Bibles to the Book of Acts, we are in Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7, Stephen's defense before the Sanhedrin, or the council. The Sanhedrin, or the religious council, religious and political council, was made up of 71 members. It was led by the high priest, and here, after the charges are formally brought to them concerning Stephen's offense, The high priest questions him in verse 1, and then Stephen gives his defense.

It's a very lengthy defense. It's the longest speech recorded in the book of Acts. And for that reason, I thought it would be helpful to sort of do an overview of it. If we just jumped right into verses 1 to 8 concerning the call of Abram, we might miss sort of the significance of the speech as a whole.

So I wanna look at the significance of the speech as a whole this morning, and then in subsequent weeks, look at the particular parts and remind us how those parts contribute to the whole. But I'll actually read beginning back in chapter six at verse eight, and we'll read the chapter seven, verse eight. So Acts chapter six, beginning in verse eight. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

Then there arose some from what is called the synagogue of the freedmen, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. Then they secretly induced men to say, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council.

They also set up false witnesses who said, this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us. And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel. Then the high priest said, are these things so?

And he said, brethren and fathers, listen, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, get out of your country and from your relatives and come to a land that I will show you. Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, he moved him to this land in which you now dwell. And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on.

But even when Abraham had no child, he promised to give it to him for a possession and to his descendants after him. But God spoke in this way, that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them 400 years. And the nation to whom they will be in bondage, I will judge, said God. And after that, they shall come out and serve me in this place.

Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs." Amen. Well, let us pray.

Our Father, we thank You for the written Word. We thank You for this defense of Stephen. And we would pray now that Your Spirit would help us to understand how this functions in the book of Acts as a whole, how it functions in terms of His defense before this religious council. We ask again that You would forgive us for our sins and unrighteousness.

We pray for the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit, that we would be led into truth, that we would appreciate that truth, and that that truth would affect us, and it would further conform us unto the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. and that it would be the means by which you call sinners out of their darkness today into the marvelous light of the Christian gospel. And we ask this in the name and for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Introduction to Stephen's Defense

Well, as I said, this is a very long speech that Stephen gives. It starts here in verse two and goes all the way to verse 53. And it sort of focuses on key men throughout Israel's history. And there are similarities between this speech and things you see from Moses in the book of Deuteronomy.

Certain Psalms function in a similar way. I think Jesus does this in a parabolic way in Matthew's gospel when he traces the history of Israel to show how they treated as a whole, the prophets that were sent to them. Also, the Apostle Paul, later in Acts chapter 13, in a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, will do a similar thing. It's a tracing of redemptive history, the history of Israel and the key persons involved, sort of, or rather, so that he can answer the charges that had been laid against him.

So

The High Priest's Question

I want to look first at the question of the high priest in verse 1, and then secondly, the defense offered by Stephen. The defense offered by Stephen, and again, the overview. We'll get into the specific parts in the coming weeks, but notice, first of all, the question. It says in verse 1, then the high priest said, are these things so?

This is Caiaphas, the high priest. This is the same one instrumental in the trial of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the same one that has presided over the Sanhedrin when the apostles have bumped into them, or when the apostles, rather, were arrested by them. Back in Acts 4, and again in Acts chapter 5, it's Caiaphas, the high priest, that is presiding over these particular things.

And when he says to him, are these things so? He means the charges that have been brought. Remember, there was first this informal allegation brought against Stephen, and then they arrest him, they seize him, and they bring him to the council. They bring him to the Sanhedrin, and there, by false witness, according to verse 13, they formalize the charges against Stephen.

So with reference to the informal, notice in verse 11 in chapter 6. Stephen is preaching. He's full of faith. He's full of power.

He is doing great wonders and signs among the people He then is confronted by these various men in a synagogue and notice how they respond in verse 11 It says they secretly induced men to say we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God now They're not suggesting that Moses is more important than God when he says or when they say he spoke blasphemous words against Moses that's blasphemy against God God used As we proceed in the narrative, we learn the specific charges involve speaking ill of Moses and the law and speaking ill of the temple of God. And that's how it's formally brought to the council according to verse 13. Notice, they also set up false witnesses who said, this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. So that's their issue.

So to speak ill of Moses means to speak ill of Moses and the law. To speak ill of the holy place means to speak ill of the temple of God. So these are the two primary charges. And they offer up as proof verse 14.

They say in the hearing of the council of the Sanhedrin, they say in verse 14, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us. Now, as we saw in our studies in the Gospel of Matthew, the opposers of Christ misquote Christ. Christ never said, I will destroy this temple, but rather he says, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. So he is misquoted, and Stephen is as well.

Plus, they misinterpret. John in John 2 tells us that he was speaking about the temple of his body. He wasn't talking about Herod's temple. He wasn't talking about the second temple.

He was talking about the temple of his body being raised up on the third day. So they misquote both Jesus and Stephen, and they misinterpret both Jesus and Stephen. And remember that Luke has already told us that these are false charges. As we enter into Acts chapter 7, we have divine commentary that Stephen is innocent.

It's the council that's wrong. It's the council that's in error. We are specifically told by Luke that they brought these charges up via these false witnesses. It's the same sort of scene that you have in Matthew's Gospel in chapter 26.

The Sanhedrin desperately sought out testimony that would be able to indict the Lord Jesus Christ. So they drum up false witnesses to testify in that way. And the same sort of thing is happening here with Stephen. The same sort of thing will happen throughout the history of the church.

In fact, some commented after we looked at these charges brought against Stephen in Acts chapter 6, that it sounded like I was describing a particular political party. Well, brethren, things haven't changed. There is nothing new under the sun. The particular tactics employed here at the end of chapter 6 are the same sorts of things we see being done today.

