Acts 7:1-16

INTRODUCTION

I have the rather difficult duty of teaching upon Stephen's fifty-three verse sermon in Acts 7. It is extremely hard to analyze it in parts because it is meant to be a unit. Stephen had a definite goal in mind and he achieved it with a fantastic impact. I want you to learn what it is that he's saying in this passage, where the man Stephen powerfully defends his faith before the council of Israel.

A. The Apologetics of the Gospel

1. The Exhortation

Peter said, "...be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you..." (1 Pet. 3:15b). Peter was right: The Christian who effectively communicates the gospel to the world is the one who can give to every man who asks, reasons for what he believes. And I daresay there are many Christians who believe, but haven't got the faintest idea why they believe. They find themselves wandering in and out of great periods of doubt.

2. The Example

There is a subject with which all Bible students are familiar, and that is the subject of apologetics. Apologetics is the field of study that defends the faith.

a. Of Paul

1) Acts 25:16 -- In this verse, we find the Greek word apologia, from which we get apologetics. Rather than being an excuse for something, an apology, in the biblical sense, means "a speech in defense of something." Paul had a right to make such a defense before his accusers. In chapter 26, he defended the faith before Agrippa.

2) Acts 22:1 -- Paul stood before the unruly mob at Jerusalem and gave an apologias of his faith, defending what he believed.

3) Philippians 1:7 -- "Even as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace." Paul viewed his ministry as an offensive confirmation and a defensive vindication of the gospel. He saw himself as having a twofold responsibility: defending what he believed and being aggressive in its propagation. But there was a great defender of the faith even before Paul:

b. Of Stephen

1) The Contentof His Defense

Stephen's defense was so dynamic that the people who heard him were swept along in the emotion of it all until they lost control of themselves and stoned him. Stephen had been charged with four kinds of blasphemy: against God, Moses, the Law, and the Temple, the most sacred things in the mind of any Jew. His answer to the charge demonstrated that he knew what he believed and why he believed it. And I think it's important to notice that he answered the charge with scripture. He defended the faith not in vagaries of philosophy, but in an authoritative testimony to the Scripture, repeatedly quoting it verbatim. This shows something of the extent to which he knew the Old Testament. He set an example which the Apostle Paul followed in Acts 17:2, when the latter went into the synagogue "and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures." Defending the faith involves being able to communicate and defend your faith.

2) The Contending of His Defense

Jude 3 says that we should not only defend the faith, but that we should contend for it as well--after you've defended it, fight for it. Stephen was that kind of man. He knew what he believed; he knew why he believed it. He even staked his life upon it and consequently died for it.

B. The Accomplishment of the Goal

Before we come to the sermon in chapter 7, let's get a little background regarding...

1. Stephen's Effect upon the Church

The early church had accomplished the initial goal that our Lord gave to it, which was to reach all Jerusalem with the gospel. He had said, "...ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea..." (Ac. 1:8b). By the end of chapter 4, they had already begun to accomplish this, which was confirmed in 5:28 by the high priest: "...And, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us." They had accomplished phase one of evangelizing the world with the gospel. It was now time for phase two, which was moving out from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria.

Now Stephen became the key to this thrust in three ways:

a. Through Organization

In the first place, the church needed to become better organized in order to step out. It was suffering from some internal problems, so in chapter 6 they got organized. They chose seven Spirit-filled men to handle the business of the church so that the Apostles could be free to preach and to pray. The first one listed in Acts 6:5 was a man named Stephen, who was "full of faith and of the Holy Spirit." Stephen was important to the progress of the church because he was taking over responsibility that freed the church to expand.

b. Through Evangelization

Second, he was important because he was a preacher, a New Testament prophet who preached to foreign Jews. He began to take the gospel beyond the Palestinian Jews to the Hellenists, or Grecian Jews, and then to the foreign Jews who would come into Jerusalem and attend "the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia" (Ac. 6:9). In this sense, he was stretching the gospel past Jerusalem.

c. Through Persecution

Stephen's execution also served as a catalyst to the extension of the gospel, as Acts 8:1 makes clear: "And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria...." The death of Stephen precipitated the persecution of the church. And as you know, when the church gets persecuted, the church gets going. The church expanded right on schedule, exactly where God wanted it to go. It happened not so much because God directly sent them out, but because the people in Jerusalem started persecuting them, forcing them to flee from the city. Then verse 4 of chapter 8 says, "Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word."

