to 8:3 Stephen gazed intently into heaven
Acts 7:54-8 · Vern Peterman · Jul 2, 2017
Acts (2017-18), No. 24
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492661414948

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're going to be proceeding through this passage in Acts of the Apostles from 7.54 until 8.3. And just looking forward to this passage because it's one of these amazing passages that has, it's the most wonderful tragedy that you could ever imagine.

Here what we're looking at is the stoning death of Stephen. And yet the things that Stephen sees and what you see the Lord doing through it are amazing and astounding. So to review, bring ourselves up to speed to Acts chapter 6 verses 1 through 8. introduce the need for those to serve in the church body, dealing with the needs of widows there in the city of Jerusalem. And so Stephen was among the seven men who were chosen to lead up a ministry there, providing food to the widows.

And we see Stephen then being also introduced as one who carries out various wonders and signs and being full of the Holy Spirit. We see him described as being full of grace and power in Acts 6, 5, full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. Acts 6-8, full of grace and power. Acts 7-55, as we'll see in this passage again, full of the Holy Spirit. Acts 6-8, performing great wonders and signs among the people.

And also, in the midst of that, he's doing all these good things, right? But he's also having vigorous opposition from the Jews of the synagogue of the freedmen. And so we have in Acts 6-9-11, that's the opposition. of those of the Synagogue of the Freedmen. They're kicking this up in terms of their arguing with Stephen and trying to suppress him with argument is not doing it. So they're kicking this up and bring it up to the council and doing so by being deceptive.

So you have testimony, Acts 6.12-15, testimony, false testimony, twisted testimony against Stephen among the members of the council.

And so Acts 7.1, after those false accusations, the high priest, who we said was Caiaphas, Here's the one who had brought up the strategy of killing Jesus. Now two years later is the one who is still presiding with Stephen brought before him. This is after a few rounds of opposition and bringing first Peter and John and then all the apostles and now Stephen up before the council.

So he asks, are these things so? In other words, are these charges true? So then Stephen, as we summarized last week, then presents before the council, presents before them. Here are from Abraham on into Moses, and especially talking about Moses, on into the time of Solomon. what God has done with these people, but he also brings about that the Jews in these cases were repeatedly a stubborn people and people who were unresponsive to the Lord and continuously heading off in the wrong direction.

So that's when he comes with what he says in Acts 7.54, which we're going to read here in introducing today's passage. So here is Stephen saying, you guys are a stiff-necked people, always resisting the Holy Spirit.

So Acts 7.54, he says, now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick. They began gnashing their teeth at him. So obviously they're not just slightly impacted by this, right? They are really, really incensed. They are extremely livid with Stephen. It says, they were cut to the quick.

This is actually, they were cut to the heart, is the literal statement here in Acts 7.54. They were cut to the heart. What does that mean? It means that they were deeply emotionally wounded by what Stephen said. Rather than taking it to heart, they were offended by it, right?

They began gnashing their teeth at him. This was an expression out of Psalms. By the way, both of these passages we referenced, Psalm 35 and Psalm 37, were by the hand of David. So gnashing their teeth at him, this was an expression of just being very angry. And you know that's not good for your dental work, just so you know, right? But they weren't worried about that. Apparently, they had a good Jewish dentist to take care of that. So at any rate, they weren't worried about it.

So this is the second time, actually, that it's expressed here. This very same group of men is said to have been cut to the quick. It means they've been painfully wounded by Stephen's words. So Stephen didn't just say this and they went, oh, hum, right? They instead were just furious, angry, and we'll see how intensely angry they were.

Last time we saw the Apostles brought up before this same council, Gamaliel, who we find later on was Saul, turned the Apostle Paul's rabbi. He talked to them out of carrying out their plan, and because they were at first inclined to kill the Apostles right then and there, But he didn't do the same sort of thing this time around. He didn't calm them down. Whether he decided not to do that in this instance or whether there was no chance of him doing that, we don't know, because it completely bypasses any consideration of Gamaliel.

So here's Acts 7.55 and 56, "...and 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." Verse 56, "...and he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." So this full of the Holy Spirit, we've seen it before in Acts chapter 6, several times previous to this.

