READING: Job 3-4, Acts 7:44-60
“Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
Acts 7:56
As a pastor, I have been with many people as they approached death. As morbid as it may sound, I have found few things as sweet as a strong believer who closes his or her eyes in death, fully ready to meet the Redeemer. I have heard them singing as they depart, praying aloud as they meet Jesus, or resting quietly as death overtakes them. Family members may have been weeping and grieving, but not the dying one who was God’s beloved child. It’s in those times that I’ve realized just how much following Christ really does matter – He gives us life abundant both in this world and in the next.
The believers that I have seen die, however, have most often been under the care of a medical staff in a modern hospital. They have not been under persecution, as Stephen was in today’s New Testament reading. He had just been faithful to tell the history of God’s working among the people of Israel, and he reminded his hearers that were still a “stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears!” (Acts 7:51). They, like their forefathers, had resisted the work of the Holy Spirit and had killed the prophets God had sent to them. Indeed, they turned in rage upon Stephen and added his name to the list of those they killed.
Yet, he died in a most unique way. Even as the people railed against him, he looked into heaven and saw the glory of God. I can only imagine what his persecutors thought as he cried out, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (Acts 7:56). In fact, their anger only grew, and they threw him out of the city and rained stones on him. As he died, though, he knelt down, prayed a prayer of forgiveness for his murderers, and simply “fell asleep” (Acts 7:60). It’s no wonder that this death likely affected Saul, who stood nearby as Stephen died and who later himself followed Christ.
It’s one thing to die peacefully in a hospital room with your family and your pastor standing by your bedside; it’s a different matter to die peacefully as a martyr with only your persecutors standing around. That’s what the gospel does, however – it gives us peace in life, and it grants us peace in death regardless of how we die.
ACTION STEPS:
- Pray now for believers around the world who are facing persecution.
- If you don’t have that peace about life and death today, turn from your sin and trust Jesus. Ask Him to save you and make you His child.
PRAYER: “God, I praise You for the peace You give in life and in death. Thank You.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Job 5-7, Acts 8:1-25