Heaven’s Courtroom
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Review ALL IN series. Purpose for the series: how where we are as The Shed is where they were then…
Review Last Week: Hear Me…
Contextualize before reading verses:
54 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.
55 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;
56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse.
58 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.
59 They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
60 Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.
Title Heaven’s Courtroom
Explain role of stoning as a part of Jewish traditional law.
In other words… What we are witnessing is the trial and execution of Stephen with the conviction hanging on the same evidence that was used to convict Christ.
Stephen as a type/parallel of Christ…
Explain Types in scripture
Comparison between the religious leaders and those who killed the prophets
Stephen’s words in v. 56 echo Christs words in Matthew 26:64
64 Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Stephen again echos the words of Christ in his death when he says: Acts 7:60
60 Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.
The same way Jesus said from the cross: Luke 23:34
Luke 23:34 (NASB95)
34 But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
So Stephen’s death is intended by the biblical author to be a parallel that points from the first martyr in the church to the death of Jesus.
Any time this happens in scripture the similarities are important, but so are the differences.
Often the similarities are presented in such a way so as to draw the attention to the differences…
In the case of Stephen, as we start to gather a sense of similarity between Jesus and Stephen there stands a stark contrast that should not be overlooked:
55 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;
56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
But the verse we read where Jesus says something similar reads…
64 Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Notice the difference…
Jesus is making the point that He is seated with God the Father, symbolizing the complete work He is set to accomplish…
The totality of the deliverance he offers…
When Jesus completed His work on the cross, He sat down next to the Father on the throne in a position of power and authority…
But when Stephen gazed into heaven he sees Jesus STANDING at the right hand of God…
The difference is pointed because Stephen is being put on trial before a mob, stirred up by the religious leaders, from whom the judgement also comes…
Make no mistake, Luke intends for this to reflect a legal preceeding as does much of his language through Luke and acts…
Religious and Theological Abstracts THE IMPORTANCE OF LEGAL SCENES AND LANGUAGE IN THE BOOK OF ACTS
Luke makes use of all forms of legal speech in Acts and includes a very wide legal vocabulary, which is carefully described; this legal language demonstrates Jesus’ Lordship and the legal status of Christianity.
Courtroom language in scripture:
God is Judge:
22 For the Lord is our judge,
The Lord is our lawgiver,
The Lord is our king;
He will save us—
6 And the heavens declare His righteousness,
For God Himself is judge.
Selah.
Satan is the Accuser/Prosecuting attorney:
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.
We are the guilty…
9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;
10 as it is written,
“There is none righteous, not even one;
11 There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,”
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
16 Destruction and misery are in their paths,
17 And the path of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
But if Jesus is standing, who is He in the court?
They are essentially in court in the mind of the biblical author and according to biblical scholars, in a typical court setting at this time, there were two significant positions that would stand…
One is the witness to give testimony and the other is the judge when passing judgement…
It’s no wonder they immediately covered their ears and cried out, because Stephen is telling them,
You think you’re passing judgement on me, but in Heaven’s courtroom, Jesus is STANDING…
He’s standing first as a witness, advocating on my behalf…
25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Jesus stands as a witness, always making intercession for those who believe…
We have an advocate with the Father… Jesus, constantly making intercession for us…
Constantly standing as witness for those who believe…
The other person in court who stands is the judge when passing judgment on a case…
So with this one statement Stephen is making the statement that Jesus is standing as witness and as judge…
You think you’re passing judgement…
But God is my judge and Jesus is the only one standing in judgement…
While YOU may find me guilty,
His judgement is that the price has already been paid!
Jesus is the only one qualified to be both witness on our behalf and righteous judge because he is also the only one who served the sentence for us!
We were guilty, there is no denying that.
And the bible says once we fell to sin we were made slaves to sin…
Which means, We stood in cosmic judgement before the throne of God…
Guilty of that which we were accused…
Unable to plead on our own because we were slaves to sin, held in bondage to it’s power…
(Courtroom Picture)
Imagine standing in court where the prosecuting attorney has plead the case against you and he was right…
You were guilty… but in this court there is only you, the accuser, and the Judge…
As the accuser details his long list of accusations against you, each one drives home the sinking feeling that there is no hope left, because each accusation is true…
As he finishes, panic begins to set in because you know there’s nothing you can say…
Standing before the throne of God you know these things to be true and you know the Judge knows it too.
But you and the Judge also know something the accuser wished you didn’t…
But just at the right time, the back doors swing open and a familiar face walks in…
He’s the one you’ve run to…
He’s the one you’ve said yes to in your life…
He’s the one that you’ve had relationship with since that fateful meeting in prayer…
He’s the one of whom Paul writes…
25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.
This Jesus walks straight into the courtroom, past the accuser, past the defense stand, right up to the throne of Judgement and takes His stand at the right hand of God the father…
All the while, you’re reminded of the next words of Paul in Romans 5:1-2
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
You remember your introduction to Him by faith when you said YES to the offer of Grace given by Jesus…
Now in the proverbial courtroom of your life…
Jesus takes His stand as both witness and Judge and declares…
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
If you believe in faith, saying Yes to Jesus…
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2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Here’s the thing… One of these days we will all stand before the throne of God either for judgement or reward.
At some point we will stand there and the only way we will be justified in the sight of God is if we have a relationship with Jesus…
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