Devotion Acts 7.1-51 Irrefutable Defense Part 1

Acts 7:1-51 / 1-3  – Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”

2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’

“Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”” Just as the trial of Jesus was illegal and improper from the start, so was the trial of Stephen. A defendant had a right against self-incrimination yet the first question asked of Stephen was “Are these charges true,” thereby asking Stephen to incriminate himself.

Another breaking of their own rules is that the testimony would be by two or three first hand witnesses of the crime (Deuteronomy 17:6, Deuteronomy 19:15) and those witnesses were to be thoroughly cross-examined (Deuteronomy 19:16-20) to assure the truthfulness of the testimony of the witness.  This is another right that Stephen was denied.  His accusers were paid-for liars.  We see that these worried and jealous men were not interested in a fair trial, they were only interesting in rushing to a pre-determined judgement of their design.  They wanted to get rid of this person who was causing people to see the evil in what they had done to Jesus and therefore these leaders were denying the people their Messiah that they longed for.  This was all very evil.  The Sanhedrin did not want the truth but instead wanted to kill anybody who was the purveyor of it.

“To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’”  Stephen began his defense not of himself, but of the validity of Jesus as the Messiah.  He was not concerned about the possible death sentence facing him.  He did not back away from witnessing about Jesus.  No, instead he rightly saw his situation as a God given opportunity to say to that court, its officials and the witnesses there the Truth of the Gospel.  Stephen’s life was given to the Gospel and his Savior Jesus and Stephen would not relent, would not soften the truth to save his own life.  Truly a hero of the faith!

It is worthy to note that throughout most of Stephen’s testimony he refers to father Abraham and the pillars of the faith as “our father.”  In the belief of the Old Testament scriptures Stephen was rock solid. When referring to these righteous fathers of their ancestry, those used by God, he said they were “our fathers.”  These were those who obeyed the call of God.  Later on we will note the contrast when he refers to disobedient ancestors as “your ancestors. (V51)”  Family, our eternal family in the faith also goes back to Abraham.  We know that we are related to Abraham as his descendants in the faith of God.  We know that Abraham was never obedient to any of the written law, as he lived before Moses received the Ten Commandments.  Abraham heard the call of the Lord, had faith in Him, and obeyed Him.  We are called just as Abraham was called.  God calls us and those who walk in the faith believe in God and then, out of love for Him, obey Him.  Our faith ancestry of followers of God begins not with the Apostles, but with Abraham.  Praise God!  Now knowing that we should understand how we should love and stand with Israel, they are the ancestors who faithfully safeguarded the Holy Words of God.  They have been those chosen by God to do so.  Praise God for the beauty and awesome wonder of the implementation of His plan of Salvation for the Jew and also for us.  Praise God!  He is so amazing!  Praise God!