Wednesday, November 19th

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Wednesday, November 19

Acts 7:54-60

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Over chapters 4 and 5 in Acts we have seen growing opposition to the gospel. The intensity of the opposition has escalated from arresting and warning the apostles; to arresting, warning and beating them; to what is now essentially a lynch-mob.

Stephen is dragged before the council, accused of blasphemy, and challenged to defend himself. He does so by recounting the history of Israel leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. He accuses his accusers of being guilty of putting Jesus, the “Righteous One,” to death and the council is enraged. But what drives then to suddenly turn into a murderous mob that stones Stephen to death making him the first Christian martyr?

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

The line we need to pay attention to is where Stephen says: 

I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God... 

We can almost miss this but Stephen’s choice of words here is incredibly important!
First, by claiming that Jesus is at the right hand of God Stephen is again identifying Jesus as the Messiah. The Jewish council would have recognized that Stephen was identifying Jesus as the “Son of Man” in Daniel 7. They would have interpreted this as making Jesus equal to God and therefor as the highest form of blasphemy.

Second, the image of Jesus standing is very significant. This the only time in scripture that Jesus is mentioned as standing in heaven; usually he is seated at the right hand of the Father. Stephen’s accusers would have recalled passages from the scriptures like:

Psalm 68:1
May God arise, may his enemies be scattered;
 may his foes flee before him.
Isaiah 3:13
The Lord takes his place in court;
 he rises to judge the people.

They were enraged because they knew that the image of Jesus standing meant he was standing in judgment over them as enemies of God for what they were doing to Stephen! These religious leaders faced two options: either they responded to the truth about Jesus with repentance or they had to kill the messenger. They chose to put Stephen to death.
But there is something else to see here.

Many scholars think that Jesus is standing not just to judge Stephen’s murderers, but in honor of his servant.

In Psalm 116:15 we read:
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of one of his saints.

In Jesus’ parable of the talents the master says to his servant:

‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ (Matthew 25:23)

I think we see a beautiful picture here of Jesus standing to honor his faithful servant Stephen and to welcome him home! 

So as stones hurled by hate-filled men rained down on him Stephen also had two options. He could return their hatred with his own bitterness and curses; or he could turn his eyes toward Jesus who stood to welcome him into heaven. He chose Jesus.

Pastor Brian Coffey