Resisting the Holy Spirit.

Acts 7:51-58, “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears, and they rushed upon him with one impulse. And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Stephen’s witness before the council provoked the same kind of wrath that Jesus experienced, and Stephen became the first martyr. His recounting of history was tolerated until he brought out the truth; all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, even those who claim to observe every detail of the Law. How remarkable that Saul, one of those who witnessed his death, was soon to be met on the road to Damascus by the risen Jesus Christ and to be called to suffer Him!

We are humbled that You are able to use us in Your plan to bring glory to Your Name.