Most scholarship, I believe, puts the stoning of Stephen in 34 or 35 AD. Is there reason within the Scriptures to substantiate this claim? Yes, I believe there is! However, such substantiation comes from prophecy in both Old and New Testaments, but the understanding of these very prophecies is clouded by the interpretation of most scholarship, which puts the fulfillment of them at the second coming of Jesus.
I have written similar posts which had to do with Stephen’s death back in November of 2009. However, I think I should be clearer on this matter in order to have a better understanding of the timeline of early Acts with a particular interest in the placement of the High Priests for Stephen’s death, Paul’s persecution of the Jewish believers in Jesus in Acts 9:1, and when the “peace” occurred in Acts 9:31.
The Seventy Weeks Prophecy of Daniel 9 was supposed to offer the believer the identity of the Messiah by showing the exact time in which he would appear. The 70 Weeks Prophecy begins with the first sacrifice offered on the rebuilt altar on the Temple mount when Joshua, the High Priest, and Zerubbabel returned from the captivity. The Jews began to make daily offerings to God from the first day of the seventh month upon their return from captivity (Ezra 3:6). This is a very important date, as it represents the first time in decades that worship of the God of Israel was offered from the Temple mount, and it represents the “firstfruits” of the decree of the emperor, which I believe is implied in the prophecy. So, the date of the decree itself is not important, but date of the firstfruits of that decree is the important part of the prophecy in terms of when it begins. The Messiah was to come at the beginning of the 70th week or 483 years after the first sacrifice was offered by the returning captives.
No matter which year one chooses to begin the 70 Weeks Prophecy, the 484th year must begin in the fall and on the Feast of Trumpets. I submit that from Luke 4:16 and up to Luke 6:49 Luke shows Jesus beginning his ministry on the Feast of Trumpets (Luke 4:16) and each Sabbath mentioned thereafter is either an annual Holy Day or a seventh day Sabbath. The odd “second Sabbath after the first” in Luke 6:1 is the seventh day Sabbath which occurred in that year back to back with the annual Day of Atonement, a fast day, which is why the Apostles were hungry and began to take some grain from the fields on the Sabbath day, rubbing it in their hands and eating the kernels.
Anyway, long-story-short, 3 ½ years later Jesus was crucified, and the 70 Weeks prophecy foretold the Messiah would be ‘cut’ (offered for the covenant) in the midst or the middle of the prophetic week (Daniel 9:26-27). The 70th week comprises 7 years, 3 ½ of which represented Jesus public ministry culminating in his crucifixion and resurrection. Notice in Luke 10:18 that Jesus said he beheld Satan like lightning fall from heaven. This is shown in Revelation 12:7-10 where Michael/Jesus makes war with Satan. Now I am not saying Jesus is an angelic being, but I am saying Michel is Jesus—the Angel of the LORD who is God in the Old Testament. Anyway, Jesus with his disciples were waging spiritual warfare against Satan’s kingdom (cf. Luke 10:17). The angels in Revelation 12 represent the messengers of Jesus and Satan respectively. In the Gospels they are Jesus’ disciples waging war against Satan or the Pharisees and high priests who fought against Jesus and his disciples. The woman (the Jewish believers) had a place of safety for 1260 days (Revelation 12:6). This is the first part of the 70th prophetic week and represents Jesus care for his disciples—they were safe, and he lost no one.
In the second part of the week the disciples were also safe according to Revelation 12:14. The believers were spiritually nourished for a time (1) + times (2) and half a time (1/2) or 3 ½ years. Daniel refers to this time as the 1290 days.
Formerly, I had believed the 1290 days began on the day of Jesus’ resurrection, which if it did, the days would have culminated on the Day of Atonement in 34 AD. However, had they done this, it would have indicated national repentance, which didn’t occur, and the proof of this is Stephen’s death, which occurred on that day. Thus, the 1260 days ended in blood (the crucifixion), but the 1290 days were intended to end in repentance, but instead Stephen was stoned. Therefore the fulfillment of the 1290 days were delayed. There is a gap between the 1260 days and the 1290 days of nearly 40 years due to unbelief, and is typified by Israel’s wandering in the wilderness for 40 year due to their unbelief. The 1290 days begin when the Roman general, Cestius, surrounded Jerusalem with his armies (cf. Luke 21:20), tore down the northern wall of Jerusalem, but for no good reason retreated, allowing Jesus’ disciples to flee (Luke 21:21). They end, when Titus, the Roman general and son of the Emperor, surrounded Jerusalem with his armies, broke down the northern wall (that was repaired) and encamped inside the walls of Jerusalem. Thus the city fell.[1]
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[1] See my study, The Seventy Weeks Prophecy and the 1290 Days, which details this.
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105 responses to “When Was Stephen Stoned?”
Bill, what is amazing about this whole thing is that the Bible is being twisted to the point of breaking. Satan has so wrapped up his followers in the pre-tribulation rapture that they are blinder than the Jews. The first thing that you have to notice in this article is that there are no facts, everything is “I believe” with no scriptural validation.
The three verses that are being pushed are Dan 9:25-27. Verse 26 says the Messiah will be cut off after 62 weeks plus the 7 weeks in verse 25 making 69 weeks. This article is stating that verse 27 is talking about the Messiah being cut off in the middle of the week and that is false; the person in verse 27 is the one in Matt 24:15 and also in 2Thess 2:4. The 70th week is still unfulfilled and the rapture will not take place until after the tribulation and the last (seventh) trumpet is blown (Matt 24:29-31; 1Cor 15:51-52; 1Thess 4:16-17).