It starts by a secret inducement. It starts by a bit of instigation. This guy's a troublemaker. This guy's got problems.

This guy's got issues. And then it starts to spread beyond that secret inducement or instigation to crowds of people. And we're able to gin them up and get them to ultimately cry, away with him, away with him, crucify him. And then it ends before the council and the false witnesses are actually being treated as if they're speaking the truth.

Luke tells us the problem in Acts 7 is not Stephen. The issue in Acts 7 is the Sanhedrin. There is this transfer of power happening right before our eyes. It's no longer the Sanhedrin that exercise religious power in Israel.

It is the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ under his headship, under his lead, under his direction that are the overseers of the Israel of God. the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's see how Stephen answers these particular charges.

Defense Against the Moses Charge

In the first place, notice in verse 2, he says, brethren and fathers. Isn't that wonderful? He's going to end the sermon by calling them stiff-necked and uncircumcised of heart, telling them, you always resist the Holy Spirit. The way your fathers did, so do you.

But initially he starts out very respectful. Brethren and fathers. Brethren in terms that we're all Israelites. Fathers in deference to these council members.

And notice he calls God the God of our father Abraham. In other words, Stephen and these men share a history together. But Stephen and these men took completely different forks in the road at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. These men rejected Christ, and Stephen embraced Christ.

So that history is in fact shared, and as Stephen will so ably demonstrate, that history culminates, that history is realized, that history is fulfilled by Jesus Christ. So remember, the two particular charges that Stephen is facing here. In the first place, he gives a defense concerning Moses and the law. And secondly, he gives a defense concerning the temple of God.

So let's see how Stephen does that with reference to Moses and the law. Notice. As I said, the history is woven together by various persons in Israel's history. Now Moses is a significant player in Israel's history.

In fact, that's the particular charge. He has blasphemed Moses. You can't do that. You see that in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

They tried to pit him against Moses, and always Jesus says, I don't have a problem with Moses, you have the problem with Moses. Moses wrote about me. If you would believe Moses, then you would believe me. Well, keep that in your head.

That's John 5, and that's precisely one of the tactics that Stephen employs here in his defense. But notice the rejection of Moses by Israel in particular. Look at Acts 7 at verse 25. The section concerning Moses runs from verses 17 to 44.

But notice the rejection of Moses in verse 25. For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. There was this misunderstanding on the part of Israel concerning Moses, their deliverer, concerning Moses, their judge. Notice in verse 27.

But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday? And again, we're going to get into the particulars, these subunits, or these subsets, and get into the nuts and bolts here. But suffice it to say, God made him a deliverer.

God made him the mediator of the old covenant. God made him Israel's head and leader. And then notice again in verse 35, in terms of their rejection of Moses. Verse 35, "...this Moses, whom they rejected, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge, is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush." One man, Thompson, says a recurring theme in the speech is the rejection of God's messengers.

This is particularly emphasized in regard to Moses, as the rejection of Moses is highlighted three times. It's not only with Moses. What happens with Joseph according to verse 9? His brothers hate him.

His brothers despise him. His brothers sell him into slavery. What's Stephen's point? They got it wrong in the past.

Maybe you've got it wrong in the present. They got it wrong with reference to Moses. Perhaps you've gotten it wrong with reference to the one that Moses wrote about. You see, Stephen is defending himself.

Stephen is defending Christianity. Stephen is presenting a cogent argument in terms of the two specific charges that have been laid against him.

Moses Wrote of Christ

Notice as well that Stephen highlights something that Peter does before him in Acts chapter 3. Moses wrote about Jesus. Look at verse 37. This is the Moses who said to the children of Israel, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.

Him you shall hear.

Deuteronomy 18 and the Coming Prophet

Turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 18. That is a quote from Deuteronomy chapter 18. It is a quote concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Deuteronomy 18 is an announcement, a messianic promise that Jesus Christ is going to come.

And so Stephen says that this Moses, this one you're claiming that I opposed, is actually the one who announced the very Christ that I worship. He is the one that wrote of Him. I think Stephen is saying, I'm not the one who missed the Old Testament, you're the ones who missed the Old Testament. I'm not the one who missed the transition or trajectory in redemptive history, but rather it's the religious council.

You wretched, unbelieving Jews. You Christ-rejecting Jews. You're the ones who have missed everything by a long shot. Now, Deuteronomy 18 is most instructive.

In the first place, you need to understand the context. With reference to Deuteronomy 18, verses 1 to 8, the provision for priests and Levites is spelled out. In other words, Israel is going to be a nation that has a priesthood. Israel is going to be a nation that, in terms of its religious observance unto God, is going to have a priesthood.

And those priests have to eat. Those priests have to wear shoes. Those priests have to have warmth. Those priests cannot live on love and fresh air, so verses 1 to 8 specifies that you feed the priests.

You clothe the priests. You put shoes on the priest's kids. You give them the sorts of things they need in order to function as normal human beings. And then as well, there is a prohibition against following the abominations of the nations in verses 9 to 14, especially occultism.

Especially occultism. Sometimes people ask the question, why does God have a problem with the occult? Because it's an abomination. And sometimes people think, well, it's just useless, it's worthless, it doesn't work.

I don't believe God commands us to stay away from it because it doesn't work. He commands us to stay away from it because it's an abomination. You see that scene in 1 Samuel chapter 28, that witch of Endor called up something Again, it's not the case that it didn't work, it's that it's wicked and violent evil. Israel was not supposed to join the nations around them seeking out those occultic means of instruction.

