In the Place of Moses

Acts of the Apostles (15)

Introduction

One of the hallmarks of worldliness is when the curators of museums subvert the legacies of the men they are ostensibly honoring. This does not happen as an occasional oddity—it is the way of the world. The Lord Jesus referred to this common pattern when He said that the men who build memorials to deceased prophets are the descendants of the men who murdered the prophets (Matt. 23:29). In this part of the book of Acts, as the stage is set for the martyrdom of Stephen, we see the very same dynamics in play.

The Text

“And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. 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. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. 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, And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel” (Acts 6: 8-15).

Summary of the Text

Along with six other men, Stephen had been elected and ordained as a deacon. But he was given more in his ordination than perhaps anyone had anticipated. Full of faith and power, he began to do wonders and miracles, and all of it out in public (v. 8). This brought about a verbal confrontation between Stephen and certain men from the Synagogue of the Freedmen (v. 9). These men were from various places around the empire—i.e. Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia. In modern parlance, they were from Libya, Egypt, and various places in Turkey. But in this confrontation, they were unable to deal with Stephen’s wisdom or spirit as he spoke (v. 10). Rather than give it up, they then secretly induced some other men to lie about Stephen, testifying that they had heard him blaspheming against both Moses and God (v. 11). With that lie started, they then stirred up the people, elders, and scribes, and then came upon Stephen, arresting him, and they brought him to the council (v. 12). They had false witnesses prepared beforehand here as well, who said that Stephen had never stopped blaspheming against the Temple and the law (v. 13). They reported that Stephen had said that Jesus was going to destroy the Temple, and that the customs delivered by Moses would be changed (v. 14). So the allegation of blasphemy was that Stephen had blasphemed God, Moses, the Temple, the law, and the customs. But when the members of the council looked at him, they saw that his face was radiant, like that of an angel (v. 15).   

Disciples of Moses Who Weren’t

In their back and forth with the man born blind, the Pharisees had had this to say. “We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is” (John 9:29). But how had Moses established his authority in Israel initially? God gave him the power to work wonders, remember (Ex. 4:1-5)? But what had Stephen been doing at the beginning of our passage? Great wonders, just like Moses.

But there is more. When Moses came down off the mountain, having met with God, his face was radiant and shining (Ex. 34:29-30). And here, when the council looked at Stephen, just before his defense, they saw that his face was radiant, like the face of an angel (v. 15).

In short, the defenders of the ways of Moses had a Moses return to them, and he began to minister in their midst in just the way that Moses would have. And so what did they do? They arrested him, in the name of Moses, and put him on trial for blaspheming Moses. They acted like Moses hated Moses, but in actual fact it was the curators of the Moses Museum who hated Moses. It is always the way.  

Blasphemy Charges

One of the great current topics in our country is that of Christian nationalism. And one of the first objections raised to it is usually brought up on the basis of a fear that Christian nationalists would start arresting freethinkers in order to charge them with blasphemy—as though our biggest concern would be the village atheist who puts out a newsletter with a circulation of 153.

But one of the central goals of any true-hearted Christian nationalism would be to radically reduce the power of the state. And why? Because in Scripture you deal with beams and poles before you deal with specks and floaters (Matt. 7:3). In Scripture, the greatest threat when it comes to blasphemy is always found in the ruling authorities. The beast from the sea had the name of blasphemy on its head (Rev. 13:1) The great Harlot was full of the names of blasphemy (Rev. 17:3). When Saul of Tarsus was a persecutor, he would force believers to blaspheme (Acts 26:11). The rich men who control the courts blaspheme the name of our Lord (James 2:7). This means that granting the power to prosecute blasphemy is a move that usually winds up giving such power to the greatest blasphemers.

Not only do they blaspheme, but they do so while charging faithful believers with blasphemy. Never forget that the Lord Jesus was convicted on a blasphemy charge (Matt. 26:65). And here, in Acts 6, this same terrible travesty is happening over again. Convicted of blasphemy by the great blasphemers.

When we have ensured that this can no longer happen, and we have lived with limited government for maybe 500 years or so, then would the time to worry about the village atheist.

The Influence of Stephen on Saul

We actually know more about Saul of Tarsus than we think we do. First, his hometown of Tarsus was located in the province of Cilicia. Note that this was one of the regions mentioned when the Synagogue of the Freedmen was being described. Second, we are introduced to Saul by name for the very first time as he was watching the cloaks of those who were stoning Stephen (Acts 7:58). In Jewish law, those who testified in a capital case were required to participate in the execution. But the men throwing stones in this case had been suborned by the synagogue men who had lost their debates with Stephen. So these synagogue men were the agents of this judicial murder, and one of them was clearly Saul. He consented to the death (Acts 8:1).

But we know from all our available information that Saul was a zealous man, and we can tell he was a world class intellect, far surpassing other men of his generation (Gal. 1:14). We also know that he was insolent, conceited, and proud, as he acknowledged later (1 Tim. 1:12-13). Now how do you think such a man would react to losing a debate with a Christian soup kitchen guy? Not very well, we can pretty much guarantee. But someone with such a mind would also know that having a man set up and murdered is not the same thing as answering him. So this helps explain why, after the execution of Stephen, when Saul erupts in a rage (Acts 8:3), we know that this was because he was internally wound tight. That was his condition, exhaling threats and murder (Acts 9:1) on the Damascus road. This was just before the Lord appeared to him, and humanly speaking, it was all thanks to Stephen.

But it was not a vision of Stephen that saved him. It was a vision of Christ.