44. Acts 6-7 | Emptied- Stephen Empties Himself for Jesus

In this episode, we delve into Acts 6 and 7 to explore how Stephen's speech serves not just as a defense, but a radical reimagining of Israel's history and a critique of the Temple's role. The discussion kicks off with a lighthearted story about a Sunday school lesson, then shifts to a detailed analysis of the tension between early Christians and religious leaders. Adam and Alison examine Stephen's role, his bold declaration, and his eventual martyrdom, highlighting key themes such as God's presence beyond the temple, consistent rejection of prophets, and the rise of Jesus as the Messiah. They also introduce Saul, setting the stage for his significant role in future events. The episode underscores the powerful movement of the early church and its enduring relevance, encouraging listeners to embrace the same boldness through the Holy Spirit.

00:00 Stephen's Radical Challenge: Reinterpreting Israel's History
00:19 A Story About Kinsley: Bible Skills and Jesus Bucket
03:10 The Early Church Faces Increasing Persecution
05:12 Introduction of Key Figures: Barnabas and Stephen
10:05 Stephen's Arrest and Accusations
14:57 Stephen's Sermon: A Case for Christ
19:33 Jesus as the Fulfillment of Prophecies
20:40 The Personal Presence of God Through History
21:30 The Significance of the Temple and Its Destruction
25:10 Stephen's Martyrdom and Its Implications
35:20 Introduction of Saul and the Spread of the Gospel
39:22 Reflections on Boldness and the Holy Spirit

Music used in intro: "Hard Answers" by JK Productions

Transcript

Adam: 0:00

What if I told you that Stephen's speech wasn't just about his defense, but a radical challenge to how people thought about God's presence? Today we're diving into Acts 6 and 7 to explore how Stephen reinterprets Israel's history, critiques the Temple, and gives us a powerful picture of Jesus.

Alison: 0:19

Adam, I've been waiting to get together with you for this podcast because I have a great story.

Adam: 0:23

Okay, I can't wait to hear it.

Alison: 0:24

The story is about your middle child,

Adam: 0:27

Kinsley. That's Kinsley. So I'm getting Anytime, I just want to preface this, that anytime I am approached by somebody who says, I have a story, Story about Kinsley for, for her mama and I, that's a point where we go, our gut like tightens up a little bit, like, okay, okay. Tell me about my middle child. I get

Alison: 0:45

it. I have one of those. So she's,

Adam: 0:47

she's our free spirit.

Alison: 0:49

Well, she's precious unfiltered free

Adam: 0:51

spirit. Yes.

Alison: 0:52

Um, I'm getting to teach her in Bible study this year at Sunday school. And I got to teach your oldest, Elena, already. She was precious too. I can't wait till I have your youngest, but right now I have Kinsley. Oh,

Adam: 1:02

prepare yourself. And so,

Alison: 1:04

Kinsley, she came up to me at the beginning of Bible study this Sunday, and we were working on some Bible skills. Because I'm preparing to teach them genre, which you know is a really big deal with me. But genre is a little bit of an abstract subject. Subject and so we start with divisions and divisions in the bible the way that the bible books are broken up It's not the same thing as genre, but they can start there There's some ways that it lends into genre because kids are concrete learners and so I can show them how like all the letters are together and then we can start talking about how those are all letters and things Like that. So anyway, we're doing some We're doing some Bible skills with Kinsley and some other kids in my class and Kinsley walks up to me. She says, Ms. Allison, Why are there never tests at church? You know, you get tests in math, you get tests in spelling, but we never take tests in Sunday school. And I've been teaching for 21 years and I have never had a child ask for a test before.

Adam: 1:59

Oh no. So I

Alison: 2:01

said to Kinsley, I was highly impressed with you. that she was even, you know, wanted one. Obviously she feels like she would pass it with flying colors.

Adam: 2:07

I don't know about that. I have no

Alison: 2:08

doubt. So I said, Kinsley, do you want a test? And she said, well, if you gave me a test, I would pull everything out of my Jesus bucket.

Adam: 2:19

Everything out of her Jesus bucket. I don't know. Is

Alison: 2:22

this Jesus bucket like just all of the things in her head? Or do you guys actually have a Jesus bucket at home?

Adam: 2:28

I am not aware of a Jesus bucket at home physically. But that would definitely be something that I would not count out for Kinsley to do. Is have a bucket of her Jesus bucket. Okay,

Alison: 2:37

so your homework is to go home and look for a Jesus bucket. Okay, I'm gonna do that. Let me know what it is. I'm gonna, uh, she

Adam: 2:42

will not let me in her room though. She's very particular about her room. You're not allowed in her room. It stays exactly, nobody touches anything in there. She knows if you do touch something. Because it's

Alison: 2:50

holy ground. I'll slowly

Adam: 2:51

get in there. Holy ground. Please don't tell her that. She will, that will be a sign on her door, guaranteed. Do not enter.

