Stephen - A Pure Heart - Acts 6

⁸ Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹ Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

(The Synagogue of the Freedman is considered to be a Greek speaking Jewish synagogue in Jerusalem.  These would be Hellenistic Jews that were not converted to the faith.  Some think that this could have been a synagogue of Jews who had formerly been in captivity or slaves in other parts of the world who united into a synagogue, but it might just have been Jews that had lived in other parts of the world and who spoke Greek.  Evidence of a 1^st century Greek speaking synagogue was discovered by Archaeologists.)

Note that the frustration is that the wisdom from the Spirit through Stephen is too much to overcome.  Rather than accept the truth, they choose to destroy.  This is always the first effort of Satan.  Remove the Word of God so truth can’t be heard.  He always misquotes God for his own benefit, then works to remove the Words of God altogether and replace them with confusion and lies (often man's wisdom is enough).

¹¹ Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”

¹² So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. ¹³ They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. ¹⁴ For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

¹⁵ All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

What do they do since they can’t overcome the truth?  They replace it with lies.  They did the same to Jesus.  They brought false witnesses against Him. 

Something different happens here than had happened to Peter, John or the other apostles.  Stephen’s face is different.  I don’t know what they saw, but I assume they saw a man who appeared as a type of glowing grace, peaceful and blameless, with confidence in his eyes.  We must remember that Stephen was a man full of God’s grace and power and had performed great wonders and signs (v8), just as the apostles were doing, yet he wasn’t one of the Twelve.

We all often know when looking at people when they are guilty or lying.  I imagine that everyone was looking intently at him and only saw an innocent man who spoke the truth.  And the false witnesses would have appeared quite the opposite by comparison.  This is a way of saying, the Sanhedrin saw no fault in him.

The Scriptures tell us that God looks upon our heart.  He knows when we are living in a lie and confusion or when we are living in His truth, Jesus.

When God look upon your heart, are you peaceful and blameless as Stephen was, full of the Holy Spirit?  Or, do you look quite the opposite?

Repent and be at peace with God today.  Start following His Word and not your own today.