal themselves as citizens of Hell who have rejected God
- [See v.55] 'Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to Heaven'- as his sermon comes to an end, it is clear where his boldness, wisdom and power to preach the truth about Jesus has come from- being filled with the Holy Spirit
- 'Jesus standing at the right hand of God'- usually the description of Jesus is "sitting" at the right hand of God but here Stephen sees him "standing"; Jesus stands up for Stephen, not leaving him to be alone at a time of crisis and Stephen, who confessed Christ to the men, is confessed as Jesus' servant before God
- [See v.57] 'covered their ears...yelling at the top of their voices'- for Stephen to say that Jesus stood in a position of authority next to God was blasphemy to the crowd; they mistakenly believed that a crucified man was cursed by God
- This fulfilled what was said in John 16:2-3, '2They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. 3They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me'; those who reject God become so lost in their spirituality that they cannot even control themselves any longer
- [See v.58] 'young man named Saul'- Saul was the supervisor of the execution, one of the Sanhedrin who approved the stoning of Stephen
- [See v.59] '"Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit"'- Stephen shows absolute trust in God even as he is about to die, ending his life the same way he lived it- trusting that Jesus would take care of him
- [See v.60] '"Lord, do not hold this sin against them"'- Stephen prays to God that He would touch the hearts of the very people who killed him- Saul, one of them, would receive God's blessing as a result of Stephen's prayer and become Paul who we know well as the author of several books in the Bible
- It's hard to imagine forgiving someone for taking your life but here Stephen does it, sharing in the suffering of Jesus at the same time
- [See v.60] 'he fell asleep'- this implies that Stephen did not "die", but actually woke up to a much better, new world- Heaven!
- It is amazing to see how when one walks in the power of the Holy Spirit, they can be used by God to do great things