Alison: 2:59

Well, you know, I thought it was funny that she wanted, I'm not sure if she really wanted a test, but I love that she thought that that would be something that would be worthy of doing. I mean, what we're learning is important enough to be tested on it. And we're going to see today in this passage that we're studying in Acts that the believer's faith is really beginning to be tested more and more and severely tested in this particular chapter. And so last week we ended with Acts chapter 4.

Adam: 3:27

Yep.

Alison: 3:27

And we had a lot of threats. Um, but nothing had actually, I think that Peter and John actually were flogged, but nothing like so severely, nobody's, you know, no one's life had been lost yet. Um, and so in Acts chapter five, the church is just continuing. They, they, it has not slowed them down, right? All the threats. of the gossip, the flogging, a night in jail for some of the apostles. None of that slowed down. Um, the church is teaching and performing signs. People are believing, um, and the religious leaders are getting increasingly upset, the temperature's going up and up and up. And, um, The problem is the religious leaders were not only fighting the early church, but they were also fighting public opinion. Because like thousands of people are responding to these signs and the good news being preached. Um, and so we're going to see in Acts chapter 5 that they actually throw all the apostles in jail. Uh, but during the middle of the night, God opens the prison doors. And the apostles walk straight out and right back to the temple, and they start preaching and teaching again. And, um, a Pharisee named, uh, Gamaliel, he actually suggests to the, uh, religious leaders to just be patient because they are just getting matter and matter at this. And he said, let the people squash the movement themselves. Like we've seen this happen before. Somebody, a false messiah will rise up and it sounds good at first and then they can't deliver and the people squash it themselves and you don't have to get involved and be the bad guys with public opinion. But if it isn't God, then nothing you're, going to try to do is going to be able to stop it anyway, right? So that's, that slows things down temporarily. And it gives us time for Luke to introduce a new Bible person at the beginning of Acts chapter six, which is where we're starting today. And I actually think this is cool. Luke does this a lot. He kind of introduces someone, um, earlier in the book, and then they're going to become a major player. later in the book. Um, he does this with Barnabas in chapter four, when it's talking about, um, how the believers are kind of in that, um, they're, they're all selling and sharing things and they're all in unity. And it says in, um, the ends of Acts chapter four, it says Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus by birth, the one, um, the apostles called Barnabas translated son of encouragement. He sold a field and he owned, he laid the money at the apostles feet. And that's all it says about Barnabas, but we're going to later see that Barnabas. comes back. I mean he does that, um, we're going to see in Acts chapter 7 with a fellow named Saul. He's going to later come back. And he does that with Stephen here. He introduces him in Acts chapter 6 as one of seven godly men, um, who were chosen to oversee some important ministries at the church. Specifically, um, just making sure the widows are cared for. And I love that, that tool that Luke uses of highlighting the men in the story who become major characters later because it just shows a connectedness to the story. It's like, God's saying, see where that guy is at this point in the story? Remember that and let's see what I do with him. Yeah,

Adam: 6:28

you get to see kind of a growth and a character development just that takes place.

Alison: 6:31

Yeah.

Adam: 6:31

Right over in his writing, yeah.

Alison: 6:33

Yeah, so we're gonna, we're gonna look today at um, Stephen's main part of the story, and I think we're going to really look at verses 8 through 15 in the book of, or the chapter, Acts 6. But I want to just read verse 7, and then I'm going to let you kind of help us out. Because I think, I mentioned that, Everything is like coming to a boiling part, like the temperature is just heating up and up and up with these religious leaders. And I think this was like one of the final straws. It says in verse 7 of chapter 6, So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith. So some of the religious leaders are starting to go to the faith, become Christians. And the religious leaders who have resisted Jesus

Adam: 7:24

Yeah, if I could title this, um, again, we're not going verse by verse through Acts, but we are taking more of a thematic approach to this, like an overview of like what's going on and how this is fitting into the whole story of, of, of scripture itself. Um, at least that's the way that, that, uh, I have a tendency to look at it. If I could title this episode anything, it would be A Tale of Two Temples.

Alison: 7:43

Okay.

