The Son of Man in Glory

Introduction

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,

who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

“I dwell in the high and holy place,

and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,

to revive the spirit of the lowly,

and to revive the heart of the contrite.

For tonight we are going to look at a man who was filled with the Holy Spirit. A man who defended the truth even unto his death.

Please turn your bibles to...

Acts 6:8–15 (ESV)

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.

10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council,

13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,

14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

So here we have men who hate the man called Stephen who was full of Wisdom and the Spirit.

Stephen full of the Spirit will defend the truth that he is not an blasphemer of God or Moses.

He is not against the temple or the law as these men claim falsely that he is.

Now, we will not look at the entire seventh chapter, but I will be seeking to show you important points from Stephen speaking in truth and wisdom.

Stephen understood and rejoiced in what God did through Moses.

Stephen called the people of Israel in the days of the great exodus

“our fathers”

Stephen was connecting himself to these men at the council who hate him, by saying “our fathers”

Look at

Acts 7:38 (ESV)

38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.

Stephen basically says; Moses gave our fathers living oracles from God which was given to us.

“How can I blaspheme the man Moses who received the law from God to give to our fathers?”

Why would I speak against the holy place?

Stephen is not against the law and the temple.

Look at

Acts 7:44–45 (ESV)

44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen.

45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers.

Stephen speaks well of the tabernacle saying Moses was directed by God to make the tent as a witness to our fathers, our fathers did not leave it in the wilderness either.

So Stephen acknowledges the law and the holy place something his fathers and him looked up to.

But, Stephen filled with the Spirit of truth, had to remind these men at the council where it all started to go down hill for his fathers and their fathers, disobeying Yahweh and his prophet, Moses.

Look at

Acts 7:39–42 (ESV)

39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt,

40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.

42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: “ ‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

Moses has led these people of Isreal out of Egypt through the purpose and power of God, and the men of Isreal says; we don't know where is Moses, all we know is, he is not back yet, he might be dead by now.

We need a new leader.

Aaron! “Make for us gods who will keep us save and lead us to where we should go”.

“Moses has helped us so far but the gods of Egypt will lead us from here and therefore we must worship them”.

Listen to the Lord’s reaction regarding this wickedness....

Deuteronomy 9:13–20 (CSB)

The LORD also said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, they are a stiff-necked people.

 Leave me alone, and I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.’

“So I went back down the mountain, while it was blazing with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.

I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made a calf image for yourselves. You had quickly turned from the way the LORD had commanded for you.

So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands, shattering them before your eyes.

I fell down like the first time in the presence of the LORD for forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water because of all the sin you committed, doing what was evil in the LORD’s sight and angering him.

I was afraid of the fierce anger the LORD had directed against you, because he was about to destroy you. But again the LORD listened to me on that occasion.

The LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. But I prayed for Aaron at that time also.

Beloved, never underestimate the importance of prayer for your family or friends who has sinned greatly against your Lord and your God.

Even with your own sin, remember there is one greater then Moses, who is your advocate, Jesus Christ the Righteous One.

Our great and High Priest, who ever lives to make intercession for us.

So, God did not destroy them, because Moses interceded for them 40 days and 40 nights without eating or drinking anything but pleading for the mercy of the Holy One, who inhabits eternity.

But, God turned away from them, He gave them up to worship the host of heaven (the stars - the creation) from that day onwards because they where not thankful of their Creator, who saved them from the evil Pharaoh in Egypt.

Look at verse 35

Acts 7:35–36 (ESV)

35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

2 Kings 23:4 (ESV)

4 And the king (Josiah) commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.

2 Kings 23:5 (ESV)

5 And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens.

This all started when God gave them up to worship the creation, the stars of the heavens because they made a golden calf by their own hands and danced around it.

Think about all the miracles God did for the Israelites, whom Moses lead out of Egypt.

Yahweh did amazing things for these people and after all that, they worship a golden calf made by their own hands, believing that the gods of Egypt may lead them further through the wilderness because Moses is not returning!

Look at

Acts 7:43 (ESV)

43 You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

Stephen quotes from Amos 5 verse 25 showing that after many years from the golden calf worship the fathers of Israel is still worshiping a star of a false god.

We know this is not just the Jewish nation but also the Gentiles.

We know what Paul said in Romans 1

You don't have to turn there.

Romans 1:22–25 (CSB)

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools

23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.

