Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word

Menu
Contact Us

Acts 7:41-60 God Gave Them up to Worship the Host of Heaven

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Act 7:41-60 God Gave Them up to Worship the Host of Heaven

[Study Aired February 5, 2023]

Act 7:41  And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Act 7:42  Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
Act 7:43  Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
Act 7:44  Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
Act 7:45  Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Act 7:46  Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
Act 7:47  But Solomon built him an house.
Act 7:48  Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
Act 7:49  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?
Act 7:50  Hath not my hand made all these things?
Act 7:51  Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Act 7:52  Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Act 7:53  Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
Act 7:54  When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Act 7:55  But 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,
Act 7:56  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Act 7:57  Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
Act 7:58  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.
Act 7:59  And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Act 7:60  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.

We continue with our study in Luke’s account of the kangaroo court of the Sanhedrin, which was convened for the purpose of stopping Stephen’s preaching and teaching in the temple. Stephen was well read in the scriptures and was so persuasive in answering his critics that they were forced to bring him to trial to keep the gospel from literally taking over Jerusalem.

Act 6:7  And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
Act 6:8  And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
Act 6:9  Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
Act 6:10  And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
Act 6:11  Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
Act 6:12  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,

Stephen used the opportunity of his trial to remind the church of his day, which typifies and signifies the church of today, that according to the scriptures from the time of Joseph, the Lord’s own people have always rejected those whom the Lord sends to show them how far they are from the Lord. Stephen pointed out that the Israelites had rejected Moses just as the patriarchs, Joseph’s brothers, had earlier rejected Joseph, forcing Moses to flee to Midian to save his life. Just as the Lord had brought Joseph forth from the Egyptian prison and set him over all Egypt, so the Lord also brought Moses out of the wilderness of Midian and empowered him to bring Israel out of Egypt and bring them to Mount Sinai where He gave them His laws.

Exodus 19-24 records the giving of the law to Israel at the base of Mount Sinai, just as the very first “feast of weeks” began. The law was given to the congregation of Israel at the base of mount Sinai before Moses went up to receive the two tables of stone with the ten commandments written on them. The leaders of Israel were given the law “and they saw the God of Israel” before the building of the golden calf.

Exo 19:1  In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.
Exo 19:2  For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

Exo 24:1  And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.
Exo 24:2  And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.
Exo 24:3  And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.
Exo 24:4  And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
Exo 24:5  And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.
Exo 24:6  And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
Exo 24:7  And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.
Exo 24:8  And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.

The law was given to and read to all the people and was consecrated with the blood of “offerings of oxen” (Exo 24:5) on the very first “feast of weeks”, later to become known as the feast of Pentecost. This giving of the law to Israel was done a short time before the Lord called Moses up into the mount to give him the instructions for the building of the tabernacle and to give Moses the writing of the ten commandments on two tables of stone.

The making of the golden calf took place after the feast of firstfruits and while Moses was spending forty days fasting on Mount Sinai, where he received the instructions for the building of the tabernacle and the two tables of stone. All the people of Israel had agreed to keep all the words of the law (vs 7), and then immediately after giving their word to do so, they did the exact opposite and built to themselves an idol to worship. This is what took place at the very first ‘feast of weeks’ shortly before the making of the idol of a golden calf:

Exo 24:9  Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:
Exo 24:10  And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.
Exo 24:11  And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
Exo 24:12  And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.

Stephen continues with the history of the apostasy of the Lord’s people:

Act 7:41  And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

Idols are “the work of [our] own hands.” However, our hands do only what our hearts and minds first conceive. That is what makes a physical idol the perfect type of an “idol of [our] hearts”, meaning a false doctrine. A false doctrine is “the work of our own hands.”

Most idol worshipers honor their idol with festivals, during which they perform rituals which they are taught will appease their false god. These festivals always occur during the various seasons of the year – spring, summer, fall, and winter – and they always require a sacrifice.

This is what the Lord warned Israel not to do to Him after they drove out the idol-worshiping heathen from the promised land:

Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise [unto the Lord].
Deu 12:31  Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

There are the words of the Lord at which we are to tremble (Isa 66:2). Do not say to yourself, “How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.” “Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God.” Do not ‘Christianize’ pagan holidays and say you are doing it to the Lord your God! That is exactly what the whole world does.

Stephen continues:

Act 7:42  Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?

The Lord had given the heathen (the nations, the Gentiles) to worship “the host of heaven.” He had given His people His “carnal commandment” (Heb 7:12) which included the keeping of days, months, times, and years to worship Him, in type and in shadow:

Deu 4:19  And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

When we understand that the nations, within us and outwardly, are first given by the Lord to “worship… all the host of heaven” then we must understand that that is how they serve their gods, and it is not our job to deprive them of the only thing they have in this world to worship their god.

Here are a few verses of scripture in Galatians 4 and in Colossians 2 which spiritual Babylonian Christians “do… not understand… because [they] cannot hear [the Lord’s] words”, as the Lord Himself tells us:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech?  even because ye cannot hear my word.

Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? [Pray tell, what are these “weak and beggarly elements”???]
Gal 4:10  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

Those to whom the Lord has given to “worship all the host of heaven” simply “do… not understand” what the holy spirit is saying in those verses of Galatians 4 “because [they] cannot hear [His] word.”

The Greek word translated as “elements” in Galatians 4:9 is:

‘Stoicheion’ is a derivative of:

Those who worship in the churches of Babylon the Great “conform to [the] virtue and piety” of Babylon and would not dare to fail to “observe [all the] days, months, times and years” which Babylon dictates must be kept by all the churches of this world. These “days, months, times, and years” are all the rituals and the “vanities” which, until this very day, “provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger.” Paul saw the churches returning to the observance of Jewish “days, months, times and years”, which are no different than Pagan rituals. They were doing so because Jewish Christians were telling them that if they were not circumcised, and if they did not keep the law of Moses, they could not be saved:

Act 15:1  And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
Act 15:2  When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.

If the holy spirit inspired the apostle Paul to warn the new Gentile Christians about being seduced to return to the weak and beggarly elements of Jewish “days, months, times, and years,” how much more would he not condemn the keeping of heathen days like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, birthdays, and anniversaries, none of which have any affirmation or basis in scripture.

Colossians 2 reiterates Paul’s concerns in a more general tone using the words “traditions of men” instead of ‘days, months’ times, and years’ in the context of “the weak and beggarly elements” of the law of Moses:

Col 2:6  As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
Col 2:7  Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Col 2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments [G4747: ‘stoicheion] of the world, and not after Christ.
Col 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

The Greek word translated ‘rudiments’ in verse 8 is the same Greek word which is translated as ‘elements’ in Galatians 4:9.

Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements [G4747: ‘stoicheion’], whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

Here in Galatians Paul reveals that the weak and beggarly ‘stoicheion’ refers specifically to ‘days, months, times and years”, and he is referring to the same “weak and beggarly elements” when he uses the Greek word stoicheion here in Colossians 2.

Col 2:16  Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Col 2:17  Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Col 2:18  Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
Col 2:19  And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
Col 2:20  Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments [Greek: ‘stoicheion’] of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
Col 2:21  (Touch not; taste not; handle not; [“never has anything common or unclean entered my mouth” (Act 11:8)]
Col 2:22  Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

The idol worship introduced to Israel by Jereboam, the son of Nebat, which none of the kings of Israel or Judah could ever completely purge from among the people, was the keeping of festivals at times not appointed by the Lord:

1Ki 12:26  And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David:
1Ki 12:27  If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.
1Ki 12:28  Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
1Ki 12:29  And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.
1Ki 12:30  And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
1Ki 12:31  And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.
1Ki 12:32  And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
1Ki 12:33  So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.

1Ki 16:26  For he [King Omri] walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities.

1Ki 16:31  And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him [KingAhab] to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.

1Ki 22:52  And he [King Ahaziah] did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin:

2Ki 3:3  Nevertheless he [King Jehoram] cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.

2Ki 10:28  Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
2Ki 10:29  Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.

2Ki 13:2  And he [King Jehoahaz, the son of King Jehu] did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.

2Ki 13:11  And he [King Jehoash] did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin: but he walked therein.

2Ki 14:3  And he [Amaziah, king of Judah] did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father: he did according to all things as Joash his father did.
2Ki 14:4  Howbeit the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places.

2Ki 14:24  And he [Jereboam the son of Joash, the king of Israel] did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

2Ki 15:3  And he [Azariah, the son of Amaziah, king of Judah] did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done;
2Ki 15:4  Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places.

2Ki 15:8  In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months.
2Ki 15:9  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

2Ki 15:17  In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria.
2Ki 15:18  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

2Ki 15:23  In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years.
2Ki 15:24  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

2Ki 15:27  In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years.
2Ki 15:28  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

2Ki 15:32  In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign.
2Ki 15:33  Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.
2Ki 15:34  And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.
2Ki 15:35  Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the LORD.

The sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was that he led Israel to keep days, months, times and years which were of his own devices and not according to the commandments of the Lord. They were centered around idol worship just as the days, months, times and years observed by the whole world until this very day.

If we are given to see that the observing of “days, months, times and years” are the very forms of worship of and toward false gods, which is given by the Lord “unto all the nations under the whole heaven” then we surely “[would] not do so unto the Lord [our] God” (Deu 12:31).

The world does so anyway:

Act 7:43  Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

This statement by Stephen references these verses of Amos:

Amo 5:21  I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
Amo 5:22  Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
Amo 5:23  Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
Amo 5:24  But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Amo 5:25  Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
Amo 5:26  But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
Amo 5:27  Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.

Amos says ‘Damascus’, and Stephen says ‘Babylon’. Of course, Babylon is well “beyond Damascus” which makes both true, and both are inspired and preserved by the holy spirit.

Act 7:44  Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.

Indeed, that was the instruction given to Moses:

Exo 25:40  And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.

Exo 26:30  And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.

‘Make it according to the fashion that he had seen’ is just another way of saying:

Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Christ is our tabernacle, and he is the “pattern” and the “fashion” by which we are all measured. He wants us to do the things He tells us to do without ‘adding to or diminishing from His words:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Act 7:45  Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

It is Christ Himself, through His own faith within us, who we bring into the possession of our inward Gentile, our old man, in these earthen vessels of ‘the land of promise’:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made [is making] it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

It is the next verse which speaks of “the redemption of the purchased possession” at the time of the resurrection.

Eph 1:14  Which [“spirit of promise”] is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Being in the land of promise and being given “the earnest of… the spirit of promise” is a wonderful and necessary place to be. It “is not worthy to be compared with… the redemption of the purchased possession” which is being given a part in that blessed and holy first resurrection:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Act 7:46  Who [King David] found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
Act 7:47  But Solomon built him an house.

King David’s desire to build “a tabernacle for the God of Jacob” signifies Christ in the flesh, cleansing the physical temple to signify how He is cleansing us while we are yet in these earthen vessels:

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels [Christ “the… spirit of promise” (Eph 1:13)] that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Act 7:48  Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
Act 7:49  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?
Act 7:50  Hath not my hand made all these things?

Stephen simply quoted:

Isa 66:1  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

There was no chapter and verse breakdown of the scriptures in Stephen’s day. Stephen quoted from Isaiah 66:1 to the middle of verse 2.  “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?” These words, followed by the rest of verse two revealed that the Lord’s anti-type temple was the hearts and minds of His people and not a physical temple made by the hands of men: “but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” Those are words of the Lord Himself. There is not as much as a hint or a suggestion of Christ or any of his disciples wanting to destroy the physical temple.

The Sanhedrin, signifying the church of our day, wanted a physical temple, and had no appreciation of an inward spiritual temple within “him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at my word.”

At this point, Stephen draws the conclusion of his whole discourse of the history of the rebellions of Israel against the Lord and against His prophets:

Act 7:51  Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Act 7:52  Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Act 7:53  Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
Act 7:54  When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

The “gnashing of teeth” symbolizes extreme mental and spiritual torment in the New Testament:

Mat 8:12  But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mat 13:42  And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Mat 13:50  And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mat 24:51  And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mat 25:30  And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Luk 13:28  There 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.

Notice how the Truth triggers the guilty:

Act 5:30  The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Act 5:31  Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
Act 5:32  And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
Act 5:33  When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.

Act 5:30-33 are the words of Peter and all the apostles which were addressed to this same Sanhedrin Stephen is now facing. Gamaliel does not speak up to save Stephen’s life as he did when all the apostles were on trial.

Act 7:55  But 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,
Act 7:56  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Act 7:57  Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
Act 7:58  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.

This is the same ‘Saul of Tarsus’ who would later express his zeal for the law by persecuting the church above many his equals:

Act 22:4  And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

Act 26:11  And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.

Gal 1:13  For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
Gal 1:14  And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

Php 3:6  Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

Act 7:59  And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Act 7:60  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 the mind of Christ, and they both knew these members of the Sanhedrin, signifying the religious leaders of our day who actually teach and encourage their followers to fight against and kill the enemies of the nation of their birth, “cannot hear [Christ’s] words”:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Stephen was following in the steps of the Lord who said the same thing when He was being crucified:

Luk 23:33  And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
Luk 23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

The Lord meant it when He told us:

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Joh 12:26  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

Other related posts