Adam: 7:43

Um, and you did a great job recapping and you talked about chapter four and Barnabas um, selling a field. That actually was a bookend to the first time that we see the gathering of the believers in Acts chapter two. And what we're seeing is we're seeing these people do life together. We're seeing them sell things whenever there's need. We're seeing them spend time and break bread. Bread or have meals together. We're seeing them attend the temple, you know, daily worship and pray and devote themselves to the teaching. And then all of this is looking like the movement of the church that we recognize as the church, but this would have been, um, um, astronomically, uh, important because with the rising temperatures of the ruling governing bodies of the, of the current temple, um, what we're seeing is the things that should have been taking place in that temple are now taking place in the people and they're not. They're not a part of this building, which is going to be a theme that we'll come back to here, um, shortly with Stephen. Um, this is a big deal though, because, uh, the temple wasn't just a building for these Jewish leaders. It was the center of all of their identity, ultimately. And now their identity is being, um, uh, being pushed back against. It's, it's, it's, they're being, uh, um, taught almost as if they've been corrupted, but that their, uh, the personal presence of God is now out there, and being performed in, in amongst the believers, you know, by Barnabas selling the lands and stuff. He's enacting rules and laws that were set out for the temple, specifically in 15, the tabernacle and the priestly groups there, there to care for the poor and the needy and to sell things and all this stuff. Well, now the temple hasn't been doing that. And now what we're seeing is the body of believers who are following the way of Christ. They are. Now this is massively, you know, uh, this is a massively, uh, a big deal for that temple and those, and that's, that's why Stephen is now being thrust into the scene here because we're going to see everything begin to come, come to a major, a major, a boil point. And so he's been chosen and some of the people from within the temple have now also joined the way. So they're losing their own family per se, and they're doing, and now other people are acting as if they are the temple outside of the temple. And so. I don't think it goes over well with the temple leaders.

Alison: 9:54

Yeah. And Stephen is a major player in promoting that truth, that theme, that, um, they don't need the physical temple. So let's see what happens, um, to Stephen, with Stephen. Um, in chapter Six verse eight. It says, now, Stephen, full of grace and power was performing great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, some from, from some members of the Freedman Synagogue, composed of both Ceridians and Alexandrians, and some from Saia and Asia, and they began to argue with Stephen, but they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the spirit by whom he was. And then they secretly persuaded some men to say, We heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God. They stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, so they came, seized him, and took him to the Sanhedrin. They also presented false witnesses who said, This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the law. For we heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us. And all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw his face. So, um, they accused Stephen of four things, I noticed, and one of them is going to be like kind of a major thing, um, you already mentioned, which is the temple. So they accused him of blaspheming the temple, um, but they also accused him of blaspheming God. Moses and the law and they even have to pay false witnesses to make the claim stick right to make the accusation stick But he actually wasn't blaspheming. He was telling God's story

Adam: 11:31

The

Alison: 11:31

problem was the religious leaders wanted to control the narrative, right?

Adam: 11:34

Yeah

Alison: 11:36

So what what was the narrative of the religious leaders? What what did they want the people to believe?

Adam: 11:42

Well, they, they wanted to believe that they were the ultimate authority of, of the, of the time, you know, ultimately they were the ones on behalf of God who were speaking and teaching and that kind of thing. And so for Stephen to be doing that, um, would have gone right in their face.

Alison: 11:55

Yeah.

Adam: 11:56

Does that make sense?

Alison: 11:57

Yeah, absolutely. And, um, and they, some of the, like a large portion of the Sanhedrin, they didn't, not only did they not want to, you know, They didn't like Stephen to preach about, um, the temple not being needed. Um, but they also didn't like that Stephen was preaching about resurrection or angels. Because as you pointed out with your song,

Adam: 12:19

Yeah, Sadducees. Yes. Sadducees

Alison: 12:23

didn't believe in the resurrection.

Adam: 12:24

Yeah,

Alison: 12:24

and I think it's really interesting that the passage I read which ends in Chapter 6 verse 15 it says all who are sitting in the Sanhedrin So that would have been a lot of Sadducees because the Sadducees controlled the Sanhedrin All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel Like those things they don't believe in.

Adam: 12:43

Yeah, right Well, and it's funny because, um, there's clearly going to be a tie back to an individual that was actually mentioned when he was talking about blasphemy. Because if, if for his face to be shown like an angel, the implication is that he's radiating. There's some sort of light that's coming off him, physical. There's a physical appearance that's representing the spiritual, uh, identity that's taking place in Stephen. Well, the Sadducees, um, What's so funny is, yeah, they don't believe in resurrection, but they accept the, the, the Torah, the first five books of scripture, um, written by Moses. So if you're blaspheming Moses and God, that is like the worst thing you could do in front of a Sadducee. But what does he do? They're seeing the physical representation of what happens to Moses up on Mount Sinai take place in front of them. So the very individual that they also worship as God, God breathing scripture through That there hasn't been a prophet since they're still on the lookout for another prophet like Moses, this very individual. Now, this guy, um, who's preaching the way of Jesus is now being shown like a new Moses. He's his personal presence, um, is so close to God. That it's almost as if it is, uh, being equal to Moses seeing the backside of the physical presence of God on Mount Sinai. And he's going to come down off the mountain and freak everybody out because he's glowing, uh, because he's been so close to the glory of God.

