Perhaps Stephen would not have been killed if he had chosen to keep his mouth shut while he was waiting tables. But he was a man full of God, and the truth of God is of no effect if it is not shared. We are a community that touches each other: preaching, baptisms, faith, laying on of hands... there must be a sharing of God in the community that calls God her LORD.
So Stephen, the one full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith, full of God's grace, and full of power (see Acts 6:5 and 6:8), spoke the truth about Israel's history of rejecting God: rejecting His Spirit, rejecting His prophets, rejecting Jesus the Christ. And Stephen infuriated his listeners further by sharing his vision: "'Look', he said, 'I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God'" (Acts 7:56).
Today, there are pastors in certain parts of the world that are being persecuted and even killed for their simple but adamant affirmation: Yes, I see Jesus. Even here in the Northeast Bronx, perhaps even here in Bronx Bethany, there are pastors being stoned to death. Not with literal stones, but with stony words from the stony hearts of "congregants" who refuse to embrace the rhema word of God and who do not share the vision.
Stephen has told us something that is critically important: every now and then, heaven opens. And in those moments believers receive the revelation of God in His majesty and power. Even in the face of being killed, these believers see the beautiful face of Jesus and they respond as His beloved children: "Lord, don't hold this against them" (see Acts 7:60). And that, too, is what Jesus did: while we were still sinners, alienated from Him, He chose to die for us (see Romans 5:8).
Are you ready for the experience of an open heaven? It is coming soon. The words of Elijah's servant (see First Kings 18) echo in the background: I see a little cloud, the size of a man's hand, rising from the sea...
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