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Study #28: The deacon Stephen prepared the Sanhedrin for a powerful indictment of their rejection of their own Messiah (Acts 6:1 - 7:43)
Acts, Chapter 1.3: The Sanhedrin violently rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ from Stephen (6:1 - 8:4)
§Unique Introduction: The Apostles appointed seven men (Deacons) to assist them in the ministry of the church at Jerusalem (6:1 - 7)
¶Opposite The Apostles ask the members of the church at Jerusalem to choose seven men to take charge of the daily distribution of food (6:1 - 5)
¶Opposite The appointment of the seven Deacons resulted in a great increase of the church membership at Jerusalem (6:6 - 7)
§Complement Body: Stephen laid the theological groundwork for an indictment of the leadership of the Jews for their guilt in murdering their Messiah (6:1 - 7:43)
¶Unique The enemies of Stephen caused him to be falsely arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin council of the Jews (6:8 - 15)
¶Complement God called Abraham to serve Him and gave his seed the land of Canaan (7:1 - 8)
¶Complement Joseph called his father Jacob to come down to Egypt with his family (7:9 - 16)
¶Opposite God trained Moses for leadership by placing him in the household of Pharaoh, but Pharaoh tried to kill him (Acts 7:17 - 29)
¶Opposite God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, but the people rejected Moses and the Law of Jehovah (7:30 - 43)
§Complement Conclusion: Stephen indicted the Jews for rejecting their Messiah; and this resulted in his death and a general persecution of all Christians (7:44 - 8:4)
¶Complement Stephen indicted the Sanhedrin Council for murdering Jesus Christ, the true Temple of Jehovah, and the Prophet like Moses (7:44 - 54)
¶Complement This indictment of Stephen resulted in his death by stoning and a general persecution of all Christians (7:55 - 8:4)
Comments: We continue our study of Chapter 1.3 of Acts with the sermon of Stephen that he made before the Sanhedrin council of the Jews. You can think of this council as a sort of Supreme Court, that held all of the reins of power in Judea 2,000 years ago, except for the military power, which was held by the occupying Roman army. So in essence, the council represented the nation of Israel of that day.
So this sermon of Stephen was very significant, because one of God’s choicest and most powerful servants had an opportunity to, once and for all, present the message of Christ to the highest authorities of the nation of Israel. How would they react? Would they accept Christ as their Messiah or reject Him utterly?
The way that we will study this Chapter is different than the other Chapters in Acts, because the rest of this Chapter is a sermon that briefly covers a lot of history. This can easily cause a reader to get lost in the details and lose the larger picture of the message that Stephen, being led by the Holy Spirit of God, was trying to convey to the Sanhedrin.
So instead of printing every part of the Bible text in this study, I will only provide a compressed, elided version of the Kingdom Study Bible text with “...” to show where text was omitted for the sake of brevity. However, I will provide the Golden Ratio design of each subparagraph, and the full text of the last paragraph of the Body Section.
This study is a little long, so I trust that you will scan the content as you read it down to the application text, and not get bogged down in details, because you will become overwhelmed, especially if you are a young Christian.
§Complement Body: Stephen laid the theological groundwork for an indictment of the leadership of the Jews for their guilt in murdering their Messiah (6:1 - 7:43)
¶Unique The enemies of Stephen caused him to be falsely arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin council of the Jews (6:8 - 15)
¶Complement God called Abraham to serve Him and gave his seed the land of Canaan (7:1 - 8)
¶Complement Joseph called his father Jacob to come down to Egypt with his family (7:9 - 16)
¶Opposite God trained Moses for leadership by placing him in the household of Pharaoh, but Pharaoh tried to kill him (Acts 7:17 - 29)
¶Opposite God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, but the people rejected Moses and the Law of Jehovah (7:30 - 43)
§Complement Body: Stephen laid the theological groundwork for an indictment of the leadership of the Jews for their guilt in murdering their Messiah (6:1 - 7:43)
¶Unique The enemies of Stephen caused him to be falsely arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin council of the Jews (6:8 - 15)
“And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. ...Then they instigated men, who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God!” And they stirred up the people, and the elders and the scribes; and they came upon him, and caught him; and brought him to the council...
Paragraph outline: The “OO-CCU” (two opposites, two complements, and one unique) Golden Ratio design of the sub-paragraphs for paragraph 1:
Opposite Stephen did great wonders and miracles among the people
Opposite Certain Jews were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by whom he spoke
Complement Then they instigated men who accused him of blasphemy
Complement They stirred up the people, and the elders and the scribes, and brought him to the council
Unique All that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as if it were the face of an angel
¶Complement God called Abraham to serve Him and gave his seed the land of Canaan (7:1 - 8)
“Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?” And he said, “Men, 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 into the land which I shall show you.’ ... And he gave him the Covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob; and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.”
Paragraph outline: The “UCC-OO” (one unique, two complements, and two opposites) Golden Ratio design of the sub-paragraphs for paragraph 2:
Unique The high priest said, “Are these things true?”
