Thursday, October 8, 2020

The Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early church, by Luke the physician - Acts 7:51-60 comments : Stephen's martyrdom

 


Acts 7:51 ¶  Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 52  Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53  Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.

 

Stephen gives one of the class sermons of all time reliving the history of the Hebrews, the Jews. In the end he convicts the Jewish leadership of murdering the Messiah they were promised as they had murdered prophets sent to them by God through the years. Their response to his condemnation makes them and their descendants suffer horribly for the next two thousand years. The Jews had already made two damning statements about themselves that would echo throughout history.

 

Matthew 27:25  Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

 

John 19:15  But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.

 

Fortunately for them God is merciful and loves the Jewish people. Paul said;

 

Romans 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27  For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 28  As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. 29  For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. 30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

 



Acts 7:54 ¶  When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55  But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57  Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58  And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. 59  And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60  And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

 

Here is the first martyr for the Christian faith, Stephen. Saul, who we will know later as Paul, took charge of their garments. Stoning is a brutal way to die and there have been many gruesome descriptions of what it does to the human body. Mankind, if he has learned nothing else, has learned very effectively different ways to kill.

 

Stephen sees Christ standing at the right hand of God. Elsewhere He is said to be seated. Perhaps this was the Jewish leadership’s last chance at repentance before the Saviour sat down and the next two thousand years of suffering for the Jews was to begin. Stephen is stoned with a fury as these men refuse to accept what he has said. He echoes a sentiment similar to Christ's from the Cross in asking for pardon for his murderers.

 

Not for the first time in the Bible, as we have seen, sleep is used as a euphemism for death.

No comments: