Not all followers of Jesus will become martyrs, but all of us must be prepared to face persecution in this life for Jesus’ sake.
Stephen, a man full of the Holy Spirit, lived and died much like his Savior lived and died. When men falsely accused him of speaking against Moses, Stephen indicted them for acting just like every generation before them. In every stage of Israel’s history, the leaders and people of Israel rejected God’s prophets. Now, in Stephen’s generation, they had even rejected God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ.
Because Stephen spoke in the power of the Holy Spirit, these men could not refute him. So instead they sought to destroy him, just as they sought to destroy Jesus. But Stephen, seeing the eternal glory that awaited him, responded just as Jesus had responded to His own death, asking Jesus to receive his spirit and praying for the forgiveness of his persecutors.
Like Stephen, we must understand that for us who trust in Jesus, death is the doorway to the Kingdom of God. It is a coronation ceremony. May we live in light of the truth that this “momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17 NASB).
Watch part 78 of the 365 Key Chapters of the Bible series, based on Ken’s Handbook to Scripture.
