Word For The Day: Acts 7:54-60, NIV
The Stoning of Stephen
54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
The journey of faith is never easy nor predictable. At times, it will lead us to great difficulties and hardships. The roads can be littered with rocks and other debris that make it hard to tread. The journey can feel like a trek or sometimes a trot: the way can be full of cracks and fissures causing us to stumble or a paved road making it easy to progress. Still at other times, it can be a challenging ascent. Ultimately, the climb may lead us to cliffs containing crevices that may endanger or even cost us our lives.
Stephen is known to be the first Christian martyr. He was an upright man full of the Holy Spirit. He was full of God’s grace and power performing great wonders and signs (Act 6:8). He was falsely accused and later stoned to death. But even at the point of death, he asked the Lord not to impute this sin on his accusers and committed his spirit to God. Before he died, he was given a vision that made his suffering and death worthwhile. It is important to point out how much this parallels what happened to Christ. And it makes perfect sense as Jesus commanded us to take up our cross and follow Him (Matthew 6:24).
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself undertook the journey. He was born, grew up, was baptized, received the Holy Spirit, was led to the wilderness to be tested, was tortured, died, and on the third day rose again proving beyond any doubt that He is the Son of God and the promised Messiah. He ascended to heaven and now sits at the right hand of His Father. He sent and continues to send the promised Holy Spirit to dwell with and in those He will call as the Father draws them to Him who themselves will undertake the same journey. The journey that taught Him obedience through suffering (Hebrews 5:8), even suffering to the point of death: His death on the cross (Philippians 2:8), "and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him" (verse 9).
Stephen willingly took that journey of faith. He could easily have taken an easier path. He was willing to suffer and die for it because he knew that suffering and momentary troubles were necessary and deemed that the glory of God that will come as a result will far outweigh them all (2 Corinthians 4:17). We are faced with same decision today. Should we continue on a path and spend the rest of our lives pursuing the things of this world that will bring us temporal material success and influence or surrender completely to Jesus, our God, Creator, Messiah, Lord, and King that will impact our lives for the rest of eternity? Our Savior posed this question: "...what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" (Mark 8:36, NKJV).
Interestingly, another man in this story was about to start his own journey of faith. He watched the coats laid in front of him while witnesses were stoning Stephen to death. This man was Saul of Tarsus later named Paul who became the Apostle to the Gentiles. He encountered Christ on his way to Damascus with letters from a high priest to arrest and bring Jesus' disciples (members of The Way) and bring them as prisoners with him to Jerusalem (Acts 9:1-2, NIV). He too made the decision to follow our Lord, endured much suffering as Christ told Ananias, was imprisoned, and later put to death by the sword, and became one of the giants of our faith. But that is a story to be savored for another time.