GENTRY — “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.Which of the prophets have not your fathers per secuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.” Acts 7:51-53 (Read Acts 6:8 - 7:60
The Book of Acts, in chapters six and seven, tells the story of the first New Testament Christian martyr to follow in the steps of the Lord Jesus and to be murdered for his witness to the truth. In fact the English word “martyr” comes from the Greek word “martus,” which means to bear witness or testify. Stephen testified to the truth about Jesus and about his own hearers and was killed at the hands of the Jewish council by stoning.
In his defense before the council, Stephen summarized God’s gracious dealings with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants, the children of Israel. From the call of Abraham down through the times of Moses David and the prophets, God sought to deal with His people in grace and mercy for the sake of the promised Messiah and Savior, but again and again God’s people rejected God’s grace and mercy and rebelled against Him. They disobeyed God’s commandments doubted God’s love and mercy and even persecuted and killed God’s messengers who pointed ahead to the Messiah.
Stephen’s point to his hearers was that they were doing the same thing as their unbelieving fathers They were being stubborn and stiff-necked. Instead of listening to the witness of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God which testified to the truth that Jesus was and is the promised Messiah and Savior - the Just One, without sin, who bore upon the tree of the cross the sins of the whole world - they resisted the Spirit’s testimony to the truth, betrayed and crucified God’s own Son. They placed their hope in the law of Moses, given through the dispensation of angels, but they did not keep it. And as their fathers had done to the prophets of old who testified of the coming Savior they killed Stephen for his witness to the truth.
The question, of course, for each of us to consider is whether we are resisting the Holy Spirit’s witness to the truth and rejecting God’s grace and mercy in Christ Jesus. Stephen prayed that God would not hold his persecutors’ sin against them but continue to reach out to them in mercy, but sooner or later our time to partake of God’s grace and mercy in Messiah Jesus will run out “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). Don’t reject God’s grace but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ! In Him, we have God’s grace and mercy and life everlasting!
Thank You, dear heavenly Father, for Your gracious dealings with me for the sake of the Just and Holy One and His innocent sufferings and death in my stead Grant that I not reject Your grace and forgiveness but hold fast to Jesus, my only Lord and Savior. Amen.
[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture from the King James Version of the Bible]
For The Record, Pages 4 on 07/14/2010