Nov 14, 2025 Keep Jesus in History – Words of Grace Blog – November 14, 2025
While reading in Acts 7 the sermon Stephen preached as his defense against the accusation of blasphemy, I was struck by his strategy. He gave his opponents a history lesson that ended with Jesus.
The accusation against Stephen was that he had spoken against the law of God and the temple. That is a serious offense as it amounts to speaking against God himself. Stephen’s defense was that he was not speaking against God, but in favor of Jesus of Nazareth as the one the law, the temple, and the prophets spoke of when God gave them.
To make that point, Stephen started with Abraham and worked his way through the patriarchs, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, and the prophets. He ended with the Righteous One whom the prophets announced beforehand. It was obvious to Stephen’s accusers that he had just charged them with rejecting the Righteous One sent by God and therefore resisting the Spirit of God.
The big question being asked and answered as Stephen stood before the high priest that day was who is Jesus of Nazareth? To answer that question Stephen showed that Jesus is in the history of God’s saving work and that he is in fact the center piece of that history. God’s work in every major person and event in the history of Israel points to Jesus as the one sent by God as Lord and Savior of the nations. Therefore, every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess faith in him.
Why is it important that Stephen presented Jesus of Nazareth in the history of God’s saving work in the world? And why is it important that we keep him in that history in our understanding and witness of him?
We need to keep Jesus in history so we will understand what God is doing in the world. God has a redemptive purpose that he is working out which includes saving a new people who will live in a new world for his glory. Jesus is the Redeemer of the people and world God is making.
We need to keep Jesus in history so we will know Jesus as he is. Conceptions of Jesus isolated from the grand plan of God are false. Jesus without his history is a Jesus we make up in our minds. Without a real-world context, Jesus becomes less of a person and more of an idea that serves our personal, and selfish, interests. This is not Jesus at all. Jesus is the Son of God who took on flesh as a historic person. He lived, died, and rose again in history to bring us into right relationship with God. Just as he came in the past, so he will return in the future and make all things new.
We need to keep Jesus in history so we will live for something bigger than ourselves. The kingdom of God established by Jesus Christ will last forever. By faith we understand that history is moving toward the consummation of that kingdom. By faith we enter the kingdom and seek it with all our hearts. By faith our history is enveloped in his history which has no end.
This weekend, take the time to read Acts 7. Let the history lesson there lead you to the Lord Jesus.
I look forward to seeing you Sunday.
-Scott