This word gazed intently, we're going to take a particular look at that. This is, I think, one of the most important words in the book of Acts. And we're going to see why as we go through it. This word for gazed intently is one word in the Greek, in the original language. And so this is key. So we're going to revisit this.

And then he says intently into heaven and saw the glory of God. We've said that the glory of God is the radiant essence of who God is. This glory of God continues to be something that shows up in the New Testament as we continue to go through it, and we'll see it again. But it is the radiant essence of who God is. It is not a commodity. It pertains to who He is in His very character. Now, the usual thing that we see in the Bible is the description of Jesus being seated at the right hand of God. Psalm 110 verse 1 is a verse out of Psalms that says that repeatedly. Psalm 110 verse 1 is the most quoted or referred to verse out of the Old Testament in the entire New Testament.

And yet here, what do we see? Jesus is standing. This is very special, and we're going to revisit that, because that is of huge significance. This is a massive exception to the usual pattern of Christ seated at the right hand of God. So it says, Behold, I see. So he's having a vision. Apparently he's seeing it. Others aren't described as seeing it, but he sees the heavens opened up.

So, one of the things as we see this, as we see, for example, earlier, Stephen is reported to have had the face of an angel. It is apparent that these things are being reported by an eyewitness. and maybe multiple eyewitnesses, so this is not just something passed along, but we see insights that a person who would be reporting this would not have unless there were at least one and likely several eyewitnesses at that point in time.

It might even include Saul, who became the Apostle Paul, might even have been his expression passed on to Luke. It could be Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, or perhaps others. Remember earlier in the passage, in chapter 6, verse 7, many of the priests were becoming believers, and they would have certainly had the opportunity to be present. I think that's one thing. This is not rumor account. This is somebody who was present and able to notice things, even having some spiritual insight into what's being said. So this eyewitness, or eyewitnesses, plural, reported to Dr. Luke what they saw, what they saw in Stephen, what they heard Stephen say. and about what he was seeing here at this point in time.

Notice that what's reported there in Acts 7.54 and 2.56 is rather emphatic, even repeated. So we're reading this from a privileged perspective. We're going to return to this passage in perspective shortly here. So he's full of the Holy Spirit. Now notice this. Observe that being full of the Holy Spirit caused Stephen to have a vision of Christ and to be focused upon Him. This is key.

What does the Holy Spirit cause us to do? Does the Holy Spirit cause us to focus on the Holy Spirit? No, that is not what the Holy Spirit does. It is one of the errors that has been brought about in a lot of the charismatic churches, where the Holy Spirit draws the focus on the Holy Spirit. And I would propose to you that quite often it is not the Holy Spirit bringing about these things.

At my brother's church, he had an interesting occurrence. There was a lady in his church who had been involved in a charismatic church where there's all sorts of things going on that people would attribute to the Holy Spirit and all sorts of things that appeared to be strange and miraculous and all that. And then she came to my brother's church and then became a Christian. So, very interesting, very insightful, that it's possible to have things with which various other people are impressed, and boy, that's wow and all that, but it may not be Christ and the Holy Spirit doing it at all.

So even though it was very intense, the rage and flying stones were not his focus. Now think about that. Wouldn't you be kind of impressed with, man, these guys are ticked off. These guys are really, really upset, you know. And stones flying at you, I mean, and one of the things that would typically be at least one person with a very large stone, And that does not appear to be his focus at all. He does not remark about, boy, these guys are mad. I wonder what got to them. He does not say, man, those rocks are big. He doesn't bother with saying, I wonder if those are igneous or metamorphic or sedimentary. He doesn't bother with those. None of those things draws attention.

Instead, what you see in the middle of this very intense moment, his focus is entirely upon the Lord. Isn't that something? Isn't that amazing? But I think it's a huge revelation and insight for us. This word that is translated, gazed intently, it's one we glanced at last Sunday.

We're going to continue to bring a focus upon it as we go through the book of Acts and pointing out where else it shows up. And so we'll be revisiting that at various points. This word here is one of the most important Greek words in the entire book of Acts. I've begun working on, I'm not sure I'll finish this week, but I've begun working on an Acts glossary, which includes some key words in Acts, including this one, because it is that important. This word means to fix or set one's gaze, to fix or set one's gaze, and it has this particular emphasis to do it intently, very intently, purposely. That's the emphasis on this one.

