In the last lesson we ended with the accusations made against Stephen by those who were opposed to his preaching. Chapter 7 begins with the high priest asking Stephen if the charges were true. Then from verse 2 to verse 50 Stephen gives a detailed history of Israel beginning with Abraham, God’s covenants, Moses, Israel’s rebellion and God’s rejection of Israel because of their continued rebellion. I suggest you read it.
Now, as I mentioned in the last lesson, Stephen’s problem was that he was just too good. Acts 6:9-10 tell us those who wanted to debate what Stephen was preaching could not resist his wisdom and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And, in the end, this is what got him killed. In verses 7:51-53 he ends his defense by facing his accusers with charges of his own. Remember, those accusers were freed Jewish slaves from Rome, and others from North Africa and Asia (6:9), the angry mob (6:12) and scribes, elders and the council or Sanhedrin (6:12).
First, Stephen says they’re “stiff-necked”. This is from sklerotrachelos, from skleros, hard, and trachelos, neck. The meaning here is taken from trying to train a stubborn ox to the yoke. He would refuse to turn at command and was so strong the handler could not force him.
Now, some of the more ignorant in this crowd probably didn’t understand the significance of this accusation, but the more educated scribes and Pharisees certainly would have. They were well versed in the Old Testament and were fully aware of what Moses had written in Exodus 32:9 and 33:3. In both verses the Lord (not Moses) calls Israel a stiff-necked people and threatens to destroy them; and He would have if Moses had not intervened.
Next, Stephen tells them they are “uncircumcised in heart”. This is aperitmetos, the negative a, without, and peritemno, to circumcise. Again, they were well aware of the meaning of this accusation from Jeremiah 4:4 where the Lord threatens to consume Israel because of their evil ways and the fact they were never willing to consecrate themselves to Him and be obedient.
Being “uncircumcised in ears” is much the same, except in Jeremiah 6:10, it is the prophet who makes the accusation. The uncircumcised heart will not obey; the uncircumcised ear will not listen. The context of each of these first three accusations illustrated from the Old Testament is undoubtedly idolatry. Now, you might think, wait a minute, idolatry was not prevalent in Jesus’ day. But, I would disagree. This crowd opposing Stephen had their idol – it was their religion. Stephen knew it, and so did the Holy Spirit.
Stephen continues in the same theme when he accuses them of “resisting” the Holy Spirit. Further, he tells them they’re resisting the Holy Spirit just like their fathers had. He illustrates this by saying they had both persecuted and killed the prophets who had been inspired by the Holy Spirit to predict the coming of the Righteous One (and Jesus delivers the same scathing indictment in Matthew 23:27-37). This is the turning point of Stephen’s defense.
Let me stop here to make a point, which is that the Holy Spirit can only reveal truth to those with a rational soul. They must have an honest intellect and moral faculties sensitive to the conscience. If they close their mind to light (truth), their will to reproof and their conscience to righteousness, they will be in rebellion to God and cannot be reborn in spirit. And this is the mob Stephen is facing.
And now, as if it was not enough that the religious crowd was seeing their power and influence slipping away, Stephen is about to tell them it is all of their doing! Now he’s going to tell them they have both betrayed, and then murdered that Righteous One they had willfully rejected.
Then, finally, Stephen tells this crowd they had “received the Law as it had been delivered by angels, yet you did not obey it.” Now, if you read Stephen’s history of Israel in verses 2-50 as I suggested at the beginning of this lesson, then you may remember him mentioning the “angel of the Lord” in verse 30. And if you continue to read, you find out the “angel” is God Himself. But what is interesting about this is that if you follow the scripture thread on this subject, you find that thousands of angels were actually involved in this (follow this and see what it says, Exodus 3:2, Deuteronomy 33:1-2, Psalm 68:17, Galatians 3:19 and Hebrews 2:2). I point this out simply to illustrate the accuracy of Stephen’s message.
So, when you get to verse 54, the mob is furious. What happens next reminds me of what Jesus did to infuriate the religious crowd that led to His arrest and crucifixion. As I have already explained in past lessons, Jesus was in total control of the events of His last days and hours on the earth. It is the same with Stephen and the Holy Spirit knows just what is needed to send these people over the edge and cause them to do what has already been ordained. Stephen looks upward and sees the glory of God and Jesus standing at His right hand (verses 55-56).
And in verses 57-60 Stephen is taken outside the city and stoned to death, and with the same grace Jesus displayed, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge!” And you might well ask, why did the Lord not intervene and save Stephen from this mob? Wouldn’t that have been a powerful thing? It could have I suppose, but the Lord sees the bigger picture and has the better plan.
First, always remember, He has no regret or remorse when believers die. He has a different view regarding the death of His saints – it is precious to Him (Psalm 116:15). The other factor here has to do with the young man mentioned in verse 58, Saul. We know Saul persecuted Christians. By his own admission in 26:10, he was responsible for the imprisonment and murder of “many” saints. Then he was confronted by the Lord, was converted and became committed to the same Gospel message he had tried to destroy.
Then when I was meditating on this issue of Paul’s commitment to the Gospel as we will document in future lessons, I wondered, what was it that made him so willing to bear the hardships and opposition he was to experience and later list in his letters? I knew God had forgiven him. I knew God had allowed him to wreak havoc on the early church (see above regarding the better plan and what is precious to God). Why didn’t Paul just retire to a little farm in Tarsus and take it easy, instead of enduring the life and dying the death that was his future?
Let me tell you both from God’s perspective and from Paul’s. Can God look down through the corridors of time and see the future? Can He form a plan, speak it and see it come to full fruition with whomever He chooses and whenever He has determined? Read the Old Testament and with a rational mind know that He can do all that and more! He knew Paul’s heart. God knew that after Paul’s conversion he would serve Him with even greater zeal and loyalty than he had for his former religion. God knew that Paul would submit to Him and be willing to sacrifice whatever was necessary to receive revelation from the Holy Spirit, teach it, record it in his letters and preserve truth for future generations to read and learn from.
And what of Paul’s perspective? He also knew God had forgiven him of past transgressions. But what God knew and what Paul would eventually realize is that what he had done to oppose Christ, imprison believers and cause their death would haunt his memory until the day he died. Paul’s problem was that he couldn’t forgive himself.