STEPHEN, CALLING UPON GOD

Perhaps it was inevitable that martyrdoms should come.

The first martyr was that same Stephen of whom we have read in chapter 6. He was one of those seven men of good report, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, a man of power who wrought miracles among them. His spiritual ability in dispute angered the men of the synagogue. They could not resist his wisdom and so they resorted to false accusations of blasphemy, and brought him to the council. Those who fixed their gaze on him that day saw his face as it had been the face of an angel, as the high priest asked him, ‘Are these things so?’.

Stephen addressed the council courteously, ‘Men, brethren, and fathers’, and first called their attention to ‘the God of glory’ who had appeared to their father Abraham. Beginning with the patriarch, and passing on to Jacob and Joseph and Moses, he proceeded with a masterly rehearsal of the history of the nation in its unbelief and rejection of the prophets.

It is the longest sermon in the Acts of the Apostles. This unbelief of their fathers, he accused them, had culminated in their betrayal and murder of Jesus the Just One. At this point they gnashed upon him with their teeth, cast him out of the city, and took up stones to stone him.

Under the shower of stones that rained upon him, Stephen kneeled down - but he looked up. He saw the glory of God and Jesus standing to receive him. As he committed his spirit to the Lord Jesus, the life of this beloved, earliest martyr was closed in prayer. And how like his Lord he was! In a loud voice he prayed for forgiveness for those who stoned him, ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge’.

Stephen’s last words were an intercession for others. His death was as a falling asleep, as the clothes of his murderers lay at the feet of the young man who was to become the apostle of the Gentiles. And out of Stephen came Paul - God buries His workmen, but carries on His work.

May we too learn to pray in the most difficult and adverse circumstances, knowing that there is One who always hears and delights to answer.