54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
-Acts 7:54-60
Stephen was known to be first christian martyr, or the first to have died for being a follower of Christ. After delivering a powerful message alluding to many historical accounts warning his opposition of their disobedience to God, Stephen is still persecuted even to the point of death.
There are two interesting things we can see in this passage. First, continuing with the theme of seeing parallels of Christians in Acts and the life of Jesus, as Stephen was being stoned, not only did he give up his life to Jesus, but he also prayed for the people murdering him. Rather than having anger or desire for revenge, he instead asked God for forgiveness on behalf of his murderers, very similar to Jesus's words as He hung on the cross when He said "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).
Second, the author points out a specific name who was among those stoning Stephen: Saul. As we will read later on, this character has a huge role not only in Acts, but in much of the New Testament as well. However, in this case, we read that he was among the murderers and had a role in the murder of Stephen. We will learn more about Saul later on.
Stephen displayed tremendous faith in this passage - not only from the beginning when everyone around him was furious, but even up to the point when he knew his death was imminent. I would think that he knew he was in danger after delivering his message, yet he had faith and God displayed his presence to him right then and there. Furthermore, as he was being stoned, he was in much pain and suffering, yet at peace with Jesus and was ready to be received by the Lord.
Standing firm in our faith is difficult enough with all the pressures and temptations in the world. How much harder then is it to have faith when your life is on the line! Being stoned might sound like something thing that doesn't happen anymore, but the reality is that there are still Christians around the world whose lives are in danger because of their faith. We are blessed to live in a relatively safe environment, but may still find it difficult to trust in God and have faith. We can look to the first christian martyrs, the many other martyrs that follow Stephen, or our fellow Christians around the world and be encouraged to stand firm in our faith especially during the difficult times.
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