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Category: Acts for a 21st c. Church

Acts of the Apostles + a History of Christ’s Church

Acts of the Apostles 1-28

Acts of the Apostles:
+ The first century Church SHARED Christ while suffering severe persecution.
+ Luke records a historic account of the Church which gives 21c Christians a context to SHARE the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

Read more about the Early Church & add your COMMENT on Scripture.

ACT now.

+ SHARE the Gospel history witnessed in the CURRENT chronological SERIES from ACTS of the APOSTLES.

Philip: Preaching to Good and Bad Samaritans
ACTS of Philip the Evangelist

Φίλιππος Philip who?
Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod [Antipas] was tetrarch of Galilee and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis ..

(No, not that Philip, whose wife Herodias his brother Herod Antipas took as his own wife.)
Jesus chose Twelve Apostles at the beginning His ministry in Galilee. The Apostle Philip was one of the Twelve.
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Philip has been an Apostle for about five years now.
The year c. A.D. 32 or 33.
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- (But it’s not that Philip, either. Don’t get confused like I did.)
When Simon Peter healed a lame man and spoke at Solomon’s Portico just two years ago, Philip would have observed the entire miracle. (Actually, two men named Philip may have been present.)

Our other brother Philip 🙂

As we learned in An Apostolic Model: Administration of a Growing Church from Acts 6:

As the church grew rapidly, the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples, asking them to choose seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to lead in ministering to the Church: Steven, Philip and five others.
- (Yes, this other brother Philip, a leading deacon of the Church, second in the list of seven, is known as Philip the Evangelist.)
So now after Stephen’s trial, the Church in Jerusalem faces imminent persecution.

Philip heads back north through the mountains of Judea, traveling one of their usual routes to Galilee through Samaria.

Samaria was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, and again by the Hasmonean king John Hyrcanus in 108 B.C. The city was rebuilt by Herod the Great between the years 30–27 B.C. According to Josephus, Herod expanded and renovated the city, bringing in 6,000 new inhabitants, and renamed it “Sebastia” in the emperor’s honor (translating the Latin epithet Augustus to Greek Sebastos, “venerable”). – Source: Wikipedia

Acts 8:
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We will return to Luke's chronology shortly, but lets begin with a parallel timeline from his account of events in *Sebastia from the perspective of its people.
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The ‘not so good’ *Samaritan

..there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery [μαγεύω] in the city and astonished the people of *Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.”

μάγος – magus
- the name given by the Babylonians (Chaldeans), Medes, Persians, and others, to the wise men, teachers, priests, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, augers, soothsayers, sorcerers etc.
- the oriental wise men (astrologers) who, having discovered by the rising of a remarkable star that the Messiah had just been born, came to Jerusalem to worship him
- a false prophet and sorcerer
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Luke had begun his account with Philip's departure from Jerusalem following the execution of Stephen.
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Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and began proclaiming the [Messiah] Christ to them.
ACTS of the Apostles 8:5 NASB20
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Philip leaves for *Samaria fully aware its reputation. He's been there before and passed through the town many times. And Jesus had illustrated general Jewish thought about this city and these northern tribes in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
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Miracles and Signs by Philip

6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed;

Philip, along with the Apostles and many other disciples following the Lord had witnessed Jesus’ power to command evil spirits. Peter healed a lame man in Jerusalem, just one of several Apostolic signs of power. Now we learn of Philip’s miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit.

and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.
ACTS (of the Apostle philip) 8:7b – NKJV

GOOD vs. EVIL!

Scripture records several contests similar to Philip’s opposition. Some of these contests between God (good) and evil have taken place on this very mountain where Philip encounters Simon Magus.

False prophets and idolaters deceive others by spirits (i.e. demons, devils, angels) from all that is evil.

