SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/3/2017 8:47 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to “The Man with the Face of an Angel”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 6:8-15
Message of the verses: “8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. 10 But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God." 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council. 13 They put forward false witnesses who said, "This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us." 15 And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel.”
When we began looking at the book of Acts we stated
that the book of Acts could be divided into two parts. The first part was dominated by the apostle
Peter, and then the second part would be dominated by the apostle Paul who when
first mentioned in the book of Acts at the end of chapter seven he is
introduced as Saul of Tarsus. In the section that we are beginning to look at
today we see the beginnings of this break in the book of Acts. Another way we could break up the different
parts of Acts is that of who the preaching of the gospel was given to. Peter was the apostle to the Jews and
primarily ministered in Jerusalem, while Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles
and ministered mostly in the Roman Empire outside of Israel. We will see in chapters 10-11 Peter preaching
to the Gentile Cornelius and I believe that this is because Jesus said that
Peter had the keys to the kingdom and so Peter opened the door to the Gentiles
as seen in chapters 10-11.
John MacArthur writes “Bridging the gap between those two
giants is Stephen.” He goes on to write “Stephen
was in many ways a forerunner to Paul.
He boldly confronted the synagogues of foreign Jews in Jerusalem,
possibly even entering them to debate their members (6:9). When he entered a new city to minister, Paul
would habitually go first to a synagogue (17:2). Like Paul, Stephen encountered fierce
opposition, even to the point of physical persecution (7:54-60; cf. 2 Cor.
11:23-25). Truly, the mantle of Stephen
fell on his Hellenistic countryman Saul of Tarsus. It is even possible that Paul’s first
exposure to the gospel came through Stephen (7:58; 8:1). His death must have left an indelible
impression on Paul.”
I believe that what we see from the life of Stephen is a
man of great character, a man who loved the Lord with all his heart and soul and
was not afraid to stand up for the truth of the gospel even though in the end it
would cost him his life. At the end of
his life Stephen even stated something very similar to what Jesus said and that
is that he asked forgiveness to be given to these men who had killed him.
Stephen was a well loved man among the early church in
Jerusalem and after his death they grieved loudly “Some devout men buried
Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.”
One has to wonder how much affect Stephen’s life had on Saul of Tarsus
and one may wonder if Saul even was later haunted by Stephen’s death. John MacArthur mentioned that the mantle of
Stephen was passed on to Saul, later called Paul and this of course is similar
to Elijah passing on his mantle to Elisha as seen in the 2Ki 2:14 “He took the
mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, "Where
is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" And when he also had struck the waters,
they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over.” Elisha wanted a double portion of Elijah’s
spirit and he got it and although Saul did not ask for a double portion of
Stephen’s spirit he certainly got it.
The world is divided up between those who are true
believers in Jesus Christ and those who are not: “"He who believes in the Son has eternal
life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God
abides on him’ (John 3:36).” Believers
are living in a world that is controlled by the prince of the power of the air,
(although God is in ultimate control), and believers are many times killed for
their faith like Stephen was. Yet
believers continue to talk to unbelievers about their need for salvation even
though many will not listen. Just as
Stephen was set up and lied about by those evil men in order to have him killed
so people today who are speaking the truth are often set up and lied about so
they will be punished, but have faith my believing friends and remember that
one day “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise
first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the
Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thess. 4:16-18).
John MacArthur concludes:
“Acts 6:8-15 presents three further evidences of Stephen’s spiritual
nobility: his character, his courage,
and his countenance.” We will begin to
look at these in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Character is so
very important in the life of a believer, and it is my desire to have good
character as I live my life so others can see the difference in my life as
opposed to those who are not believers.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Have a good prayer time with the Lord today.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The pool of Siloam” (John
9:7).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who wanted to take John Mark
on the second missionary journey?”
Answer in our next SD. 11/3/2017 9:36 AM
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