Acts 7:55-60 (NRSV)
Read Acts 7:55-60 on biblegateway.com
Verse 55But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Verse 56"Look," he said, "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" Verse 57But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Verse 58Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. Verse 59While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Verse 60Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he died.
Devotion
We know Stephan as the first Christian martyr. Down through the centuries, and also today, there have been a multitude who died because they claimed Christ as Lord.
Because he did signs and wonders (Ch. 6:8), Stephen stirred up envy and bitter hostility, and so he was brought before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish Supreme Court) to be examined. Acts chapter 7 is Stephen's sermon to this august group and it was a message not to their liking. He declares that his people, the Jews, blatantly disregard God's law, which they claim to follow to the letter, and that when God sent His Son as Redeemer, they tolerated Him only 3 years before they nailed Him to the cross.
So, of course, Stephen had to go! They dragged him from the city and stoned him to death. But as he died, in amazing Christ-likeness, he prays that God will forgive his murderers. May the tribe of Stephen increase.
Prayer
Lord God, strengthen us in faith and in obedience. Help us to speak truth—in love. For Jesus' sake, amen.