Complement God appeared to Abraham and called him out of Mesopotamia
Complement God brought Abraham into the land of Canaan
Opposite God predicted that his descendants would become enslaved; and later return to Canaan
Opposite God gave the Covenant of Circumcision to Abraham and his seed: Isaac, Jacob, and his 12 sons
¶Complement Joseph called his father Jacob to come down to Egypt with his family (7:9 - 16)
“And the patriarchs, motivated by envy, sold Joseph into Egypt; but God was with him; and delivered him out of all his afflictions; and he gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house .... So Jacob went down into Egypt; and he died, and our fathers....
Paragraph outline: The “UCC-OO” (one unique, two complements, and two opposites) Golden Ratio design of the sub-paragraphs for paragraph 3:
Unique The brothers of Joseph sold him into slavery, but God made him the ruler of Egypt
Complement The brothers of Joseph came down to Egypt to find food
Complement The brothers of Joseph came down to Egypt again, and Joseph revealed himself to them
Opposite Joseph called his father to him
Opposite Jacob brought his entire family down to Egypt
¶Opposite God trained Moses for leadership by placing him in the household of Pharaoh, but Pharaoh tried to kill him (Acts 7:17 - 29)
“But when the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt; ... In which time Moses was born; and he was pleasing to God, and was brought up in his father’s house three months. ... Then Moses fled at this saying; and he was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons.
Paragraph outline: The “UCC-OO” (one unique, two complements, and two opposites) Golden Ratio design of the sub-paragraphs for paragraph 4:
Unique An evil Pharaoh rose up and began to oppress the children of Israel
Complement Moses was born and raised for three months in his father’s house
Complement Moses was raised to adulthood in the household of Pharoah
Opposite Moses attempted to deliver Israel by defending an Israelite, but they did not understand
Opposite Moses attempted to reconcile two Israelites who were fighting, but was forced to flee to Midian to save his life
¶Opposite God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, but the people rejected Moses and the Law of Jehovah (7:30 - 43)
“... ‘And now come, I will send you into Egypt.’ ... Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the stars of heaven: as it is written in the Book of the Prophets, ‘O you house of Israel, have you offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness? Indeed, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, statues which you made to worship them; and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
Paragraph outline: The “OO-CCU” (two opposites, two complements, and one unique) Golden Ratio design of the sub-paragraphs for paragraph 5:
Opposite Jehovah sent Moses into Egypt to deliver his people from slavery
Opposite Moses led Israel out of Egypt by the power of God
Complement At Mount Sinai, the people rejected Moses and the Law and turned to go back into Egypt
Complement The people made a golden calf and offered sacrifice to the idol
Unique God turned and gave them up to worship the stars of heaven
Look again at the Golden Ratio design of the Body Section of Chapter 1.3 of Acts: It is “UCC-OO” on the paragraph level: One Unique, two Complements (like two sides of the same coin), and two Opposites:
§Complement Body: Stephen laid the theological groundwork for an indictment of the leadership of the Jews for their guilt in murdering their Messiah (6:1 - 7:43)
¶Unique The enemies of Stephen caused him to be falsely arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin council of the Jews (6:8 - 15)
¶Complement God called Abraham to serve Him and gave his seed the land of Canaan (7:1 - 8)
¶Complement Joseph called his father Jacob to come down to Egypt with his family (7:9 - 16)
¶Opposite God trained Moses for leadership by placing him in the household of Pharaoh, but Pharaoh tried to kill him (Acts 7:17 - 29)
¶Opposite God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, but the people rejected Moses and the Law of Jehovah (7:30 - 43)
The Application:
Now, I have to save the Conclusion Section for the next study, because many of you are already overwhelmed by too much information. I hope that you will try to see the overall picture and not get bogged down into too much of the details.
Stephen was obviously not trying to give a complete review of the history of the nation of Israel. That would have taken hours, if not days or weeks even.
He quickly touched on the basics:
1) God called Abraham to serve Him in Canaan
2) Joseph called Jacob to come down into Egypt
3) God prepared Moses for leadership in the household of Pharaoh
4) God sent Moses into Egypt to lead his people to Canaan --
All of these things were non-controversial in the Sanhedrin council. They knew them all by heart, and probably agreed with most or all of it.
But at the end of the Body Section, Stephen was talking about the idolatry of the people and their rejection of the Law of Moses. This was the setup for his accusation and indictment of the Sanhedrin council in the Conclusion Section of Chapter 1.3 of Acts, which we will examine in the next study.
The people of Israel in the days of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles were outwardly conforming to the Law of Moses, but it was only lip-service in many cases, especially among the rulers of Israel (e.g. the Sanhedrin council of elders).
The people were proud of their beautiful Temple, built for them mostly by king Herod; and, to their credit, they were not worshipers of stone or wooden idols; but they had become enamored with multiplying rules and regulations through the use of commentaries on the Law, to the extent that the commentaries themselves had become the Law.
In effect, they had replaced the Word of God with their own commandments and rules, making the Word of God ineffective in the lives of the people.