It's important in Acts 7.55, it's used to describe Stephen fixing his gaze very intently looking at heaven. So that's one thing I think to learn from this, because we're called to look heavenly, to set our minds heavenly. And the focus in this word is that it's to be done intently, it's not accidental. And that's a key lesson for us to learn from Stephen and as we go through the book of Acts here.

Now here's the unique thing, very unique, standing at the right hand of God. That's very unusual. In the Bible we repeatedly see reference from the Old Testament, especially as it's quoted on into the New, of Christ being seated at the right hand of God. And that's appropriate, it should be. But here is an important exception, standing at the right hand of God, meaning the right hand of the Father, right? And so this is a very extraordinary view. The Bible almost always presents Christ seated at the Father's right hand. So there are several reasons for Christ to be seen as standing rather than sitting here.

What Stephen saw is in very stark contrast to access to God through the temple rituals. You think about all the guys that are getting ready to pick up the stones, all of them, were thinking your access to God is through these temple rituals. And if you don't follow the law and do these temple rituals, you don't have access to God. And here's Stephen, he bypasses the whole thing. He says, I am directly seeing God the Father and the Son, and I am having direct access to God, completely bypassing all the temple rituals and the priests and everything that they did there.

Here's Acts 7, 57 and 58, but they cried out with a loud voice, and they covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. You can tell they're just delighted at what Stephen said, right? And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. Okay, so now, so instead of saying, okay, let's carefully deliberate this and discuss it for an hour and then vote, right? Is that what they did?

That didn't happen at all. They were so outraged by what Stephen said, there was a complete bypass of the ordinary procedure, which is, okay, let's set these guys aside and let's discuss what's going to happen and let's vote on it. None of that. None of that happened.

These guys were really, really, really upset. And so they completely bypassed any sense of justice here. They reacted completely out of their emotions, which were extreme. So they cried out with a loud voice. They didn't whisper. They didn't speak in solemn tones. Loud. They covered their ears. They've had enough. I'm not listening to any more of this. And I'm going to cover my ears because he might say something else, right? And then they rushed at him with one impulse. It's amazing. It wasn't a, you know, hey, you, let's us, no, just, they all rushed at this guy. So they'd driven him out of the city, they began stoning him.

Driving him out, that's according to Deuteronomy 17.5. In tradition, you're not to do the stoning inside the city limits, right? So outside.

And then the Deuteronomy 17.7 says, those who were witnesses, and in this case they were false witnesses, right?

Those who were witnesses were to be the first ones to cast the stones, and then the others join in. So that's why the witnesses laid aside their robes, they would be the first ones to cast the stone, and then the others would join afterwards, matter of fact, if needed, as we're about to.

So they cried out. Now notice the terms that come together. They cried out, they covered their ears, they rushed at him. When they had driven him out, they began stoning. Very intense, impulsive kinds of actions. There was no vote, no deliberation, no sense of weighing what Stephen had said, no hesitation at what might be a Roman problem.

Now, what's the Roman problem? One. Rome says, okay, you guys can do the Sanhedrin thing, but only Rome is supposed to do capital punishment. That's a Roman problem, okay? What do the Romans do if things start looking really disturbed and upset? As we'll see, the Romans have watchtowers from which to watch what the Jews are doing. And we'll see how the Jews get around the Roman watchtowers and the Romans watching what's happening in this courtyard. Saul, who is described here as a young man, he became an impromptu wardrobe manager. So that's his assignment. This man, as we'll see as we go through the Book of Acts, into chapter 9, becomes Paul the Apostle. OK, so here's the way it goes.

They start off in this room as we've been looking at it here. You also have it on page two of your handout. They start off in this room that's the Chamber of Hewn Stone. They have 71 who are about there. There can be other students in seating who are present, likely including the Apostle Paul here, but also could have been many others who also could have joined in in the stoning. and would also join in as witnesses possibly as well. And so here we have, here would be Stephen, the one person standing in front of these dozens of others, none of whom seem to be calm at this moment. And so Stephen would be right there.