Rather, Israel was to be a people not only with priests, but a people with prophets. And the prophets spoke the word of the living God. The prophets spoke the mind and will of God. Stay away from the Ouija boards.

Stay away from the witches. Stay away from the tea leaves. Stay away from the lines on the palms. Stay away from the fortune tellers.

But rather, go to the prophet of God, who speaks the truth of God. Those things are not condemned because they don't work. Those things are condemned because they're a vile transgression against the God of heaven and earth. That's why scripture says, suffer not a witch to live.

Again, we freak out at that reality and we say, horror of horrors, how could that ever be? Well brethren, it is an affront to the God who speaks. Notice as well, there is this promise concerning the prophet in Israel. So there's this prohibition against occultism, and then there's this promise concerning the prophetic ministry in verses 15 to 19.

Notice, verse 15, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, him you shall hear. Isn't that what Stephen quotes there in Acts 7 at verse 37? To show that Moses promised the coming of a particular prophet in fulfillment of Deuteronomy chapter 18, 15. Now notice, he goes on.

Verse 17, And the LORD said to me, What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And then there's a warning that if you do not heed him, you will be cut off. Verse 19, it shall be that whoever will not hear my words, which he speaks in my name, I will require it of him.

And then there's a warning against false prophecy in verses 20 to 22. And you say, well, how do they know that that had to do with Jesus Christ? Well, there's a whole lot of reasons we know that it had to do with Jesus Christ. One of them is Matthew 17.

Remember on the Mount of Transfiguration when Peter, James, and John saw the glory of Jesus Christ? They saw him shining and beautiful and transfigured before their eyes? God the Father says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him.

Just like Moses says here, hear him. Peter interprets it the same way in Acts chapter 3. In fact, in our reading in John chapter 7, what's one of the questions the people were asking? Could this be the prophet?

Well, what prophet are they asking about? the prophet of Deuteronomy 18, the prophet promised by Moses, the prophet that as redemptive history moves forward is identified as Messiah or Christ, the one who would be born in Bethlehem, Ephrathah, the one who would be glorious and wondrous and most high and excellent. You see, Stephen is telling the Sanhedrin that it's not Stephen that has a problem with Moses, but it's the Sanhedrin that has a problem with Moses. The modern Jew today has a problem with Moses. Now here's where people say, well, you can't attack other religions.

I'm not attacking them in terms of ethnicity. I'm attacking them in terms of theology. They're wrong. They've missed Moses' main point.

Just like Jesus says in John 5, you say that you believe Moses. But if you believe Moses, you'd believe me, because Moses wrote about me. That's the point. And this is what Stephen is communicating in this particular instance.

Now notice, back in Acts chapter 7, the indictment, in terms of this particular charge, I think the indictment of verses 51 and 52 seals the deal. Notice he rebukes them in verse 51. You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. I think in terms of homiletics, there's something to appreciate here.

A sermon that can start off with, brethren and fathers, can end up with, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart. It's the reality that when a people fail to bow the knee to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, at that point, they're no longer brethren and fathers, they're stiff-necked, they're uncircumcised. They have demonstrated their consistency with the opposers of Moses. And this is Stephen's point with reference to his sermon.

Indictment of the Sanhedrin

Notice in verse 51, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did. So do you. See what I'm saying?

When we overview the sermon, we ask the question, does Stephen defend himself? He most certainly does. He is not anti-Moses because the council is anti-Moses. He is not against the law of God because the council is against the law of God.

These are passages, or rather, there are a whole host of passages that sound just like this in the Old Testament. You stiff neck, you see that in the book of Exodus. You see it in the book of Nehemiah. And why stiff-necked?

Why is that? It's an interesting sort of convention, isn't it? We use that once in a while. I don't know how often.

He's stubborn, or he's hard-hearted, or he's a stubborn-minded person. That's what stiff-necked means. It means to be stubborn. It means to be recalcitrant.

It means to dig in your heels and say, no way. It's very intriguing. Again, I think I mentioned the book by G.K. Beale on idolatry.

We become what we worship. It's a biblical theology of idolatry. And one of the things he points out is that Israel becomes like the gods it worships. And this stiff-neckedness reflects that.

What do we do with an animal? We put a yoke on it. Why? Because it's stubborn.

We have to put the yoke on it so that we can guide it, move it, and direct it to do the particular task that we want. What was one of the things that Israel worshipped? They worshipped calves. In fact, this particular passage alludes to that or deals with that.

When Moses is up on Horeb dealing and communing with God, what do the people say to Aaron? Make us gods that we can worship. And what does Aaron produce? He produces calves.

Psalm 115 tells us that the idolater becomes like that which he worships. So Israel collectively or collectively had taken on the characteristics of these animals that were stubborn, these animals that were unbroken, these animals that would dig in their feet and not be moved and not be directed. The very gods that they worship, they had taken on those very characteristics. That's why the prophet Isaiah upbraids them.

You have eyes, but you don't see. You have ears, but you don't hear. How are the prophets, or how does the psalmist mock the idols in Psalm 115? He says they have eyes, but they don't see.

They have ears, but they don't hear. They have noses, but they don't smell. They have mouths, but they don't speak. What happened?

All those who worship them will become like them. So this accusation or rather indictment of them being stiff-necked is not new in Israel's history. And then in terms of uncircumcised of heart and ears, the prophet Jeremiah uses that convention as he upbraids the people of Judah in his time. and this resisting of the Holy Spirit. That's not only in Ephesians 5, do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Or back in Ephesians 4, and grieve not the Holy Spirit by whom you've been sealed for the day of redemption. It's in Isaiah 63. They grieved the Holy Spirit in the wilderness. So Stephen is pulling from their own history, not only the record of their abuse in terms of Moses, but the same sorts of characteristics displayed by Israel then are still being displayed by Israel now.