Alison: 14:02

Yeah, so you're so on point with that. I just wanted to read Exodus 34, 29 so that they can hear how close it is. Oh, we're reading Old

Adam: 14:08

Testament, okay. Okay,

Alison: 14:09

so Exodus 34, 29 says, When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, His face was radiant because he had been with the Lord. So

Adam: 14:17

I love your translation. Radiant, you know what the literal translation is? Tell me he had horns of light.

Alison: 14:22

Oh,

Adam: 14:23

horns. I like that. That gives me better imagery. If you want to look up some cool imagery, look up a renaissance Um, statues of Moses glowing and he always has horns on his head and you're like, Oh, that's jarring. If you don't know that what it's talking about is horns of light.

Alison: 14:37

Okay. Interesting. So he's basically been accused of blaspheming God, Moses, the temple, the law, all the important things. Right. And chapter seven is going to open up with, uh, the high priest. Who's probably still Caiaphas, the same high priest we've been dealing with the last several chapters, basically saying, Are these things true? Yeah. And Stephen takes that opportunity, um, to give the longest sermon in the book of Acts. It's great. Um, it's like 60 verses long and it's like

Adam: 15:05

my favorite Bible nerd surgeon. I'm gonna let

Alison: 15:08

you talk about it then, but before you do, I think I'll point out just one over, over, over. overarching thing. It's not really a defense for himself, is it? It's more a case for Christ.

Adam: 15:17

Yeah.

Alison: 15:18

So tell us about it.

Adam: 15:18

Ultimately, I think there's one more thing that's really important to understand about Stephen. We're seeing the physical Acts 1 8 commission of the people take place right in front of our eyes. So what we're seeing is, if you recall, Acts 1 8 is talking about going into all of Judea and Jerusalem, Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. to the outer edge of the earth. So we're watching this, we're watching the movement slowly before our eyes begin to spread. And if you're looking at the start of the Christian movement, it started within the family of the chosen people of God, Israel, which would be the Jews of the time. And now what we're seeing is we're slowly watching this morph out into outside of the Jews. And Stephen becomes a representation of this because he's not only just a Jew, but he's a Hellenistic Jew. And we know that he's a Hellenist. And what that means is ultimately he's a Jew. Um, a, a, a Jewish, um, believer, but he also was raised in Greco Roman, um, culture. And so what we're seeing is kind of like a mishmash of, of, of, uh, Gentile and Jew now. And not just fully Jew, but kind of a mishmash of the culture today. And he's the one who's going to stand up beforehand and he's going to begin to re, um, Reissued the whole, um, Old Testament narrative to point to how what's happening right now was absolutely necessary and, uh, and a part of it, including all that down to rejecting, um, Jesus himself. And so you're right. It is a case for Christ and I won't go through. All of this, but what he does is he takes you through all takes you through Abraham and Isaac and Joseph Then he goes through the exodus narrative. He's just retelling the whole Bible story here All the way through Mount Sinai and then talks about the rejection of Israel to Moses and how Israel Um, longed to be back in Egypt, and so they wanted to reject Moses, this great leader that the Sadducees would have accepted, right? And, uh, then the whole covenant aspect that takes place at Mount Sinai, but also at the, at the end of the covenant part, he talks about the golden calf. You know, he's, he's just going down all these popular narratives that we're seeing. He's retelling, as a Hellenistic Jew, the story of the scriptures that they teach, you know, yearly. But yet he's going to cap it off with this awesome statement. This is why I think it's the tale of two temples. He caps it off in verse 48. And if we need to go back through some of these, we can. But I just think this is just great. He says, yet the most high does not dwell in houses made by, uh, by, Uh, hands, just as the prophet says, and then he quotes, uh, uh, uh, uh, he says, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is this place of my rest? Did not my hands make these things? And so he's now taken to the golden calf narrative. He's taken him through the building of the tabernacle, talking through the Canaanite conquest. We see all this history that's being laid back out. And then at the end of it, he's saying, ultimately, God was the God of all creation beforehand. He's not, he doesn't dwell in this. this building over here that you are the authority over. So, what authority do you really have? God is the God of all things, not just that building ultimately, which is why I think this would be a great, um, uh, title to this podcast, which was A Tale of Two Temples, because we're looking at two different temples. One is a, Half Jew, half Greco Roman teach in the gospel outside of the temple, and he's the one that's glowing. Not the high priests that are in the personal presence of God on behalf of the people before God, um, that he is preaching to. And it's just like, that's beautiful. I love

Alison: 18:44

that you chose to read verse 48 because it definitely is where he like drives his point home, right? So if I can give his sermon three points since it is pretty long.

