Acts 7:60
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. 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.
Stephen kneeled while being stoned to death outside the city by priests, rulers and people who rushed on him and silenced his testimony with stones, and cried aloud asking the Lord not to charge his murderers with the sin of killing him, after which he died. In the agony of a cruel death he showed mercy, compassion and forgiveness toward his persecutors rather than seeking their condemnation, following the example of his divine Master who prayed for His murderers. His death is described as falling asleep, presenting death as sleep. His Christlike forbearance and glorified face became a sharp arrow of conviction to Saul who consented to his death, pressing upon him through nights of struggle until on the road to Damascus he saw his error, so that the martyrdom that seemed a triumph for Satan resulted in Saul's conversion to preach Jesus and more than fill Stephen's place. His stoning in A.D. 34 at the close of the seventy weeks, with the persecution that followed, marked the Jewish nation's final rejection of the gospel, after which salvation went to the wider world as scattered disciples preached the word elsewhere.
Martyrdom Setting
The verse records Stephen being stoned to death outside the city by a furious mob of priests, rulers and people. Unable to answer his testimony about seeing God's glory and Christ standing ready to sustain him in martyrdom, they gnashed their teeth, stopped their ears, cried out loudly and rushed upon him with one accord. They dragged him from the judgment hall and from the sacred enclosure, cast him out, and silenced him with stones rather than answering him from Scripture. The same murderous intent to drag God's servant out and stone him to death was years later turned against Paul when a violent Jerusalem mob seized him in the temple, beat him, dragged him into the court of the Gentiles and shut the gates behind to keep blood from polluting the holy place.
The execution was carried out without any legal sentence passed upon him, making the killing unjust. The Roman authorities were bribed with large sums of money to make no investigation of the case. As required, the witnesses who had accused him cast the first stones. Laying off their garments, they laid them at the feet of Saul, who kept the garments of those who stoned him.
Saul was present at the trial and death with frenzied zeal, having taken active part in the dispute, consenting to the death and approving it. At the time he was a rabbi and statesman and member of the Sanhedrin, educated by Gamaliel and the most learned teachers, and very zealous for suppressing Christianity. Angered by his own secret conviction that Stephen was honored of God at the very time he was dishonored by men, he stood by while Stephen's blood was shed. As he died Stephen's face stayed calm without fear and shone with angelic light and heavenly glory, with the signet of God upon him.
The earthly scene faded as heaven opened to him, and wrapped in God's glory he was honored by God while dishonored by men. He was a man loved by God who labored to win souls to Christ and lost his life because he bore triumphant testimony of the crucified and risen Saviour. By the Holy Spirit he proclaimed from Scripture and the evidences of prophecy that Jesus crucified is the Son of God, and he sealed what he had witnessed with his blood as the first Christian martyr. As he asked the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit his murderers mocked him by repeating his words.
The verse belongs to his final testimony delivered before a hostile audience as opposition grew. He knew his voice would soon be silenced and abruptly ended his sermon. The time, place and occasion give his words their full significance.
Forgiving Prayer
Kneeling down while the stones were falling, Stephen cried with a loud voice asking the Lord not to hold or charge against his killers the sin of murdering him by stoning. His kneeling prayer was offered aloud in the very act of being stoned to death. The request was that the guilt of putting him to death in this way should not be counted against those who were doing it.
In the agony of a cruel death he prayed thus for his persecutors and murderers, pleading for mercy upon them rather than calling for their condemnation. His prayer breathed mercy, divine compassion, forbearance and forgiveness toward the men who were taking his life. In this he followed the example of his divine Master, who prayed for His murderers. As Christ had interceded for those who slew Him, so Stephen interceded for those who stoned him.
The words of this cry stand as a prayer of forgiveness to be offered for people whose actions have caused suffering, asking God not to hold their sin against them.
Death as Sleep
After praying aloud while kneeling that God would not hold or charge against those stoning him the sin of murdering him, Stephen died. In the agony of a cruel death he prayed for his persecutors and murderers with mercy, following the example of his divine Master who prayed for his murderers. His death is then described as falling asleep, presenting death as sleep. That falling asleep in death was a martyrdom marked by faith, constancy and glorification, with the signet of God upon his face. The same description of falling asleep applies also to a peaceful death, as when breathing grows shorter until one falls asleep, as in Nathaniel's peaceful death.
