Acts 7 - Stephen Becomes the first Martyr
Acts 7 NLT
It starts to get real for the disciples when Stephen is stoned to death for his bold public proclamation that Jesus had risen from the dead. This was his last and finest day on earth.
The contrast between the religious leaders (resisting the Holy Spirit) and Stephen (full of the Holy Spirit) could not have been more stark.
Their big mistake was they gave Stephen the opportunity to speak and he went for it. For the first 50 verses of Acts 7 we get a cool summary of God's work with the people of Israel in the Old Testament of the Bible. The crowd was tracking with him to that point. Then the dagger:
"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: you always RESIST the Holy Spirit...When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him..." (vs 51,54)
When Stephen (full of the Holy Spirit) claimed that he saw, "the Son of Man standing (in heaven) at the right hand of God", that was more than they could take! Covering their ears and screaming at the top of their lungs they dragged him out of town and began stoning him to death.
His amazing last words of love and forgiveness were similar to Jesus: "Lord do not hold this sin against them." (vs 60)
Prayer: Lord, don't ever let me become stiff-necked with a heart not open to you, resisting your Spirit, and not listening to what you are saying. Instead let me be like Stephen, full of your Spirit, full of love, and willing to forgive those who are against me (even to the point of death).
An ominous (and oddly placed) footnote in Acts 8:1, "And Saul was there giving full approval to his death." (For insight on Paul's perspective of this see Acts 22:20) As you know, this is only our introduction to Saul (soon to become Paul) who had an amazing transformation. Coming attractions...
