It Took a Lot of Love
by Terry Wane Benton
Stephen was misrepresented and falsely charged by his Jewish brethren (Acts 6:11-15). When the court allowed him to speak, he gave a concise summary of Israel's history (Acts 7). They had a bad history. The brothers of Joseph hated him and sold him to Egypt, but Joseph was God's planned savior. Thus, Joseph was a rejected brother like Jesus. In Israel's history, they rejected Moses, saying, "Who made you a ruler over us?" Like Moses, Jesus was a rejected ruler and leader to save them from bondage and get them to the promised land. Stephen asked, "Which of the prophets have you not persecuted?" Their history had not been a good one when it came to treating God's messengers appropriately. However, when Stephen called them "stiff-necked," it should have reminded them that this was exactly what God had called them before. Those are loving words, seasoned with salt, and yet hard, pointed words, designed to cut the heart.
"And the Lord said to Moses, 'I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people!'" (Exodus 32:9-10 NKJV).
God said it and then told Moses to say it. The truth needed saying, and only love can tell the truth when it is a hard-to-swallow kind of truth.
"For the Lord had said to Moses, 'Say to the children of Israel, "You are a stiff-necked people"'" (Exodus 33:5 NKJV).
"Then he said, 'If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance'" (Exodus 34:9 NKJV).
Moses even admitted that "we" are stiff-necked! His love for Israel was evident here.
"Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people" (Deuteronomy 9:6 NKJV).
Their getting the land of Canaan was not based upon their righteousness. That stiff-neck would not turn to God's way because they were stuck on their own way.
"Now do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord" (II Chronicles 30:8 NKJV).
Stephen was saying the same thing that had been told regarding them by God, Moses, and the prophets. So, why did they stone him? They were too stubborn to face the truth, and there are two ways to deal with the truth:
- Break down in humility and accept the truth (3,000 did this earlier -Acts 2:36-41), or
- Let your emotions explode on the messenger.
They stayed with their pattern, #2. It took a great deal of love for Stephen to say what he said, and then he prayed that God would not hold this charge against them. That is love! Love sometimes has to use the harder choice of words against the harder kinds of hearts. That indeed is love!