Our 21st century Christian minds easily dismiss powers we cannot explain.
- Do you really believe in such powers of the spiritual realms?
Acts reveals the Power of the Holy Spirit [πνεῦμα].
- “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit G4151; you are doing just as your fathers did. – Acts 7:51
- But he, being full of the Holy Spirit G4151, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God – Acts 7:55
- They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit G4151!” – Acts 7:59
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The HOLY SPIRIT of the ONE GOD, WHO IS One with God the Father and the One begotten Son Christ Jesus, works for good in the hearts and lives of sinful men and women like us once we turn to Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
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- Acts of the Apostles is a first century account of a continuing battle between Good and Evil.
- The Good News (Gospel) of the Lord’s death and resurrection is that JESUS will win this war.
Simon Covets Philip’s Power
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Of course this power is not from Philip, but from the Holy Spirit.
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11 They [the Samaritans] were attentive to him {Simon] because he had amazed them with his sorceries for a long time. But when they believed Philip, as he proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

13 Even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he followed Philip everywhere and was amazed as he observed the signs and great miracles that were being performed.
- Philip’s signs are more powerful than the power of Simon Magus, who the Samaritans called, ‘the great power of God!’
  - Was Simon’s baptism a complete turning from evil and a permanent cleansing?
  - Did Simon receive the Holy Spirit
    
    (even as Ananias and Saphira had claimed, yet sought to deceive the Holy Spirit and other believers)?
  - Luke tell us: 16 ‘They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
    
    Baptism alone does not make you any more faithful to Jesus than Ananias and Saphira OR Judas.
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Philip continues teaching of new believers in Samaria with great success.
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Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem..

14 When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.

Why Peter and John?

About eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter, John, and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
Luke 9:28 NASB20

Peter, James and John know the Person of Jesus more intimately than the other nine Apostles.
1. These three comprised an inner-circle of leadership for the Lord Jesus.
2. The Twelve in turn lead other disciples (hundreds of them at times), so that now these Apostles lead a growing Church.
The Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven! (At the conclusion of Luke’s Gospel and opening of ACTS of the Apostles, leadership passes to them.)

Simon Peter leads this inner circle of the Apostles, all of the Twelve (including Mathias), Jerusalem’s seven deacons (including Stephen and Philip); and NOW [c. A.D. 33] many disciples of Jesus beyond Jerusalem as they, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel.’

Peter and John join Philip in Samaria

ACTS 8:15 After they went down there, they prayed for them so that the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit because he had not yet come down on any of them..

Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
- Apparently Simon is not of one accord with these new believers in Samaria. So the magician has missed out on the blessings of the Holy Spirit;
  - But the powerful always covet more power.
18 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying,
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“Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
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If Simon’s story had ended here
- Would you recognize this false prophet, a teacher with power?
  - Do you realize that such a man must bow down to the LORD God or face judgment with eternal consequence?
- Does Scripture not warn us how to handle such sheep in the designer clothing of wolves?
ACTS of the First Century Church

Stephen had just called out such false leaders in Jerusalem! For two years now the Apostles have demonstrated signs from God to Jerusalem’s leaders. Revenge and persecution fill its political streets.

These leaders of the Great City of religion misused Scripture. AND false accusation meant to silence opposition to the Truth of the Gospel, resulted in their false leadership condemning Stephen to death!

The Lord Jesus Christ had warned of others to come. Simon Magnus could have been one of the first.

“And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people.

Gospel of Matthew 24:11 NASB20

Peter’s Reaction to Simon

YOU want such power, right? To make a lame man stand? Heal someone’s cancer? Help someone paralyzed with pain to get up and walk once more? Even to save a young man or woman from death? (Stephen was just thirty years old)

So did Simon, who like so many just offered to pay Peter for such POWER.

“Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
ACTS 8:19 NIV – Simon’s request to Peter

PETER would have none of it.

20 But Peter replied,

“May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought! You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God.
Acts of the Apostles 8:20-21 NLT

Is YOUR heart right with God?

8:21 οὐκ ἔστιν σοι μερὶς οὐδὲ κλῆρος ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ ἡ γὰρ καρδία σου οὐκ ἔστιν εὐθεῖα ἔναντι τοῦ θεοῦ

²¹وَلَيْسَ لَكَ حِصَّةٌ أوْ نَصِيبٌ فِي هَذَا الأمْرِ، لِأنَّ قَلْبَكَ لَيْسَ سَلِيمًا أمَامَ اللهِ. ²²فَتُبْ عَنْ شَرِّكَ هَذَا وَصَلِّ إلَى الرَّبِّ، لَعَلَّهُ يُسَامِحُكَ عَلَى الفِكرَةِ الآثِمَةِ الَّتِي فِي قَلْبِكَ. ²³فَأنَا أرَاكَ مُمتَلِئًا مَرَارَةً وَعَبدًا لِلخَطِيَّةِ.»

