Acts 7 Devotional

Dying in Sight of Jesus

““Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.””Acts 7:56 (BSB)

Stephen's long speech retells Israel's story, and two threads run through it. God has never been confined to one place: he appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia, was with Joseph in Egypt, and called holy ground a desert where Moses stood (7:2, 7:9, 7:33). And Israel kept rejecting the deliverers God sent, from Joseph to Moses to the Righteous One the prophets foretold (7:35, 7:52). No building people make can contain him (7:48).

The council answers with rage, and the chapter does not spare us what follows. They drag Stephen out of the city and stone him. There is no rescue. But before the stones fly, Stephen sees heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (7:55-56). He dies praying for Jesus to receive his spirit and for his killers not to be held guilty (7:59-60), the same kind of prayers Jesus prayed from the cross (Luke 23:34, 23:46). And a young man named Saul stands watching (7:58). Faithfulness does not always end in escape, but it never ends outside Jesus' sight.

To think about: How does knowing the risen Jesus sees you change the way you face loss, unfairness, or people who have wronged you?