Acts 7 - Stephen's Epic Sermon to the Jewish Leaders and His Martyrdom!

 Click Here to Read or Listen to Acts 7

Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin

When we ended Acts 6, Stephen was looking up into the sky with his face looking like that of an angel. Now Stephen gets a chance to preach to the Jewish leaders. God often uses our adversity as a an opportunity to proclam the gospel. In this case Stephen gives a history of God's involvement in the life of Israel and its people. He recounts God's saving acts from Abraham, whom God made an everlasting covenant with, to Solomon who built the first temple for the Lord to dwell in. 

In this history he shows how Israel was a "stiff necked" people. Maybe you don't understand what this word means. 

To be stiff-necked is to be obstinate and difficult to lead. The Bible often uses this figure of speech when describing the attitude of Israel toward God (e.g., Exodus 33:3; Deuteronomy 9:13; Nehemiah 9:16; Acts 7:51). The term was originally used to describe an ox that refused to be directed by the farmer’s ox goad. When a farmer harnessed a team of oxen to a plow, he directed them by poking them lightly with a sharp spike on the heels or the neck to make them pick up speed or turn. An ox that refused to be directed in such a way by the farmer was referred to as “stiff-necked.” A stiff-necked animal (or person) refuses to turn the head in order to take a different path. - GotQuestions.org

We are a stiff necked person when we fail to obey God and obstinately refuse to relinquish control of running our lives. It is the opposite of being led by he Holy Spirit. Stephen says to them, "You who resist the Holy Spirit just like your ancestors". The obstinance led to the killing of the prophets who brought God's Word to them, and finally to the killing of Jesus, the Son of God!

Stephen's indictment made the Jewish leaders furious. They lashed out at him by gnashing their teeth at him. "Gnashing" is another word you may not understand. 

Gnashing one’s teeth shows up elsewhere in Scripture in contexts other than feeling pain. In Acts 7:54 the gnashing of teeth is done in anger because of what Stephen had said to the Jewish Council: “They were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.” Psalm 37:12 says, “The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them” (see also Psalm 35:16; 112:10; and Lamentations 2:16). In these passages, wicked persons gnash their teeth at righteous persons as the wicked plot against them or disapprove of them. Apparently, gnashing teeth was a sign of great disrespect and anger. - GotQuestions.org

Instead of reacting to their anger, Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked up in the sky and saw Jesus at the right hand of God. He would be going there to join them soon. When the leaders heard him say this they dragged him out of the city and stoned him. Here was what the Jewish practice of stoning involved. Note this was not the way Roman law was carried out. 

The second-century Jewish writing Mishnah, described the practice of stoning: “When the trial is finished, the man convicted is brought out to be stoned…When ten cubits from the place of stoning they say to him, ‘Confess, for it is the custom of all about to be put to death to make confession, and every one who confesses has a share in the age to come’…Four cubits from the place of stoning the criminal is stripped…The drop from the place of stoning was twice the height of a man. One of the witnesses pushes the criminal from behind, so that he falls face downward. He is then turned over on his back. If he dies from this fall, that is sufficient. If not, the second witness takes the stone and drops it on his heart. If this causes death, that is sufficient; if not, he is stoned by all the congregation of Israel.” (Cited in Bruce)

Next, comes one of the greatest ironies in the story of Acts. There is a young man who is there named Saul. The witnesses laid their coats at his feet. Saul stood there as the supervisor of the operation. As a member of the Sanhedrin, he had also approved of Stephen’s execution. - Guzik

Later Saul, whose name became Paul, became one of the greatest apostles in the history of the church. He went from persecuting Christians to making them. I wonder what is was like when the apostle Paul met Stephen, the first Christian martyr in the early church? 

Stephen's last words were reminiscent of Jesus' last words. He said, "Father, do not hold this sin against them." 

In our church we say that being as disciple of Jesus means doing the same things he would do if he were you! Stephen is an incredible disciple of Jesus doing what Jesus would do even until his last words, which were words of forgiveness!

Is there an area of your life where you are acting "still necked" like the Israelites? What would it mean to put that area under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit? What might be the results in your life and ability to serve God and be used by him?