So, the catalyst to get the church rolling was Stephen, from several viewpoints. He was also very important as we saw last time, as a transition into the ministry of Paul, for he was the first one who went to minister in foreign synagogues. Even though they were in Jerusalem, these synagogues were attended by foreign Jews who immigrated to Jerusalem from time to time. So Stephen was a very important catalyst for the extension of the church.

2. Stephen's Explanation to the Charges

a.  The Effect of His Eloquence

Because of his irresistible wisdom and spirit in proclaiming what he believed, Stephen was unanswerable. In a debate he came out on top, even though he was probably up against some of the finest minds in that part of the world, maybe even including a man named Saul, who later became the Apostle Paul. Acts 6:10 says, "And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit [or, spirit] by which he spoke." In other words, this man, in terms of knowledge and delivery, was too much to handle. He could really defend himself.

b. The Analysis of His Accusations

Now when you can't win the argument, then you slander the opponent, right? And so immediately Stephen's opponents started slandering and found some false witnesses to accuse him of blaspheming God, Moses, the Law, and the Temple. Those were the "big four" in Israel that no one dared to disrespect. Stephen had blasphemed none of them. He had merely shown that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Law and the Temple, and that He was the One that Moses had looked forward to. But rather than believing that Christ was the fulfillment of what they had been looking for, Stephen's opponents accused him of having a revolutionary attitude that showed a complete disregard for those sacred things. So in chapter 7, Stephen begins and concludes a great speech in defense of what he said, answering the accusations of blasphemy.

c.  The Strategy of His Sermon

While he is defending himself in this masterpiece of a sermon, Stephen accomplishes four other things at the same time. First of all, in defending himself against the charges of blasphemy, he makes direct reference to the fact that he believes in God and Moses, and that he sees the significance of the Law and the Temple. He establishes the fact that he is an Israelite who believes in God and that he is not blaspheming. That's the most important thing that he's doing. And he really gives a defense that all Christians can use in answering Jewish charges that we are not true to the God of Israel.

Second, Stephen knows that if he's going to effectively defend himself, he must maintain his listeners' interest. In other words, he's got to make his speech exciting so that he can capture their attention. He does this by discussing the favorite subject of his audience--themselves. The Jews loved the recitation of their own history. Most of them based their salvation upon their Jewish heritage. This is precisely the argument that Paul made in Romans 2, where he confronted Jews who assumed that their ancestry was sufficient to save them. They believed they were saved just because they were from Abraham's loins. And so the Jewish history was everything to them. They were forever and ever going back to Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, and the other greats of the Old Testament, attaching themselves to all of these sacred people. Their whole lives were based upon what Moses said, or what some great Rabbi said in explanation of Moses. It was a constant cycle of identifying with history and following all the traditions, which kept them in a state of very little change. Hundreds of years went by, but there were very few changes, because they were locked into a system that was based on historical revelation.

Third, Stephen wanted to indict his audience for being sinful. He builds one of the most fantastic indictments that you'll ever read anywhere in Scripture. He does it so subtly that when it climaxes, his opponents kill him after realizing that he was incriminating them.

Fourth, like every effective preacher, he wants to present Jesus as the Messiah. And Stephen does this just as masterfully as he accomplishes his other three objectives. Follow closely as we go through this, and you'll see how these four elements are beautifully woven together by Stephen. It's not really clear what Stephen is doing until he gets to the end of his sermon, and then his intent suddenly comes into sharp focus, which stimulates quite a reaction.

Let's view this passage from the standpoint of Stephen's defense, which is the dominating theme. He is going to defend himself against being accused of blaspheming God, Moses, the Law, and the Temple.

First, let's examine...

I. THE DEFENSE AGAINST BLASPHEMING GOD (vv. 1-16)

You'll remember that in verse 11 of chapter 6, the Jews had hired men to perjure themselves giving false testimony against him. Against thisis made...