25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.

Romans 1:26–28 (CSB)

26 For this reason God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.

27 The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.

28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right.

Look at verse

Acts 7:44 (ESV)

44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen.

Tent of witness or some translation would say testimony?

Witness to what?

It was a witness to the holiness of God.

Hebrews 9:1–3 (ESV)

1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.

2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place.

3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place.

Hebrews 9:24 (ESV)

24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

What did the fathers of Stephen and the men of the council do?

Turn your bibles back to Acts 7 and verse 43

Acts 7:43 (ESV)

43 You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

Sacrifice to Molech is usually involving child sacrifice, especially firstborn males. In Israel, child sacrifice was most prominent during Manasseh’s reign. The kings Ahaz and Manasseh are said to have made their own sons “pass through the fire”

Stephen says; our fathers had the tent of holiness in their midst but they turned to the tent of Molech, the tent of abominations of child sacrifice.

Look at verse

Acts 7:47 ESV

47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.

Listen what Solomon said before he build the temple

2 Chronicles 2:5–6 (ESV)

5 The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.

6 But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him?

Solomon had a right view of Yahweh but......

Sadly Solomon was disobedient to the Lord’s commandments. Solomon had wives of pagan nations and he built alters of sacrifice for the false gods of his wives.

1 Kings 11:6–8 (ESV)

6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done.

7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.

8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

So, Stephen says let me tell you where does Yahweh dwell.

Look at verse

Acts 7:48–50 (ESV)

48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

49 “ ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?

50 Did not my hand make all these things?’

God says through the prophet Isaiah, do you want to build me a place to dwell if my hand has made the entire vast universe?

God is omnipresent and omniscient.

God is Spirit, He is everywhere.

Now, look at the next verse 51

Acts 7:51–53 (ESV)

51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,

53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

So why does Stephen speak such strong words right after he quoted Isaiah 66?

Now Stephen is filled with the Spirit and wisdom and he left out the last part of verse 2 for a reason.

Lets read it together.

Turn your bible to Isaiah 66:1-2

Isaiah 66:1–2 (ESV)

1 Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?

2 All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord.

But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

Stephen says - you stiff necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears. This is the complete opposite, black and white contrast to what YAHWEH says HE will look. Yahweh looks at the humble and contrite. The broken spirit, the poor in spirit. The one begging for mercy and grace.

We saw how Moses trembled at the word of the Lord and begging for mercy.

Moses laid prostate before the Lord, for 40 days and 40 nights, not drinking or eating, fearing the anger of the Lord against the sin of the people of Israel.

Stiff necked is not Stephen’s special word but Yahweh Himself through Moses called them stiff necked in Deuteronomy 9 it means - Stubborn full of pride, self righteous, unwilling to repent.

Listen to these condemning words of Jesus.

Matthew 23:29–33 (ESV)

29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,

30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’

31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.

33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

Please turn back to Acts 7 look at verse 52

Acts 7:52 (ESV)

52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,

Note, how Stephen changed from “our fathers” to “your fathers” the moment he called them stiff necked, and uncircumcised of heart and ears.

Why?

Why did Stephen say YOU and YOUR fathers ALWAYS RESIST THE HOLY SPIRIT?

The answers is in verse 52.

There fathers persecuted and killed the prophets who spoke about the Righteous One

Stephen by the wisdom of the Spirit and the scriptures is now touching on a very sensitive point in these men.

The Righteous One is the perfect Title for the man of Nazareth, whom they betrayed and murdered.

Look at verse 53

Acts 7:53 (ESV)

53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Stephen is basically saying, there is One who kept the law of Moses perfectly, The Righteous One, but you did not keep it.

You did what your fathers are guilty off, you murdered the greatest prophet of all prophets.

You murdered a Prophet greater then the prophet Moses.

The Prophet, King and Priest of God.

Is there any one here tonight that has kept the law of God?

You see here is a very important lesson to learn when we seek to evangelize the world, Nobody has kept the law of God, not the Agnostic, the Atheist, the far left liberal, the far right conservative or the highly religious.

We all have fallen short of the glory of God.

God has written the moral law on the conscience of all the sons of Adam.

That is exactly what man suppress according to Paul in Romans 1.

The moral law is written on their conscience and around them is the creation that shouts at them that there is a God who is the Creator, with whom they have to give an account.

What does the unbeliever do?

