Category: Acts for a 21st c. Church

“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

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.

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.

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..

Stephen then Testifies for the LORD from Scripture:

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.

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

from the Good News of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (who had stood with Peter during his sign at the temple):

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? ”

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

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

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.

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.

• 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?

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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

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

使徒行传 7: To be continued…