WWUTT 2593 The Death of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60)

Before Stephen died, there were things that he said that sounded like what

Jesus said before he died. And indeed for us as well, we should desire to want to be like our

Savior when we understand the text. This is

When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Acts, we are finishing chapter 7 today.

We completed the speech of Stephen yesterday, which really ends at verse 53, and now the result of that, the mob taking him outside and stoning him to death, making

Stephen the first martyr in the church. I am reading here Acts 7 verses 54 -60, hear the word of the

Lord. Now when they heard this in the Sanhedrin, they became furious in their hearts, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.

But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently 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 up and the

Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But crying out with a loud voice, they covered their ears and rushed at him with one accord.

And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their garments at the feet of a young man named

Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he was calling out and saying,

Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice,

Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And having said this, he fell asleep.

So in this final paragraph of Acts 7, Stephen has three quotes.

First of all, in verse 56, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

What is it that Stephen is seeing exactly in that moment? Then in verse 59, he says,

Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Very similar words to Christ on the cross.

In fact, the last statement also sounds like Christ. Falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice.

This is verse 60, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

Stephen became a picture of Christ even in his death. So we'll examine those three quotes right there as we conclude our study through Acts chapter 7.

And remember, Stephen had been brought before the Sanhedrin because he was preaching the gospel. He was even performing many miracles, affirming that the message that he spoke really came from God.

What made the Pharisees and the lawyers and the scribes and everybody in the

Sanhedrin, the Sadducees among them, what made them so angry was that he was proclaiming

Jesus is the Christ and that salvation is by faith in Jesus and not by keeping the law.

They couldn't keep the law anyway to save themselves. And so the members of the

Sanhedrin had said of Stephen that he was blaspheming Moses and God. But in the sermon that we had just read, that we've been studying through the last few weeks,

Stephen demonstrated that it wasn't he who was opposed to Moses and God, but rather it was the people who had put

Jesus to death and were going to put Stephen to death. They were the ones who were against the law of Moses and the word of God.

And so they've become furious at Stephen after he's given them this sermon, after he said you are stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart, always resisting the

Holy Spirit. So they gnash their teeth at him in verse 54. It says a demonstration of extreme anger, but being full of the

Holy Spirit. He gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

And then he expresses that verse 56 and he said, behold, I see the heavens opened up and the son of man standing at the right hand of God.

What is it exactly that Stephen sees? This isn't a near death experience. He hasn't even been dragged out of the

Sanhedrin yet. That doesn't happen until verse 57, crying out with a loud voice.

They covered their ears. They rushed at him with one accord and then they drive him out of the city. So Stephen's still there in the

Sanhedrin when he's having this experience. This isn't a near death experience. He's not dying, being stoned to death and looking into heaven and seeing something as he as he is a pat, excuse me, as he is about to pass from this world into glory.

No, he is looking into heaven even there before them in the Sanhedrin and seeing the son of man,

Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God. Now I've heard some

Mormons use this passage to defend that Joseph Smith actually saw the father and the son appear to him.

I have made the contention many times with Mormons that if Joseph Smith really saw the father and the son appear to him and thus give him, you know, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints say, don't join any of these denominations.

They are all false. They are. They are an abomination to me, is what Joseph Smith reported that Jesus said to him in the vision that he had.

But he claims that the father appeared to him and the son appeared to him at the same time. And the father says to Joseph Smith, this is my son, listen to him.

And so Stephen has this face to face conversation with Jesus. But if that is the case, then

Joseph Smith experienced something that no one else in the Bible got to see. No one saw the father and the son standing side by side, looked into the father's face and lived even for as God had said to Moses, no one can see my face and live.

And when I've said that, when I've made that argument with some Mormons to demonstrate that their prophet was really a false prophet.

They will they will respond with this verse in Acts chapter seven. Well, Stephen got to see

Jesus standing at the right hand of God. So Stephen saw it, the father and the son next to one another.

He saw the face of the father. He did not die. So if he was able to see it, then how can you say that Joseph Smith didn't see it?

But is that really what Stephen saw? So first of all, something important to state in verse fifty five is that Stephen was full of the

Holy Spirit. And this is a very Trinitarian statement that's made here in verse fifty five.

Stephen's full of the Holy Spirit. He sees the glory of God and he sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

So this is a Holy Spirit revelation that Stephen is is being given, not that the father and the son appear to Stephen, but that the

Holy Spirit is showing him the heavens opened up to him and that Jesus is standing and demonstrating that he is standing, not sitting to show that he is with Stephen.

He is standing for Stephen, with Stephen, even side by side with him, not literally side by side.