That's how it would start here in this room. And we see the Chamber of Hewn Stone. This is on the picture shown on page 3 of your handout, in the inner temple, this would be on the south side in the middle, and that would be the chamber where they had just met, and that's where they would start.

Now, notice in the picture, there's Fortress Antonia. See Fortress Antonia in the picture? You can't tell where I'm pointing, but you can tell up there, I'm pretty sure. So Fortress Antonia is off on the right. You see some watchtowers. Fortress Antonio is a very important place. One, it was a place that was built. It was a Roman military fort right at the corner of the temple.

It had those watchtowers so they could overlook the courtyard and if anything seemed to be going wrong, there was a stairway that went It's underneath those columns and the colonnade that you see, but there was a stairway that went from the fortress into that courtyard so they could rush in and deal with whatever problems showed up. Ordinarily, they'd just watch. Anything happened, we're going to see this later on in Acts, they could come down the stairs and grab people, send soldiers in, whatever was necessary to keep what the Romans thought was order. So problem, the Jews trying to suddenly carry out capital punishment on an impulse, how do they keep the Romans, who are there at the watchtower, from knowing that they're taking somebody out to stone them?

Here's how. Here's the perspective you see looking at it. Here in the middle, this would be where the chamber of Hewn Stone was located, right? This is where all these people are meeting. So there's at least 72 and probably more who are gathered there. Over here are the watchtowers. There's actually several of them overlooking the temple courtyard. And so those watchtowers, the soldiers would be looking from those watchtowers out over the courtyard.

How would the Jews get them get Stephen and themselves out without getting the Romans' attention. They would go out that door and head toward the eastern gate. As soon as they got out the eastern gate, which was the place where Jesus had entered two years before in his so-called triumphal entry, they'd get out that gate, possibly head out towards the Huldah Gates too, but that wouldn't get them outside the city as quickly, right? So more likely head towards the Eastern Gate as you see here. So here's the Eastern Gate.

Looking at that, they would head out there and they would be then outside the city. And you ask, where did they get the stones? This temple was still under construction. thousands of workers still working on it, so guess what they had left over? Lots of pieces of stone, right? So there was lots of pieces of stone right nearby, even right there in the temple courtyard, lots of stone, and right there at the eastern gate would be the quickest way for them to get out, out in the city, and They would be largely, except for a short period of time, they would be largely out of view of the soldiers at the Fortress Antonia if they took that route. Here's the Huldah gate, alternate, but I think most likely this eastern gate, just right outside the city, real quick.

Here's Acts 7, 59 through 60, and they went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, 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. Having said this, he fell asleep." So, one of the things we saw is he looked to the Lord in time of trouble.

This is key. You know, it is real easy for us to get sucked into looking at the trouble. It is real easy for us to get sucked into that. I have. You get looking at the trouble, and boy, it's real easy to get your attention focused on the trouble. Just like it would have been real easy for Stephen to say, man, you guys sure are mad. Why are you guys so upset? and say, boy, those rocks are big.

It would have been real easy for him to focus on that. By the way, all the rocks were hard. There were no soft rocks. It would have been real easy for him to focus on that. He could have said something like, the Romans are going to really get after you guys. I'm going to tell. Yeah, no you're not. So he could have done that, he could have gotten focused on their anger, on the rocks, I mean, all the different things happening there. That isn't what happened. He put his focus on the Lord. There's nothing indicating otherwise.

And then it says he fell asleep at the end of that passage. That was a New Testament figure of speech for physical death. The guy who was the wardrobe manager, Saul, later on when he wrote about death, wrote about believers even falling asleep. So they went on stoning Stephen and it meant that they continued to stone Stephen. He said two things that were actually very similar to what Christ had said on the day in which he was crucified. just two years to the month earlier.

This was April of 35 AD when this took place. One was, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. This is similar to what Christ said. This is, Father, receive my spirit, right? And so real similar to what Christ said. And then secondly, he said, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. Luke 23, 34, as we saw some months back. contained very similar kinds of words. And so there is no animosity or revenge in Stephen's voice and his words here. The New Testament puts it, Stephen's physical death was referred to as he fell asleep.

Here's Acts 8.1, Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death and on that day, so this is key, what's the timing?

On that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. So this is key. It wasn't like, you know, it kind of built up a little slowly over the next several weeks or something. No. That day, boom, came down heavy.

So Saul continued to pursue the death penalty. Saul himself, becoming the Apostle Paul, as he's going to say later on in the book of Acts, he's going to tell the people that, he says, every chance I had, I voted for death. He didn't want to go light with these people. He didn't want to give them a stinging warning. He wanted them dead.

We're going to see the church here began against the church. This is the second time in the book of Acts. And notice this is pointing down, which is a little unusual because they didn't have rooms because of this. So the persecution started there and spread. We're going to see persecution spreading as well.

But it started right there in Jerusalem. on that day and spread. And then finally, for the time the Apostles remained in Jerusalem, we're going to look at later on whatever happened to the Apostles and it turns out every single one of them went to a foreign country. In the end, the Apostles continued to go to different places giving their lives in Southern Europe and as far east as India, this was Thomas, and as far south as North Africa, an example would be Matthew. So the Apostles for the time being remained in Jerusalem.

So when we see this Saul, we're going to see him again in the very next chapter, chapter 9. At this point, in heart and soul, right alongside those who were casting the stones. As they were casting the stones, Saul was giving his nod of approval. I'll watch your cloaks. Go for it, guys. He was managing the coats, but he stood there and not just, yeah, I'll go along with it, but in hearty approval. He said, yeah, this is a good thing. That was his thought and mindset.

So, this persecution began. It began that day. The church scattered. He let us know that beginning with the stoning of Stephen, the church began to scatter, to spread around here, in great degree into the surrounding regions of Judea and Samaria. So, nearby areas, not just around Jerusalem anymore. For now, however, the Twelve Apostles would remain there in Jerusalem with some particular exceptions we're going to note here in the next chapter. The scattering of the church will also be purposeful, and we're going to revisit that as well. Here's Acts 8, 2, and 3.

Some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house and dragging off men and women, that's significant, and he would put them in prison. So this is Saul, who would be later on called Paul, right?

And so here's the church, this is the third time in Acts. So here's now the third time, but what's happening? This is the persecution of the church. This is the first time we really see the church is simply the focal point of this intense persecution.

And then finally, men and women, whole households. His idea was break up the household, kill both the husband and the wife, but break up the household. These Christian households are not going to have them anymore. You're going to lose your kids, we'll give them to somebody else, the parents, grandparents, all the adults are going to die. That was his plan. Get rid of them all. We're not just going to take one adult out of the household, we're going to break up the entire household.

It's gone. He put them in prison, and as we find out later from the Apostle Paul, favoring the death penalty. Every chance that he could, he would vote in favor of death. Something interesting about the loud lament, you may have come across the idea that a loud lament on someone's death was typical, and it was.

We have an example of that at Luke 8.52. where this traditional loud lament was taking place. And so that part of it you say, well yeah, that's traditional, but guess what? This instance here was an exception. And the reason was, you were not, by Jewish tradition, to have a loud lament at a stoning. You were to keep it quiet and private. No loud lamenting allowed. So these Christian believers, here who are mourning the death of Stephen were further offending and violating the Jewish leaders because this loud lament would have been exactly the opposite of what the tradition of the law would allow.

So it says he's ravaging and dragging off. Saul ravaged the members of the church, seeking the breakup of the church from one household to the next. See there the description going from house to house? He'd go from one household to the next. Husband and wife, you know, got a grandparent. Doesn't matter. Take the adults. They're out of here. This household is now broken up. You got kids? Okay, they're going to go to somebody else, but certainly not to other Christians. We're going to break up Christian households and completely ruin them.

Dr. Luke wrote that Saul was dragging off those who were in the church. In fact, we're going to see that term dragging off as we continue to go through the book of Acts, and every time it's something not good. It's not a good thing. If you're being dragged off, it's not to go have tea. It is a serious bad thing, people being hauled into a prison, and worse. Saul dragged off both men and women. The intent was, in every case, and he even stated so later, that they be put to death. Eliminate believing households. Kill them off. Kill them off. That was his intent. So we might ask in the midst of this, why Stephen's death?

