I See Him

 Acts 7:1-60

Stephen is about to give a long history lesson of the people of Israel.  To understand why he is going to say this, I believe that it would be helpful to hear what was said at the beginning and the end of our story.

Then the high priest asked him, “Are these charges true?” – Acts 7:1

Stephen is about to respond to the false accusations that he had spoken against God, Moses, the temple, and God’s Law.  There were false witnesses lined up to accuse him of saying these things.  At the end of the story, we hear Stephen say:

“You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!  Was 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—you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.” – Acts 7:51-53

In verses 2-50, Stephen will prove that the Jewish men who were accusing him of such blasphemies were the ones who were guilty. 

Hopefully, you will see three things about the people Stephen was addressing.  First, they wanted to keep their religion and lifestyle the same.  They didn’t want to make changes.  Second, before a temple was ever created their ancestors worshiped God.  Their worship wasn’t bound by a building.  Third, they were just like those who murdered the prophets of old.  Many of the leaders God brought for His people were persecuted or killed.

The Rebuke of Abraham

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 Haran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’”

“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.  He 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.  God 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.  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.’ 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.” – Acts 7:2-8

Stephen started his speech in a respectful way.  He said, “‘Brothers and fathers, listen to me!’”  He was bold and respectful.  When we share Jesus we can do both.  It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

He talked with them about the “God of glory.”  This description of God would have brought the Jewish audience way back toward the beginning of their history.  God’s glory is something that is indescribable.  There’s a reason why we can’t find a clear description of it in the Bible.  No author could describe it to us in great detail.  There have been times that I’ve tried to describe an experience I’ve had in God’s creation.  One Christmas, many years ago, I went to the top of a mountain near the place where I grew up.  Icy mountain tops appeared through a solid, flat sheet of clouds below me.  Ice was on the ground, on the trees and on the barbed-wire fence.  The sun was so bright that I couldn’t bear to look at anything for more than a few seconds.  But my words can’t explain what it looked like.  It was a personal experience that left me in awe.  God’s purity, holiness, greatness, omnipotence and light are so amazing that no one can look at the fullness of His glory and live.  This is what God communicated to Moses in Exodus 33.

Abraham came upon a new experience.  He had been making a living in a familiar country while having the comfort of his family.  God was interacting with man in a new way.  We know that he had a relationship with Adam and Eve.  Even though Cain was evil, God still spoke to him.  He probably had interactions with people before Abraham that we don’t know about.  We begin to see a new plan unfold.  He wanted to make a peculiar people who would have a holy purpose and a special place to live.  The Jews that Stephen was addressing were witnessing something new as well.  God told Abraham to “go” and he went.  He was willing to leave behind the familiar in order to embrace God’s new plan for his life.  He was willing to let God interrupt his life.  The Jews that were harassing Stephen were not willing to let God interrupt anything.  God was instituting new Scripture and a new covenant.  Instead of being flexible, they were “stiff-necked.” 

God came in the flesh.  He had set aside His glory but He was still God.  Jesus said that if anyone had seen Him then they had seen God (John 14:8-10).  In John 14, do you know what Jesus said that proved His deity?  It was the miracles.  But some of the Jews (especially the ones that Stephen was addressing) had rejected Him in spite of the evidence.  Jesus was a prophet that was speaking new Scripture.  These men couldn’t accept His words.  They wanted to keep things exactly as they were.  They were stuck in their rules and traditions.  Jesus offered them eternal life, forgiveness, freedom and grace, and yet, these Jews didn’t accept Him.  On the other hand, Abraham, when he was childless, was given a seemingly impossible promise of descendants.  And yet, Abraham believed.  Abraham was told that his descendants would have tremendous trouble, and yet, he followed.  He had to go through the physical pain of circumcision, and yet, he worshiped.  It almost seemed like God was giving Abraham every possible chance to walk away, and yet, he didn’t.  The eternal life that Jesus offered was free of charge.  The forgiveness that He promised covered every sin.  The freedom that He gave came with no-strings-attached.  The grace that He poured out was limitless.  It seemed like God gave these Jewish men every reason to stay, and yet, they didn’t.  The story of Abraham was a rebuke to these men even though they were one of his very own.