In rejecting Jesus, they had rejected Moses. In rejecting Jesus, they had thrown away the Old Testament. In rejecting Jesus, they had missed everything. And that's Stephen's point, very specifically.

Notice in verse 52, which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one. You see what he says there? They killed the very prophets that were talking about Jesus.

They killed the very prophets that had written under inspiration of the Holy Spirit and had preached to the people of Israel and Judah that this Jesus Christ was coming, that he was going to save his people from their sins, that he would be the champion. And now notice what Stephen says with reference to his hearers. They killed those who foretold the coming of the just one of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers. You see, he's turned the tables, hasn't he?

In fact, brethren, when we see Jesus standing at the right hand of God in the next section, I think the emphasis is upon the fact that there is a trial, but it's not Stephen who's in the dock. There is a trial, but it's not Stephen who's defending. It's them. They're guilty.

They are wretched. They are lawless. They have no regard whatsoever for the law of Moses or the very temple of God. That's Stephen's point.

Defense Against the Temple Charge

Now, let's look secondly at that part of his defense in terms of the temple of God.

God Is Not Confined to a Temple

The first thing that Stephen does is shows that God's presence is not confined to an earthly temple. See, what happened in Israel was this. God said, build this temple. David wanted to, but David wasn't allowed to.

David was a man of war. He had blood on his hands. That's not to be interpreted as if David was a bad man. He had blood on his hands because God the Lord commanded him to.

God the Lord said, David, you're the man that's going to institute the boundaries in Israel. You're the man that's going to extend this empire. You're the man that is going to defeat the enemies surrounding Israel. So that was his task.

He was a man of war. But after David's reign, there was a season of peace. So his son called Solomon, which means peace, was the house builder or the temple builder for God. Again, when they built that temple, and that's what's intriguing, Solomon himself recognized that the temple couldn't contain the very God of heaven, but when they built that, initially it was good.

God manifested His glory. God showed His approbation of this particular place. It wasn't that it contained God, but it represented the presence of God, and God showed that by what was called the Shekinah glory. Nevertheless, what happened?

The people turned the temple into an idol. It's an amazing thing with us as creatures. God can give us good things, good things lawfully good, and we'll still make idols of them. It's an amazing thing, isn't it?

Money, it's not a bad thing. The people say, well, the love of money is the root of all evil. It's the love of money, not money. Money doesn't hop into a car.

Money doesn't go out and engage in drive-by shootings. Money doesn't abort babies. Money doesn't commit euthanasia. Money is neutral.

It's what the sinner with it does. Does that make sense? So you see, we take something good, marriage, relationships, children, parents, Good things, and we make idols of them. Well, this is what happened in Israel's history.

They concluded that insofar as the temple stood, God's pleased with us. Now, let's see how Stephen addresses this issue. In the first place, he indicates that the temple, or rather the God of heaven and earth, is not confined in temples. The first reference is found in verse two.

Notice, and he said, brethren and fathers, listen, the God of glory, He's not a blasphemer. He speaks of God as the God of glory. But notice what he says in verse two. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran.

You see, if the Jews' argument was the temple is the location of God or the temple is the dwelling place of God, you have to consider with this fact that our father Abraham saw God in Mesopotamia. I mean, not even temple. Now I realize it wasn't built yet, but that's his point. God doesn't need a temple to appear to his people.

God doesn't need a box to reveal himself. The temple was there for a time. It functioned in a particular capacity. And once again, the Sanhedrin and unbelieving Israel missed the point completely.

But God appears not just apart from temple, but even in Mesopotamia, in foreign soil. He's not even in Judah in this particular instance. Notice the promise of God's meeting with Israel in Sinai. Verse 7, "'The nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge,' said God, "'and after that they shall come out and serve me.'" Where?

In this place, Sinai. Again, not Judah. Jerusalem. Not temple, but God is able to meet with his people in the wilderness.

Notice the presence of God with Moses in the flames of the burning bush in the wilderness of Sinai. Notice in verse 30. Verse 30, and when 40 years had passed, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire and a bush in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight, and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him saying, I am the God of your fathers. the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

And Moses trembled and dare not look. Then the Lord said to him, take your sandals off your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground. I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them.

And now come, I will send you to Egypt. You see this, what he's doing? God doesn't need an earthly temple. He doesn't need the temple made with hands.

He's not dependent upon that. You become like Baalists. You become like Dagonists. You become like those who have this temple, and you believe that God resides there.

And therefore, you have made that very temple an idol. You've missed the point. God is the God of glory, power, majesty, and he does reveal himself in the temple, but he is not restricted to the revelation of himself in the temple.

Tabernacle, Temple, and Fulfillment

Notice the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness. Verse 44, our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness as he appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen. Now, for those who don't read the Old Testament, you know what I'm gonna say next, right? You should read the Old Testament.

But for those who don't, or perhaps you missed this spot, the tabernacle is simply a place that means dwelling. And the tabernacle was given by God to Israel before they were established in the promised land. It was a portable tent, and within that tent, there was a room called the Holy Place, and then another room called the Holy of Holies. That's where Israel went through the sacrificial rituals.

That's where they would bring the animals, they'd cut the animals' throats, they'd give the animals to the priests, the priest would then divvy up the animals, he'd burn some of it, there would be all these rules for sacrifice. Well, the tabernacle was a portable sort of a thing. Now, once they get stationed in the land, as I've said, David wanted to build a house for God. He didn't like the fact that he was living in a palace, David was, and God was still living in a tent.

