Acts 7:55-60;8:1 ESV

55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together[b] at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul approved of his execution.

LORD, DO NOT HOLD THIS SIN AGAINST THEM

The people were mad and ground their teeth against Stephen so that they stoned him to death. However, beyond his sight unto their evil faces, he saw the glory of God as he gazed into heaven, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. This wonderful heavenly vision was so much that helped him to overrule all the physical pains he would endure.

The God he was proclaiming, he saw firsthand now. Thus he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” This statement they heard seemed to have added more fuel to their already burning hearts with anger. They rushed at him and brought him out of the city to be stoned. One of those guys who consented to Stephen’s death was Saul, later became the apostle Paul.

Stephen’s life is quite paradoxical. He pronounced vehemently, almost insultingly, that his accusers were murderers. Instead of uttering condemning words when he was stoned, he prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” He was unapologetic when speaking the truth against them. But, he was so compassionate for their souls.

Like him, we must be on fire to preach the truth but gentle and uncondemning to their souls. In other words, Stephen preached his heart out, pleading them for the salvation of their souls. He died as a martyr for Jesus through the bloody hands for the people he loved so much.

This was the same sentiment that Moses expressed to God, who was about to punish the rebellious Jews. He prayed, “ “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”[Ex 32:31,32] Similarly Paul also expressed, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”[Rom 9:3]

Today, let’s not be certain only to stand for truth unapologetically but love the souls of men genuinely also.

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Acts 7:51-54 ESV

51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” 54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

YOU ALWAYS RESIST THE HOLY SPIRIT

Their resistance to the Holy Spirit had exposed the problem of their hearts. They were a stiff-necked people and uncircumcised in heart and ears. As water couldn’t permeate into a hardened clay like pots, so is the numbness of hearts to the conviction of the Spirit. Instead of humbling, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him upon hearing the truth. They were no different than their forefathers who persecuted the prophets.

They were circumcised physically but their hearts and ears were not. Circumcision was the covenant sign that God gave Abraham to indicate that He chose Abraham to be the patriarch of His people. Abraham, most specifically his descendants, would possess the land of Canaan and bless the world (Gen 17:1–14). To be uncircumcised was to reject one's place in God's covenant. Stephen has already mentioned that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's sons were circumcised, taking their place in the Abrahamic covenant. In the same way, Stephen’s accusers have been circumcised and expect to take their place in God's promise to Abraham. In other words, they always believed as being entitled to receive the promise because they were also circumcised physically.

A religious ritual and tradition by itself isn’t necessary bad. However, a misunderstanding of a religious ritual may cloud or cover up the need of repentance. Take for example, an unregenerate person who is baptized with water may think he is saved because he has been baptized. A child who attends Sunday School regularly might assume that he is a believer because he is listedat the roster. As somebody said, ‘A person going to church won’t make somebody a Christian like a person who goes in McDonalds won’t make him a hamburger.”

Today, how would you respond upon hearing the truth? Do you melt or become mad? The sun that melts the wax would harden the clay. A broken heart would always receive the truth but a hardened heart would become much harder. Take for example Pharaoh’s hardening of his heart. God said to Moses, He would hardened his heart yet Pharaoh has hardened his heart also. In what ways? When God revealed to Pharaoh His power and glory, Pharaoh rejected God. The truth caused him to more defensive and built much thicker walls. This would happen if a person continues to reject the truth. Simply said, rejection to the truth is adding more veneer to the impenitent soul.

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Acts 7:44-50 ESV

44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[a] 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

49 “‘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 the place of my rest?

50 Did not my hand make all these things?’

WHAT IS THE PLACE OF MY REST?

God had commanded Moses to build the tabernacle. He designed it and Moses had to construct it according to the details. As they entered into the Promised Land, Joshua saw to it that the tabernacle worship did continue. When the kingdom reached its zenith during David’s time, David found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was his son, Solomon who built a house for God.

