Stephen Stoned to Death for His Faith
July 31, 2022
Commentary
The Tabernacle was built to divine specification by God and was an object of great beauty and cost. Stephen pointed out how it was forever on the move (vv. 44-45). It was put up and taken down as it was carted from place to place. In all the wanderings of the Hebrews in the wilderness, in their crossing of the Jordan and their conquest of Canaan, the tabernacle moved when they moved. When David came along, he decided to build a permanent house of cedar (vv. 46-50). In due time David’s son, Solomon, did build a temple in Jerusalem. However, the idea that God could be confined to a temple was a heathen idea. The Jews tended to make the temple an idol.
Stephen now dropped his defense and went boldly on the attack rebuking his listeners for their persistence and continuing opposition to God (vv. 51-53). He explained how from the very beginning they had broken the law so badly that Moses took the tables of stone, upon which the law was written with the finger of God and dashed them to pieces. As Stephen laid the blame for the slaying of Christ squarely on them, the members of the council began to murmur. Finally, under heavy conviction, they interrupted his sermon and rushed on him in preparation to stone him. They were so angry at him that they literally gnashed their teeth like ravenous beasts (v. 54). There was no recognition of the fact that the Sanhedrin did not have the power to sentencing him to death. There was no judicial trial; it was martyrdom. However, Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit and as he looked toward heaven, he saw God and Jesus (vv. 55-56). Then Stephen said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God! They simply plugged up their ears so as not to hear him, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him (vv. 57-58). As the stoning proceeded, Stephen knelt and asked the Lord to receive his spirit and not to lay this sin to the charge of the Jews (vv. 59-60). Then he fell asleep and was ushered into the presence of the Lord. However, the story does not end there. Stephen was dead, but God’s work was to be carried on through the life of Saul, who was standing by holding the witnesses’ clothes (v. 58).
Application
God does not call all of us to be martyrs, but He does call us to be “living sacrifices” (Romans 12:1-2). What has been the toughest test I have faced in the past year? How did I handle it?
Acts 7:44– 60 (NET)
44 Our ancestors had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as God who spoke to Moses ordered him to make it according to the design he had seen. 45 Our ancestors received possession of it and brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors, until the time of David. 46 He found favor with God and asked that he could find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands, as the prophet says,
49 ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth is the footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is my resting place?
50 Did my hand not make all these things?’
51 “You stubborn people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors did! 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become! 53 You received the law by decrees given by angels, but you did not obey it.”
54 When they heard these things, they became furious and ground their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently toward heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look!” he said. “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 But they covered their ears, shouting out with a loud voice, and rushed at him with one intent. 58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began to stone him, and the witnesses laid their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 They continued to stone Stephen while he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 Then he fell to his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he died.