In 2 Samuel 7, David says this very thing, I want to build a house for God. And that's when God says, no, I'm going to build a house for you, a dynasty, a dynasty of kings. And there's going to be one son that comes from you that's going to have eternal reign, an eternal kingdom. That refers to Jesus Christ.

But under Solomon in the promised land, in the city of Jerusalem, they build the temple. This is a permanent structure. And again, the concept or the idea is that God dwells or meets with his people there. That's the place where they sacrifice.

That's the place where they worship. That's the place where they praised. So that's what Stephen is referring to when he speaks about this tabernacle in the wilderness. In other words, while Israel's in the wilderness, God meets with them.

It's a beautiful and a wonderful thing. It doesn't have to be the temple, the stabilized temple in Jerusalem. Notice, as well, this reference to the tabernacle brought into the promised land in verse 45, which our fathers having received it in turn also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David. And here's David's request, verse 46, who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob.

And then we see the construction of the temple under Solomon in verse 47. So you see, while Stephen is giving a history of Israel, there's a point, there's a method There's a reality, there's an emphasis. Again, his argument is not, I have a problem with the temple of God. His argument is, you have a problem with the temple of God.

Because the very purpose for which there was a temple has come. And that purpose you betrayed and you murdered. In other words, the temple should have never become an idol because the temple was simply a signpost pointing forward to the Lord Jesus Christ. And now that the Lord Jesus Christ has come to continue to be attached to this temple has become idolatry for you.

It has become an abomination for you. That which God gave you for good, you have twisted it and perverted it and misused it and abused it. That's Stephen's point. Notice the limitation of temples with hands.

Verse 48, however, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says. Again, this shouldn't have been new information for the council. They shouldn't have said, wow, we never knew what Isaiah 66 1 and 2 meant. But that's precisely what Stephen says to them now.

Notice his quote from Isaiah in verse 49. Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Has my hand not made all these things?

Again, Solomon himself, at the dedication of the temple, which God willing we'll look at tonight, he says, but will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you. How much less this temple which I have built. So what's Stephen saying?

Your attachment to the temple and your rejection of Jesus Christ has put you in concert with the same persons that rejected Moses, the same persons that killed the prophets. Your problem with Jesus reflects your problem with the temple and your problem with Moses. Thompson, again, in his most helpful book, it's a biblical theology of the book of Acts. It's called the Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus.

He says one of the points Stephen makes in his response to the charge that he is against the temple is that God's presence has never been limited to the temple or even to the land of Israel. Stephen gives a kind of theological geography lesson from Israel's history to his audience. And G.K. Beal mentions this.

He says, the reference to Isaiah indicates that Stephen did not believe that Solomon's building of the temple was a sufficient fulfillment of the divine promise that a son of David would build God a temple. Now, if that was very confusing, here's what Beal said. In 2 Samuel 7, God promised that a son of David would build a house for God. The fact that Isaiah writes what Isaiah writes indicates that the people of God at Isaiah's time knew that the promised son of 2 Samuel 7 was not Solomon.

It wasn't him. Solomon himself recognized that when he confessed that this house, this temple cannot contain the God of heaven and earth. So in other words, if David understood that, if Solomon understood this, if Isaiah understood this, How come the council, the religious leaders, the religious elite in Israel's history at this particular time missed the point? Stephen is showing affinity with David and Solomon and Isaiah.

And Stephen is showing that it's the council that has a problem with David and Solomon and Isaiah. It's not Stephen that's missed the mark in his reception of Jesus Christ. It's them who have missed the mark in their rejection of Jesus Christ. That makes them haters of Moses and haters of the temple of God.

It really is an ingenious argument that Stephen weaves together. But let's just see a little bit more in terms of this temple theme.

Israel's Idolatry and Its Lesson

Notice the idolatry of Israel at the time of Moses. Verse 38. Notice in verse 38, this is he who was in the church, literally, in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. And with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected.

And in their hearts, they turned back to Egypt, saying to Aaron, make us gods to go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets.

Did you offer me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your God, Ramphan, images which you made to worship, and I will carry you away beyond Babylon." Now, for those of you who weren't here two weeks ago with reference to the sermon on abortion, Molech was Planned Parenthood back in those days. Molech was the god who had arms outstretched, standing in the fiery flames, who the worshipers would throw their children into its arms, and of course, they'd bounce out into the fire and be consumed. You say, well, you can't say that.

That's a horrific image, and that's a bad thing. Well, that's exactly what it was. You see what Israel had become in those days? They had become idolaters.

Rejecting Moses, they turned to the gods of the heathen around them. What's Stephen's point? Rejecting Jesus, the one that Moses wrote of, has reduced you to idolatry. In other words, this attachment to the temple, this craven desire for the temple, This external, formalistic, rote approach to who you say is your God has actually become an exercise in idolatry.

Again, one fellow makes this observation, I think, very well. He says, as Moses was rejected and the people's worship became blasphemous thereby, so with Christ rejected, the temple worship becomes a blasphemy. So you have to understand that if you're gonna ever understand the book of Hebrews. What's happening in Hebrews?

Hebrews is written to Jewish Christians prior to the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Those Jewish Christians are being tempted to turn back from Jesus Christ to go to the temple. Well, what's the author in the book of Hebrews saying? He's not saying tabernacle bad, temple bad.

He said those things were types and shadows until the time of Reformation came. Now that Jesus is here, to go to the temple is to go backward in redemptive history. The illustration I always use when I'm with my grandkids. I don't want to look at pictures on an iPhone.

