Resisting The Holy Spirit?

Written by Phil Ware

[Stephen said to the Sanhedrin,] “You stubborn people! You are heathens at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One — the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”

—Acts 7:51-53 NLT

KEY THOUGHT

Stephen stands before the members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. Since they rejected Jesus, he accuses them of following a long line of ancestors who resisted God’s message spoken through the prophets. These prophets are the very ones who predicted the coming of Jesus, “the Righteous One” who is “the Messiah” they crucified. To ignore, oppose, and disobey the prophets’ message is to resist the Holy Spirit of God who inspired them. The question we have to ask ourselves is this: What part of the Holy Spirit’s message am I ignoring, opposing, or disobeying?