DAY #191: Acts 7:42-8:3

The Israelites’ worship of the golden calf was the beginning of a downward spiral. At times they returned to God, but far more often they were running after the gods of the evil nations surrounding them. This quote from Amos (Amos 5:25-27) supports Stephen’s accusation that Israel had a history of idol worship.





Molech and Rephan were planetary divinities. Molech was an Ammonite deity associated with child sacrifice, while Rephan was a god “borrowed” from Egypt. Both became popular options for Israel’s idolatry as her history progressed. The ancestors of Stephen’s current audience, the audience who stood in rejection of Jesus Christ, had a history of rejecting not only God’s messengers but even of turning from God himself to their own handmade gods. The cost for their idolatry had been captivity far away in Babylon. No one within the sound of Stephen’s voice could have any doubt about the historical accuracy of that statement.



Suddenly, the subject switches to this intriguing section concerning the Tabernacle. Having sufficiently denied the charge against him that he had blasphemed Moses, Stephen proceeded to address the charge that he had blasphemed God. The Tabernacle was a movable worship center used by the Israelites prior to the construction of the Temple by Solomon.



When the people finally moved into the land of Canaan under Joshua’s leadership, the Tabernacle was taken with them and remained with them as they settled the land and had many battles against the Gentile nations. Stephen reminded his audience that God drove the Gentiles out of the Promised Land. This temporary and mobile Tabernacle remained with the people until the time of King David, when Jerusalem was made the capital city and David began making plans for a Temple.



Stephen moved to the critical point of his speech. Not only had the Jews killed the prophets who had predicted the coming of the Righteous One (the Messiah, Jesus Christ), but they had betrayed and murdered their Messiah. The children of Israel had rejected their deliverer, Moses, from the start to the finish of his ministry. They had deliberately disobeyed God’s law, though they had received it from the hands of angels. God himself had been rejected in their ancestors’ constant forays into idolatry. God’s Messiah, the Righteous One, the Savior of the world, was the latest victim of their rebellion. These final words so enraged his hearers that they shook their fists in rage.



In contrast to their rage, Stephen was still in control, full of the Holy Spirit, the ultimate source of strength and courage. The text tells us that as the maddened crowd drew nearer, Stephen kept his gaze steadily upward. In the process he saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.





Just before his death, however, Stephen saw Christ standing. In the final words of Luke’s record of Stephen’s martyrdom, Saul was introduced subtly into the text as a young man in charge of keeping the coats of those who were stoning Stephen. The opening verse of this chapter adds the information about Saul’s current attitude: he was not just there by accident or just passing by.


He was one of the official witnesses at the killing of Stephen. His name was Saul.






SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)


As I read this passage today, I think about this question: What price am I willing to pay to be God's man. And in the process of being God's man, knowing what might come my way, am I willing to have my wonderful wife pay that price and my precious kids?


I have no other answer than what David said in Psalm 119:33 (LB) - "Just tell me what to do and I will do it, Lord. As long as I live I'll wholeheartedly obey."


Would to God that I could say what Mary said - "Mary said, `I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to do whatever he wants..." Luke 1:38 (LB)


Lord, build into me the kind of heart that Paul had when he said -"My only goal is to please God..." 2 Corinthians 5:9 (NCV)

Lord, help me pay the price...(Jesus) "No one can be my disciple who does not carry his own cross and follow me. But don't begin until you count the cost." Luke 14:27-28 (LB)