Saul has already been anointed king in the private ceremony
with Samuel but it remains that the nation accept him for themselves as the man
chosen by God. In the ceremony, they use
lots to narrow the field, first by tribe and then by clan and then, finally to
the man and all along the way God is superintending the process and the lot
falls on Saul. Saul, however, has hidden
himself in the baggage and they must search him out to raise him up. When they find him they realize that among
all the multitude of the nation Saul is literally head and shoulders above the
rest, the tallest man in the land, and with all the signs pointing in his
direction they acclaim him as king.
There are some, however, like always, who do not receive him.
Jesus asks simply why they haven't done this thing in the
daylight but have come now under cover of darkness. He has been available all this week in the
temple but now they come when he is not surrounded by the people to take
Him. This, He says is their hour and it
holds the power of darkness. Most have
overcome a fear of darkness when we were young, but that fear seems almost
innate, a part of our genetic makeup it is so overwhelmingly common. Even as adults we know that in the night is
when we are vulnerable to the assaults of our imagination and our minds. Only in the light are those fears and doubts
allayed. Peter this night will face
himself, who he really is, not who he wanted to believe he was and who he
wanted others to see. In the light of
day he sees himself truly, perhaps for the first time.
Until verse 51 the crowd would have been saying, "Ok,
we agree with all you're saying, what is the point?" Suddenly, Stephen goes from preaching to
meddling. It is no longer about the
failures of the past generations of the nation, now it is "you" who
are stiff-necked, resisting the Holy Spirit, you're just like them. Their rage is now turned against him in
fulfillment of his indictment against them, they can't handle the truth. Stephen sees Jesus standing at the right hand
of God, not sitting. When He sits at the
throne, He is with the Father in judgment.
When a witness gave testimony, he did so in a standing posture. Jesus is testifying concerning Stephen and so
Stephen prays for his executioners just as Jesus did for His own and just as
now Jesus pleads for Stephen. We should never be surprised at opposition to
truth and we should also never make the mistake of fighting flesh and blood but
pray for those who persecute us.
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