The Rebuke of Joseph

“Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and 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.”

“Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food.  When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit.  On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family.  After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all.  Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died.  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. – Acts 7:9-16

Why would Stephen give a history lesson to people who knew it just as well as he did?  Well, Joseph was a picture of the Messiah.  When Genesis was written, the prophet knew that the Spirit was telling that someone was coming, but there were details that were still fuzzy.  The prophets of the Old Testament searched to find out who it was that they were writing about, but they could only find a few answers.  The apostle Peter said:

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.” – 1 Peter 1:10-11

Joseph gave the Jews a picture of the future suffering Messiah.  Jesus suffered at the hands of His brothers, His fellow Jewish brothers.  Joseph told his brothers who he was. Jesus revealed His identity to His brothers as well, but they rejected Him.  God used Joseph to save the lives of his brothers.  The One that Jews rejected was the One that was sent to save them. The story of Joseph, you see, was a rebuke to these Jewish men.

The Persecution of the One like Moses

“As the time drew near for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased.  Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt.  He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.”

“At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father’s house.  When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.  Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.”

“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites.  He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.  Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.  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?’”

“But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?  Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’  When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.”

“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord’s voice: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.”

“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground.  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.’”

“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.  He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.”

“This is that Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.’  He 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.”

“But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.  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!’  That 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.  But 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?

               You 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.’” – Acts 7:17-43

Moses’ fellow Hebrew didn’t accept his rule when he said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?”  The Jews during the day of Stephen didn’t want to accept that Jesus was king of the Jews.  Moses interceded between God and the people of Israel.  Jesus did the same thing for His Jewish brothers.  Just like Jesus, he was a messenger to tell the people of Israel what God was like.  And yet, the Israelites didn’t want to surrender to the Lord.  In Acts 3:22, in what way did Luke compare Jesus to Moses?  Luke said that Jesus was the prophet like Moses that was prophesied about:

“Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything He tells you.  Anyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from among his people. – Acts 3:22 

Moses and the people of Israel came to the Red Sea.  They were stuck in between death and death.  The Egyptians were on their way to kill them.  The only promise that the water brought was death as well.  God didn’t part the Red Sea with the words of His mouth or the power of His hand.  He told Moses to lift his hand toward the Sea, toward death.  Then, through the power of the God of glory, the Red Sea was parted.  When they passed through, they walked on dry ground.  It wasn’t muddy or mucky.  In 1 Corinthians 10:2, Paul was speaking of the people of Israel and the crossing of the Red Sea when he said, “They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”  What were they baptized into?  It was Moses.  In the Old Testament days, the people of Israel were familiar with the idea of the waters of suffering and death.  They knew the story of Moses.  They also knew the story of Noah.  Noah and his family were saved from the waters of death and suffering as they were in the ark.  Jonah had an experience with the waters of death and suffering.  The word “baptism” wasn’t used in the Old Testament, but the people of Israel did understand the concept of being rescued by God through the waters.  Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days.  After that, He started His public ministry and His pathway of suffering to the cross.  But do you know what He did before He went into the wilderness?  He was baptized.  He wasn’t baptized because He accepted Christ and got saved.  That’s why we get baptized.  He told John the Baptist that He needed to do it in order to “fulfill all righteousness.”  He was starting His pathway to the cross.  He was going to do everything that the Father wanted and say everything that the Father desired.  He would live the perfect righteous life that we couldn’t live.  He was accepting what was before Him by being immersed into something that would remind the Israelites of death and suffering.  When we get baptized, we’re communicating to others that Someone else went through death and suffering for us.  Someone else was a Moses for us.  Someone else was an ark.  Someone else was a great fish.  Moses was pointing the people of Israel to the Messiah.  His story was a rebuke to Stephen’s audience as well.

God is not Bound by a Temple

“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.  Having 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, who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.  But it was Solomon who built the house for Him.”

“However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:

              “ ‘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?