A. The Declaration of Stephen's Belief (vv. 1-2b)

Stephen must begin by establishing the fact that he believes in God, and that he's not a blasphemer. He must also prove that the God in whom he believes is the God of Israel, trying to establish that Christianity is not heresy, but rather part of God's plan. It is not something new that destroys something old; it is something new that fulfills something old. Historically, it's always been a problem with Judaism, which has falsely concluded that Christians do not believe in the same God they believe in. They've always felt that we have tried to redefine the true God.

So, Stephen must counter their accusations by establishing that he believes in the same God that they believe in: "Then said the high priest, Are these things so? And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken..." (vv. 1-2a). "Listen to what I have to say," says Stephen. I like that, don't you? He's not cowering under the table somewhere. I'm overwhelmed at the courage of this guy who boldly stood up there and said, "You better listen, because what I have to say is important!" Then he says,"The God of glory appeared unto our father, Abraham..." (v.2b). That's a great opening line, because it does two things: It establishes that he believes in God, and second, that he believes in the fatherhood of Abraham over Israel. He has established in one statement that he is not a denier of God, but a believer in God, and he is a believer in the very God of Abraham. And that's where he wants to begin as he addresses his Jewish audience ("brethren") and the Sanhedrin ("fathers"). He encompasses all of them in a very formal introduction of respect.

1. The God of Glory

a. His Attributes

At least nineteen times in this sermon, Stephen talks about God, thus establishing his belief in God. He begins with the greatest statement that could be made about God, identifying Him as "the God of glory." Glory is the fullness of the manifestation of all that God is. The glory of God is the composite of all His attributes. We can talk about the God of love, the God of justice, the God of grace, the God of wisdom, the God of righteousness, the God of wrath, the God of power, or the God of any other element of His divine nature. But we can just say, "The God of glory," and that would encompass every single thing that God ever is. That's the most comprehensive expression. Therefore, Stephen is saying, "I believe in God in the fullest conceivable sense possible."

b. His Appellations

In the Old Testament, there were many names for God: Jehovah-Nissi (the Lord our banner), Jehovah- Jireh (the Lord who provides), Jehovah-Rapha (the Lord who heals), Jehovah-Shalom (the Lord our peace), Jehovah-Rohi (the Lord my shepherd), Jehovah-Tsidkenu (the Lord our righteousness), Jehovah-Sabaoth (the Lord of hosts), Jehovah- Shammah (the Lord omnipresent), El Elyon (the Lord most high), Jehovah-Mekaddishkem (the Lord who makes holy), and many others. But Stephen just pulls everything into one name and he calls Him El hakabod, the God of glory. In this way, he is saying that he believes God is everything that could possibly be true of His character, thereby confirming that he believes in God.

c. His Approval

There was also a divine confirmation, as recorded in verse 15 of the previous chapter. As Stephen sat before his accusers, they "saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." As I mentioned in the last lesson, this was an indication that the glory of God was on his face. The interrogating council was getting a living illustration that the God of glory had set His approval on Stephen. When he said "glory," they immediately would have thought of the Shekinah, the manifested light of God's presence. Not only was his belief in God vindicated, but God's belief in him.

Second, Stephen declared his belief in God as...

2. The God of Abraham

Stephen wisely says that "the God of glory appeared unto our father, Abraham." Had he said, "Your father, Abraham," a line of separation would have been drawn. "I'm not anti- Israel," says Stephen. "Abraham's my father, too, and God founded this whole thing, and I'm merely part of it." So he establishes his firm belief in God and the basic ordination of Israel from God through Abraham.

Then, as part of his defense, Stephen begins...

B. The Delineation Of Israel's History (vv. 2c-7)

1. The Call (vv. 2c-3)

a.  Its Commencement (v. 2c)

God appeared unto Abraham "when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran." Evidently, God had first appeared to this patriarch in Ur of the Chaldees, saying, in effect, "Get out of here, Abraham. I want to take you over to a land you've never seen and which you don't know anything about. There I will found a nation through you."

Well, Abraham's father, Terah, gathered the family together and went to Haran, where they resided until God renewed His call, following Terah's death. Then Abraham went to Canaan, the Promised Land.

b. Its Content (v. 3)

Though the call was renewed to Abraham in Haran, as recorded in Genesis 12:1-3, Stephen reviews the identical call initially given to Abraham in Ur: "And [He] said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee."