Adam: 18:54

Oh, yeah,

Alison: 18:54

and and we could read the whole thing It's worth reading. I would encourage our listeners to read the whole thing But if I was to sum it up in like three points, I would say what basically your first point You already said God's not confined to the temple. Mm hmm. And like it's Through those narratives that he mentioned, he lists more than ten places where God met with his people in the Old Testament that were not In the temple. Yeah. He talks about the wilderness in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Horan, and all these different places. Um, and then he also points out his second point would be that God consistent or God's people consistently reject God's messages. And he uses the narratives that you mentioned to point that out. And then his third point I think would be Jesus is the messiah. He is the fulfillment of all of the old testament prophecies and without Jesus at the center of it You Their story is incomplete and um, and I think Verse 48 that you read absolutely drives home that first point that the temple, um, is, isn't necessary for God to meet with his people. And then I think verses 52 and 53 might be how he drives home the other two points. Um, he says, Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They even killed one who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. You received the law under the direction of angels. and yet you have not kept it. And um, so I think that that clearly drives home the point that God's people rejected God's messenger and that Jesus is the Messiah. And my favorite part of how he says it is, did you notice he has to add in, you received the law under the direction of the angels, those people you don't believe in. Yeah. Like he's not our friend. Um, to drive home that point.

Adam: 20:40

It hit me this week when I was talking, when, when I was thinking through the progression of the personal presence of God and how in Genesis 1, it is everywhere. Like it's, he's in creation, the spirit of God is everywhere. Then Genesis 2 and 3, we see him literally personally walking with God. Um, Genesis four and on, we're going to see him still wherever they are, whether that be, uh, you know, east of Eden where Cain is, he's protecting him. He's on the mountain with Noah post the flood. He's with Abram, Abram in Egypt or in Babylon. He is in all these different places, but yet as the story progresses on and he chooses Israel for his people, then they tabernacle. Tabernacle hymn, which kind of defines him into a single location, but also that's still mobile. It's a tent. So wherever the people go, the tent is reset back up. So the mobile personal presence of God is still taking place. Um, and then, but then when the temple is built in Jerusalem, it's as, it's almost as if this great thing is actually not that great of a thing because now the theoretical physical presence of God is, is, is in Jerusalem. It's just in this temple. Now, that's a big deal because that's what the Israelites saw, but Ezekiel's vision's all, all about a mobile temple and that God's personal presence is actually being shown to this priest in Babylon. Whoa, amazing, right? And, which is a big deal because that temple is gonna get destroyed. And what happens when the personal presence of God gets destroyed? Well, this is going to have really important, um, uh, implications to those who are reading this, not long after it's been written, too. Um, you have to remember, there's a couple different lenses that we're looking at each of these passages, the first of which is from the 2024 lens, or whatever year you're listening to this, um, what that means, but then you also have to look at it when he was writing it, you know, the, um, Um, you know, early sixties, maybe late fifties, he's writing this particular, um, passage. Luke, because not a decade or so later, um, the temple itself is going to be overthrown again. And it's not going to be, um, uh, uh, rebuilt in its same magnitude. The animal part Sacrifices are going to be done until today. Literally, literally, um, they still have not taken place. It will never be the same again, you know? And so if you're an early first, second century Jew, and you know that the personal presence of God has been destroyed, what, what does that mean? Well, it means good news because it wasn't confined to that building. You know, the personal presence is wherever, um, the Holy Spirit is empowering and moving and growing. And here he's saying, You're no different than any of these people that you teach, or that you claim to be descendants from, or claim to have the authority of. They killed the prophets too, and you killed one too, and luckily the Mosai, not confined to this building, doesn't matter. He's gonna move where he moves, and whether you believe it or not, and God's will and way are going to continue regardless of man's plan. Uh in creation

Alison: 23:28

and like you said it was so much more than a building to the chief priests, right? So we would be referring to I guess herod's temple at this time and herod's temple was a magnificent structure from what we read a lot of gold I believe was used in herod's temple and um I read somewhere that The scripture that, um, tells God's people that they will be a light to the nations. Obviously that light's meant to be carried forth to the ends of the earth, right? But the, the Jews, the religious leaders at this time thought that that was literally the temple. Like, um, tradition says that the sun would shine on the gold of Herod's temple and just create like a light. And they, they, they thought that that was the fulfillment, that that literal building was the fulfillment of God's light to the nations. Um, God, though, was never confined, as Stephen pointed out, and you illustrated to us, was never confined to a building. But it's pretty serious, um, to these religious leaders that Stephen would be, um, minimizing that physical temple. And not only was it, like, a place, like, they worshipped the temple, but also that's how they received their power, right? These people got their power because, because, because, Everyone needed to go to the temple. You know, that's what they taught, that you needed to go to the temple. And guess who was in charge when you got there? Yep. Um, the religious leaders were in charge. And so by removing the priority of the temple in the life of the Christian, it also removed the power of the religious leader.

