The Testimony of Stephen

INTRO

In Acts 7, we will look at the testimony of a man who has nothing to lose. This is the final day of Stephen’s life. We often focus on his death or the stoning, but before that, Stephen gave a testimony that reveals a man whose heart, beat for Jesus Christ until the very end. His name even means a crown or a garland, which is the same Greek word used for the crown of glory or crown of victory in the Olympic games. This man, described as full of the Holy Spirit, maybe not very old, but is appropriately named as the one crowned with the first martyr’s crown for Jesus Christ. May we stand as faithful and true in the midst of great, great trial.

TEACHING

Acts 6:14: Stephen’s false accusers twisted the truth (a popular technique of Satan) when they charged him with saying Jesus would “destroy the temple and change the customs that Moses handed down.” We’ll see Stephen doesn’t fully rebuke that, but he rebuked the implications there.

Acts 7:1: As the 70 men of the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen’s face, which was “like the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15), they asked: “Is this true?” Stephen’s response—his testimony—is an overview of Jewish history. But it’s more than that. His testimony shows how the Jews turned what God gave them into idols. Remember that our word for Acts is Authority. Under the authority of the Holy Spirit of God, Stephen said the Jews had taken the authority and blessing of God and turned it into an idol. Stephen focused on three great pillars of Jewish piety: first, the land (vv. 2–36); second, the law (vv. 37–43); and then the big one, the temple (vv. 44–53). Jesus had already talked about all of these things.

When asked if the charges against him were true, Stephen said it was the Jews who had made those things their idols. They had made them the focus, rather than that which points to the One. Stephen not only attacked how they made these sacred cows, but he totally turned everything upside down by quoting the Old Testament. He showed them, from the Word, how they did this. Instead of seeking an acquittal or trying to get out of trouble, Stephen replied to their question by defending pure faith in Jesus Christ as God’s appointed way to worship.

Acts 7:2–8: Stephen started out by telling them they were wrong about the land. God gave special privileges to those living in the Promised Land. But Stephen pointed out that God met and took care of His people outside the Holy Land as well. To prove that point, he began with Abraham. By addressing them as “brothers and fathers” (v. 2), Stephen showed them respect. Then Stephen emphasized that God revealed Himself to Abraham long before he was in the Promised Land (vv. 2–8). God blessed Abraham even though he did not yet occupy a foot of land in the Holy Land. The element of the land was not the blessing; it’s the blessing of God on the land. At this point, Stephen was quoting and highlighting truth that all the members of the Sanhedrin held to.

Acts 7:9–16: Stephen said this authority and this relationship with God carried on to the 12 sons of Jacob. Even though the patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery in Egypt, God was with Joseph, rescued him out of all of his troubles, and gave him favor in the sight of Pharaoh. God blessed the patriarchs through Joseph in Egypt even while the only part of the Holy Land they possessed was the family tomb.

Acts 7:17–36: Stephen then pointed to the time of Moses. The Jews had flourished in Egypt until a Pharaoh who didn’t know Joseph oppressed them. At that time, a common practice of population control was leaving infants outside in the elements to die. But when Moses was left outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her own. Moses was educated in the wisdom of the Egyptians (vv. 20–22). As Stephen continued to tell the story, he quoted from Exodus 2:14 and Exodus 3:6 and 15, to build the case that although Moses had struggled, he would bring the people back to the land. Then, in Acts 7:33, Moses was told to remove his sandals because the place where he stood was holy ground. At that moment, Moses was standing on Mt. Sinai. As Stephen recounted God’s call to Moses, he again quoted from Exodus 3. Even though the Jews rejected Moses, God had chosen him as a ruler and redeemer. God worked through Moses to perform signs and wonders as he led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for 40 years. Throughout the Pentateuch, God called Mount Sinai holy ground.

Holy ground is wherever God meets His people. Moses was outside the border of the Promised Land—he never entered the Promised Land. God was with Moses in every place, as he led the people to the land. Stephen emphasized that the Sanhedrin had missed the point. The land was a blessing from God, the land was not the blessing of God. God is present wherever He meets with His people—which points to Jesus.

Acts 7:37–43: Stephen told the Sanhedrin, the ones who were charged with keeping the Law and holding it up, that they had made an idol of the Law. So far, Stephen probably hadn’t said anything they disagreed with, but now he was stepping on their toes. No doubt they began rumbling against him. Stephen began with Moses’s statement, “God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your brothers” (v. 37). This prophet was Christ. So even in the time of Moses, God was pointing to Christ. Stephen continued to quote from Exodus as he explained the people were unwilling to obey and had, in their hearts, turned back to Egypt, which was demonstrated when they made the golden calf and offered sacrifices to it. Their idolatry was traced through the Old Testament and summed up in the prophet Amos, whom Stephen quoted in verses 42b–43 (Amos 5:25–27). Stephen had gone from the Pentateuch all the way through the Historical Books. Stephen was pointing out their idolatry. They had the law of Moses, the Word of God, but they didn’t keep it. The law of Moses couldn’t save them, but it pointed to a Prophet who could. The hope of redemption was not in Moses’s law, but in Jesus.

Acts 7:44–50: Next, Stephen said they were wrong about the temple. He pointed out that God “does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands” (v. 48). In verses 49–50, Stephen clinched his case with Isaiah 66:1–2. The chamber of hewn stone where the Council met was right beside the temple—the temple Stephen said they made into an idol. In Jesus, the promise for a new house was truly fulfilled. Ephesians 2:19–22 states this new house was built “on the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.” By this time, the curtain in the temple had been torn in two. There had been a radical shift, and the general public was not paying attention. By His Resurrection, Jesus had changed everything.

Acts 7:51–53: To make sure the Sanhedrin did not miss anything; Stephen drove his point home. This man, full of the Holy Spirit, with the face of an angel, with nothing to lose, looked them in the eye and said they missed everything! How does this apply to us today? We can imagine that we will inherit God’s blessing because God has blessed our nation. We have also made an idol of the Law. We carry around God’s Word, but we don’t live it out. As for the temple, we suppose that since we go to a place where God meets His people, we will receive special blessings. But many times, we focus so much on the buildings that our relationship with the Lord suffers. Stephen’s words are for each of us because Satan loves to work with 85 percent of the truth and twist it.

Acts 7:54–60: The Sanhedrin listened to Stephen’s speech early on because they agreed with it, but as he went on, it became clear Stephen was condemning them. When they heard what he said, they became enraged. Stephen saw God’s glory and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God (v. 56). In almost every other instance in Scripture, Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, but here is the image that Jesus was rising from the throne to greet Stephen, acknowledging him as he acknowledged Christ before all-powerful men. Then the men of the Sanhedrin screamed and rushed against him. They chased him out of the city and stoned him. Stephen was so in love with Jesus that he even modeled Jesus at this moment. He prayed for those who killed him.

CLOSING

There are lessons to learn here. The Lord doesn’t offer us safety, but He does offer us strength. Our calling is obedience to Christ. We think we want safety in this life, but we’ll have safety in the life to come. Through Him we can have strength when we have nothing whatsoever to lose. Our Lord is faithful to us in all that He’s promised us. Our task is to remain faithful to Him. We must ask ourselves how the example of Stephen challenges us to be prepared to be a witness for Jesus Christ. Notice that Luke made sure we would know that the mission of Jesus Christ would carry on because he introduced us to Saul, who would become Paul, who heard Stephen’s testimony and denied it at that time. But there was a Damascus Road experience coming for Saul. We need to be faithful like Stephen to walk out the authority and boldness we have in Jesus Christ.