Kneeling in Prayer
Stephen kneeled down as he prayed to the Lord at his death, crying with a loud voice for his murderers to be forgiven. His kneeling as he prayed shows that kneeling is a proper posture for prayer. It proves that kneeling is the proper position always when offering prayer to God, in both public and private worship. Kneeling before God in prayer is illustrated by him as an expression of humility and reverence.
The act of bowing the knees always, in both public and private worship, expresses dependence upon God. It expresses reverence and dependence upon God. It expresses humility and reverence in prayer.
Conviction of Saul
Stephen died in faith and constancy and glorification, with the signet of God upon his face and a glory that could not be effaced from memory. His glorified face, his soul-piercing words, and his reasoning from Scripture that could not be controverted made a deep impression on all who witnessed his death except those hardened by resisting light. Those words and that glory remained in memory as testimony to the truth he had proclaimed.
His Christlike forbearance and forgiveness toward his killers, with divine compassion in place of condemnation, and the light of Christ's glory reflected in his face like an angel's, became a sharp arrow of conviction to the Sanhedrists who witnessed it and especially to Saul. Through that witness Christ spoke to Saul and pressed conviction upon him through nights of struggle. It showed that in persecuting the followers of Jesus Saul struck directly against the Lord of heaven, and in falsely accusing and testifying against them he accused and testified against the Saviour of the world, because Christ suffers in the person of His saints, and it helped convince him that Jesus was the Messiah.
His triumphant death greatly stirred Saul's mind and shook his prejudice against Christianity. Yet Saul's education and prejudice, his respect for the religious leaders, and his pride led him to resist conscience and reject Jesus as Messiah. The priests and rulers afterward convinced him that Stephen was a blasphemer and that Jesus was an impostor, turning him to bitter opposition and to voluntary, more bitter persecution of believers.
On the road to Damascus the memory of Stephen's death as a saint who had looked upon the kingdom of glory was brought forcibly to Saul's mind with clear but terrible light. In the flood of light that revealed Christ as come in fulfillment of His mission, rejected, abused, condemned and crucified by those He came to save, and as risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, Saul saw his ignorance and error. While thinking he zealously served God in persecuting the followers of Christ, with consent to Stephen's sacrifice and instrumental through cruel persecution in the death of many worthy saints, he had been doing the work of Satan.
The martyrdom was a sore trial to the church, appearing to give Satan a triumph and to let wicked men triumph while the disciples grieved. But it resulted in the conversion of Saul, whom God later chose to preach Jesus and strengthen the disciples, more than filling Stephen's place. Through Paul's preaching thousands heard the gospel.
Paul's Lifelong Memory
Paul had taken an active and cruel part in the martyrdom in which Stephen's blood was shed for vindicating that Jesus who was crucified is the Son of God, standing by consenting to his death, keeping the raiment of those who slew him, and helping those who killed him. That involvement left a stain upon him and a fearful account against himself. He later remembered it with bitterness, anguish, horror and shame as guilt for allowing himself to be controlled by the malice and prejudice of the priests and rulers. In doing so he had shut his eyes and ears against the evidence of heaven's radiance on Stephen's face and of a power higher than earthly strength sustaining him in faithfulness.
That guilt broke up his plans, changed his life, and pressed him to reflection, repentance and earnest prayer. He became deeply anxious to wipe out the stain and settle the account by boldly vindicating the same truth that had cost Stephen his life. That truth was the cause Stephen had presented from the evidences of prophecy, that the crucified Jesus is the Son of God, which Paul afterward fearlessly proclaimed in that same synagogue where his own voice had earnestly disputed with Stephen, relating his own wonderful experience and presenting the same prophetic evidences with a heart yearning for his brethren and former associates. He was unwilling to leave Jerusalem, seeing flight as cowardice, and was willing to yield up his own life if his Jewish brethren might be brought to the truth, hoping that risking his life to persuade them would make amends for his part in standing by and consenting to Stephen's death.