Adam: 24:54

Yeah.

Alison: 24:55

And they don't react too kindly.

Adam: 24:56

No, they're going to subvert their own power now. What they think is going to be a powerful statement.

Alison: 25:02

So, would you like to read, um, what they do specifically, starting in verse 54 of Acts chapter 7?

Adam: 25:08

You want me to just finish through 60?

Alison: 25:09

Yes. Okay.

Adam: 25:10

Now, when they heard these things, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, unless, in case you forgot, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city, and stoned him, as, and they wit The witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus received my spirit and falling to his knees. He cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when they, when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Alison: 25:56

So Stephen is the first Christian martyr. Yes. It's for the faith. This is the first time that we're going to see someone be put to death, um, because they placed their faith in Jesus. And, um, one of the things that. I think is important to point out in this passage is that this is the only time in the book of Acts that we're going to see, we're going to see Jesus referred to as the Son of Man.

Adam: 26:19

And

Alison: 26:19

do you think that that term is there on purpose in this passage?

Adam: 26:23

Actually, the Son of Man is incredibly important because this is the, While we ascribe many titles to Jesus himself, this is the number one title that Jesus gave himself. Um, not son of God, not, you know, whatever title, you know, insert whatever title, this is like the number one thing that he called himself was the son of man. And the son of man would have been an incredibly important passage because, um, it was directly reflective of, um, a passage of scripture, uh, in Daniel. Daniel chapter 7 specifically. Uh, and Daniel chapter 7, uh, begins, or in the middle of it, starting in verse 9, it's talking about, um, the Ancient of Days reigning, God himself reigning, and, and this vision that Daniel is having, and it says that, that there were thrones that were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat, his clothing was white as snow, his hair, the hair of his head was like, pure wool. The throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire, streams of fire issued and coming out before him. Thousands and thousands served him. Ten, ten thousands time, ten thousands stood before him. The court sat in judgment and the books were open. Then he, skipping down a little bit, verse 13, it says, I saw the night visions and behold, there with the clouds of heaven, there came one like the son of man. And he came and he To the ancient of days and was presented before him and to him was given dominion and the glory and, uh, and a kingdom that all people, nations, languages would serve him. So he's going to make this statement that this son of man, this so called rider of the clouds, which also side note is a. a polemical statement, it's kind of like a Kick dirt in the face of those around them statement because baal if you remember baal in the old testament He is known as the the storm god or the rider of the clouds and here he they're saying no No, your god rides the clouds No My god rides the clouds my god stands before and has been given dominion and power over all kingdoms and all nations So here In this showdown of Stephen where the temple authorities are trying to show their power, um, he's going to sit there and saying that he sees, he's glowing just like Moses and just like Moses and the 70 elders. Oh, I just thought of Moses and the 70 elders up on Mount Sinai, look through in Exodus 18 or 19, look through the heavens like an, like a big, uh, uh, emerald, uh, glass, uh, thing, and they can see the glory of God up in the heavens while on Mount Sinai. The San, the, the Sanhedrin. You'll never guess how many members.

Alison: 28:44

70.

Adam: 28:44

Yeah, 71 with Stephen.

Alison: 28:47

That's pretty cool.

Adam: 28:47

70 elders and Moses. Interesting.

Alison: 28:50

Yeah. And

Adam: 28:50

anyways, but the Sanhedrin doesn't see it.

Alison: 28:53

Right. Just Stephen sees it. Just

Adam: 28:55

Stephen sees it. Oh, that's interesting. It just hit me. Just Stephen sees it. So this is a change. This is a massive change.

Alison: 29:01

You're right here for Adam's Revelation. Yeah, the

Adam: 29:03

70 elders don't see it. Interesting. Anyways, and he looks up and he sees God, um, and the glory of God, that is the Son of Man. And the Son of Man is, is a term called, uh, referring to himself as the human one. Um, the Son of Man, um, is both Son of God, he is God fully, but he also is the human one. And so he looks up there and he sees the resurrected, um, Um, human one up there, uh, uh, in the glory and with the glory of God and, and then we'll quote similarly to what Jesus quotes on, on the, um, uh, on the cross when he says, he repeats ultimately, forgive them. They don't even know what they're doing ultimately, then he dies and gives up his own spirit. And so what these people are doing are, are, uh, what they think is great, you know, um, but they're, they're yet again, proving exactly Stephen's point. You martyred all those previous ones who spoke the name of Jesus. And so their response to prove him wrong was to do it again.

