Something Greater

Christ's Church Ravaged and Scattered Stephen was stoned to death by enraged religious leaders who felt threatened by the growing community Christians, among whom Stephen had become one of the most outspoken. The religious rules were Jews, locked in tradition and pride , relying upon their ancestral relationship with God. They had charged Stephen with heresy. Stephen responded with a carefully built argument that revealed both the faithfulness of God and the fickleness of the Jews. Generation after generation of religious leaders had rebelled against God's direction and killed God's prophets, yet they still maintained that they were the guardians of the faith. As guardians of the faith, they believed their fear and anger justified the killing of Stephen. "And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apost...

The Attack With the conclusion of his defense argument, at the height of his accuser's blood-red rage, Stephen realizes that his time on earth was finished... his immediate future is in heaven . Stephen exclaims aloud the incredible vision of the heavens opened and Jesus standing beside God. Stephen's accusers, the religious rulers of Jerusalem, did not join him in wonder and awe. "But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him." Acts 7:57 (ESV) These were grown men, with the power to judge and convict, educated and experienced in dealing with people. Yet in the face of incontrovertible evidence of their own sin, they become like children, worse than children, they become like animals . STOPPED: synecho (to hold together, to compress); from sun (together) and echo (to hold) The enraged religious rulers literally held both hands to their ears to muffle the words of Stephen. His defensive argument and counter-accusa...

He Looked Like An Angel The wisdom and spiritual power of Stephen upset the preferences and plans of Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. Unable to refute arguments solidly supported by Scripture, the religious rulers set up false witnesses, stirred up public anger and arrested Stephen, charging him with blasphemy and religious rebellion . When the council's anger and self-righteousness had vented itself in a furious storm of words and threats , they paused for breath and stared at Stephen daring him to defend himself: "And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel." Acts 6:15 (ESV) How many angels had these religious rulers seen? What experiences allowed them to compare Stephen's face with that of an angel? Their experience with angels was probably limited to only the descriptions written in their holy Scripture. The final book of the Old Testament, written by one of the last authentic Jewish prophet, Malachi, spe...

Right In The Sight Of God Acts 4:19-22 "But Peter and John answered them, - Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. - And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old." Acts 4:19-22 (ESV) Peter and John stood before the most powerful leaders of Jerusalem, the religious supreme court of the Jewish high priest. In many ways, the religious leaders held more influence and control over the city than even the Roman Empire leaders. Determined to quickly stamp out rebellious heresy as threats to their power and position, the religious leaders were astonished and speechless by the boldness of Peter and John and the irrefutable evidence of a miraculous healing in the na...