ACTS of Repentance

“Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours,
and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart will be forgiven you.
Acts of the Apostles 8:22 NASB20 – Peter’s admonition to Simon Magnus

23 for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.”

24 “Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things you’ve said won’t happen to me!”

Returning to the scene of the crimes against Christ and His Church:

25 After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News.
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ACTS of Philip (the Deacon Evangelist): TO BE CONTINUED...
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February 1, 2022
Stephen: Witness and Martyr
μάρτυς – martys – a witness
Acts of Stephen – Witness for Christ’s Church
Witness to a “stiff-necked people!”
Returning now to our drama of Stephen on trial in ~A.D. 33:
Witness of the Author
μάρτυς – martys
False Witnesses
Stephen’s Indictment of his Accusers
Sentencing!
A Jewish Execution of the Law
Witness of a Martyr
μάρτυς – martys
Impressions from an injustice witnessed
STEPHEN GUILTY! BLASPHEMER EXECUTED IMMEDIATELY!
‘Call your next witness, counselor.’

Many of us remain fascinated with the testimony of a witness impacting the outcome of a trial.

μάρτυς – martys – a witness

WE are simply spectators at a trial, not a familiar rerun of a fictional courtroom scene by Erle Stanley Gardner six decades ago, but an actual ancient trial of an accused defendant, Stephen, from two thousand years ago.

Like the legal dramas whose complex plots draw us in, we know that the defendant is innocent. His advocate, however, is supernatural and his jury includes dozens of Stephen’s accusing judges.

And the outcome? Preordained. (Think of it as ‘prerecorded’ by the Author of this great mystery.)
μαρτύριον – Testimony

Strong’s G3142 – martyrion

From a presumed derivative of

μάρτυς (G3144) – martys
The KJV translates Strong’s G3144 in the following manner: witness (29x), martyr (3x), record (2x).

Acts of Stephen – Witness for Christ’s Church
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Contemporary summary of Stephen's defense thus far from Luke's transcript in Acts 7:
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You men, brethren, and fathers of the council know the Law of Moses, by which you judge my words.

I, too, revere Moses and the Prophets, and present their testimony in my defense. WE the people of the Way of Jesus love the same LORD our God and Father, who appeared to Moses before we entered the land of God’s promise. The same Lord who appeared to David before his son brought the tabernacle of witness into the Temple of Solomon.

Acts 7: continued

49 ‘Heaven is My throne,
And the earth is the footstool of My feet;
What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord,
‘Or what place is there for My rest?
50 Was it not My hand that made all these things?’
Acts 7:49-50 NASB – Stephen quotes the Prophet Isaiah 66;1-2

Witness to a “stiff-necked people!”
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Here is a courtroom scene with the witness Stephen called to the stand in his own defense. And he seems to confess guilt. But as in most murder mysteries, this twist in the plot is not quite what it seems.
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Public trials laden with false testimony in the temples of stiff-necked people.

There’s nothing new under the sun, wrote King Solomon, builder of Jerusalem’s first Temple.

A thousand years later King Herod, who had sought to murder Judea’s Messiah, would build it back better through an alliance with Rome. The Empire already occupied Jerusalem and would soon burn down Herod’s temple in A.D. 70, less than two score years after a trial of thirty-year old Stephen in ~A.D. 33.
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Here's some background investigation from Luke's first century account of Stephen's trial. 
Many acts have taken place outside the courtroom of Jerusalem's one-hundred-twenty man council.

(This trial scene will play like a mid-sixty's [A.D. 60's] rerun to most of Luke's readers some thirty years later.) 

Some 21st century Christians may be unfamiliar with this current explosive climate of the Capitol City of Jerusalem (in ~A.D. 63), not to mention our ongoing political turmoil in Rome (our Babylon of this era).
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Two years earlier the trial of Jesus had been a political public charade staged by the same officials of these ‘whitewashed tombs‘ of the Sanhedrin.

Then the entire assembly of them set out and brought Him before Pilate.

