Acts 7 - John Karmelich 1. The best title I have for Acts Chapter 7 is "Who's on trial here anyway?" i) (Credit for that title goes to Chuck Missler.) b) In this chapter, Stephen, is on trial in front of the Jewish High Council for the charges of blaspheming the name of God, the temple and Judaism. Chapter 7 is his defense. c) As you read it, you're not sure if Stephen is on the defense or the prosecuting attorney! Stephen spends most of the speech reciting various parts of Old Testament history, pointing out the failure of the Israelites to obey what God has commanded them do. i) Much of the Old Testament is a history of failure. It is about the Israelites try- ing to please God through their own efforts, and the amazing number of times they turn their focus on themselves, away from God and get into trouble. ii) One of the big-picture lessons of the Old Testament is our failure to please God through our own efforts! d) In defense of these charges, Stephen never denies them. Instead, Stephen gives a history lesson. Why? i) Stephen's goal is to point the Sanhedrin toward Jesus. That should be the pur- pose of any sermon. ii) Stephen gives an Old Testament History lesson, mainly to show that the rejection of God's plan has been a historical pattern. 2. One of the interesting things to point out about Stephen is that he was a young Christian. a) Stephen did not spend 3 years with Jesus like the 12 apostles. b) Stephen was not even trained to be a rabbi like Paul in higher education. c) Stephen was a new convert with 1-2 years-Christian experience, tops. i) Grant it, he probably had the "standard-Jewish "Sunday school" education that most Jewish boys had, but that can't explain the beauty, details, and arguments presented by Stephen under pressure in this Speech. ii) Only the presence of the Holy Spirit, guiding Stephen could explain this! iii) It is also interesting to see Stephen's ability to quote Old Testament Scripture under pressure without having it in front of him. a) There is an application for us to learn the Bible. We never know when we are going to be used by God and have a need to recite it! 3. Stephen's speech is going to get a lot into prophecy. There is a special category of prophecy called "types" or "patterns". For example: i) You can study Abraham as a "type" of Christ ii) Or David, or Joseph as a "type" of Christ. iii) This is taught in Judaism as well as Christianity. a) Prophecy is not just predictions, its patterns. b) One looks for patterns in the Bible to foretell future events. b) Every aspect of Jesus life, ministry, his mission, his resurrection, his first and second coming can be found somewhere in the Old Testament. i) Sometimes it is written as predictions of a "coming one", c) Jesus himself believed all of the Old Testament spoke of his coming. Since much of the Old Testament is stories that have nothing to do with a coming Messiah, the prophecy must be by "types" or "patterns". i) "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Revelation 19:10b) ii) Jesus talking to the Pharisee's said: "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, (John 5:39 NIV) 1 4. The neat thing to get out of studying Stephen's speech is that it gives lessons on how to study, and apply the Old Testament Scriptures. a) One of my favorite Bible-teaching expressions is b) "The pictures in the Old Testament are the principals in the New Testament. c) The Old Testament is full of history lessons and word-pictures. Even thought they are actual events, they are written for our benefit so that we may learn from them. i) For everything that was written in the past (Old Testament) was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4 NIV) 5. Back to the story in Acts. In the end of Acts Chapter 6, Stephen was on trial in front of the high-Jewish council. Stephen had become a successful witness for Jesus. He was successful in debating against the Jewish rabbi's, and people were becoming Christians because of Stephen's testimony. Chapter 6 even mentioned that some of the Jewish priests were convert- ing to Christianity. Because the Chief Rabbi's were losing the verbal-battle, they "played dirty". They brought in false-witnesses to testify against Stephen. a) The basic charges were: i) Blasphemy against the Law ii) Blasphemy against the Temple and the Land. b) These charges were the basis of the Jewish religion at that time. They looked at the Temple as the central place where God met the people. They were hoping that the Messiah would set up the millennial kingdom there at that time. i) Little did they know that about 30-40 years later, the Roman army would de- stroy the temple, down to the ground, as Jesus had predicted (Matt. 24:2). 6. When you read Chapter 7, it sounds initially like Stephen reciting Jewish history, and then he goes into a rant because the Jewish Council rejected Jesus as the Messiah. a) Stephen's response is never "These charges aren't true". He responds by citing the evi- dence. He gives a history-lesson as proof that the rebellion against God has been a his- torical pattern for the Jewish people. b) Once you read the arguments more carefully, you will realize how brilliant Stephen's speech actually is, and how it contradicts the charges made against him in Chapter 6. c) The big-themes to see in Stephen's speech is that: i) The rejection of Jesus as Messiah is part of a pattern. ii) Stephen even points out the failures of some of the most venerated men in Jew- ish history and their rebellion, as well as the general rebellion of the people. iii) The Jewish leaders were looking at the Temple, and their style of Temple Wor- ship as the, and the only way to worship God. One of the things that Stephen points out is that the history of the Israeli people worshipping God did not nec- essarily involve the Temple, or even, worshipping from the land of Israel. God moved in their lives in other locations as well. iv) What's the general application to you & me of Stephen's speech? a) There is always a danger to trust in our "system", just as the High Coun- cil of Israel trusted in their "system". That could be our church build- ings, our denominational way of worship, the way we dress. The his- tory of the church is not much better than the history of Israel. b) While there are have been many great things done in the name of Christ, there have been many embarrassing and horrendous things as well. c) Our goodness does not come from the things we do in Christ's name, it comes from God working through us when we are obedient to what God calls to us to do. 2 d) Oh boy, 2 pages down, and there is 59 verses in this chapter, I'd better get started! ☺ 7. Chapter 6 ended with a summary of the charges leveled against Stephen. Chapter 7 begins with the high priest turning to Stephen for his response. 8. Chapter 7, Verse 1: Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?" 2 To this he (Stephen) 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.' a) Remember that one of the basic charges is that Stephen is accused of being "anti- Jewish" and teaching contrary to their religion. i) Stephen opens with "brothers and fathers", as if to say "I'm one of you" ii) Stephen further starts the history lesson with the first "Jew", Abraham. a) Abraham is considered the father of the Jewish nation as God called him to go form the nation. b) The 12 tribes of Israel started from his 12 great-grandsons. b) Part of the "theme" that Stephen is going to work on is that God does work outside of the Land of Israel as well as inside. i) The Jewish leaders saw the land of Israel as somehow, "more holy". a) Remember that one of the charges leveled against Stephen in Chapter 6 was: "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law." (Acts 6:13 NIV). ii) "This Holy Place" refers to either the Temple and/or "The Land" iii) Stephen's defense is to show that God first called Abraham in a different coun- try to come to this land. iv) Stephen's point is God does also work outside of the land of Israel. 9. Verse 4, continuing with Abraham: "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. a) Verse 2 mentions that God called Abraham when he was living in Mesopotamia, "before he lived in Haran".