Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. (Acts 8:1)

A few verses before, we met the man who supervised the execution of Stephen, who was the first martyr of the Christian faith (Acts 7:58). Acts 8:1 continues the story of Saul, telling us first that Saul was consenting to the death of Stephen. The English translation probably isn’t strong enough. The idea behind the ancient Greek word suneudokeo is “to approve, to be pleased with.” Some people are reluctant persecutors, but Saul wasn’t one of these; he took pleasure in attacking and even killing Christians.

Saul of Tarsus – whom most of us know by his Roman name, Paul – later came to deeply regret this persecution of the church. He later wrote that he was not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God (1 Corinthians 15:9).

Stephen’s death was only the beginning, the start of a great persecution that arose against the church. The floodgates of violence were now open against the Christians and Saul was only one of many persecutors. Before, individual apostles had been arrested and beaten and persecuted. Now, every believer was threatened with violence and perhaps death.

In 1956, on the shores of a river in the jungles of Ecuador, natives murdered five missionaries who came to preach Jesus. To many, this death seemed like a senseless tragedy. Many could only see five young missionaries who had their careers cut short or the five widows and fatherless children. But God did an amazing work through those five men, even in their deaths, and the blessing long echoed through people like Elisabeth Elliot – the widow of one the missionary martyrs.

In a similar way, Stephen’s death might seem meaningless at first glance. His young ministry of power and eloquence was cut abruptly short. His ministry also seemed to end in failure – no one was immediately brought to faith, and all that came was more persecution. But as often has been the case, the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church.

Afterwards, they were scattered throughout the regions. Now the Christians were forced to do what they had been reluctant to do – get the message of Jesus out to the surrounding regions. In Acts 1:8 Jesus clearly told His followers to look beyond Jerusalem and bring the gospel to Judea, Samaria, and the whole world. Up to this point, Jesus’ followers had not done this.

The resulting good shows us that God can and will use painful and pressing circumstances to guide His people into His will. Sometimes we must be shaken out of our comfortable state before we do what God wants us to do. When God allows some shaking, pressing, or pain, don’t forget to look for His purpose in it all. It may be something greater than you ever imagined.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 7

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. (Acts 7:57-58)

For the ruling council, it was just too much. It was too much when Stephen exposed their familiar sins of rejecting those God sent to deliver them, and their idolatry of the temple. It was too much when Stephen saw the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the place of prestige and honor in heaven.

Because it was all too much, they screamed. That is, they cried out with a loud voice. The Sanhedrin reacted quickly and violently. Jesus, before this same council, declared that He would sit at the right hand of God, and they had a similar reaction (Matthew 26:64-66).

They did not only cry out with a loud voice. They also stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord. The reaction of the Sanhedrin seems extreme but is typical of those who reject God and are lost in spiritual insanity. They wailed in agony and covered their ears at the revelation of God, which they regarded as blasphemy.

It is a dangerous thing to be religious apart from a real relationship with Jesus Christ. This fulfills what Jesus warned about in John 16:2-3: Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.

Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him: The extent of their rage was shown by their execution of Stephen, which was done without regard for Roman law, and which was performed according to traditional Jewish custom (stoning).

The commentator F.F. Bruce quoted a second-century Jewish writing to explain stoning. First, they gave the condemned man the opportunity to confess. Then they stripped off his clothing. Next, one of the witnesses to the crime pushed him from a height. If that didn’t kill him, then the second witness dropped a heavy stone on the condemned man’s chest. If this didn’t kill him, they threw rocks at the condemned man until he was dead.

In all this, the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. A man named Saul was the supervisor of the operation. The phrase “young man” literally means, “a man in his prime.” He was almost certainly a member of the Sanhedrin, and he heartily approved of Stephen’s execution.

Stephen was the first Christian martyr. His death was a shock to the early church. Yet God did not abandon Stephen; Jesus received him in glory and used his death to bring many into the kingdom. The saying of the early church proved true: the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church’s harvest.

In Jesus, our sorrows need never be wasted.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 7

When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. (Acts 7:54)

This is a remarkable scene from Acts. Stephen, a servant-leader among the early Christians, was on trial before the same council that, just a few years earlier, had sent Jesus to the Romans for crucifixion. Stephen gave a remarkably eloquent and bold explanation of the council’s sin.

In response, these powerful men were cut to the heart. The council was angry because Stephen’s message hit the target. They couldn’t dismiss or ignore what he said. They were guilty of the same sins as many of their forefathers. They made an idol out of the temple, and they often rejected the deliverers God sent them. Especially, they rejected God’s ultimate Deliverer: Jesus Christ.

The Sanhedrin reacted with rage – they gnashed at him with their teeth. It is remarkable to think of this response from men who were dignified and respected leaders. This would as if a group of senators or ministers of parliament ground their teeth in anger in response to the testimony of a witness at a hearing.

According to some commentators (such as Gaebelein), the verb tenses in this sentence indicate that they did not wait until Stephen finished his speech to start grinding their teeth. It was a prolonged gnashing of teeth that lasted through all his words.

