THURSDAY March 16, 2023
Martyrdom
When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
Acts 7:54-56
After Stephen spoke so boldly, the religious leaders were pricked to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth! Stephen had rightly described what was in their hearts. Just like their fathers before them, they were guilty of being betrayers and murderers:
“Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers...” (Acts 7:52).
It is recorded that Stephen, who was full of the Holy Spirit, saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Wait a minute, in Scripture, Jesus is described as sitting. When Jesus ascended up into heaven, He sat at the right hand of God: So then, after the Lord had spoken to them [His disciples], He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God... (Mark 16:19). Why was Jesus standing at this particular time?
Stephen had declared; “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Jesus stood for Stephen because he was about to become the first Martyr of the Early Church.
Again, Stephen saw the Son of Man standing, the One the men who were a part of the Sanhedrin hated! They did not want to hear about Jesus standing at the right hand of God! Instead of being in awe of God and repenting, they rushed toward Stephen––to murder him. They continued in their sin––to be known as murderers.
Not all of us are called to die a martyr’s death, but all of us are called to have the same spirit of self-sacrifice and love to the very end as these martyrs had.
~Richard Wurmbrand~
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