And they began to bring charges against Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”
Gospel of Luke 23:1-2 NASB

Returning now to our drama of Stephen on trial in ~A.D. 33:

Witness of the Author

μάρτυς – martys
- a witness
  - in a legal sense
  - an historical sense
    
    one who is a spectator of anything, e.g. of a contest
  - in an ethical sense
    
    those who after his example have proved the strength and genuineness of their faith in Christ by undergoing a violent death
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”
ACTS 1:9 – The instruction of Jesus to the Apostles
– 1:10 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

Prior Testimony

And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.
Acts 4:33 NASB

“Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.
Acts 7:44 NASB – Earlier testimony of Stephen

False Witnesses

Stephen, Dynamic Preacher of God’s Word

Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
Acts of the Apostles 6:8 CSB

But some of those who were of the synagogue called “The Libertines,” and of the Cyrenians, of the Alexandrians, and of those of Cilicia and Asia arose, disputing with Stephen. They weren’t able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

Then they secretly induced men to say,

“We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moshe and God.”
Acts 6:9-11 Hebrew Names Version

And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, And set up false witnesses, which said,

This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
Acts 6:12-13 KJV

Stephen’s Indictment of his Accusers

“You stubborn people!
You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth.
Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit?
That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you!
Acts 7:51 NLT – Stephen’s closing argument!

Does the prophet speaking with the face of an angel, a shining face like that of Moses coming down from the Presence of the LORD on Sinai, not have to speak the TESTIMONY of God’s truth?

Is Stephen’s WITNESS FOR CHRIST, even in the face of inevitable execution not gospel truth to Law-breakers?

Of course. By the Power of the Holy Spirit this is exactly what Stephen does as conclusion to his testimony

.

Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One,
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Herod certainly would have had full support of Jerusalem's High Council when he had beheaded John the Baptist, who was witness to the LORD anointing the ministry of Jesus in the Jordan.
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and you have now become betrayers and murderers of Him;

you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”
Acts 7:52-53 – Stephen’s closing argument to the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem

Sentencing!

The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage.

55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

“Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Acts 7:56b NASB – a final witness of Stephen before the Sanhedrin

57 Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.

A Jewish Execution of the Law

the Stoning of Stephen- painting by Rembrandt

24:14 הוֹצֵא אֶת־הַֽמְקַלֵּל אֶל־מִחוּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶה וְסָמְכוּ כָֽל־הַשֹּׁמְעִים אֶת־יְדֵיהֶם עַל־רֹאשׁוֹ וְרָגְמוּ אֹתוֹ כָּל־הָעֵדָֽה׃
“Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp,
and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head;
then have all the congregation stone him.
Vayikra (Leviticus) 24 ::

False witnesses against Stephen would have been the first to cast stones against him! Not only were they without sin, but their stiff-necked opposition to the Son of God had brought them by their own testimony to the place of executing an angelic saint of Stephen.

Their own leaders had arranged false testimony to shield their own sins and covetous clinging to whitewashed leadership image of a PEOPLE already condemned.
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(Of course THAT was twenty-one centuries ago; an opportune ACT that could never happen now... Would it?) 

Unresolved trials WE THE PEOPLE endure daily seem to never end - an unresolved eternity preoccupying this brief life. 
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But Stephen’s case must convince us and convict US: true witness with eternal judgment will come to a conclusion WE must not ignore.

Witness of a Martyr
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I remind US once more of the definition above, also linked below.
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μάρτυς – martys

ACTS 7:58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.

As they were stoning him, Stephen called out to God, “Lord Yeshua! Receive my spirit!”
Acts 7:59 Hebrew Names Version

“Father, forgive them..”

Stephen had heard it before from the parched tongue of Jesus on the Cross. He had preached it with the power of the Holy Spirit.

But now as his own failing flesh of this short life suffered at the hands of his false accusers, Stephen utters one last word – a lasting impression on a leading disciple of Gamaliel.

Then he knelt down and began to pray crying out with a loud voice:

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”

Having said this, Stephen died.

