ACTS SERIES – STONING OF STEPHEN THE FIRST RECORDED MARTYR – CHAPTER 7

At the end of chapter 6, Stephen, who was among the seven appointed to oversee the business of the growing church, was taken into custody and brought to the council for questioning. In his defense, Stephen retells the history of the Jewish nation with emphasis on leading characters who, like Jesus, were rejected by their family and fellow citizens.

Stephen began with God appearing to Abraham in Mesopotamia, separating him from his family and country and sending him to the land of promise. Abraham was also told of the four hundred years that his family would be in bondage in Egypt.

Next, Stephen talked about Joseph being sold into slavery by his brethren and how Joseph found favor with the Egyptian pharaoh and became a governor amid the famine. When his family experienced the famine in Canaan, his brothers came to Egypt to buy food, and it was there they and their families were reunited with Joseph, whom they had once rejected.

With the death of Joseph and a new pharaoh in charge, the children of Israel ended in bondage. God, however, used Moses, one of their own who was raised by Pharoah’s daughter, to deliver them. At age forty, Moses killed an Egyptian, which caused him to flee from the wrath of Pharoah to Madian. While living in Midian for forty years, Moses married and had two sons. On a mountain in Horeb, he encountered God, who instructed him to return to Egypt to be a ruler and deliverer for Israel. Like Joseph, Moses was initially rejected by his countrymen but eventually accepted as their God-sent deliverer.

Stephen shared how Israel rejected God’s oracles, disobeyed, and sinned in requesting Aaron to make a god for them to worship and lead them back to Egypt. Consequently, in time, God gave them up to worship the host of heavens and allowed them to end up in bondage in Babylon.

Additionally, Moses constructed a tabernacle in the wilderness according to God’s design, which Joshua took back into Canaan. This tabernacle was used until Solomon built a new one; however, God doesn’t live in tabernacles or temples made by man, for His presence is everywhere.

Stephen ended his defense by calling the hearers of his words “stiff-necked heathens and followers of their ancestors who resisted the Holy Spirit, persecuted the prophets and murderers of the Messiah.” This caused the council members to become hostile and a violent mob. They dragged Stephen out of town and pelted him with stones until he died. Even so, while being killed, Stephen gazed up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at His right hand. Stephen’s last request of God was to receive his spirit and not to hold this murderous sin against them.”

Noted at the end of the chapter, amongst the crowd, was a young man named Saul guarding the clothing of the men who stoned Stephen.

I close this blog of Stephen’s lengthy discourse to the council, which ended in his death, with these few nuggets:

When you talk to those who oppose your belief, God will tell you what to say.

Remain focused and unwavering in your faith.

Your witness of Jesus may lead to your death.