2. The Coming Out (v. 4)

"Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Haran; and from there, when his father was dead, He removed him into this land, in which ye now dwell."

a.  The Response of Abraham

This is a beautiful expression of Abraham's faith. God said, "Get up, you're going away. I'm going to send you to Canaan." And he obediently followed God, even though he didn't really know what to expect. Abraham's faith has stood throughout the ages as the classic illustration of faith, hasn't it? His whole life was lived in faith, because he never really saw the complete fulfillment of God's promise. The closest he got to it was the birth of Isaac. He lived the rest of his life on a promise without receiving a possession. His faith is made evident by the fact that he came out when God called. You say, "Well, God was pushing awfully hard." You're right. Also in view is...

b. The Removal by God

Abraham's faith was balanced by God's sovereignty: The end of verse 4 says, "...He removed him into this land...." The "He" modifies God. Furthermore, the Greek clearly says that "God migrated him." God gave him a big shove and he took off. The combination of the faith of Abraham and the sovereignty of God is how it always works, isn't it?

So, Stephen continues to acknowledge the God of Israel, the God of glory, who was controlling the destiny of Israel. Stephen sees God working through Abraham, and with this his opponents can't disagree. In fact, they can't disagree with him until verse 51! But in the meantime, he is careful to keep their attention and to make sure that they cannot deny what he's saying. He maintains their tacit approval by reciting the facts that reveal the greatness of Abraham's faith and how God has called him.

3. The Conditions (vv. 5-7)

a. The Promise of a Possession (v. 5a)

Abraham never got a possession, he only got a promise as verse 5 shows: "And He gave him no inheritance in it...." Did you know that Abraham never got any land apart from the single piece he bought from the children of Heth as a plot of land in which to bury himself and his wife (Gen. 23)? That's the only piece of land that he ever got. And he didn't get it from God, he had to buy it. This is why verse 5 emphatically states that God "gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on." This last phrase contains the word bema (Gk. "judgment seat"), implying that Abraham never ruled over anything.

b. The Promise of Progeny (v. 5b)

Verse 5 continues: "...yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child." Abraham received that promise at age 99 when he and Sarah, who was 90, were still childless. In spite of the fact that God had promised that, Sarah laughed in amazement and Abraham went next door to the handmaid and thought, "I'll just have a child by her and solve Sarah's problem." But because that union created Ishmael, who became the father of the Arabs, that decision didn't solve Israel's problems--it increased them. The sons of Ishmael have been fighting the sons of Isaac ever since. And it's all because Abraham failed to believe God at that point. So whenever you talk about Abraham's faith, you always qualify it. It's a good thing too, because my faith needs to be qualified sometimes, doesn't yours? We can be like the man who cried out to Jesus in Mark 9:24, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief." The promise looked a little bit far off for a whole nation to arise from them, when at that time they hadn't yet had a child and were both past the normal childbearing years. But God gave Abraham a promise, and he believed it.

c. The Promise of Persecution (vv. 6-7)

Continuing to recite the history of Israel so as to demonstrate his belief in the God who was ordaining Israel's destiny, Stephen says, "And God spoke in this way, that his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and ill-treat them four hundred years. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God; and after that shall they come forth, and serve Me in this place." God told Abraham that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land that would make them slaves. But with a judgment upon that nation, God would bring them out, after roughly four hundred years, into the land He had promised. And Stephen is simply saying, "I realize the destiny of Israel is in the hands of God. I believe in the God of Israel, who called Abraham, who took the children of Israel into Egypt, who brought the plagues on Pharaoh and delivered them out of Egypt, and who provided the great deliverer Moses." He's establishing himself in relation to the God of Israel.