Daniel 9:27 is not the Messiah and it is so stated in Daniel 11:31, Matthew 24:15 and in 2Thessalonians 2:4. The Messiah was cutoff at the end of the 69th week (Daniel 9:25-26), not in the middle of the 70th week. The problem is that this whole document is based on “I believe” without any scripture to back it up.
Why is Michael never called the son of God any where in the Bible or why the Son of God calls His self Jesus in Revelation 22:16 and throughout Revelation starting in Revelation 1:1? In Daniel 10:13 Michael is called “one” of the chief princes indicating that there are more princes which, if it were true, would simply make Jesus an equal to many more princes.
Greetings Jim and thank you for reading and for your comment. Disagreements are welcome, because I like to test what “I believe” to be sure I am not basing what “I believe” on nothing. I like to think that what I write is based upon God’s word. Anyway, that’s what “I believe” to be so.
The 70 Weeks Prophecy is fulfilled because what the angel declared in v.24 has been fulfilled in Christ’s ministry. I did a study on the six things that the angel declared it would take 70 Weeks (of years) to complete. That study is in 7 blogs and can be found HERE.
Concerning Daniel 11:31, this is Antiochus Epiphanies. Jesus spoke the word of Matthew 24 to believers with him, and they were the ones who had to consider Matthew 24:15. Do you have a scripture that would lead us to believe otherwise? As for 2Thessalonians 2:4 Paul is speaking of a man of sin who lived in his day, whose works were against the Church of Christ at that time, and he expected the things he claimed in his epistle to be fulfilled in his expected lifetime. Are you able to show otherwise with scripture or are you simply stating what you believe?
Concerning Michael, are you aware that the Angel of the Lord who is referred to as YHWH is not one time referred to as the Son of God? Are you aware that Jesus is not even once called the Angel of the Lord, but who else could he be if scripture refers to this Angel as Almighty God in Genesis 48?
Concerning Daniel 10:13, the problem is that the Hebrew word can be translated into “one” or “first”, but the meaning would be changed dramatically if it were translated into “first of the chief princes (or heads)” and is so translated by Young’s Literal Translation.
You deny Matt 24:29-31 which come after the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel. If your assumption was true, Christ would have already come and the elect would be gone; for the elect to be gone, both resurrections would be complete because the living will not precede the living 1Thessalonians 4:15; 2Thessalonians 4:16-17 are the same as Matthew 24:30-31 and all of this comes after the tribulation in Matthew 24:29 which comes during the time of the desolator sitting in the temple.
2Thessalonian 2:4 parallels Matthew 24:15, Daniel 9:27 and Daniel 11:31-37 in that all three of these verses describe the man who will declare himself god. The Jewish sacrifice to God is still in existence today and will be removed.
Where is “Antiochus Epiphanies” in the Bible? Where is the Angel of the Lord who is referred to as YHWH? I am well aware that Jesus is never called the Angel of God – He is the Son of God and no angel. The Hebrew word ekh-awd has many definitions, but the primary for the word is “one” which the translators used and is used in every version of the Bible because they realize that Michael is one of many angels and not the Son of God. Jude 1:9 calls Michael an archangel meaning that he is a chief leader of his angels.
Concerning Matthew 24:29-31, what have I denied, in your opinion? I don’t believe you have any idea what I believe. You seem to be making great assumptions about me.
Matthew 24:29-30 do, indeed, occur after the abomination of desolation is set up. Do you know what that is? Do you know when it occurred, or do you think it is yet to occur?
Concerning the coming of Christ, all the writers of the New Testament who speak of Christ’s coming believed he would come in their expected lifetimes. Those men were appointed by God to write the New Testament. I, for one, refuse to say they were wrong. This means that the coming of Christ would have to be in two phases. First, he came in the sense of his judging Jerusalem as he promised to do in the high priest’s lifetime (cp. Matthew 26:64), and secondly, he will come to the earth as predicted in Acts 1:11 when this present age is complete.
Concerning the tribulation, Christ spoke of the trial that came upon the Jews, including the Church and culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE. If you are speaking of another tribulation, perhaps you could use scripture to show when they would be.
Concerning your “parallels”, you have not proved your case. All you are doing is **saying** they parallel one another. Matthew 24:15 does speak of the abomination that brings desolation, and 2Thessalonians 2:4 does speak of the man behind the abomination, but Daniel 9:27 tells of Christ cutting a covenant in the midst of the 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy. Daniel 11:31-37 is speaking of Antiochus Epiphanes. You are putting all these scriptures together, but they refer to different things, not the same.
Concerning where Antiochus Epiphanes appears in the Bible, if you follow the rise and fall of the kings of the north and of the south in Daniel 11, you will come to Antiochus Epiphanes in history at Daniel 11:21, and 1Maccabees tells of his plundering the Temple and sacrificing swine’s flesh on the altar of God. None of those kings of Daniel 11 are named in the Bible. It is prophecy, after all.
Concerning the Angel of the Lord being Almighty God, Genesis 48:3 says Almighty God appeared to Jacob at Luz, which place was renamed Bethel (Genesis 28:19), but it was the Angel of God (the Lord) who appeared to him there according to Genesis 31:11-13. This Angel is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as we can see in Jacob’s blessing of Joseph’s sons:
Moreover, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the bush in Exodus 3:2. Yet, when the Angel spoke to Moses the text says it was the Lord (Exodus 3:4) who was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 3:6). And, when Moses asked his name, he told him he was “I AM” (Exodus 3:14).
Concerning the Hebrew word “echad”, Young’s Literal Translation renders it “first”! What can I say? So, Michael would be the “first” or leader of all the princes of heaven. Indeed he is called the Archangel in Jude 1:9, but all that means is he is Lord of all the angels.