The Martyring of Stephen

        

           Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. But one day some men started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke. (Acts 7:8-10, New Living Translation)

After Stephen shared with these men about their Jewish heritage, from Abraham to Moses to David, he finished with the following verses.

“You stubborn people! You are heathen 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,” Stephen said. (Acts 7:51-53, NLT)

 And this was their reaction.

          The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”

Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.

          As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died. (Acts 7:54-60, NLT)

Being stoned to death must have been horrific. I can’t imagine how terrifying and painful, but Stephen’s faith did not waver. Could any of us continue to testify that Jesus is our Savior as we fell to our death?

Stephen was the first of many believers to be martyred in the Bible, and many more would follow, many at the hands of this man Saul. Do you remember him? And who he became? 

Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.

A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. (Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.) But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison. (Acts 8:1-3, NLT)

Hopefully you’ve already heard of this guy Saul, and if not, you can read about him here next week.