              Has not My hand made all these things?’ – Acts 7:44-50

The people of Israel worshiped God before a tabernacle existed.  They didn’t have a singular place in which they could worship God.  Here Stephen is talking about the God of Jacob.  How did Jacob worship God?  There was no tabernacle at this time.  People worshiped Him freely wherever they were.  Matter of fact, in Hebrews 11:21, it tells of a moment in which Jacob worshiped God: “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.” 

God’s purpose for the tabernacle wasn’t to give the people one location in which they should worship God.  We know now that the tabernacle was an image of the Messiah who was to come.  Various objects and activities within the tabernacle represented many aspects of who Jesus was and what He was going to do. 

Another aspect of the tabernacle was its mobility.  God gave them a design that would be moveable.  It was made from canvas and poles, not stone.  It wasn’t until the temple was built that a place of sacrifice and worship would become sedentary.  And God was not bound by a place.  He was the Creator of all and could be worshiped anywhere.  That’s why Stephen quoted the Scripture in which God said, “‘’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? Has not My hand made all these things?’’”

Stephen hadn’t maligned the temple.  According to their own history, God could be worshiped anywhere.  It was Stephen’s Jewish audience that was in error.  The religious elite was enamored with the edifice, but they were at enmity with the Elohim.

The Rebuke

Finally, we come to the end of Stephen’s preaching.  Using their own history, he proved that he had not blasphemed God, His Law, the Temple, or Moses.  Rather, he loved God, respected His Law, valued the Temple, and lifted up Moses.  It was the Synagogue of the Freedmen that were in error.  By rejecting Jesus, they had blasphemed God.  By rejecting Jesus, they had blasphemed the words of God that Jesus spoke.  By rejecting Jesus, they rejected the fulfillment of the Temple.  By rejecting Jesus, they had rejected the prophet that was like Moses.  God loved them and wanted them to turn away from their useless religion and turn to Him, but they refused.  As you speak a message from the Lord, you can’t let your listeners’ response be a gauge as to whether it was successful or not.  We speak what we are told to speak, and to speak it with respect and boldness.  God will do with the message whatever He wants.  To this day, I haven’t used a conclusion like the one Stephen is about to bring.  He probably would have received an “F” in his public speaking class just because of the conclusion alone.  You are about to hear what a successful sermon sounds like in the ears of God.  Throughout this sermon, he had created a masterful meal.  He gave an eloquent appetizer addressing them respectfully.  He then gave them the meat and potatoes of the Word.  He shared God’s story with God’s people.  He gave it a pinch of story and a dash of imagery.  Then…he dumped the whole meal on their heads!

“You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!  Was 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—you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”

When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.  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.  “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged 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.

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  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 7:51–60

God had a desire for the people Stephen was talking to.  But they had rejected His desire.  Stephen started by talking about the God of glory.  By the end, he ended up seeing the God of glory.  They were unwilling to change in spite of the evidence.  The story of Abraham rebuked them because he was willing to embrace the new.  The story of Joseph rebuked them because they rejected the One that was meant to save them.  Their eyes were blind to the new covenant that they were not willing to accept. The story of Moses rebuked them because Jesus was a prophet just like him.  But they couldn’t accept that Someone greater than Moses was with them.  They were also just like the ones who persecuted Joseph and Moses.  Stephen also showed that they worshiped the temple rather than the Creator.  Luke said that “they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.” (Acts 6:10)  In Luke 24:47, Jesus told His disciples, “Repentance for forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all the nations beginning at Jerusalem.”  Stephen was helping to fulfill Jesus’ command.  The rest of the book of Acts is full of the disciples’ efforts to do the same.  In order for the church to continue what Jesus started, the Spirit of God would have to give them the power to accomplish it.  That power was evident in Stephen. 

Stephen wasn’t filled all-of-a-sudden at the time of his preaching.  In Acts 6, it says that he was filled with the Spirit already.  That’s one of the reasons he was chosen to wait on tables.  He was filled with the Spirit as he was doing something that might have seemed as not important.  He was doing ordinary things with an extraordinary spirit.  That led him to do extraordinary things with an extraordinary spirit.