He either suppresses the conscience that tells him he is guilty, or he suppresses the idea of a God who is the Creator. Most people suppresses both.

Verse 54

Acts 7:54–58 (ESV)

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed 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, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.

58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Lets look at Verse 57 first

But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.

These men where grinding their teeth at Stephen when he called them stiff necked instead of humble and contrite according to Isaiah 66.

But, now, they had it with this Stephen fellow, the cried out and closed their ears with their hands and run to him.

Which is actually manifesting that they are truly uncircumcised of ears, stubborn, full of pride.

Why screaming and closing their ears?

Well Stephen says the Righteous One, Jesus of Nazareth whom you murdered, He is the Son of Man in Daniel 7.

These Jews of the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called) knew the basic teaching of Daniel 7.

Let me read Daniel 7 verse 13 -14 for you

Daniel 7:13–14 (ESV)

13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.

14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

These men had to see and hear Stephen proclaiming boldly with joy in his face that Jesus Christ is the Son of Man of Daniel 7.

They knew the Son of Man will be given an everlasting Dominion, which shall not pass away with the Ancient of Days.

The moment Stephen said that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Son of Man, they closed their ears and ran towards him.

Look at verse 56

Acts 7:56 (ESV)

56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

The “he” there Luke is pointing out, is Stephen saying this before them.

But, in verse 55 we have Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, adding more info for God’s people, making sure everyone who reads Acts 7 understands that Jesus is this Son of Man.

This is remarkable for God to use Stephen here to acknowledge this important truth right after he Ascended to heaven.

These men had to hear the One they hated and murdered is truly alive and He is ruling over heaven and earth.

Remember Stephen quoted Isaiah 66.

The Throne of Yahweh is heaven and the earth is his footstool.

Jesus Christ is He, whom as we read in scripture as seated in the heavenlies, and the earth is under his feet.

Revelation 5:6 (ESV)

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

The horns indicating omnipotent power over the earth

The eyes indicating omniscient knowledge of everything on earth.

Listen to this quote from Abraham Kuyper

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: Mine”!

He has overcome this world.

Ruling with the Ancient of Days, and all nations, and languages should serve Him.

Psalm 2:10–12 (ESV)

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.

11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Application

There are a few things we can learn from Stephen but for tonight we will look at 3

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

This is what the bible teaches when it says you must be filled with the Spirit.

Paul says to the church in Ephesus, do nut get drunk on wine, but be filled with the Spirit, making melody in your heart, singing to the Lord, through songs, hymns and spiritual songs. (in otherwise be joyful in the Lord)

Paul says the exact same thing to the church at Col-lose but then uses the words; let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit, look how he defended himself and the truth, through the scriptures.

You must know the scriptures of God, seek to grow in your knowledge of who God is in Christ.

2. Christ is waiting for you when you die.

John 17:24 (ESV)

24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

God gave Stephen a special revelation by faith, of the glory of God and Jesus standing and waiting for him. ( a dying grace if you will)

But, he didn't just give it to Stephen, but also for us, you and me to see and understand that when we die, we will enter into the glory of God and the Lord Jesus is standing and waiting to welcome us into his glory and majesty, forever.

If you are united to Him as Stephen was, in union with Him, He loved you and gave Himself for you.

Your citizenship is in heaven.

3. When you speak in truth for God, know that it is not in vain.

Look at verse 58

Acts 7:58 (ESV)

58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Acts 8:1 (ESV)

Saul approved of his execution.

We all know the story of how Saul of Tarsus was saved on the road to Damascus.

The great apostle Paul who wrote 13 books of the New testament.

I believe Saul of Tarsus was there when Stephen defended the truth by the Old Testament.

Stephen said; “you where given the law by angels but did not keep it”.

Listen to the testimony of Paul in his conversion.

Romans 7:7–9 (ESV)

7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.

9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.

Why does the Holy Spirit inspire Paul to specifically use the sin COVETOUSNESS in Romans 7?

Well I cant proof it, but I believe Saul was coveting the Wisdom of Stephen, Saul saw something in Stephen that he knew he did not have.

Maybe it was his face that was shining full of joy in the midst of persecution?

Maybe it was the words from Stephen praying for God to forgive these men while he was stoned to death.

I am closing with this question tonight?

Where did Stephen get this Wisdom?

Paul himself prays for the church at Col-lose for them to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

So, let all of us seek to grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of God our Father.

Amen