You yourself may have known someone you look at and say, well, this person was a believer or me thinking this was a good person, this person, they were young and they were to cut off. You may have known somebody like that or heard of different instances. I told previously about how a friend of mine, was working at the ministry office when he saw the plane that Keith Green was in as a Christian musician. He saw it crash.

Everybody was just astounded, you know. Why did the Lord cut this guy off in the middle of active ministry? And here's Stephen. Can you come up with some criticism of Stephen from any description of him? Not really. Even the way he died was one of those things that's exemplary. But the Lord took him home. Why? Why Stephen's death? Why would the Lord take somebody home like that?

Stephen's death also scattered the church outside of Jerusalem, fulfilling Christ's testimony that his witnesses would take the gospel to Judea, Samaria, and beyond. So one reason for taking Stephen's life and beginning this persecution, you look at it and say, well those are all bad things, right? Is to spread the gospel other places. To spread the gospel other places. Up until this point, the church had had it good enough, everybody kept sticking around. Thousands and thousands becoming believers, people sticking around.

They're staying in Jerusalem. This scattered them and put them into different places. Christ had told them, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Well, here's Judea and Samaria right here. So this is where they're being spread into the surrounding areas.

God knows what he's doing even if we don't. God knows what he's doing even if we don't like it. even if it's not pleasant. So we put it here, if it's smooth sailing you wanted, you didn't sign up for the right thing for that, right? If it's smooth sailing you wanted, no, that's not what you signed up for as a believer. Someone might say, you know, boy, Lord, I just became a believer and the next morning I wake up and, you know, I get a flat tire and my car is destroyed or something, right? Thanks, that's not what I wanted. No, but it's what you got, right?

Because the Lord has something else in mind for these difficulties. The struggles that we go through are purposeful. They're purposeful. Stephen was full of the Spirit, grace, power. He even did signs and wonders at a time when this was something that people would do regularly during this era of the apostles. Stephen's life here was ended violently by others. Did God know about it? Was God pacing the floor of heaven and going, oh no, what am I going to do? No. God knew about it. God had great purpose in it. And God has great purpose in the things that He puts us through as well. In fact, one thing I can say, the greater the pain, the greater the purpose. Does that make it easier? No. I can't tell you that. But greater purpose for greater pain.

Here is ultimately Stephen's perspective. He was given a heavenly vision. Later on, this guy, Saul, who was there as the wardrobe manager at Stephen's stoning, did become a believer, as we'll see in Acts chapter 9. And some years later, he wrote this in Colossians 3, 1 through 4.

Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, and that's not to doubt it, but to get you to think through it, Keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. Deliberately set your mind on things above.

Verses 3 and 4, For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life, who is our life? Christ. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Christ was revealed to Stephen moments before he was with him. Right? Moments before he was with him. Here, the same thing for us. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. This is referring to the rapture are being taken home to be with him. I hope it's today. I hope I don't get to finish today.

Here in Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, we have a similar message. It says, Stephen to Paul. We don't know exactly who the author of this was, but we see it was someone who was involved with Paul. So Hebrews 12, 1 and 2. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and this sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

Very interesting, in this passage, Hebrews 12.1 sets our race, doesn't it? Our race. Let us run the race that is set before us. Verse 2 talks about Christ's race. So there's a transition.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Fixing our eyes on Jesus. Here's this word fixing our eyes, fixing our gaze, as Stephen did here at these last moments. The author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him What was his race? Enduring the cross, despising the shame, thinking nothing of it, and sitting down at the right hand of God, at the throne of God.

Stephen beheld the Lord who stood for his home going. His very purposeful home going. A moment that for him drew his attention to the point where those stones didn't matter. The fact that these guys were very, very irate, probably yelling, that did not draw his attention. But Christ standing to welcome him home, that did.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this passage. What an amazing passage this is. A moment of huge tragedy, what a horrible things the Jewish leaders unleashed on this dear brother Stephen. And yet at the same time we know you had your purpose in it, at the same time we know that his beholding you at that very moment was something that you intend for us moment by moment. And we just give you thanks for this lesson and the things that come from this as we proceed through the book of Acts. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.