But you know what I mean? He is identifying with his own, with his church that are being persecuted.

And he is there even with Stephen as he is going through what is about to happen to him.

So he looks into heaven. He sees the son of man standing at the right hand of God. This is also a verse that I've heard some used to say that the judgment of God has not come yet because that doesn't happen until Jesus sits down and they will reference

Matthew 25, Jesus sitting on his glorious throne and all the nations being gathered to him.

So until that happens, until that judgment takes place, Jesus is not sitting on his throne.

I've heard that argument made before, too. That's not even necessarily a Mormon argument. There are evangelical

Christians who will make that argument. But this statement here about Jesus standing doesn't mean that Jesus hasn't sat down at the right hand of God.

Because in fact, Hebrews 1 3 says, after Jesus made propitiation for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

So yes, Jesus is already sitting on his throne in heaven. That's repeated again in Hebrews chapter 10.

Here Jesus stands up to show his unity with Stephen and Stephen saying,

I see the heavens opened up. So he is looking beyond some sort of veil and he sees the son of man standing at the right hand of God.

Now, God doesn't literally have a right hand. Remember that Jesus says to the woman at the well in John chapter four, that God is spirit.

And whenever we have a reference to God's body parts in the Old Testament or knew when we're talking about Jesus, obviously he does have a body because he is the

God man. He is the risen God man. God, the father does not have a body.

And this is another place where Mormons will contend against scripture. And they will say that, no, he has a body of flesh and bone, just like we do.

That was one of the teachings of Joseph Smith. But Jesus said in John four, that God is spirit.

So he does not have physical body parts. When we read about the eyes of God searching every man, that is metaphorical.

That is what we would call an anthropomorphism. So God having an arm, he upholds me with his right arm or that his feet are on the earth.

He has made the earth is his footstool or something like that. These are all anthropomorphisms.

It's not that God actually has these body parts. So how is it then that Stephen is seeing

Jesus at the right hand of God? It is an expression of Jesus being there with the father.

It is just simply that expression, not that he sees the father sitting on a throne and Jesus at his right hand side.

Seeing the glory of God is to see something in heaven that does demonstrate

God's glory, but it's not to see his face. He doesn't see the face of God. He doesn't see what no one else in scripture has seen.

We don't get to see the father until we get to glory. So Stephen is certainly seeing something incredible, miraculous, without question about that.

But he is not seeing the face of God, the father and Jesus standing at his right hand.

There will come a day when we will enter into glory and we will understand exactly what it is that Stephen sees.

But in the meantime, for now, we've got these words that we kind of piece together using other passages of scripture, seeing the heavens opened up, the son of man standing at the right hand of God, seeing the glory of God, demonstrations of God's power are often referred to as his glory in the

Old Testament and the new. And so seeing the power of God emanating from heaven is enough to qualify that as seeing the glory of God.

But then as we go on, verse 57, as Stephen is saying this, like he's he's saying that he's getting to be privy to something that all these men are not privy to.

He has proclaimed the word of God better than they have been able to do. And though they have accused him of blaspheming

God's word, it's actually he who knows it and has taught them properly and has demonstrated to them.

You are like your fathers who had persecuted the prophets. You've even put the righteous one to death, the son of God.

And so he's hoping that they will repent and come to realize that Jesus is the savior, which they have yet to acknowledge.

But they become angry with him. And in saying that, I see heaven opened up and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Well, they're angry because Stephen is equating Jesus with God that's making them angry, but also because Stephen is having the privilege to look into heaven and see

God and they don't get to. So they're very angry that he's making these proclamations.

They consider it blasphemy. They rush upon him with one accord, it says in verse 57.

And then in verse 58, when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him and the witnesses laid aside their garments at the at the feet of a young man named

Saul. Now, you know, that's foreshadowing, right? This is in reference to who would eventually become the apostle

Paul. But first, he is an opposer to the church. He's a persecutor of the church before he becomes an apostle to the

Gentiles. He persecuted the church of Jesus Christ. And this is the reason why

Paul says of himself as an apostle that I am one as untimely born and I am one unworthy of being called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.

So Saul is in this place right now of opposing Christ. He does not believe that Jesus is the

Christ. He is willing to put to death anybody who does believe or proclaim that Jesus is the

Christ. So he is there approving of the murder of Stephen that is happening right there, which he is in the company of.

Everybody lays aside their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. That's the first mention of Saul in the book of Acts.

And he's going to take up, you know, half of the book once we get past. Well, chapter nine is his conversion.