Stephen was laying down his defense against the Jews who accused him of disrespecting the temple. God didn't ask for the temple, did He? And He had no issues speaking to the priests inside a tent or tabernacle. The building is not sacred unless God's presence is actually there. The temple was not built until more than four hundred years after God gave Moses the plans to build it. God blessed the temple, but He didn't need it. Ironically, the temple was not built by Abraham or Moses or David but by Solomon. The structure designed in order to demonstrate the proper way to worship God was built by the king who started drifting away from God and worshiped idols and foreign gods instead (1 Kings 11:1–8).

Thus Stephen brought them back to the essence why the temple is irrelevant when God is not there. They had forgotten what Solomon had recognized during the dedication of the temple "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!" (1 Kings 8:27). God has proven him right: "As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD'S house" (2 Chron 7:1–2).

A few years earlier, a Samaritan woman told Jesus that God has to be worshiped in the place where the temple was for the Jews. Jesus responded to the Samaritan woman, matter of factly, that a time was coming when people no longer be obligated to worship at the temple. Instead, they would worship wherever they were, in spirit and in truth (John 4:21–24). In short, the attitude of worship and the object of worship matter, not the location.

Paul will use this same rationale with Greek philosophers, saying, "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything" (Acts 17:24–25).

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Acts 7:39-43 ESV

39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,

during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

43 You took up the tent of Moloch

and the star of your god Rephan,

the images that you made to worship;

and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

MAKE FOR US GODS

The 40 days and nights of waiting for Moses to come down from Mt. Sinai had revealed not only their impatience but insubordination to God. They demanded to a weak and pacifying Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

Once again, they rejected Moses[and God] and decided to turn back to Egypt. They made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. Similarly, people today want a god who permits them to indulge in their flesh. Thus Paul had equated idolatry with covetousness.

A sad reality as the psalmist writes;

“ How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness

and grieved him in the desert!

They tested God again and again

and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

They did not remember his power

or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,

when he performed his signs in Egypt

and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.”[Psa 78:40-43]

But, God is a jealous God.

There is only one God and there is none other.[Deut 6:4] God gave them up unto their lust. For 40 years, they didn’t offer to God the animal sacrifices according to the law of Moses. The next generation continued to pursue the worship of pagan gods like Moloch and Rephan [Saturn or Kiyun], according to the prophet Amos [Amos 5:6].

As a result, God pronounced that He would exile them even beyond Babylon. Man may get what he wanted but he couldn’t get away from the sad consequence. He who chooses his life for himself would lose it eventually.

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Acts 7:30-38 ESV

30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.

A REJECT, RULER AND REDEEMER

Moses ran for his life to the desert in Midian, where he settled for the next 40 years. He tried to use his power to help His people. But, they had rejected him. Thus, he ended up as an unknown shepherd in the wilderness.

Then, one day, the Lord came to him and caught his attention. He saw the burning bush and he was wondering why it wasn’t consumed. He went nearer in order to see and discover why. Unexpectedly, he heard the voice of God, “‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ Standing in the presence of god, Moses trembled and did not dare to look.

The Lord had called and commissioned him. But having been ‘de-Egyptianized’ for 40 years now, he lost his confidence. He has had a lot of reasons to reject God’s calling [see Exodus 3]. Stephen wrote that he was rejected by his own people[see v.35] and that he felt as a reject himself here. Interestingly, when he recognized that he was a nobody, God called him to lead his people out from Egyptian slavery. Who the Jews ‘despised’ became their ‘deliverer’. Their ‘reject’ was made their ‘ruler and redeemer.’ The right time happened when both Moses and the people were broken, that is, having a desperate need of God.

Moses, who was weak, came out winning the hearts of God’s people and enemies. He went back to Egypt and led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. Definitely, God made the difference in his life. God had supremely shone in and through the life of the ‘meekest’ man alive, Moses. [Num 12:3]. The Lord counts the meek as blessed for they shall inherit the earth. [Matt 5:5]. This means, God would use him to achieve God’s inheritance, as promised by God.

Notedly, Stephen had declared that Moses did not only receive the Law but has also the vision of the coming ‘prophet’ greater than himself. While Moses, Samuel, and the other prophets brought truth to God’s people, Jesus brought the whole truth: the good news of God’s kingdom. 

