"But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, 'Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God".
Acts 7:55-56 NKJV. (For the fuller explanation, read Acts 6:8 - 7:60)
Stephen had been falsely accused of blasphemy. This is an occupational hazard for all who live for Jesus. Here the Synagogue of the Freedmen - Jews that had been carried off to Rome by Pompey as captives in 63 BC, and later freed. These were part of the Jerusalem synagogue who opposed Stephen. They were also known as Libertines. These men manipulated people to say untruths about him and he was delivered to the council and placed on trial, a trial that was just a play on words really. You know, there will always be people around who, will falsely accuse you, gossip about you and try to get rid of you. Cheer up and don't give up, what you're doing for God is totally right and He is pleased.
Stephen was allowed to defend his actions and, he gave a very long discourse related to his behaviour. At the end of this, he spoke the words of our text today,"But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, 'Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God". This caused havoc and they ran at him, cast him out into the street and stoned him.
Notice a few things: (1) He was full of the Holy Spirit v55. Never try to take on a major incident or meeting unless, you have the Spirit of God firmly within you. (2) He was not afraid, he knew His Lord was with him (3) They began stoning him but he, knelt down and asked God to 'Receive my Spirit' (4) Then in a loud voice he prayed that the people would not be charged for their actions. He then fell asleep and was with Jesus forever.
All over the world, people lay down their lives for Jesus Christ because, He did the same for them. They put themselves at risk to bring aid and bibles to the downtrodden. They get on with the work and yet, at times all we can care about is that somebody has taken our seat in church. Come on, I'm not saying that we should all be martyrs - not at all, but we should all put Jesus and His work, uppermost in our lives.
For His life-offering, Stephen knelt down before God and went to sleep - in peace.
Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.
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