Now that he's accomplished those two objectives (his defense against the charge of blasphemy seen in his belief in Israel's holy God of glory, and the capturing of his audience's attention through a review of their history), Stephen goes to work on his third objective:

C. The Denouncement of the Jews' Rejection (vv. 8-9)

Stephen indicts these Jews for their own sinfulness and rejection. The full indictment isn't made until verse 51, where he really lets them have it: "Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears...." You say, "That doesn't sound so bad." Well, that's because you're not Jewish. The Old Testament says, "He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy" (Prov. 29:1). God talks about the resistance, bitterness, and unbelief of Israel as a hard neck that won't bend. Second, being called "uncircumcised" would be the worst curse of all curses, because circumcision was a mark of Jewishness. In this way, Stephen is saying, in effect, "You phonies, you're circumcised outwardly and inside you're not!" His indictment in verse 51 continues: "...ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do ye." Now if that's the point he wants to make, then he's got to show what their fathers did. This brings us back to verse 8:

1. The Identification with the Patriarchs (v. 8)

"And He gave him the covenant of circumcision [the identifying sign of the covenant]; and so Abraham begot Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob; and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs."

Now the patriarchs are the fathers of Israel, the twelve sons of Jacob, who were the heads of all the tribes. Every Jew would trace back his heritage to one of those twelve men. So, as Stephen is saying, "God called Abraham and He gave him the covenant and Abraham passed it on to Isaac, and Isaac to Jacob and Jacob to the twelve fathers," you can just sense someone agreeing, "That's right. I'm the son of Zebulun." And somebody else says, "That's nothing, I belong to Issachar." And the rest could trace their lineages back as well, whether it was Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Benjamin, or Joseph. Do you know what Stephen's doing? He's saying, "I believe in the God of Israel, right on down to the selection of the tribes. Beginning with Abraham, I believe God's been forming the destiny of Israel." This affirmation allows him to knock the pins right out from under his opponents.

2. The Indictment of the Prosecution (v. 9a)

"And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt..."

"Do you know what your super-spiritual fathers did?" Stephen asks. "They sold Joseph into Egypt, in spite of the fact that `God was with him' (v. 9b)! Your pious forefathers blasphemed God! Though God had chosen to set Joseph apart for His purpose, they sold him out of envy." And if he hasn't been clear enough already, over in verse 51 he says, "...as your fathers did, so do ye." "Do you know what those brothers did? They rejected the one that God had ordained to carry the birthright in the family. They rejected Joseph, who was their redeemer. And that is exactly what you have done in rejecting Jesus, who is your Redeemer. You're doing the same thing your forefathers did!" However, by verse 9 in his defense, they don't fully understand where he's heading.

3. The Intervention of the Provider (v. 9b)

"...but God was with him"

There's the tragic dichotomy. God was with Joseph, but his brothers sold him, which means they were at opposite ends from God.

a.The Selection of Joseph

First Chronicles 5:1-2 says, "Now the sons of Reuben, the first-born of Israel (for he was the first-born; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph...the birthright was Joseph's)."

b. The Supremacy of Joseph

In Genesis 37, when Joseph kept having those dreams, his brothers really got irritated: "And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed; For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying" (vv. 5-11). Because of Reuben's sin, he would forfeit his birthright, which was transferred to Joseph. And in this dream, God set Joseph apart as the leader in that family to bear the progeny and the right of rule in the family.

So Stephen establishes that as far back as the very formation of Israel, there was rebellion against the purposes of God through one redeemer. And he says, "It hasn't changed at all: You did the same thing with Moses when he came and offered himself as deliverer to some Israelites, who replied, `We don't want you. Who made you ruler over this place?'" Moses fled for his life and the Israelites had to wait for forty more years of suffering before he came back the second time, at which time they finally accepted him and followed him out of Egypt. Likewise, they did the same thing with Jesus Christ: He came and they rejected Him as their leader and their deliverer. Though the council is in agreement with the history of Joseph as related by Stephen, they still are unaware that his design is to indict them for having continued Israel's historical pattern of rejection.

Now the fourth thing that he wants to do is to present...

D. The Disclosure of God's Messiah (vv. 9-16)

There are all kinds of ways in the Old Testament that the Messiah is presented. Two major ways are through prophecy that is verbal predictive, and prophecy that is in the form of a type, or nonverbal picture. In other words, certain prophecies verbally point to Christ: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given..." (Isa. 9:6a), or, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel..." (Mic. 5:2a), or, "...Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel [Heb. `God with us']" (Isa. 7:14b). On the other hand, an example of the kind of prophecies we call types would be the slain lambs in the Old Testament, which pictured the final sacrifice of the Messiah, the Lamb of God. Even Noah's ark is a picture of the salvation of Christ. And Joseph is a classic type of Christ. He paints the picture of Jesus Christ so explicitly that nobody could miss it.

