Categories
Acts Bible Study

Acts: Stephen’s Death

Acts 7:54-60 New International Version (NIV)

The Stoning of Stephen

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.

The men in the Sanhedrin were very angry. They had very much hate and their faces showed this hate. But Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He turned his face towards heaven. He saw a wonderful vision and he described the vision to those men.

‘The Son of Man’ (verse 56) was a special name that Jesus used for himself. It had many meanings. In Mark 14:61-62, Jesus used it to answer the high priest’s question. The high priest asked him if he was the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus said, ‘I am.’ Then he added, ‘You will all see the Son of Man. He will be sitting at Almighty God’s right side. (‘Almighty’ means ‘the Lord of everything’. Or it means ‘totally powerful’.) The Son of Man will come with the clouds that are in heaven.’ There is a similar description in the Old Testament, in the book called Daniel. There, Daniel describes ‘someone like a son of man’ (Daniel 7:13-14). The prophecy in Psalm 110 is also similar. In Psalm 110:1, God invites Israel’s king to sit at his right side.

Stephen’s vision showed that Jesus’ words about himself were true. Jesus was at God’s right side. But when Stephen saw Jesus, Jesus was standing. Jesus was not sitting then. Some students say that this was because Jesus was giving another chance to the Jews. They could accept him as their king before he sat down on his throne. Other students say that Jesus had stood up to welcome Stephen. This was because Stephen would be in heaven soon. Or perhaps Jesus was standing because he agreed with Stephen’s words. Perhaps in that way Jesus was showing that he agreed.

Stephen’s vision annoyed the men in the Sanhedrin even more. They did not want to listen to Stephen. So, they covered their ears with their hands. To them, Jesus was a criminal. And there was something even worse than that. He had died on a cross. Jews believed that God rejected a person, if that person died on a cross. But Stephen saw that Jesus was at God’s right side. This meant that Jesus had the same authority as God.

The Jews killed people who had done very bad crimes. In order to kill such a person, the Jews threw big stones at that person. The witnesses were the first people that threw the stones. That was what happened to Stephen. Some students think that the Jews acted against the Roman law when they killed Stephen. This was because the Jews had not asked the Roman rulers about it first. But the Jews did not always have to ask the Roman rulers before Jews did such things. For some crimes, the Romans allowed them to decide whether the person should die. Those were some crimes that people did against the Temple. It was probably legal to kill Stephen. If it was not legal, probably Luke would not have mentioned the witnesses. Luke also mentioned Saul. This was the first time when Luke mentioned him. Saul took care of the witnesses’ coats. So, he approved of what was happening.

As Stephen was dying, he said a prayer. Before Jesus died, he also said a prayer. Stephen’s prayer was like Jesus’ prayer. Jesus said, ‘Father, I put my spirit into your hands.’ (‘Into your hands’ means ‘into your care’.) Stephen asked Jesus to receive his spirit. Jesus asked his Father (God) to forgive the people who were killing him. Stephen also asked for this.

Stephen died in much pain. But he was calm. He did not speak words that were angry or unkind. He saw the Lord Jesus. Jesus was waiting for him in heaven. So, Luke wrote that Stephen ‘slept’ (verse 60).

Stephen was the first Christian martyr. There have been many martyrs since then and there are even more martyrs today. Tertullian was a man who wrote books in about AD 150. He wrote that ‘the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church’. Often, when people kill martyrs, the martyrs lose blood. The blood may fall to the ground, like a seed falls. But when a seed falls to the ground, a plant can grow from it. Similarly, when people persecute Christians, the church grows. People kill Christians because they want to destroy the church. But instead, the church becomes stronger. This has always been true and it is true today.

One reply on “Acts: Stephen’s Death”

Comments are closed.