Steven
Concludes His Testimony
[Acts
chapter 7, verses 39-50]
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better small screen viewing, or to view this on my website, click
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When
we last left off at verse 38 of Acts chapter 7, in our ongoing
studies of the writings of the apostle Luke, Steven was still
vigorously defending himself against the trumped-up charges of the
flotilla of false witnesses that had been launched against him in a
hearing before the full Jewish governing body known as the Sanhedrin.
Steven had spoken at length about the chronicles of the life of
Abraham and his descendants, and the achievements of Moses, and
Steven's comparing him to Christ. Just as a condemned man led ancient
Israel out of Egypt, Steven argued, so had Jesus, another condemned
man, led all of humankind out of the pits of hell and into eternal
glory. Steven was pointing out the egregious error of the Sanhedrin,
who had handed Jesus over to the Romans to be crucified. Needless to
say, this wasn't setting well at all with Steven's accusers. And so
let's rejoin the proceedings of that fateful day, beginning at verse
39.
“But
our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in
their hearts turned back to Egypt. They told Aaron, 'Make us gods who
will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt –
we don't know what has happened to him!' That was the time they made
an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held
a celebration in honor of what their hands have made. But God turned
away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This
agrees with what is written in the Book of the Prophets” 'Did you
bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house
of Israel? You have lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of
your god Raphan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send
you into exile beyond Babylon.'”
(Acts 7, verses 39-43)
Our
ancestors, Stephen argued, were a really disobedient bunch of people
who would rather worship an inanimate object than a living God.
Steven was also making the observation that the Jewish people hadn't
really changed very much in all that time, which at the time of
Steven's impassioned defense was well over a thousand years! So now
we can see that this was the crux of Steven's defense – that the
Jewish nation, which the Sanhedrin purportedly represented the best
and brightest of, was far more disobedient to the tenets of God than
Steven had ever dreamed about being! (For the back story on the
events Steven was testifying about, see Exodus chapters 19-20) “That
was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought
sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands
have made. But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of
the heavenly bodies.”
In this passage, Steven was referring partly to astrology, and partly
to the lunar
calendar used by the Jews. God is the God of light, wrote the
apostle John, and there is no darkness in him. But Steven was
referring to the story of Aaron and the golden calf I mentioned
above. While Moses was bringing the 10 commandments (actually, there
are many more than that) down from Mt. Sinai, Aaron's golden calf was
already being actively worshiped. So Steven was telling the court
that the Jewish people had insufficient discernment to correctly
evaluate the things of God, which made their charges against him
baseless.
Next,
Steven quotes from Amos chapter 5, verses 25-27 to use against his
accusers: “This
agrees with what is written in the Book of the Prophets” 'Did you
bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house
of Israel? You have lifted up the shrine of Molech....”
'Molech' was an idol from ancient Israel to whom live babies and
young children were sacrificed, a very distasteful business to say
the least. So now we know that Steven was comparing the Sanhedrin to
a bunch of idols who were undeserving of worship. He was comparing
them to baby murderers! In that same verse Steven mentions 'the star
of Raphan', a form of worship having its origins in ancient Arabia,
in what is part of Iran today. (The Americanized version is known
today as the Order of the Eastern Star, a branch of Freemasonry)
“Therefore I
will send you into exile beyond Babylon.”
Here Steven is referring to the subsequent exile
of the entire nation of Israel, which you can read about in the
link I provided. In so doing, Steven was implying that the entire
Sanhedrin deserved the same fate. And now let's move on to part 2 of
today's lesson.
“Our
forefathers had the Tabernacle of Testimony with them in the desert.
It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he
had seen. Having received the Tabernacle, our forefathers under
Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations
God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of
David, who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might become a
dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built the
house for him. However, the Most High does not live in houses built
by men. As the prophet says, 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is
my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me?, says the
Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all
these things?'”
(Acts 7, verses 44-50)
The
'Tabernacle of Testimony' Steven was referring to was the Ark of the
Covenant, which contained the stone tablets on which God had written
the Ten Commandments, and which Moses had carried down from from Mt.
Sinai after his meeting with the Lord. For an exact description of
the Ark, please refer to Exodus chapter 25, verses 10-22. “.... our
forefathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land
from the nations God drove out before them.”
With just that one sentence we can see the conflict in the Middle
East goes back to long, long before Israel's modern-day founding by
the United Nations back in 1948. Sometimes I think all those Jews and
Arabs don't even remember what they were originally fighting over.
That being the case, it's time to call it quits over there in Israel,
Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries in close proximity. All
their governments want is war, while all the people want is some
personal safety, peace and quiet. “It
remained in the land until the time of David....”,
refers to the Ark of the Covenant being kept in a tent until David
conquered Jerusalem a few years later. But it was David's son,
Solomon, who built the first Temple in Jerusalem.
However,
Steven was careful to point out, “....the
Most High does not live in houses built by men. As the prophet says,
'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of
house will you build for me?', says the Lord.”
Indeed, this was and remains a teachable moment for all humankind,
whether they attend church or not. Who are we, in all our collective
arrogance, that we presume to build 'houses of worship' so that God
can descend to be with us? It is we, the human race, who have this
whole thing backward! It is ourselves who should be reaching up to
God, not waiting in our often enormous churches for Him to come on
down and visit with us. Moreover, too many people have forgotten that
Jesus is our intercessor. He is like a defense attorney who is our
advocate before the Father, and only through Jesus Christ can any of
us approach God. “Has
not my hand made all these things?'”
Sadly,
the modern church still has the same problem, but now things are much
worse. The churches of Steven's time would be dwarfed by modern
mega-churches, where millions are spent on their construction while
children in the surrounding neighborhoods go to bed hungry. In that
respect, I would say God would be far more indignant with the
materialistic modern churches in the Western world than he was with
the Temple of Solomon's time. Next week, when we conclude chapter 7
of the Book of Acts, we will read Steven's closing arguments, which
will be brief but very powerful, and we will visualize his martyrdom
on the twin altars of hubris and sanctimony. Until then let's all
pray for the wisdom, the bravery and the willingness to sacrifice
ourselves just as Jesus submitted himself on the cross. Until
then....
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