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The picture of a courtroom comes to mind and I can hear Jack Nicholson’s voice screaming “You can’t handle the truth”.

Maybe you’ve been in a situation where your truth was about to be exposed. All of its ugliness would be on display. Every person around would hear it and know it. And they would share it.

I’ve been there.

I did something I knew was wrong but I would never admit to it. A girl who knew the truth was exposing my wrongdoings. Pride took over and I was filled with fury and rage. I had to stop her.

But no matter what I did, whether I fought with her, drug her away from everyone, threatened her to keep quiet, the damage had already been done. The truth was already out there.

This is how we find the Sanhedrin. Remember, they are like the Supreme Court of the Jewish people. A group of religious leaders had found some people to lie about Stephen and accuse him of blasphemy- trying to change Moses’ law and customs.

The Sanhedrin had Stephen brought before them and said, “Are these things so?”

In Acts 7:2-53 we read Stephen’s response. He begins with addressing them as Men, brethren, fathers. He’s reminding them that he is like them, Jewish, from the same original families as them.

He then goes on in verses 2-36 sharing history. All of those who were listening knew this history. It’s who they were, it’s what their entire lives were based on. They were God’s chosen people, their fathers/ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the history of the people being brought to Egypt and then led out of Egypt by Moses.

You can imagine all of their heads nodding in agreement. This was all true. It was their history, their story.

In verse 37, he refers to Deuteronomy 18:15, the prophecy from Moses. The man Moses spoke of would be a prophet, from God, like Moses, the people were to listen to Him. The Jews thought this to be Joshua, but as we know, it was Jesus who fulfilled this prophecy.

Verses 38-43 continues their history, focusing on their ancestors turning from God and worshipping idols. In verses 44-50, Stephen’s focus is on the temple. He was accused of speaking against the temple, considered holy by their people. But he said the same thing that Solomon, the one revered as the wisest man, said.

To all of this, the Jewish people agreed. The members of the court nodded their heads.

And then here’s where it got messy. The truth, the ugly truth about what they were guilty of was exposed.

Acts 7:51
“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—
53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

There it was. These men weren’t upholding God’s law, they were murderers! They had wrongly convicted and crucified not just an innocent man, but the very Messiah their ancestors told them to watch for and listen to.

And just as they did when Jesus spoke the truth to them before, they covered their ears – they didn’t want to hear it!

The scripture says they were so angry they were grinding their teeth at them. You can feel the fury building inside them.

“55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Hatred filled them. They would stop at nothing to silence this man.

They covered their ears, they yelled out in anger, they rushed him, grabbed him, and drug him out of the city. They picked up the stones and behind every throw was rage and hatred for exposing the ugly truth.

“59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.”

Stephen still had hope that these men could be reached. He asked God to not hold this sin against them.

Goodness.

What a beautiful heart. You know how Stephen could say that? Do you know how he could feel that while he was being stoned to death?

Remember where his eyes were fixed.

He saw Jesus and the Father. His eyes were on His Savior.

This has been a long one today, but if you’ve read this far, know this…

Whatever wrong you have committed, the truth will come out. We can choose to deny it or accept it.

The beautiful thing about it all is that no matter what, Jesus is right there waiting to forgive us if we would just turn to Him in repentance and ask for forgiveness.

And then no matter what this world throws at us, whether it’s hurtful words, imprisonment, or even death, He is right there beside us. We can keep our eyes fixed on Him and Heaven.

Tomorrow, we will dig into verse 58. I skipped it today for a reason. I can’t wait to share more with you!

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