Impressions from an injustice witnessed

The crowds of officials must have been gloating with gratification as the stone-battered body of Stephen lay lifeless in that pit – like Golgotha, a place of shame beyond the walls of THEIR CITY.
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'WE can justify our ACTS by demonstrating OUR power (like this) over these PEOPLE we represent in their Temple; 
so WE can say anything and they will believe US, because WE rule this 'chosen' NATION under God.' 
'I think we can eliminate more of these religious opponents like this. Don't you?

(Okay, I confess my most contemporary take on their first century victories which filled crowds with anger, false witnesses and political cover without accountability. 
Who would believe such lies told by so many of every party and false witness HEADLINED in so many places? - RH)
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The religious and political leaders and their constituancies all return to the comfort of Jerusalem’s walls, with lavish celebrations under watchful eyes of their Roman Centurion ‘friends,’ men like them who seem just a bit more apprehensive about religion and Judean political disagreements lately.

But some recognize the accusations as false and not all process back to Judea’s Capitol abuzz with tomorrow’s HEADLINES of their victory this day..

STEPHEN GUILTY! BLASPHEMER EXECUTED IMMEDIATELY!

JUSTICE DELIVERED IN OUR NATION’S CAPITOL!

Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. – Acts 8:1

And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.
ACTS 22:20 KJV – Later confession of witness by Saul of Tarsus, who Christ would call as Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul.

Talk of JESUS . com

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
January 22, 2022
The Testimony of Christ by Stephen
“But be on your guard; for they will hand you over to the [Sanhedrin; or Council] courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them.
Gospel of Mark 13:9 – Reply of Jesus to Peter, James, John and Andrew about signs of the beginning of the last days.

μαρτύριον – Testimony
- martyrion – From a presumed derivative of μάρτυς (G3144)
WE know it by sometimes sworn oath:
- Sworn testimony is evidence given by a witness who has made a commitment to tell the truth. If the witness is later found to have lied whilst bound by the commitment, they can often be charged with the crime of perjury. The types of commitment can include oaths, affirmations and promises.. – Source: Wikipedia
- 第七十条凡知悉案件的单位和个人，应当承担出庭作证的义务。有关单位负责人应当支持证人作证。证人确难以出庭的，经人民法院同意，可以提交书面证言。任何不能适当表达意愿的人不得作证。
  - Note: Talk of JESUS .com will occasionally include a testimony of Christ in other languages for our readers in other countries. Above: from Chinese law
Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later
Hebrews 3:3 NASB20

Stephen’s Testimony of their Hebrew Ancestors

God will raise up for you a prophet

Our fathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the wilderness. It was constructed exactly as God had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. – Acts 7:44

We have reached the point in his trial where Stephen’s testimony will quickly move on from Moses to David.

Acts 7: continued

7:45 Years later, when Joshua led our ancestors in battle against the nations that God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was taken with them into their new territory. And it stayed there until the time of King David.
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Timeline: Moses *uncertain *(~15th or 13th c. B.C.); (Precise timeline of Joshua & the Judges of Israel uncertain.):
David *~1000 B.C. (dates differ between various sources); Solomon ~900's B.C. - First Temple of the United Kingdom of Israel (Judah in the south & Israel in the north) ended in 931 B.C. at Solomon's death.

Stephen's testimony before Jerusalem's leaders takes place about ten centuries (1000 years) after David, 
but just two years after these judges of Herod's temple reject their Messiah Jesus.
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First Temple

