Hope Has a Name: With Bible Study FellowshipНамуна

Audio Teaching

Listen to deeper insights and practical applications from days 1-5.

Sight and Sleep

Verses 54 to 56 recount the religious leaders’ fury. Hatred overcomes them, but no force can shake Stephen’s love for Jesus. He looks up and sees his Lord Jesus Christ: “I see … the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Consider the significance of Stephen’s description:

the Son of Man – Stephen’s words echo Jesus’s own words at His trial before the same men. (1) Jesus also identified Himself as the Son of Man before these same men at His trial. When He did, the trial ended immediately with Jesus condemned to death.

standing at the right hand of God – When Jesus finished His work of atoning for sin, he sat down next to His Father. (2) Why is He standing up now? Common explanations include:

- to give Stephen courage, as He did later for Paul. (3)

- to greet and receive His witness.

- to serve as Stephen’s witness and defender in this courtroom.

Stephen’s vision depicts the comfort of Jesus’s promise in Matthew 10:32: “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.” In contrast, the leaders cover their ears to shut out Stephen’s voice and Jesus’s name.

At Jesus’s trial, the religious leaders turned Him over to the Roman authorities for execution. But at Stephen’s trial, they take matters into their own hands. Rushing at Stephen, they drag him out of Jerusalem to stone him. No assault, however painful, could rob Stephen of Jesus’s presence. While Stephen’s tormentors throw stones, He identifies with his Lord. He:

- uses Jesus’s own words on the cross: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (4)

- does not demand immediate justice or vengeance.

- seeks God’s mercy for his murderers.

- prays like Jesus: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” (5)

When earthly judges condemn and murder Stephen, the greater court of God’s justice vindicates him fully. Luke speaks of Stephen’s death by saying, “He fell asleep.” Luke is not cloaking brutality by calling Stephen’s death “sleep;” Luke is citing reality, the experience at death for every child of God. (6)

Why Suffering?

In a world torn by sin, all people suffer. (7) The world’s response to suffering is often foolish. Some people do everything possible to avoid any suffering, even harming others in the process. Others tragically choose to suffer. But Christians may ask, Since God promises to bless His children, why do believers suffer? (8)

Better than God preventing every pain and struggle in the lives of His children, God ordains suffering for Christ and His Church to bring about good. He gives His children unique opportunities to bring Him glory and enjoy fellowship with Him through godly suffering. (9) Godly suffering:

- constructs Christ-like lives and builds the Church.

- prepares Christians to comfort other sufferers.

- corrects Christians when we go the wrong way.

- changes Christians’ deepest desires so that we long for God and heaven more than this world.

- shows angels, demons, and all creation how God works in His people and the world.

Jesus says to every believer, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Following Christ may, as with Stephen, cost us our lives. Following Christ costs every believer the right to our own plans, ways, and ambitions. But believers never suffer without hope! As we put aside even good desires to trust God’s will, we discover Jesus is with us through the Spirit without fail.

Light of Christ

Stephen was the first Christian martyr, a word from the Greek for “witness.” In Stephen’s greatest crisis, he gives us a glimpse of Jesus Christ—the apex of all human history and the point of every book of the Bible. Stephen testifies to what really happened and why it matters today. He dies to prove this story is true. He announces that the hope of Israel and all human history is alive and accessible to all by grace through faith! How much do Jesus’s life and work matter to you?

Questions

12. Compare Stephen’s behavior to that of the religious leaders. What differences impress you?

INSIGHTS: Stephen was peaceful, rational, calm, full of the Holy Spirit, and he was able to see God. Members of the Sanhedrin were furious, out of control–gnashing teeth, covering ears, yelling at the top of their voices, and rushing at Stephen. Stephen was firm in his convictions while giving loving, truth-filled, and level-headed responses to those who opposed God’s truth.

13. What does this chapter reveal about the source and nature of opposition? How can believers ensure we are not part of the hypocritical religious crowd?

14. What lessons do you learn from the end of Stephen’s life? What hope does it give you?

INSIGHTS: Sample responses include: God comforts His people with knowledge of His presence; God doesn’t promise a “happy ending” in this world for every believer; the world is stridently opposed to the truth of Jesus Christ, to the point of willingness to murder those who profess faith in Him; God is ever-present and promises His heavenly presence for all who believe in His Son.

Related Verses

1 Jesus’s trial: Matthew 26:64

2 Work finished: John 19:30; Hebrews 10:12

3 Courage: Acts 23:11; 2 Timothy 4:17

4 Jesus’s words: Luke 23:46

5 Jesus’s words: Luke 23:34

6 Believers at death: 1 Corinthians 15:25-26, 55-57; 2 Cor 5:8; Philippians 1:21; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 21:3-4

7 All suffer: Job 5:7; Romans 5:12

8 Believers suffer: 2 Corinthians 11:16-12:10; Hebrews 5:8; 11:35-38

9 Godly suffering: Romans 8:17; Philippians 3:7-10