Stephen Stoned to Death for His Faith

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).