It’s not good to grind your teeth. The practice may show that someone is under a lot of stress, or lives with a lot of anger. It is a bad practice for your body, but here it was even worse as an indication of the spiritual condition of these men.

Many times in the Old Testament the gnashing of teeth describes how enemies of God’s people reacted with fury against those whom they persecuted:

They tore at me and did not cease…they gnashed at me with their teeth. (Psalm 35:16)

The wicked will see it and be grieved; he will gnash his teeth and melt away (Psalm 112:10)

All your enemies have opened their mouth against you; they hiss and gnash their teeth. (Lamentations 3:16)

In at least 5 different places in Matthew, Jesus described hell (the lake of fire) as a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” So when we read, they gnashed at him with their teeth, it can’t help but remind us of the imagery of Hell.

These men were prominent, successful, and appeared to be religious; yet they rejected God and associated with hell, not heaven. The stress and anger of their rebellion against God showed itself in the grinding of their teeth.

Yet in all of this, God had His victory. Look at Psalm 37:12-13: The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth. The LORD laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming.

Today, take confidence in God’s victory – even over those who grind their teeth against Him and His people!

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 7

Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran…” (Acts 7:1-2)

Stephen, a leader in the early church, was on trial before the highest council of the Jewish elders – the Sanhedrin. The high priest mentioned here was probably still Caiaphas, who also presided over the trial of Jesus (Matthew 26:57).

The high priest asked Stephen, Are these things so? He invited Stephen to explain himself considering the accusations recorded in Acts 6:11-14. Stephen was accused of speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God, and against this holy place [the temple], and against the law.

In his response Stephen gave a panorama of Old Testament history. We shouldn’t think Stephen instructed the Sanhedrin on points of Jewish history they didn’t know. Instead, Stephen emphasized some themes in Jewish history they may not have considered:

– The Bible says God never confined Himself to one place (like the temple).
– The Bible says the Jewish people often rejected those God sent them.

This really was not a defense. Stephen wasn’t interested in defending himself. He simply wanted to proclaim the truth about Jesus in a way people could understand. Stephen wasn’t trying to be acquitted; he wanted to clearly present God’s truth.

One of the charges against Stephen was that he spoke against the temple, and the same accusation was made against Jesus. Some of the Jewish people of the first century had made an idol out of the temple. They took something good – the temple and its services – and made it the entire center of God’s work. They thought so highly of the temple that it was a death-deserving sin to speak against it!

Stephen confronted this false and dangerous idolatry by remembering Abraham. Stephen explained, The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia. Stephen emphasized that the God of glory appeared to Abraham before he even came into the Promised Land.

Abraham didn’t need a temple for this revelation of the God of glory, and he didn’t even have to be in the land of Israel. God was greater than either. This explained why it was wrong for this council to put Stephen on trial for speaking against the temple.

It wasn’t as if God was in Canaan and Abraham was in Mesopotamia, and God said to Abraham “Come on over here so that I can speak to you.” God appeared to Abraham right where he was in Mesopotamia. He was the God of Israel and Jerusalem and the temple; but God was and is so much more.

Don’t think that you must go to a certain place for God to reveal Himself to you. We don’t go to church because it’s the only place God is; we go because that’s where His people gather. The God of all creation can speak to you right where you are today.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 7

And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. (Acts 6:5-7)

It’s not easy to deal with problems in the church, especially when one group feels mistreated. But in Acts 6, when there was a dispute over the treatment of Christian widows from a Greek cultural background, the Holy Spirit led the apostles to the right solution.

The solution was so good that it pleased the whole multitude. Both sides were happy!  We can’t say this was a good decision only because the people liked it. Yet, God confirmed the wisdom of the apostles through agreement among the people.

Luke, the author of Acts, listed the seven men. They all had Greek names, showing that they were probably Hellenists themselves. This showed great sensitivity to the offended Hellenists by appointing Hellenists to take care of the widows’ distribution.

After the seven men were chosen, they prayed for them, and they laid hands on them. It was important to lay hands on them even if their service was mainly for the practical needs of the widows. Practical service is spiritual service. The same Greek word is used for both distribution (Acts 6:1) and ministry (Acts 6:4). The idea behind the word in both places is service, whether in practical ways or spiritual ways.

Look at the wonderful result: the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. Considering all that could have gone wrong when Satan tried to attack the church through division, it’s wonderful that everyone involved did the right thing.

Those with the complaint, the Hellenists, did the right thing: They made the need known, instead of complaining and whining, and they trusted the solution of the apostles.

Those of the other party, the Hebrews, did the right thing: They recognized that the Hellenists had a legitimate need, and they trusted the solution of the apostles.

The seven chosen men did the right thing: They accepted the call to unglamorous service.

The apostles did the right thing: They responded to the need without distracting themselves from their central task.

Satan’s strategy failed. He tried to divide the church, and it did not work. Satan’s second strategy also failed. The apostles were not distracted from the focus of ministry God had for them – to focus on the word of God and on prayer.

Such grace was evident that even a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith – many priests were coming to Jesus!

When we are in seasons of potential division, let’s do the right thing – and see God do His great work.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 6