I've got the kid! I can hold them, I can squeeze them, I can smell them, I can kiss them, I can do all of that. I'll look at the iPhone picture when I'm sitting here on Thursday morning. This is what the book of Hebrews is saying.

You have Christ. You have the substance. You have everything in Him. Why would you go back to the picture?

Why would you abandon the very substance for the types in the shadows? There's a lot of consistency between Paul, who I think wrote Hebrews, and Stephen in terms of his redemptive history in Acts chapter 7. The ones who had a problem with the temple in first century Israel were not the apostles. because they understood that the temple functioned for a time, and that the temple was fully realized and fulfilled in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It really is beautiful.

But let's just follow his argument one step further, and then we'll close. I know this might have been a bit of a different sermon for most of you, but I think to get this sort of overview will help us to make heads or tails of the parts as we move our way through it. And you might say, well, doesn't this overview just do Acts 7? No, no, no, no, no.

You're not getting off the hook that easy. If we got time to actually look at the Old Testament through the lens of Acts 7, we're going to look at the Old Testament through the lens of Acts 7. But notice now how Stephen ups the ante. He increases the pressure.

There's no mistaking what he's doing in this part of his sermon.

Stephen Sees the Heavenly Temple

Notice specifically in verse 55. Well, verse 54, it says, when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed at him with their teeth. It says the same thing in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. They were cut to the heart.

They didn't gnash at Peter with their teeth. They said, men and brethren, what must we do? And there they are directed to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, be baptized in His name for the remission of sins. That's not the case here.

They're caught to the heart, but now they're gnashing their teeth at Stephen. They are taking unto themselves the authority to execute a criminal that they don't possess. This is probably just a couple of years after the crucifixion of Jesus. We're not talking about a generation later.

The book of Acts, we might be around AD 36 right now, where Stephen is actually martyred. So three years prior, they, well, even probably less than that, Prior, they didn't have the lawful authority in the Roman Empire to execute Jesus. That's why they had to use Pilate. That's why Pilate had to be applied to, and why they had to present their case before Pilate, because they didn't possess the lawful authority.

That doesn't even concern them now. They understand Stephen's sermon even up to this point, but he's only going to make it that much worse for them in his dying words. But at this point, they are so angry, they are so frustrated, they gnash at him with their teeth, they drive him outside of the city, and they execute him with stones. Again, here's the lawful execution, a lawful punishment for blasphemy.

But that is not what happened in the case of Stephen. They're the blasphemers. But now notice what Stephen does. Verse 55, he being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

In other words, Stephen looked up and saw the temple. Stephen looked up and saw the temple. He's filled with the Spirit. He sees the glory of God and Jesus standing at his right hand.

Wasn't that one of the reasons for temple and tabernacle was the revelation of the glory of God? Exodus chapter 40, that glory cloud descends upon the tabernacle such that nobody could even enter in until the sacrificial system is given in Leviticus 1 to 9. That glory of God descends. It's referred to as the Shekinah glory, not in Scripture.

It's a loan word. It applies 1 Kings 8. The glory of God comes down upon the temple. Stephen now, filled with the Spirit, sees the glory of God and Jesus standing at his right hand.

Jesus standing there is another affront to these religious leaders. Again, Thompson makes the observation. In pointing to Jesus, therefore, Stephen points away from the temple, not just because God is bigger than the temple, but because in the kingdom of God, which Jesus inaugurated, Jesus is the one who fulfills the goals of the temple. Got to keep that in mind.

In fact, when we get to the New Jerusalem, what do we learn in Revelation 21, 22? This is a beautiful thing that is consistent with what we see here. John says, I saw no temple in it, the New Jerusalem, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. See why the dispensational desire for a rebuilt temple is going backwards in redemptive history?

It has more affinity with the Sanhedrin than it does with the Christian church. I'm not saying they're God-hating rebels that are going to hell, but I am saying they have misunderstood the purpose of temple. Temple points us to, temple directs us to, temple shows us Jesus. Now that Jesus is here, we don't go back to temple.

We have churches that people come to, and we worship God the Father through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. Doesn't Jesus teach the Samaritan woman the very same thing in John chapter 4? After he says, go and call your husband, she says, I don't have a husband. He says, you're right.

You don't have a husband. You've had several, and the one that you have is not your husband. She says, let's talk about worship. Jesus says, OK, let's talk about worship.

Our fathers say we're supposed to worship here, and you Jews say you're supposed to worship in Jerusalem. What's the truth? He says the time is coming when the worshipers of God will worship in spirit and truth. It won't be connected to the temple in Jerusalem.

It'll be wherever the blood-bought people of God are gathered together, approaching the Father through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. See, what we find in this particular passage of Acts 7 is Stephen's response completely consistent with everything that's gone before it. Now he steps it up even more so. What does Stephen do with reference to Jesus?

He prays to Him. Again, I don't think we're thinking the way the Sanhedrin would, so I'm going to try to tell you you should. What's the temple? The temple is the place of sacrifice, but it's also a house of prayer for all the nations.

That Stephen is calling upon Jesus shows that the locus has changed. It's not the temple where one goes to pray, but it's to Jesus Christ that one goes to pray. And then notice as well what Stephen does, sounding very similar to his master, when he says to Christ, do not charge them with this sin. Again, if you thought temple, you would think forgiveness of sins.

That was the place where Israel would go. They'd take the animal out of their flock, they'd cut its throat, they'd present it to the priest, and there would be a pronouncement of the forgiveness of sins. That great day of atonement that happens once a year, according to Leviticus chapter 16, the high priest takes his hands, he puts them on the head of the scapegoat, and he confesses the sins of Israel, and then he drives that goat out into the wilderness. That was a beautiful illustration of what we sing today.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. And yet now, Stephen is bypassing the earthly temple and going right to Christ, who is the fulfillment of temple, and asking him to extend the forgiveness of sins to these very wretches that are about to put him to death.