Mark 7:5 - 13: “Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” He answered and said to them, “Well has Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Nevertheless in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the Commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, such as the washing of pots and cups; and many other such like things you do.”
And he said to them, “Full well you reject the Commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoso curses father or mother, let him die the death.’ But you say, ‘If a man shall say to his father or mother, ‘I am Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever you may be profited by me’: he shall be free.’ And you do not allow him to do anything for his father or his mother anymore, making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition, which you have delivered; and many such like things do you do.”
So instead of worshiping idols of wood and stone, the Jews had become worshipers of their own ideas and had created a new religion that had little in common with the Law of Moses. They had rejected the Law of Moses; and so when the Messiah of the Jews presented Himself to them, they could not accept Him, because He did not fit into their preconceived ideas about what was true and what was false.
Religion has always been the enemy of God in all ages. Satan loves religion, because it helps to keep the eyes of men and women away from the infallible Word of God and focused on the words of sinful men.
Men and women know in their hearts that there must be a God, because they exist; and they could not exist apart from a God, who created all things, just as the Bible says.
So Satan attempts to get men and women busy in doing religious things, so that they will feel like they are somehow pleasing God; even though there is no evidence from the Bible that they are actually pleasing God at all: in Hinduism and many other pagan religions, they sacrifice animals and offer fruit and food offerings to their millions of gods: repeating the same error of Cain in Genesis 4:2b - 7, with the same result: their offering is rejected by the one true God Jehovah; and they will perish in Hell because their sins were not forgiven by the one true God Jehovah before they died.
Mohammad and his followers also created a false religion with many rules and regulations; such as (one example of many), they throw stones at a stone idol of “the devil” in Mecca to supposedly demonstrate their rejection of Satan; but does it actually mean anything? No, it is a useless act of religion that makes Satan laugh, because he is not a stone idol but an evil spirit, and their stones do nothing to him whatsoever. Muslims are taught that doing good works are the path to “heaven”, although they have no idea how many good works are enough, so they can never know whether they are actually saved or not. They have to trust that “allah will be merciful”, even though they do not know “allah”, nor do they know where they will go when they die, even if one of their imams hands them a paper ticket to Heaven (e.g. Ayatollah Khomeini gave paper tickets to his Iranian soldiers in his war with Iraq, so that if they died fighting on the battlefield, they would be allowed into Heaven). Unfortunately for those men, the paper tickets were not accepted by the one true God Jehovah when they died.
Joseph Smith also created a false religion, like Mohammad, with many rules and regulations such as (one example among many) baptizing living people in place of dead people so that they will become Mormons, even though they already died; wearing “angel pants”, using secret handshakes and bloody oaths (similar to Masonry); they even have their own “Zion” in the western United States, and claim that their followers will become gods with their own planets (!).
However, the religious acts of Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, and other pagan religions do serve the devil’s purposes of keeping them busy doing religious things, so that they will not look to Jesus Christ who died on the cross for the sins of all mankind and be saved.
Many liberal “christian” denominations (including Roman Catholicism) have created “church laws” that are supposedly based on the Bible; but, they regularly change these “laws” to conform to modern thinking about homosexuality and the role of women in the churches, and other controversies of the day. Then are they really “laws” or only the opinions of sinful men? Clearly, the latter is true. They are following the same path as the Jews in the days of Jesus and the Apostles by creating man-made laws and rules that serve only to make the Word of God of no effect, which is not the will of God.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly; but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men; but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” Matthew 23:27-28
What about you? Are you following the words of sinful men rather than the Word of God? Are you very busy in “doing good works” and “trying to please God”, but you sense in your heart that all that you have done for God is in vain?
Jesus said,
“Not every one that says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but only he that does the will of my Father, who is in Heaven. Many will say to me in that day, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your Name? And in your Name have cast out demons? And in your Name done many wonderful works?’ And then will I profess to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you that work iniquity.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)
The Way to Heaven is not “many wonderful works”! The Way to Heaven is Jesus Christ Himself!
“Jesus says to him, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man comes to the Father, except through me.”” (John 14:6)
If you want to be certain that you will be worthy of Heaven when you die, then you must repent of your sins and turn away from them to Jesus Christ Himself, because JESUS IS THE ANSWER, my friend!
“...Christ: in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2b-3)
Realize that all of your religious and other good works will be burned up before God, and you will have nothing to save you from being cast into the Lake of Fire!
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteous works are like filthy rags; and we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” Isaiah 64:6
Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life.” John 3:16
Do you truly want to be saved, and know the one true God as your Savior, Lord, and Master? Then find a place where you can be alone with God, and pray this prayer with all of your heart:
“Lord Jesus, I know that I have sinned against YOU. I am no good, and you are righteous! I believe that you died on the cross for my sins, were buried, and rose again from the dead on the third day. I want you to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. Please come into my heart right now. Forgive me for all my sins, and save my soul. In the mighty Name of Jesus, I pray, Amen!”
If you have turned from your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and only Savior from sin, please message me through Facebook and let me know that you have done that, so that I can pray for you and rejoice with you in what God has done in your life. Amen.