Acts 7:48-8:348Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 49Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? 50Hath not my hand made all these things? 51Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 52Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. 54When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 59And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. 1And 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, except the apostles. 2And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 3As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. (Acts 7:48‑8:3)
48-50. “Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool: what house will ye build Me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of My rest? Hath not My hand made all these things?”
The spiritually blinded Jews were proud of their temple, which had taken 46 years to build (John 2:2020Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? (John 2:20)), thinking this insured the presence of Jehovah. But He could not find rest in a building which had become, through wicked unbelief, a defiled house of merchandise (John 2:1616And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. (John 2:16)). The longsuffering presence of God among His earthly people was due to His grace and patience, not because of the presence of the temple.
51. “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.”
What good did the outward ritual of circumcision do, when they would not hear or act on God’s Word given them by the Holy Spirit? Of what eternal value is the outward name of Christian—bestowed through baptism—if there has been no real work of faith by the power of the Spirit in the soul? Such empty profession produces the grossest kind of conduct by those who call themselves Christians.
52-53. “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.”
What an indictment! Their fathers and they themselves would not have these channels of God’s mind, even as they did not honor the Son (Matt. 21:3838But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. (Matthew 21:38)). The law, divinely received (by the disposition of angels) that they might be blessed, served only to condemn them. How exceedingly solemn today for any who have had free access to the divine Word of God and yet have rejected its truth.
54. “When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.”
The word given by Stephen, through the power of the Spirit of God, was living and “powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” It cut to the wicked “thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:1212For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)). But rather than allowing a work of repentance, which would cause them to smite their breasts and cry, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:1313And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. (Luke 18:13)), they react in the same horrible way in which those in a lost eternity will react—they gnash (Luke 13:2828There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. (Luke 13:28)) with their teeth on the one who has told them the truth.
55. “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.”
56. “And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.”
These wicked rulers had heard the Lord in an earlier day say to them, “But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins” (Matt. 9:66But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. (Matthew 9:6)). Still ready to come back in grace and blessing to the guilty nation of Israel, the blessed and rejected Son of Man is here seen standing (not yet seated) at God’s right hand. May we believers be ever ready, in like spirit, to show the patient, long-suffering grace of God to a world so often guilty of mistreating and persecuting the children of God.
57-58. “Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.”
What a difference in their loud cry and the loud cry of Stephen (vs. 60)! Their’s was a cry of hatred at Stephen’s divine vision of Jesus standing in glory; his, a cry of love and forgiveness. Such a horrible reaction is all the worse for the place of divine favor they had been brought into by Jehovah. Yet this place of blessing only brings greater responsibility and condemnation in view of their wicked rejection.
But in the midst of all this darkness, God’s divine purposes and counsels shine so brightly. They can never be overruled or defeated by man’s failure or the enemy’s efforts. At this dark moment we are, for the first time, brought in contact with the zealous and overbearing Saul—later to become Paul the Apostle of the risen Christ, the vessel of the mysteries of Christ and His bride, the church. What grace!
59. “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
In every extremity, the believer has instant and effectual recourse to God through and because of His well beloved Son, Jesus our Lord.
60. “And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
Stephen had looked up in faith (vs. 55). Now he kneels down in dependence, submission and love. Every day of our Christian pathway, we need to do the same—look up and kneel down.
With words of love and forgiveness fitting to a child of God, Stephen enters the glory and bliss he had seen by faith—he fell asleep. “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (1 Cor. 15:5151Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, (1 Corinthians 15:51)).
1. “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, except the apostles.”
How dark the circumstances seemed—how glorious the victory that God was working! The death of Stephen and the persecution of believers seemed to be a victory for Satan, yet his attempts to destroy the assembly were thwarted in two ways.
First, the gospel was carried to many other parts by those who escaped the persecution at Jerusalem. Those in Judea and Samaria who might not have heard that wonderful message, had the assembly in Jerusalem remained in peace, now were also able to hear of the wonderful works of God.
Secondly, about 40 years after this event, the Roman army under Titus swept into Jerusalem and destroyed it, massacring most if not all the Jews who remained there. This present persecution was used by God to send many believers to places of safety before this awful event took place.
2. “And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.”
It is appropriate to mourn the loss of a saint of God. Though knowing that joy comes in the morning, we weep in this present night when temporary separation through death takes a loved one home.
3. “As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.”
Many homes in Jerusalem were privileged to host believers who gathered in assembly around the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst. Saul’s hatred of Christianity, however, even set aside Moses’s teaching as to the sanctity of the home in the matter of pledges. “Thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge” (Deut. 24:1010When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. (Deuteronomy 24:10)). In faith, the Christians had pledged their souls to Christ. The insolent, overbearing zealot was busily dragging that pledge back, either to Judaism or off to prison and death.
Ed.