Then you have chapter 10, Peter at the house of Cornelius. And then after that, we start seeing a lot more of this guy named

Paul. Then he takes up, what is it, two thirds of the book of Acts after that. But here he is watching approving of the stoning of Stephen.

And they went on stoning Stephen. This is verse 59. As he calls out and says,

Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Now, again, this is just like Jesus Christ as he was dying on the cross.

Luke 23, 46, Jesus called out with a loud voice and said, Father, into your hands,

I commit my spirit. And having said this, he breathed his last. Those were the words that were written by Luke in Luke 23.

And, of course, the book of Acts also written by Luke. So Luke is certainly drawing that parallel between Jesus' death on the cross, being persecuted, being martyred, put to death because he proclaimed himself to be the son of God.

And now here, Stephen is being put to death because he proclaims the son of God. And we see the fulfillment of what

Jesus said to his disciples. When they hate you, they hated me first. They're going to hate you because they hate me.

And that's what's happening with Stephen. And he, like his savior, commits his spirit into the hand of the father.

And that quote from the cross is also a quote from scripture. Psalm 31, 5, into your hand,

I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

Jesus was quoting scripture even as he died and breathed his last. And Stephen is quoting scripture and his savior.

As he commits himself into the hand of God. I think I said,

I think I said the hand of the father or committing himself to the father. That's what

Jesus did, committed his spirit to the father. Stephen specifically says, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

So this would also enrage the crowd as he's saying that Jesus has authority to receive his spirit.

But most certainly he does. You know, I've had I've had some evangelicals say to me over the years,

I remember one deacon who did not like the way that I prayed in church. He was one of my deacons.

And I was a very young pastor at the time. But I remember him contending with me and saying that you need to be praying to the father.

And yet you'll start your prayers. Some of my prayers, I would start by saying, dear Jesus, I do that with my kids, too.

When I'm doing their bedtime prayers, we'll say, dear Jesus. And so he would say to me, you can't do that because Jesus told us to pray to the father, our father who art in heaven.

And this was one of the verses that I used to respond to him. Well, Stephen prayed to Jesus before he died.

Lord Jesus, receive my spirit so you can pray to Jesus as well as praying to the father.

But then we have Stephen's last statement in verse 60. And again, this is like what Jesus said from the cross as well.

Falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

And having said this, he fell asleep. And how was this like,

Jesus? You surely know. Jesus saying also in Luke 23, verse 34.

Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. The whole reason

Stephen gave this sermon was not to win a debate. It wasn't to enrage the crowd.

It was so that they would know that Jesus is the Christ so that they would be saved.

He still wants them saved. Stephen knows what's about to happen to him as he goes to sleep, as his body dies this side of heaven and his spirit goes to be with the

Lord in heaven. Hence why he says, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. I just don't understand those those folks who believe in soul sleep like there is not actually a distinction between soul and body and that the whole person goes into the grave, but will rise again at the coming of Christ.

So the they'll either believe in soul sleep or they won't believe that there is a soul at all.

It's just, you know, the person he goes into the ground, he will rise again when

Jesus returns and the dead in Christ will rise first, as Paul talks about in First Thessalonians, chapter four.

But it is very clear from scripture that we do have a body and we do have a soul. And as said in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, the body goes back to the ground from which it was formed.

The spirit goes back to the one who gave it, who is God. And so Stephen is saying here,

Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he calls out, Lord, don't hold this sin against them because he wants them saved.

He knows where he's going. He wants them to come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and be able to enter into the kingdom of God as well.

And my friends, there are things to learn from these things that Stephen says, even

I see the heavens open up and the son of man standing at the right hand of God. We should desire to want to see

God, as Jesus said in the Beatitudes in Matthew, chapter five, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see

God. Is that your longing and your desire to want to see God? When Stephen said,

Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, we should know and be reminded that our lives, even our very souls are in the hand of God.

And we have nothing to fear when we die, though we might be a little concerned about the way that we will die.

But when we will die, our spirit will be with our Lord forever in glory. And then finally, the statement,

Lord, do not hold this sin against them. We should desire that even our enemies would come to salvation in Jesus Christ and be saved.

Heavenly father, we thank you for what we have read. And I pray these things convict our hearts and draw our eyes more toward you.

We would desire to share as Stephen shared in Christ. We want to be made as Christ.

We want to be able to, to love as our savior loved. We want to receive what our savior received.

He was given the kingdom and he has promised the kingdom to all those who will persevere in his name.

And so Lord, hold us fast to you. Help us to trust in your words, share your words with others, no matter what it may cost us so that they too will come to faith in Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose again from the dead so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.