Thursday, November 18, 2021
The
Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their
fists at him in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,
gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing
in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And he told
them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place
of honor at God’s right hand!” Then
they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged
him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid
them at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they stoned him, Stephen prayed,
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell to his knees,
shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died. Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed
completely with the killing of Stephen. A
great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in
Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the
regions of Judea and Samaria. Acts 7:54 – 8:1
Stephen knew what he was doing, and what might be the outcome. His one chargeable offense was simply telling
the truth, when all the selfless fools in charge wanted was for him to shut his
mouth. He spoke truth anyway.
What was the truth Stephen spoke that eventually winded up with those
five fatal words: And with that,
he died? Backing up in the story
we find Stephen telling everyone with ears that Jesus is the Messiah, Lord,
Savior, and the only hope for sinful humans to be saved. The commotion resulted in him having to tell
the story to the fools leading the parade…religious zealots who demanded
prestige over faith.
Some would criticize Stephen’s choice to speak-up, when keeping quiet
may have saved his life, and given him a much longer time to spread the Gospel. But what kind of Gospel would he have been
offering if he’d failed to deliver truth to those who needed it most? Had Stephen kept quiet, he might have avoided
the death penalty, as well as sparing the rest of the believers the persecution
that followed. But staying an ”underground
resistance movement” was never in God’s plan.
Persecution of the early church was like pouring water on a grease fire…it
just caused the Gospel to spread-out from Jerusalem to the entire world. Instead of a new Jewish sect among many
divisions in the religious systems of men, God wanted a universal faith that
made fellowship of humans with their Creator an open door to the joy of eternal
life.
For You Today
So…like Stephen, has God called you to speak truth…the
truth of the Gospel…to the leaders of the band, or the lowest of the land? You’ll find fools at both ends. You’ll also find souls starving for the truth
of Jesus Christ, Lord of Glory.
You chew on that as
you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
[1] Title and Other Images: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For another post on this text
see Discarded - May 17, 2017 or Shooting
the Messenger Dec 26, 2016
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