02/28/2021 – Day 288 – Acts 7 & 8 // Stephen’s capsulization of the 1300 year unwinding of God’s covenant with His people.
https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/1867/why-did-stephen-give-such-a-long-speech
For God’s covenant with His chosen people blossoms out to all souls accepting Yeshua (Jesus) the Christ as their personal Lord and savior. What’s fascinating to me is we ended Chapter 6 with the observation that all in the Sanhedrin council saw Stephen’s face as the face of an angel.
So, I would add on a question here for further study. Not only: “Why is the speech so long” at 8 minutes, but also, “How did they let Stephen go on for 8 minutes, without interruption?” And here is where we can draw in “Stephen’s face appearing as an angel”. And Yeshua appears to him in the cloud to welcome him into heaven. It foreshadows the 2nd coming except it will be “every knee will bow”. So, did the Sanhedrin actually believe that Stephen would affirm their idolatry? Was the sight so overwhelming that they were irresistably drawn to it?
The link has a very instructive thread on the Lord’s majesty and sovereignty, in breaking apart the pagan Mesopotamian culture through the mystery of the covenant and fulfillment of Emmanuel, “God with us”. And who could make up such a story?
As I have noted, we need to resist thinking of the Old Testament and New Testament as two separate Holy books. It is all intertwined. After all, we have God’s promise of a redeeming Savior in the garden just after the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. So, I think Acts 7 would be an instructive witness to those who don’t know of Yeshua. Within say, the 30 minutes initial witness turning those who start as a “blank slate” and are transformed into disciples for Christ in the miracle of the growth of the Iranian church.
Soli Deo Gloria!