Acts 7: Stephen Preaches to Rock Hard Hearts

In Acts 7 Stephen is surrounded by an angry crowd, stirred up by false witnesses and jealous religious leaders, the high priest turned to Stephen and asked, "Are these charges true?" The charges were that he had blasphemed God and Moses. 2And Stephen declared: "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 Haran, Stephen calls them brothers and fathers. This was a heartfelt gesture, not a deceptive device to calm them down. The God of glory appeared to our father. Stephen begins his defense by affirming shared faith and shared heritage. When he calls Abraham "our father", Stephen was: Identifying himself as a faithful Jew. Affirming that he honored the same Scriptures they honored. Grounding his defense in Scripture He was saying "I'm not rejecting our heritage. I am showing you where our heritage has always been pointing." Then he continues building a bridge before offering correction. He points out the repeated rebellion of the people. 35This Moses, whom they had rejected with the words, 'Who made you ruler and judge?' is the one whom God sent to be their ruler and redeemer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 37This is the same Moses who told the Israelites, 'God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.' Stephen is referring to Moses' Prophecy in Deut. 18:15 New Living Translation Moses continued, "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. Peter refers to this prophecy in Acts 3:12 Moses is prophesying and pointing them to Jesus. There is no opposition between Moses and Jesus. They were blinded because they wanted power and they wanted things their way. There seems to be a sudden directness in Stephen's message. Maybe he could see anger and sensed that they were about to end his defense or maybe he shifted because of a prompting of the Holy Spirit, regardless of why, Stephen comes directly to the heart of what he needed to say. 51 You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did. This is a picture of a stubborn oxen that refuses to turn its head, even when it is tugged on, determined to do what it wants. Helps Word-studies tells us uncircumcised as used in this verse signifies "alienated from God" (rebelliously opposed to Him). Hearts that are hard and ears that refuse to hear. By using both heart and ears Scripture is exposing the resistance to God and His Word. Stephen spoke the Truth, tragically, instead of humbling their hearts to repent and believe on Jesus, they were enraged and murdered the messenger. Do you ever see things in Scripture that you don't like? I have. I have seen things that seemed so hard to walk out! Sometimes, I see things that I want to ignore. I've had times that I didn't want to trust God. When I or we, ignore what He says, we are hardening our hearts and dulling our ears. That is a tragic path for a believer to follow. Father, give us a tender heart that submits to you and the authority of your Word. Give us ears that hear, even when you want to remove things, attitudes, beliefs or people out of our lives. You say if we love you, we will obey your commandments. Thank you, Father. In the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.