1. Rejection (v. 9a)

"And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt..."

These same individuals Stephen was addressing, only a few months prior, had also sold somebody for envy...Jesus. Mark 15:10 says, "For he [Pilate] knew that the chief priests had delivered Him for envy." And Judas sold Him "for thirty pieces of silver" (Mt. 26:15). Just beginning to drive home the convicting knife, Stephen says,"Yes, it's historical. Your forefathers sold Joseph, the chosen one of God, because they envied him." I don't doubt for a minute that some of them began to think back to Jesus, because they knew Stephen represented Jesus; they knew he represented Jesus Christ.

2. Exaltation (vv. 9b-10)

"...but God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house."

Do you remember what happened to Joseph? His brothers sold him to the Midianites, who took him down to Egypt, where he was sold as a servant to Potiphar (Gen. 39). In the meantime, Potiphar's wife, who had her eye on Joseph, got him in a compromising situation, trying to seduce him. But Joseph's pure heart wisely motivated him to flee the temptation...he took off running. Unfortunately, she had grabbed his coat, which was used as incriminating evidence. When she falsely accused Joseph of having made advances toward her, he was thrown in prison. Do you know on what basis Jesus was arrested and tried? By false accusation. The Jewish leaders had a mock trial and brought forth false witnesses (Mt. 26:59-62). And analogous to Joseph, who was released and exalted to the place of authority next to Pharaoh, God raised Christ from the grave and exalted Him to His right hand. Joseph is a picture of Jesus, who similarly was lifted from the lowest kind of humility to the loftiest exaltation. The picture even reflects the similarities of rejection: Joseph, rejected by Israel, his brothers, was accepted by Gentiles in Egypt; and Jesus, rejected by Israel, founded His church among Gentiles.

3. Starvation (v. 11)

"Now there came a famine over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction; and our fathers found no sustenance."

After Joseph had gone to Egypt, famine came, and his family back in Canaan, which had for the most part rejected him as their leader, found no sustenance. In a similar fashion, when Israel rejected Jesus Christ, it fell into a spiritual famine, which still exists to this day. Canaan's famine is a type of Israel's blindness today, a nation without any true spiritual sustenance at all.

4. Reception (vv. 12-13)

"But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh."

When is Jesus going to be made known unto Israel? It wasn't at His First Coming, so it will have to be at His Second Coming. It's the same type again: the first time rejected and sold for envy; the second time accepted. Israel will accept Christ as its Messiah in the same way that the brothers of Joseph humbly accepted him at the second meeting when he revealed himself to them.

5. Salvation (vv. 14-16)

a. Its Extent (v. 14)

"Then sent Joseph, and called his father, Jacob, to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls."

All of Jacob's family, the entire nation of Israel at that time, came when Joseph called them. This pictures the fact that at the Second Coming when Jesus is revealed, "all Israel shall be saved" (Rom. 11:26a). Again we see Christ perfectly typified in the life of Joseph.

b. Its Entrance (vv. 15-16)

"So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he and our fathers, and were carried over into Shechem, and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem."

This is a picture of Israel entering into the Kingdom relationship. They were buried in the Promised Land--Jacob at Hebron in the cave of Machpelah (Gen. 23:16-17) and the rest of them in Shechem (Josh. 24:32).

In a brief presentation of Joseph's life, Stephen is really presenting Christ. And from his audience's frame of reference, they would begin to see the intended similarities. They knew Christ died and that He was believed to have risen from the dead--they just didn't want to buy it. They had to know it--the evidence was overwhelming. The relationship between the two becomes even stronger as Stephen continues.

CONCLUSION

So what has Stephen done in the beginning of his message? He has, first of all, answered the charge of blasphemy against God, and second, at the same time, maintained their attention, because he's been dealing with what they care about--themselves and their history. The third thing he has done is indict them by showing the blasphemy of their own fathers in rejecting God's chosen one. And last, he has related the beautiful story of Joseph picturing the Messiah. Stephen begins what climaxes in a great statement about Jesus Christ Himself.

