Acts of the Apostles (18)
Introduction
The early church father Tertullian once famously said that the “blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” This aphorism has been proven to be true in countless ways down throughout the history of the church. And the great Augustine once made the same point:
“The earth has been filled with the blood of the martyrs as with seed, and from that seed have sprung the crops of the church. They have asserted Christ’s cause more effectively when dead than when they were alive. They assert it today, they preach him today; their tongues are silent, their deeds echo round the world. They were arrested, bound, imprisoned, brought to trial, tortured, burned at the stake, stoned to death, run through, fed to wild beasts. In all their kinds of death they were jeered at as worthless, but ‘precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.’”
This is good to remember as we consider the death of the first Christian martyr, Stephen.
The Text
“When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 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, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 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. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 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. And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word” (Acts 7:54–8:4).
Summary of the Text
As the members of the Sanhedrin listened to Stephen’s conclusion, they were completely convicted by it, and gnashed their teeth at him (v. 54). But he, full of the Spirit, looked up into heaven and saw two things—the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (v. 55). Everywhere else in Scripture, the Lord is portrayed as being seated at the right hand of God. It appears here that He has anticipated Stephen’s cry and is standing to receive him.
And so Stephen declared this vision, saying that he saw heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God (v. 56). That was too much for them, so they shouted in their religious rage, stopped their ears against the “blasphemy,” and they all rushed at him together (v. 57). They cast him out of the city, and stoned him there (v. 58). The false witnesses against him were the ones who had to cast the stones, and so they laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul (v. 58). This is our first introduction to the young man, Saul of Tarsus. As he was being stoned, Stephen called out to the Lord Jesus, asking Him to receive His spirit (v. 59). Stephen then knelt, either because of the stoning, or in order to pray, and he prayed (in a loud voice), asking the Lord not to lay this sin to their account (v. 60). Saying this, he fell asleep (v. 60). Now Saul was in full agreement with all of this (8:1). The murder of Stephen was a spark that set off a great persecution against the Jerusalem church, scattering everyone but the apostles. They were scattered into Judaea and Samaria (v. 1). Devout men buried Stephen, mourning his loss greatly (v. 2). And for Saul’s part, he made havoc of the church (v. 3). He raided their homes, and hauled believers off to prison (v. 3). But the believers who scattered took the Word of Christ with them, preaching as they went (v. 4).
Cut to the Heart
These men were infuriated by the things Stephen said (Acts 7:54), and when he said that he saw heaven opened . . . they just rushed at him. When God cuts our hearts open, there are two different ways this might go.
There is a way for this to happen that leads to murderous thoughts. A few chapters earlier, this same body were resolving to murder the apostles . . . until Gamaliel warned them off. “When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.” (Acts 5:33).
But in the second chapter of Acts, when they were pierced or cut to the heart, the response of the people was one of repentance. “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).
One notable thing about this incident is that they went straight to the execution. Even though they had no legal authority to execute anyone (as we learn in John 18:31), in this case they didn’t go through the Romans at all. They apparently got away with it because Stephen was not “a famous name” like Jesus or the apostles were. They didn’t have to worry about public opinion in the same way as earlier.
The Pattern of Prayer
The normal pattern of prayer for Christians is to pray to the Father, in the name of the Son, in the power of the Spirit. We address the Father at the beginning of the prayer, and we conclude the prayer by saying something like “in Jesus’s name, amen.” We are stirred up to this task by the Spirit of God, who dwells within us. But while this is the normal pattern of prayer, we have to remember that all three persons of the Trinity are fully God, and are worthy of our adoration. So it is not unlawful to address the Son or the Spirit directly . . . just unusual. Notice that in this place Stephen sees Jesus directly, and he prays to the one he sees. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He also asks the Lord (Jesus) not to hold this sin against those who hated him so murderously.
And at least in the case of Saul, this prayer was gloriously granted. In this prayer, Stephen was actually privileged to appoint his successor from among his enemies. Among the sons of men, this might be considered as the mother of answered prayers.
The Legacy of Stephen
We are not Darwinians, meaning that we do not consider survival to be the greatest good. What matters is faith and the faithfulness that faith produces. This was very much the case here. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). Stephen’s life was short . . . but it was exceedingly fruitful. We can see this in two places.
We have already discussed the impact that Stephen had had on Saul. Saul was from Cilicia, which was one of the regions represented in the synagogue of the freedmen—the men who were bested in their attempts to debate with Stephen. Those were the men who suborned the witnesses against him, the ones who did the actual killing, with Saul right there approving. And this was the man who was to write the majority of the New Testament.
The second place we see this is in Luke making a point to tell us that the scattered followers of Christ then went everywhere preaching. It was as though the unbelieving leadership in Jerusalem saw a puddle of quicksilver on their table, and sought to solve their problem by slapping it. Quicksilver evangelism.