That's Stephen's defense. He deals with the charge that he's anti-Moses. He deals with the charge that he's anti-Temple.

Application and Conclusion

Well, in conclusion, we have to appreciate the gravity of the charges and the shrewdness of the Sanhedrin. Now, I suggested earlier that they misinterpreted the Old Testament, but they certainly haven't misinterpreted politics. They certainly haven't misinterpreted power politics and power religion. If we can create the understanding that Stephen, and therefore Christianity, is anti-Moses and anti-temple, well, it'll be very easy to dispatch Christianity.

You see that, right? They weren't fools. They weren't dummies when it came to try to consolidate their power. They understand what's happening.

Again, not in terms of theological reflection upon the text of Scripture and the promises of God in the Old Testament, but they saw that Jesus was a threat to their leadership during his earthly ministry. They are rightly concluding and perceiving that the apostles are a threat to their leadership through their ministry of preaching and teaching. And now here's this Stephen. He's not even one of the apostles.

He's one of the brothers that the church selected to serve meals to the Hellenistic widows. This man has just bested us in theological argument. So we have to show society just what a menace he and his ilk are. We have to show that they're blasphemers.

We have to show they're renegades. We have to show they're rebels. And therefore, that's why they do what they do. Brethren, there's nothing new under the sun.

I mean, we read this morning that a Buddhist, again, I don't know, I must've missed the memo. I always thought Buddhists were a peace-loving people. You know, the biggest thing a Buddhist would do is bang his tambourine and wear his orange robe. I mean, in terms of a political threat or even a religious threat, no, there's just not, in my radar, of people to be afraid of.

They turn in a Christian woman in a city in India because she had a prayer meeting in her home. What kind of a threat is that? And where was it? One of the states or one of the nations that we read was at Sri Lanka, where they violated the Chinese version of feng shui.

Some believers built a church, and it didn't fit the environment. So they get rid of the church. I mean, a little bit of a cold morning here, brethren. Is it really suffering for Jesus when you read some of these things with reference to Voice of the Martyrs?

I mean, the Philippines, a bomb blast. 20 people dead. This is normal routine. And you ask the question, why are nice guys like Christians put to death? Because they preach another king, even Jesus.

And men, opposed to Jesus, despise him. They loathe him. They hate him. And because they can't get at him, they kill his people.

Why is Stephen? I mean, the fact that he was even arrested. He's in the synagogue of the free men, and he bests them with his argumentation. What about, didn't your mother teach you to not be a sore loser?

You lost the argument. Don't go secretly induce or instigate men to drum up charges. Don't arrest him and bring him to the council with these false charges. Don't be a sore loser.

That's just not how the opponents of Christ operate. Again, we don't see it perhaps as they do in other countries, but we may be seeing it increasingly more as the days progress. Christianity is an affront to carnal man. And they don't just say, well, it's okay, you worship God and do your thing, and we'll just leave you out.

They don't. They harass, they destroy, they imprison, they torture. They do a whole host of horrible things. Like Stephen.

I mean, he best them in a theological argument. You'd like to think that doesn't mean getting drummed out of the city and stoned to death with stones. But that's what it meant for Stephen. As well, we need to understand the consistency of Stephen.

He understood the biblical theology of the temple. It's amazing, the commentators say, well, he's defending a form of Hellenistic Christianity versus a Hebraic Christianity, and so his anti-temple sentiment. He's not anti-temple! Any more than Jesus was anti-temple.

Any more than the prophet Jeremiah was anti-temple. Or the prophet Micah was anti-temple. All of whom spoke about the destruction of the temple. It's not anti-temple-ism, but rather it is this anti-God-ism that is reflected in their attachment to the temple.

It's not Stephen that's got the problem, it's them. He's consistent with the prophets, or the prophetic testimony of Moses, consistent with the Old Testament prophets. Again, Micah and Jeremiah prophesied concerning the destruction of the first temple. He was consistent with the Lord Jesus.

He prophesied concerning the destruction of the second temple. And he's consistent with the apostles. Peter shows that Israel's redemptive history ultimately and inevitably leads to Jesus. As well, in terms of the book of Acts, this is brilliant placement.

Again, Luke doesn't need me to tell him he's a brilliant writer, but think about the book. What's the purpose of the book of Acts? I think it's specified clearly in Acts 1.8. Jesus says, you'll be witnesses to me, first in Jerusalem, then Judea, Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Up until this point, what's happened? The church has been confined to Jerusalem. After Stephen is stoned, what happens? This persecution is used by God to scatter the people of God out of Jerusalem into Samaria.

That's the next chapter, Acts chapter 8. They go to Samaria, they preach the gospel there. And then with the conversion of Salatarsus, the very man that guards the garments of those who are stoning Stephen, he is converted. And then in Acts 13, the latter part of Acts 1.8 is fulfilled.

You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, then Judea, Samaria, and then what? To the uttermost parts of the earth. Where does the book of Acts end? It ends in Rome.

See, Jesus accomplishes his purpose. Jesus accomplishes his task. And we might not like the way he does it sometimes, or at least at some level, we might struggle with it. I mean, this is a horrible thing.

And as an innocent man, Stephen, judicially innocent, is stoned to death. A man who knew the Bible better than they knew it, nevertheless, he's taken outside the city and he's stoned to death. But what happens? The Lord Christ uses even that crooked thing to bring to pass something straight.

