But he, being full of the Holy Spoirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (56) and said, “Look! I see the heavens opening and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
(57) Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; (58) and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. (59) And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (60) Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he said this, he fell asleep
The Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke, writer of one of the gospels and historian of the early Church. After Pentecost, (a Jewish festival celebrated 50 days after Passover – originally celebrating the first fruits of the harvest and later considered a time for annual renewal of the Mosaic covenant) the Holy Spirit entered those waiting in a small room in Jerusalem. There was an explosion of spiritual energy. The ancient church grew so rapidly in this time of miraculous expansion that the apostles found that they were spending time and energy on tending to the material concerns of the new converts. The solution, to appoint seven ministers/deacons of the early church, included the appointment of Stephen to this ministry. Luke tells us that Stephen was preaching the gospel while also supervising relief for the poor in his role as deacon. Apparently his preaching greatly antagonized a faction of the Jewish people and Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin, the same Jewish Council which had only recently “judged” Christ.
Stephen was accused of blasphemy against Moses and God for he spoke his conviction that God never intended to confine His favors to one place and that the temple would be destroyed and the customs of the ceremonial law would be changed. Stephen argued that both the temple and the law were figures of things to come. He claimed that God had been in the world many ages before the holy temple was built and the law given – Abraham had been called by God before the law and was justified by faith. David was not allowed to build a temple for God as God was satisfied with the tabernacle built to His specifications. It was not until David’s son, Solomon, was king that God allowed the temple to be built. Stephen said in essence that it was not treason or blasphemy to say that Jesus ended the law and that the temple service, stripped of the ceremony of the old law, had ended. Stephen emphasized that God could not be confined to temples made with hands.
The verses tell us the story of the first Christian martyr. Stephen spoke in front of the Sanhedrin and condemned their rejection of God and the gospel. He compared their actions to those of their fathers who also rejected the prophets of God. The men of the Sanhedrin gnashed their teeth – their hatred and rejection of Stephen’s words caused them to act as beasts. They cried out with loud voices to silence him and excite each other – to drive out reason. They ran upon him with one accord, all in haste and violence – to terrify and silence him. They cast him out of the city and stoned him, pretending to execute the law of Moses. We are told that the executioners took off their upper garments and laid them at the feet of Saul – this is the first we hear of him – later to become the Apostle Paul.
Stephen pulled himself to his kneeS and manifested – by looking at the heavens and speaking in a loud voice – that he saw the glory of God. He saw Jesus in his human nature so as to be seen by bodily eyes. He saw Jesus at the right hand of God. Stephen’s final act was prayer for his persecutors as he knelt and cried out in a loud voice asking for forgiveness for his murderers. Clearly this terrible event stuck in the mind of Saul, who later as Paul, bitterly regretted his part in this death.
God has a plan – a cosmic plan. All things work together for good. It was the martyrdom of Stephen, witnessed and agreed to by Saul/Paul, together with the persecutions that took place at this time that led to the conversion of Paul at the intervention on the road to Damascus.