September 29, 2024

Acts 7.55 (NIV)

But Stephen . . . looked up to heaven and saw . . . Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face.*

Stephen was a disciple who, full of God’s grace and power, was performing wonders and signs. He stirred up opposition from among the Jews who “could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke” (Acts 6.10), until they persuaded some men to accuse him of blasphemy. He was brought before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish court), where according to the onlookers, Stephen sat there with his face “like the face of an angel” (6.15), while false witnesses were produced to testify against him. When the high priest asked Stephen if the charges were true, Stephen let loose with a history lesson, beginning with Abraham and ending with Solomon; then he tore into them for resisting the Holy Spirit and betraying and murdering the “Righteous One.”

The crowd, already in a nasty mood, became enraged to the point of madness. Luke says they “gnashed their teeth at him.”(7.54) They probably snarled and frothed at the mouth, too! As one writer wryly remarks, “The only calm person evidently was Stephen.”* When Stephen looked up to heaven and announced what he saw, his accusers went berserk! They drug him out of the court and out of the city to be stoned.

So what did Stephen see? Some think he saw a vision, but the Bible says that, while he saw the glory of God, he saw Jesus - not a vision of Jesus.  AND, he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. So, I wonder: Why was Jesus standing when he is usually depicted as sitting at his Father’s right hand? Could it be that he was standing to cheer Stephen on and to welcome him home? Jesus, who had been there/done that, surely empathized with the first person to be martyred for his Christian faith. He knew what it was like to be falsely accused and condemned to die. And he knows it will be worth it all! 

What a moving image! Will Jesus be standing by the throne in anticipation of my arrival?

I can only imagine what my eyes will see when your face is before me!*