That's our God. This persecution is the means by which the people of God leave Jerusalem and they start going into other areas to fulfill the Great Commission. It's a pivotal place in the book of Acts. Stephen probably should get a whole lot more credit than we ever give to him because he was an awesome, wonderful individual.

And finally, and we ought not to avoid or escape this, the wickedness of man is certainly highlighted in Acts 7. I mean, to reject Moses, you've got big problems, right? Think about those Old Testament people. Think about it.

God gives them the law. Moses is still up there with God on the mount, and they're down on the ground with Aaron, and they say, you know, we don't have any patience. We don't want to wait. We want you to make us a god.

And then you've got Aaron. What's Aaron say later on? Well, the people prevailed upon me, and I took the gold, and I threw it in, and out came this calf. Really?

Out came this calf? There was no shaping? There was no tool? There was no making?

There was no manufacture? Out came this calf? Are you kidding me? Throw all the gold into any fire you ever want.

It's not going to just pop out as a calf. This just doesn't happen. So you see their incorrigibility. They want a God, they want a calf, they want to worship.

You trace through Israel's history, that's what you find. They're always craving something. They don't want God, they want creature. They don't want the Creator, they want stuff.

They get affixed to, and ingrained with, and attached to the various idols of the nations and the peoples around them. And then we come to the New Testament era. Jesus comes to his own, and his own receive him not. Jesus was a man who went about doing good.

Jesus healed people. Jesus fed people. Jesus raised people from the dead. And what did they do to Jesus?

They crucified him. You see, the sinfulness of man is clearly revealed in Acts chapter 7. And Stephen puts his finger on it. Stephen shows that.

Now, as they respond, that cutting to the heart is a good thing. Perhaps in your own life, you've been cut to the heart. Understand there are two different ways of proceeding after you've been cut to the heart. In other words, a pastor says, or a preacher says, or your neighbor says, or your friend says, or your wife says, or your husband says, or your parents say, look, this is what God's law says, and you have violated it every step of the way.

You don't just make a surface violation, but you actually go out of your way to outdo the sinners before you. It's kind of like that bit about Ahab in 1 Kings 16. As if it was too small a thing to follow in the footsteps of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he actually builds an altar to Baal right there in Samaria. So someone might have done that.

Some faithful person in your life might have said to you, you're wicked. You're wretched. You're lawless. You're vile.

You need grace. You need help. You need salvation. There's that cut to the heart.

I always pray that happens. I shouldn't say always. I'm a fallible man. Hopefully, a lot of the time, I pray that people get convicted by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that when they go home, they think through the things that they have heard.

And if sins were pointed out, sins were identified, I hope you get cut to the heart. But don't get cut to the heart like these people, who then gnash at the preacher with the teeth, or who then gnash at the parents with the teeth, or who then gnash at their spouses with the teeth. Isn't that our sort of default response? That happens, doesn't it?

Somebody comes to you in faithfulness and says, you've done such and such. Well, what about you? OK, we'll talk about me later. But right now, let's talk about you.

We're just so defensive, and we're so proud, and we're so arrogant. It's pathetic when you stop and think about it. And it's so obvious when it's the US government or it's Justin Trudeau. But we don't see it when it's us, right?

But that's the way we are. We get cut to the heart. And instead of taking the message and saying the way they did in Acts 2 and the Day of Pentecost, what shall we do? We get upset, we get whiny, we get complaining, and we grumble, and we don't want to be around that person anymore, because they don't tell us the sorts of things we want to hear, just like Ahab, that wretched man that despised the true prophet of God.

If you're cut to the heart because of your sin, listen to the language of Jesus in John 7. If any man thirsts, let him come to me, and I will give him drink. If any man is weary and heavy laden, come to me and I will give you rest. I hope and pray that you're caught to the heart, and I hope and pray that you run to Jesus, not run against the preacher, not run against the one who tells you the truth, not run against the person that actually says you're a wretch and you stand in need of Jesus.

How about running to the Jesus you stand in need of? That's the hope, that's the prayer, that's the desire. Well, let us close in a word of prayer.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank you for your word, we thank you for Stephen's defense here, and we do pray that you'd help us to appreciate his argument, help us to appreciate the entirety of the Old Testament and how it leads inevitably to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul says, he is the end of the law, the purpose of the law, the telos of the law for all those who believe. And we rejoice in that, and we praise you for that. And we look forward to that day we enter into the new Jerusalem where there's no temple, because God and the Lamb are the temple.

And we ask that you would be with us now, grant us safety as we travel now, and grant us grace to sanctify the day and to glorify you. And we pray through Jesus Christ the Lord, amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation and then be dismissed.

Scripture References

• Exodus 32:9; 40:34
• Leviticus 1:1; 16:21
• Deuteronomy 18:1-8; 18:9-14; 18:15-19; 18:20-22
• 1 Samuel 28:7
• 2 Samuel 7:12-13
• 1 Kings 8:10; 16:31
• Nehemiah 9:16
• Psalm 115:4-8
• Isaiah 63:10; 66:1-2
• Jeremiah 26:18
• Micah 3:12
• Matthew 17:5; 21:33; 26:59
• John 4:21-24; 5:46; 7:37; 7:40
• Acts 1:8; 2:37; 3:22; 4:1; 5:17; 6:8; 6:11; 6:13; 6:14; 7:1-2; 7:9; 7:17-44; 7:25; 7:27; 7:30; 7:35; 7:37; 7:38; 7:44; 7:45; 7:46; 7:47; 7:48; 7:49; 7:51; 7:52; 7:54; 7:55; 8:1; 13:1
• Ephesians 4:30; 5:18
• Revelation 21:22