Alison: 29:59

And Luke is very clear in the way that he writes this chapter in the whole book of Acts to point out who's right and who's wrong. And one of the ways I think that we can tell, obviously, that the religious leaders were not acting Rationally, or responsibly, or rightly, is that, um, in verse 57 it says that they yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and rushed against them. Rushed against him, Stephen. And that is obviously a very emotional response. But it's also the same phrase that is used in, um, Mark 5, verse 13. When Jesus was at the temple and there was a demon possessed man. And he cast the demons out. And And they went into the pigs. Do you remember this story? Yep. And it says that the pigs just literally rushed off the cliff and into the sea and drowned themselves. And the phrase, the verbs there, the verb phrase used there in Mark 15 is the exact same verb phrase used here in Chapter 7 to describe the way that the religious leaders acted like pigs who jumped off a cliff and into the sea. That's how they rushed at Stephen.

Adam: 31:03

Not only rushing, they gave another little verb of what they were doing. It says that they were like grinding and gritting their teeth and stuff, which is an exact allusion to Psalm 58. And listen to what it says here. The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray from birth, speaking lies. They have venom like venom of serpents, like the deaf adder who stops its ears. They started covering their ears. So it does not hear the voice of the charmers or the cunning enchanter. Oh God, break the teeth of their mouths. Tear out their fangs of the young lions, oh Lord. Let the, let them vanish in the water that runs away. When it aims his arrows high, let them be blunted. Let them be like a snail who dissolves into slime. Like the stillborn child who never sees the sun. Sooner, uh, than your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, whether green or ablaze, may they sweep them away. And listen to this. The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. And, so here, they're being ascribed to their acts, they're acting just like the wicked who've been wicked from the birth. They can't hear it, they can't see it, they're gritting their teeth, and God's going to rip those teeth out. But he's gonna do it, and not in a way that you expect. Why? Because these people aren't acting the way that you would expect God would. They're murdering Stephen. But what we're going to see is that the people will do invert that and show that the real, uh, the real win is going to be by breathing new life into people and not taking life from people.

Alison: 32:29

And I like that you rightly called this instance a murder because it very much was a murder. And not only because they were wrong to accuse and convict Stephen, but also because they didn't handle this in a way that even their own law would have, um, mandated they handle it. There was actually methods for stoning in the Mishnah, which the Mishnah was just like the collection of man made laws that the Jews followed and they had a lot of them. I bet it was a big book. And in the Mishnah, it like specifically said how to stone someone and it was very methodical, like you walk out five cubics and you have cubits and you have them kneel down and then you walk ten more cubits and I don't know all the details but they just really Drug him out of the city and they stoned him and they did it without roman authority, which they they also they were allowed to stone But they weren't allowed to do it without the romans knowing about it um And so that's why that's why if you think back to the gospel Remember the, they could have stoned Jesus when they decided he was guilty, but they brought him to the Roman authorities because they wanted him executed. And so Jews had the right to stone, but they didn't have the right to Roman execution. And so, um, but they just didn't, with Stephen, they just didn't even waste the time to go get the authority from Rome to stone him. It wasn't a sentence. Um, it was a murder. Yeah, it was like a

Adam: 33:53

vitriol reaction. It was just a pure flesh and rage and they acted like beasts. And ultimately, actually, I do want to say, One of those pervading themes in Acts is that of what happens when the beast is the one who's ruling the world. Now it's the beast. They're still playing with those same themes, so you're still going to get the people, the rulers and stuff who are acting like beasts, but ultimately the authority is not even being given to them at all, in any way. Even in the midst of killing them, we know that God is the God who's conquered death, so their death really is meaningless, it doesn't matter, because God has, can do the thing that they can't do, and that's conquer that thing, that, that death. And so, uh, we're seeing what happens when the beasts are acting like the beasts. They're taking and shedding the blood like Cain does with Abel in the Old Testament, and like Nebuchadnezzar and all of these beastly rulers who are, um, showing their, um, the reason why the rocks will cry out with the blood. They're acting like beasts, you know. But who remains in control? That's the question.

Alison: 34:52

So one of the things that you've taught me when studying the Bible is to look for hard right turns, you call them. Things that happen that are kind of unexpected. Overly detailed. Yeah, come out of nowhere. And so I feel like there's a hard right turn. A little bit. In this passage. You want to tell us about it?

Adam: 35:07

Yeah, there's um, in this crazy murder scene, we're told about coats at the feet of somebody.

Alison: 35:13

Yeah.

Adam: 35:14

Okay, cool. Got it. Good enough.

Alison: 35:16

And so, and I mentioned earlier, so I'll read the, I'll read the verse. I think people are probably following along with what we're talking about, but they're in the middle of stoning Stephen and it says in verse 58, Oh, and the witnesses by the way laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Adam: 35:31

And

Alison: 35:34

we're gonna meet Saul again. And I mentioned earlier in the podcast that Luke has this way of like introducing people and then they're going to come back later in the story as major players and that's definitely true for Saul. Um, but I think that if we read just one more verse, if we go into Acts chapter 8 verse 1, um, it, it says something else about Saul. It says, Saul agreed with putting Stephen to death and on that day a severe persecution broke out against him. The church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria. So I think it's really interesting that that's verse 8 1, and what does, what is Acts 1 8?

