Stoned Preacher Sees Jesus

Even though we live in a time when fewer people go to church, the majority of people in the world still believe in a higher power of some kind. A 2016 Gallup poll showed that 79% of Americans believe in God, while 10% are unsure, and 11% don’t believe at all. Contrast this with a poll from 1968 which showed that 98% of Americans said they believed in God.

In 2014, Pew Research found that only 67% of our nation claim to be part of a Christian faith (25% Evangelical Christian, 20% Catholic, and 22% other Christian faiths) while 23% of Americans claimed to be unaffiliated with any faith (16% non-religious, 4% Agnostic, and 3% Atheist). Only 7 years prior 75% were Christian and 16% unaffiliated.

Regardless of beliefs, most people are still curious about what happens after death. Most of those that have experienced a near death experience (NDE) talk about a bright light. Some have mentioned seeing images as if they were standing over their own body looking down on everything. A few have claimed to have been to heaven or hell before they were brought back to life. These are the ones that intrigue people the most.

Numerous New York Times Bestselling books have been about NDEs. Have people come back from the dead? Yes. Did these individuals die and come back? The doctors believe so. Did they visit heaven while dead? We don’t know. We can only take their word for it. While controversy spreads about the validity of their stories, it hasn’t kept these individuals from cashing in on the success of their books. 

Scientists have tried to explain away NDEs as a normal chemical effect. They believe that the sounds that people hear and the visions that they see are due to a lack of oxygen going to the brain during the time their heart stops. The brain struggles to interpret what is happening and uses the beliefs and experiences of the individual to create a hallucinatory interpretation of a flood of brain chemicals.

Regardless, fear of death and uncertainty about the afterlife have created a boom of spiritual seekers: those that read horoscopes, visit psychics, attend séances, etc. all in hopes of learning something about life after death. Meanwhile, God has given us many clear descriptions of what comes after life in His Word, including this story of a stoned preacher that sees Jesus.

Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some from what is called the Freedmen’s Synagogue, composed of both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, came forward and disputed with Stephen. But they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking. 

Then they persuaded some men to say, “We heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God!” They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came, dragged him off, and took him to the Sanhedrin. They also presented false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we heard him say that Jesus, this Nazarene, will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.” And all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel. (Acts 6:8-15, HCSB)

Stephen was one of the seven men that the church called to help care for the widows of the church so that the Apostles could continue to pray and preach. We see here that the Holy Spirit was performing miracles through Stephen among the people.

Word of these signs and wonders spread to some of the religious leaders in a Jewish congregation, so they came to debate with Stephen. And they were served…big time. They could not defeat his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking. Angered by their loss, they dragged him to the Jewish court and gathered people to tell lies about Stephen. Even so, everyone that was present noticed that Stephen’s face was like that of an angel.

“We can almost see Stephen making eye contact with the high priest and other members of the Council. What they saw must have startled them. No anger. No fear. No bitterness. Instead, a quiet confidence, peace, security, and courage obviously brought about by the presence of the Holy Spirit and God's grace in his life.” (Excerpt From: Anders, Max. “Holman Commentary NT 05 - Acts.”) 

In the beginning of the next chapter we see that the high priest asked Stephen, “Is this true?” Stephen then preaches a sermon about Jesus, showing how scripture proclaimed Him as the Messiah. He then shows how historically the Jews have ignored the Holy Spirit time and time again, killing the very prophets that showed the truth about Jesus and eventually killing the very Messiah that they had been waiting on for thousands of years.

When they heard these things, they were enraged in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, filled by the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw God’s glory, with Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 

Then they screamed at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him. They threw him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They were stoning Stephen as he called out: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin!” And saying this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:54-60, HCSB)

Have you ever noticed that people doing something wrong don’t like it when others point out that what they are doing is wrong? It is very annoying to have someone tell you that you are speeding when you know that you are speeding. Especially if it is a police officer that is also writing you a speeding ticket.

The religious leaders did not like Stephen telling them that they were responsible for killing the prophets and the Messiah and for ignoring God. It made them so angry that they were literally grinding and chomping their teeth together like rabid dogs. Then Stephen called out, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” If they were angry before, they were downright livid now. They were filled with hate for Stephen and wanted him dead.

To explain why this made them hate Stephen, you need to understand a few things. First, when Stephen told them that he could see the heavens open up, they took that as an attack against their fundamental beliefs. It was as if Stephen was saying to them, “I am much more holy than you and can see the heavenly things that God has hidden from you.” A spiritual nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah.

Secondly, Stephen was telling them that Jesus, the one that they rejected as their Messiah and had crucified on a cross, was standing at the right hand of God. In their cultural context, they understood that no one would stand at the right hand of a ruler unless they were highly regarded and trusted as an equal with the ruler. Stephen was telling them that Jesus was respected by God as His equal; that Jesus was God.

Thirdly, during that time it was common practice that kings, rulers, leaders did not stand in the presence of underlings…and others would not sit in the presence of a king. Stephen was describing a vision he had of Jesus standing. The same Jesus that they had killed. The same Jesus that the prophets had proclaimed as the Messiah. The same Jesus that was in a position that showed Him as equal with God. This Jesus was standing for Stephen.

They could listen to no more. They dragged Stephen out of the city and started throwing stones at him with the intent of killing him. As they were stoning him, Stephen knelt down and prayed a very familiar prayer. It was in essence the same words that Jesus said from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Stephen asked God to not charge them with the sin of his murder and then the bible says he fell asleep—indicating that his death was but a momentary thing. The time between his last breath on earth and the beginning of eternity in heaven was like that of a man that fell asleep and instantly woke to a whole new world.

One last note is that we see the first mention of a man that will have a pivotal role in the viral message of the church. Notice that the people laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They did not want to get their robes bloody as they stoned Stephen, so they handed them to Saul. That name is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Paul, and he is none other than the future Apostle Paul who will have his own vision of Jesus in just a couple chapters ahead of where we are now.

Even in the death of Stephen, God was beginning to work in the life of the one who would become the greatest missionary the church has ever known. Even though Stephen was stoned, He had a major impact on how the Word of God went viral throughout the known world.