Herod’s temple

46 David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for Him..

Herod’s temple

Stephen then Testifies for the LORD from Scripture:
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Bereishit (Genesis) 14:22  וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָם אֶל־מֶלֶךְ סְדֹם הֲרִימֹתִי יָדִי אֶל־יְהוָה אֵל עֶלְיוֹן קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָֽרֶץ׃
```
But it was Solomon who actually built it. However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says,
Acts 7:47-48 NLT

‘Heaven is My throne,
And the earth is the footstool of My feet;
What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord,
Acts of the Apostles 7:49a NASB

‘Or what place is there for My rest?
Was it not My hand that made all these things?’
Acts of the Apostles 7:49b NASB

Another Rare Vision

29:18 בְּאֵין חָזוֹן יִפָּרַֽע עָם וְשֹׁמֵר תּוֹרָה אַשְׁרֵֽהוּ׃
Proverbs 29:18 WLC, ESV Where there is no prophetic vision [חָזוֹן]. the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

The Lord God has kept silent for centuries between the Prophets and John the Baptist.

These Judges of Jerusalem’s Sanhedrin have witnessed rare wonders and signs which have prompted the faithful to ask if certain men have been sent to them from the Lord God.

Peter, John and the Apostles have healed many in Jerusalem for two years now.

And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.

Before that, for three years Jesus, whom they called Son of David, performed many signs and proofs throughout Judah, Samaria and Galilee. Some had speculated that their Messiah from Nazareth could have been John the Baptist resurrected from the dead.

(Others even claim to have seen Jesus after His crucifixion on a Cross and burial in a nearby tomb!)

And many Jews, leaders of the Sanhedrin and even Herod had marveled at the preaching of John the Baptist.

John the Baptist
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from the Good News of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (who had stood with Peter during his sign at the temple):
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This was John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you? ”
He didn’t deny it but confessed: “I am not the Messiah.”
“What then? ” they asked him. “Are you Elijah? ”
“I am not,” he said.
“Are you the Prophet? ”
“No,” he answered.
“Who are you, then? ” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself? ”
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He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord — just as Isaiah the prophet said.”
Gospel of John 1:23 NASB20 – John the Baptist speaking of the Lord Jesus

Jerusalem’s elders held a distant fear of the Lord, as when the Hebrew elders had asked Moses NOT to look upon the Face of the LORD. Isaiah and the Prophets of old had had visions like no earthly corporate vision of a gathering at the temple or in synagogues. So they had to be certain that men like John the baptizer and Jesus and Peter and now, Stephen (addressing them with the face of an angel) would not strike them down for their turning from God.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:[28-]31

Stephen’s Testimony Echoes Isaiah
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Israel's ruling council, now judging Stephen, would have been well familiar with these prophesies of Isaiah, 
*whose name means “The LORD is salvation,” and is similar to the names Joshua, Elisha, and Jesus; and ministered in and around Jerusalem as a prophet to Judah during the reigns of 4 kings of Judah, c. 739–686 B.C. - *Source
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Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies…

And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.

Recall now from the testimony of Acts 6: 'All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel,' also used of Moses after having received the Law from the LORD and Isaiah's own testimony of having seen the Lord and heard Him speak.

Isaiah – חֲזוֹן יְשַֽׁעְיָהוּ
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Listen, heavens, and hear, earth;
For the LORD has spoken:
“Sons I have raised and brought up,
But they have revolted against Me.

“An ox knows its owner,
And a donkey its master’s manger,
But Israel does not know,
My people do not understand.”

Oh, sinful nation,
People weighed down with guilt,
Offspring of evildoers,
Sons who act corruptly!
They have abandoned the LORD,
They have despised the Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away from Him.
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2:12 For the Lord of armies will have a day of reckoning
Against everyone who is arrogant and haughty,
And against everyone who is lifted up,
That he may be brought low.

3:14 The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and leaders of His people,
“It is you who have devoured the vineyard;
The goods stolen from the poor are in your houses.
15 What do you mean by crushing My people
And [m]oppressing the face of the poor?”
Declares the Lord God of armies.
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- 6:1 .. I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
- .. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
- .. Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”
- .. “Send me.”
- Then I said, “Lord, how long?”
- And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people, And the land is utterly desolate..
- 7:13 Then he said, “Listen now, house of David! Is it too trivial a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well?
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel…
“The LORD will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah—the days of the king of Assyria.”
Isaiah 7:14,17 NASB20

Indictment

66:2 וְאֶת־כָּל־אֵלֶּה יָדִי עָשָׂתָה וַיִּהְיוּ כָל־אֵלֶּה נְאֻם־יְהוָה וְאֶל־זֶה אַבִּיט אֶל־ עָנִי וּנְכֵה־רוּחַ וְחָרֵד עַל־דְּבָרִֽי׃
Isaiah 66:2 – quoted by Stephen

For My hand made all these things,
So all these things came into being,” declares the Lord.
“But I will look to this one,
At one who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at My word.
Isaiah 66:2 NASB

NEXT: Stephen’s closing argument and Sentence of the Sanhedrin

使徒行传 7: To be continued…
January 18, 2022