Adam: 36:14

Says that you will be my witnesses into all of Jerusalem and to Judea and all of Samaria.

Alison: 36:18

Yeah, and so God's using this horrible event as the catalyst to, um, begin spreading His Word just like He promised to do. I love

Adam: 36:27

the, I keep using this picture recently, um, of, Um, it's a farmer scattering seed in his field. It's, you can crunch all those seed up together into one place, but they're eventually gonna kill each other out, ultimately. Like, they're gonna, but by scattering across, you're watching these things, these dead things seed, they're all gonna sprout new life all over the field. And, and this thing that's causing this scattering, which would seem so bad and so awful, is actually something God is going to use for good, Edens everywhere that they go. Right, not just here in Jerusalem, but now in all Judea and all Samaria and ultimately to the edge of the earth.

Alison: 37:05

Yeah, and one of the things I noticed a contrast between, there's a lot of contrast between the religious leaders and the early church, early Christians. But one of the things I noticed and we talked about how the religious leaders were trying to control the narrative. Who the temple, what the temple was, who, you know, who could meet with God and how they could do that and all that. They were trying so hard to control the narrative. But we see that. But Stephen, he, he wasn't trying to write his own story, right? He, he was surrendered to the sovereign Lord to the point of death. Um, he understood that he wasn't the author of his own story. And I think we see that here with Saul too, who later we're going to learn is also called Paul. And just spoiler, spoiler alert, if you already know about Saul and Paul, he didn't change his name. Saul was his Hebrew name and Paul was his Greek name. So we'll talk about that more later, but we, we get. This like little glimpse of this really disturbing thing that Saul did. And it's interesting when you think about the fact that one of Luke's main sources for this chapter of scripture would have probably been Saul. Like Saul would have been telling Luke this story. And like, would you have left out that part of the story? Like, if it was you? Yeah, for

Adam: 38:16

sure.

Alison: 38:17

Absolutely.

Adam: 38:18

Remember that execution part? Yeah. Let's not, let's not talk about that part. I mean,

Alison: 38:21

exactly. Let's talk about the good. But, you know, I think it's interesting that when we're truly living in God's story, like we're not called to be. bury any parts of his story. Uh, we're not called to try to control the narrative. Um, and I, I love that Paul, Paul's willing to say, Hey, this is where I came from. Um, and we're going to see where he's going. And it's much different from where he came from.

Adam: 38:46

That's beautiful. I love, this has been so much fun to look through, relook through these, these passages here and acts and just to watch. Just the kingdom of God begin to blossom, right? I mean, especially when the premise is Um, where's the personal presence of God? Is it in that, you know, that building that's in Jerusalem? Oh no, it's in the believers. Oh no, what's going to happen to the believers? Oh, they're going everywhere. They're going everywhere. So the personal presence of God is about to expand like we've never seen before. And it's going to bring its own issues. And it's going to bring some really incredible stories. Um, but I'm excited to keep going through Acts just to find out.

Alison: 39:22

I agree. And I'm excited as we study to begin applying it personally to a prayer for boldness in my life. Because I think sometimes we think about Paul, and we think about Peter, and we think about John, and we think about the acts and the signs that they did. And while we don't have, we're not in that apostolic period where there's a need for those kinds of signs necessarily, it doesn't mean that, The Holy Spirit still doesn't give us the same boldness. And so we can't, we can't look at Paul and Peter and John and think that we don't have access to that boldness. We do have access to that boldness and we can pray for it. Just like the early church did.

Adam: 39:58

Well, why don't you uh, why don't you do that? Why don't you pray for us?

Alison: 40:01

Dear Jesus, um, thank you so much for every part of your story. Um, dear Jesus, I just thank you for, um, demonstrating through the gospel that you use everyone, Lord. That, um, you are the sovereign Lord. That you are in control of all things. And that, um, as a believer's faith began to be tested, um, in this section of Acts that we've looked at, Lord. That the heat was turning up in the form of persecution, but The Holy Spirit was flexing his muscles too and filling the believers with boldness and I just pray Lord that you would remind us that that's the same Holy Spirit that we have. Um, when we have a personal relationship with your son Jesus, he gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit who can give us that same kind of boldness. And we are, we are at the ends of the earth compared to Bible places and Bible times Lord. Your, your will has been done. And so help us Lord as we are here in this time in this. place to um, continue the work that you promised would happen in Acts 1, 8, that when the Holy Spirit came upon believers, that they would have the power to be witnesses all the way to the ends of the earth and that help us Lord to do that in our place and in our time in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.