*Acts 7:30-60
This passage continues Stephen’s defense before the Jewish council, his accusation against them, and his martyrdom.
- Moses’ Encounter with God and Return to Egypt:
- Forty years after fleeing to Midian, Moses encounters the Angel of the Lord in a burning bush on Mount Sinai.
- God instructs Moses to return to Egypt; this time, he is to lead the Israelites out of slavery.
- Stephen emphasizes that this Moses, whom the Israelites had rejected, was chosen by God to be a ruler and deliverer through the angel who appeared in the bush.
- He leads the Israelites out of Egypt, performing wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.
- The Rejection of Moses and the Golden Calf:
- Stephen cites Moses’ prophecy about a prophet like him who would be raised from among their own people, hinting at Jesus.
- He recounts how the Israelites turned away from Moses and God while in the wilderness, making a golden calf to worship and engaging in idolatry.
- God turns away from them, allowing them to worship the stars, as prophesied by Amos.
- The Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple:
- Stephen reviews the history of the Tabernacle of the Testimony as it moved with the Israelites and was brought to the Promised Land under Joshua.
- He mentions that David found favor with God and desired to build a permanent dwelling for the God of Jacob, but it was Solomon who built the temple.
- However, Stephen quotes Isaiah, emphasizing that the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands, asserting God’s transcendence beyond a physical temple.
- Stephen’s Accusation and Stoning:
- Stephen accuses the Sanhedrin of resisting the Holy Spirit and persecuting the prophets just as their ancestors did. He charges that they have now become betrayers and murderers of the Righteous One, Jesus, whose coming the prophets had foretold.
- Enraged by his words, the council members rush at him.
- Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looks up to heaven and sees the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He declares this vision to the council.
- The council, covering their ears and yelling, drag him out of the city and begin to stone him.
- As he is being stoned, Stephen prays for the Lord to receive his spirit and forgives his executioners by asking God not to hold this sin against them.
- Stephen dies, and the witnesses lay their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul, introducing a pivotal character in the spread of Christianity.
7:30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
7:31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the LORD came unto him, 7:32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.
7:33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
7:34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
7:35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
7:36 He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: 7:39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, 7:40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
7:42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? 7:43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
7:44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
7:45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; 7:46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
7:47 But Solomon built him an house.
7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? 7:50 Hath not my hand made all these things? 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
7:52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 7:53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
7:54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.