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Acts 7:23-29 ESV

23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

RIGHT MOTIVE BUT WRONG METHOD

Moses, when he was 40 years old, came to his brothers. He saw an Egyptian oppressing His own people he loved. He defended them by killing him. Undoubtedly, his motive was right but his method wasn’t right.

In what ways?

Firstly, he did it by his own power without God. Did he think that using his authority and power as being the prince of Egypt was all that he needed? Trusting in oneself in doing a favor for God’s people isn’t God’s way. It’s purely a display of pride and presumption, isn’t it? How many times we suffered the consequences to our presumptuousness? May God keeps us from it. [see Psa 19:16-17]

Secondly, the Jews seemed oblivious to his sincerity. They had an impression to Moses. As Stephen has said, “He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.” Their doubt was understandable. He was still an Egyptian to them. He was the Egyptian prince – in his appearance and decorum. Thus, one of the two guys quarreling he tried to reconcile asked him, “‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’” We should not cloud our motives by our decorum or appearance.

Thirdly, he was going ahead of God’s plan. It wasn’t the right time. The motive was right but the man wasn’t. God has to ‘de-Egyptianize’ him first to become a humble Jew. This is the very reason why God allowed him to run away into the wilderness and live there for the next 40 years. Like Moses, we must be the right person by delearning and relearning God humbly in His time. Should we be the right person, our ministry would be effective.

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Acts 7:17-22 ESV

17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

BEAUTIFUL IN GOD’S SIGHT

The Jewish population grew in Egypt. It seemed that they were already settled in a foreign land for good. However, a new Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph. He dealt shrewdly with them and forced their parents to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. Everything turned against their favor. Thus they cried before the Lord. The Lord heard them.

As Stephen described, this happened at ‘the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham.’ God has revealed to Abraham some of these details of the Israelites' time in Egypt. He said, "Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years" (Gen 15:13). God’s hand was behind all these. As Solomon articulated, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”[Ecc 3:12]

When their crisis came, God did raise a man. Moses was born. And, as an infant, he was beautiful in God’s sight. And, God let his parents saw his beauty within also. As Hebrews 11:23 accounts, “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.” Definitely, God has designed him to be the beautiful gem in the midst of darkness and chaos of the Jewish life.

There is only one Moses. A child can’t be as Moses in terms of influence. However, every child is a ‘heritage of the Lord.’ [Psa 127:3] Every parent should trust that their children aren’t problems per se. They’re jewels. Even, God had moved the hearts of Pharaoh’s daughter causing her to love Moses even when she saw him crying inside the floating basket. For him to become her ‘adopted son and having been educated in ‘all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds’ was God’s preparation for him as the future Jewish leader.

Nothing happens by chance. God is on top of everything in and through our lives. As Paul expressed, “all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”[Rom 8:28] God sees to it that His plan will be accomplished in our lives. As Paul also said, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”[Phil 1:6] Where you are right now is a preparation for a greater use for God tomorrow.

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Acts 7:9-16 ESV

9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

GOD WAS WITH HIM

Joseph's older brothers, having been jealous of Jacob's regard toward him, sold him to slave traders and told Jacob a wild animal had killed him. He was sold then to a nobleman in Egypt. Despite Joseph's time in slavery and then prison in Egypt, God was with him. In the dungeon, he became forgotten and unknown to his family but not unto God. However, God had blessed Joseph with training, wisdom, and positions of power and responsibility.

All the while, Jacob was mourning for his absence. While, Joseph's brothers thought he was a miserable slave, and was gone forever. They had no idea God would use their sin against Joseph as a way for Joseph to become a prince in Egypt. And, he was there to rescue them and the surrounding nations from famine. They went to Egypt to buy food and as a result they were reconciled with Joseph. Jacob and his clan of 75 went to Egypt and settled there. But when he died, his bones were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

God sees the end from the beginning. As Isaiah declared,

“for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me,

declaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,

and I will accomplish all my purpose,’”[Isa 46:9,10]