Stephen's kneeling prayer not to hold the sin of his killers against them, and his death and martyrdom by stoning, came vividly to Paul's mind when he himself was violently stoned at Lystra, bruised, battered, fainting and feeling his end had come. The memory of his own cruel part and of seeking Stephen's condemnation also came vividly to him when he stood before the council that had condemned Stephen. Years later the same murderous intent to drag God's servant from the sacred enclosure and stone him to death was turned against Paul, when a violent Jerusalem mob seized him in the temple, beat him and dragged him into the court of the Gentiles with the gates shut behind to keep blood from polluting the holy place, as Stephen had been stoned years before by a violent Jerusalem mob. The definite spot in Jerusalem where Stephen shed his blood as a witness for Christ could still be gazed upon afterward, and it recalled Paul's former life of bitter prejudice against the followers of Christ, bringing remorse over his part in that past and pity for his deluded countrymen still filled with the same blind wrath.
Prophecy and Mission
Stephen's stoning occurred in A.D. 34 at the close of the seventy weeks. Together with the persecution that followed, it marked the Jewish nation's final rejection of the gospel. After that point the message of salvation went to the wider world, and the scattered disciples preached the word elsewhere.
He was one of the Lord's messengers bearing to the Jewish nation after Christ's crucifixion the gospel invitation to the marriage in the power of the Holy Spirit. That message offered salvation and pardon for rejecting the Lord of life and glory. The nation turned upon the bearers of that message with scorn and exasperation, stoning Stephen, slaying James by the sword, and thrusting many men and women into prison. This killing sealed the people's rejection of God's mercy and brought upon them the judgment foretold in the parable in the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the nation.
Yet the pardon he offered remained open even to his killers. Even those who stoned him, who taunted Christ on the cross, and who abused Him in the judgment hall would have been forgiven if they had repented as Saul did when Christ arrested him.
After the martyrdom a fierce persecution raged in Jerusalem that drove the apostles and disciples out of the city to preach Christ in the cities round about, confining their labors to Hebrew and Greek Jews. Stephen was one of the foremost and noble builders of the church of Christ who fell at his work by the hand of the enemy when he was stoned. His death belongs with James slain by the sword, Paul beheaded, Peter crucified, and John exiled. Even so stone after stone was still added to the building, the church increased in the midst of terrible persecutions, and new workers on the wall took the place of the fallen.
Example for Believers
Stephen was stoned because he would preach Christ and Him crucified, and he remained steadfast and faithful even to death. His steadfastness in the might of divine power is a witness to the world of the faithfulness of God's promises, of His abiding presence and sustaining grace. His endurance in martyrdom was striking evidence that he was sustained by a power higher than human strength, higher than earth. His death shows that those who stay closely connected with God may not prosper in the things of this life but may be sorely tried and afflicted for their faithfulness. It proves that it is through much tribulation that believers enter the kingdom of God, and that through such trial God leads His children to perfect trust and to peace in Christ amid tribulation in the world.
His enemies could take his bodily life, but they could not take away his hope or eternal life. Though the world cannot discern his moral value with God, his calm repose in God in the darkest hour shows faith looking beyond time and sense to eternal riches. He has the promise of an inheritance of greater value than any earthly riches, an inheritance that will satisfy the longings of the soul. Though unknown and unacknowledged by the world, he is enrolled as a citizen in the record books of heaven, and an exalted greatness, an enduring eternal weight of glory, will be his final reward as one whom God has made an heir of all things.
He was the first Christian martyr, put to death by stoning because his opponents hated Christ and could not overcome his arguments from Scripture. He was the first to win the martyr's crown in the kingdom of glory. His death shows the cost of standing firm for the truth, a test that Christian workers may also face, even to the point of giving their lives. His dying testimony so affected and overawed the priests and rulers that they recognized their treatment of him had harmed their cause among the people. For a time, they did not dare arrest the apostles. His death identifies him as a Christian who died as a martyr for his faith, an example of the persecution Christians suffered for their faith and one among the Lord's messengers killed for bearing the gospel.