There are so many lessons that we can learn from Stephen's defense: We learn the lesson of boldness in witnessing, whatever the cost, don't we? We learn the lesson of defending the faith on the basis of Scripture. We learn the lesson of the sovereignty of the God who is running history. We learn of the faithfulness of God, who keeps His covenants. We learn the grace of God, who sends a redeemer. We learn that the Redeemer's rejection will be followed by His return. We also learn about the sad blindness and hostility towards Jesus Christ. Whatever it is the Spirit wants to teach you, learn it well.

Focusing on the Facts

1. What is that field of study called which seeks to defend the faith?

2. What is the twofold manner in which Paul viewed his ministry, according to Philippians 1:7?

3. What did both Paul and Stephen use to defend their faith?

4. Describe Stephen's effect upon the church. What three things aided in the expansion of the church?

5. Why did Stephen's opponents start slandering him? Of what did they accuse him?

6. What does Stephen establish at the beginning of his defense?

7. What is meant by the phrase "the God of glory"?

8. What was the living illustration which showed that the God of glory had set His approval upon Stephen?

9. What famous figure did Stephen first identify in his defense?

10. Where did God first appear to Abraham? Where did He renew His call unto Abraham?

11. What makes Abraham's response to God's call a classic illustration of faith?

12. How did Abraham take things into his own hands to see that the promise would be realized? What were the consequences of that unilateral action?

13. For what does Stephen want to indict his audience? What is the content of the indictment, according to Acts 7:51?

14. With whom does Stephen want his opponents to identify, thus making them realize that they have committed an identical sin? What is that sin they have repeated?

15. What proves that the patriarchs were at opposite ends from God?

16. Why did the Israelites have to wait forty extra years in Egypt before they were delivered?

17. What are two ways that the Messiah is prophetically presented in the Old Testament? Of which is Joseph an example?

18. Describe the similarities between Joseph and Jesus in the areas of their rejection and exaltation.

19. In what way is Israel starving today?

20. What is the prophetic significance of Joseph being accepted by his brothers when he revealed himself to them the second time?

Pondering the Principles

1. Basically, our activity as Christians revolves around two main areas: edifying believers, and evangelizing unbelievers. Stephen is a great example of the second area, especially. Evaluating his strategy gives us some good principles upon which to base our own evangelizing. When was the last time that you shared Christ with someone? If it has been quite a while, is that because you lack boldness, you rarely interact with unbelievers, or you don't know what to say? Perhaps all three are weaknesses in your ministry as a Christian. If you need boldness, read Acts 21:10-13 and 2 Timothy 1:7-8; if you avoid unbelievers, read Mark 2:15-17 and 1 Corinthians 5:9-10; if you need to know what has been accomplished in Christ, read Romans 3:19-30 and 1 Peter 3:15. Determine what steps you need to take to increase the effectiveness of your outreach to those who don't know Christ. For example, maybe you just need to step out in faith, trusting that God will give you the boldness you desire, or possibly you need to have some neighbors over for dinner, or maybe you could take a training class in doctrine or evangelism.

2. Has the pessimism of society affected the size of your faith? A famous missionary once said, "Attempt great things for God...expect great things from God." Have you acquired the shortsighted vision of the disciples who were discouraged when they realized that they had forgotten to bring food? They seemed to have forgotten that they were sitting in the boat with the very One who had just fed the multitude (Mt. 16:5-10)! If you are one who is quick to say, "I'll believe it when I see it," consider the faith of Abraham, who was given a promise by God which he never saw come to pass in its fullness (cf. Heb. 11:8-13). Has someone in your church sensed God's leading and expressed some new possibilities for serving Him, only to be disregarded by those who dwell on the obstacle rather than the opportunity? Make a commitment to be open-minded, to fully trust the God for whom "all things are possible" (Mt. 19:26b), and to wait prayerfully upon the Lord for Him to provide the means to match the motivation He has given you (Ps. 37:3-5; Col. 4:3-4). If you have never memorized Ephesians 3:20, do so now.