Joseph’s journey from slavery, imprisonment to his leadership in Egypt was extra-ordinary. Who could have thought that the hatred and sin of his brothers was the key to unfold God’s plan in His life? As Joseph expressed, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”[Gen 50:20] Should the famine did not happen, Joseph won’t be able to see his brothers again, would he? Paul had beautifully articulated that God is always right in all our circumstances, saying, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”[Rom 8:28]

Stephen's recounting of Joseph's story also has helped to demonstrate to his accusers that despite their claimed reverence of Moses, the Israelites have a long history of rejecting God's prophets. In this, Joseph parallels Jesus' identification as the stone that the builders rejected that became the cornerstone (Mat 21:42). Though Joseph was sold by his brothers, God used him as the foundation for survival for nations caught in famine. Similarly, they killed Jesus, but His sacrifice is the foundation for their salvation, if they will only believe.

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Acts 7:1-8 ESV

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen said:

“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7 ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

ABRAHAM, THE SOJOURNER

In his defense that he desecrated the temple, Stephen brought them back to their historical background. Stephen confirmed his own Jewish faith starting from their forefather, Abraham. The God of glory had appointed him several hundreds of years before the temple was built.

Abraham was one of three sons (one died) of a man named Terah who lived in a town called Ur on the Euphrates river in modern-day Iraq. Ur was home to the Chaldeans, a people-group that included Nebuchadnezzar several hundred years later. God called him to leave and go to another land that God would give unto him and his descendants. Thus, Abraham, his wife Sarah, Terah, and Abraham's nephew Lot left Ur and traveled up the Euphrates to Haran, a settlement in modern-day eastern Turkey. There, Terah died (Genesis 11:27–32). After Terah's death, Abraham followed God's call to leave Haran and head south into the land of Canaan. Eventually, this land became Israel, but not yet. God has promised Abraham his descendants would possess this land even though he had no son and would never possess it in his lifetime (Genesis 12:1–3). Abraham traveled as a sojourner around the area. His descendants became slaves in Egypt for 400 years. It wasn't until the time of Joshua that God gave Canaan to the Israelites as their inheritance.

Stephen reminds his accusers that in the time of their forefathers, including Abraham, the twelve patriarchs, and the Jews who spent four hundred years in Egyptian slavery, the temple didn't exist. The distinguishing mark of the Jews' separation from the world was the circumcision (Genesis 17:9–14). It was God’s covenant for Abraham that His promise would happen. The tabernacle and the temple came later, to confine the worship of God in a way meant to exclude any pagan practices.

In summary, Stephen was explaining to the Sanhedrin and the crowd in Jerusalem that neither the Mosaic law nor the temple are required for Jews to worship God. The first Jewish God-worshiper, Abraham, did not inherit the land where his descendants were in order to worship God, did he? He did not have a temple to worship in, in the first place. And he did not have a law to tell him how to worship. And, yet, he is the founding patriarch from whom all God-worshiping Jews come, including Stephen's accusers.

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Acts 6:8-15 ESV

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

ADAMANT YET ANGELIC

One of the first deacons, Stephen was a Hellenist-Jew with unique traits. He was tough in his words but tender in his looks. He was adamant as a preacher but angelic in his appearance. The synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

As Elijah was to Jezebel’s prophets so was Stephen against these Jews from all over the region. He is "of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom" (Acts 6:3) Definitely, His wisdom was from above. His enemies ran out of reason against him. This enhanced Stephen's opponents to initiate among the people a mob. That the people would be mad and kill him. They said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council. They accused Stephen, saying he wants to see the temple destroyed. Moreover, they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

Stephen’s apologetical prowess couldn’t be questioned. But, the people were not ready to hear. In such a case, these Hellenists lied to themselves and others to justify their desire to reject the gospel. The gospel can either soften or harden the hearts of men.

Jesus had prepared the disciples for this, telling them to shake the dust off their feet when leaving those who refuse to listen (Mat 10:14). More seriously, He warned them that those who would reject His message would persecute them someday (John 15:18–19). Even then, they must not only be tough but non-vindictive to their oppressors. A lesson learned is to let the message of the gospel offend not our attitude.

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