We dig deeper into a few specific aspects of Stephen's execution.

Acts 7:57

When Stephen completed his speech the leaders and people covered their ears and rushed at him dragging him out of the city to stone him.

Why stone him? Because they thought he was guilty of blasphemy (but he was not) and the Torah in Numbers 15:35 we read that the guilty were to be stoned outside the city. Keep in mind, though, that Stephen was not guilty of blasphemy.

Acts 7:58

We read that the witnesses involved in the stoning, laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

What do we know about the witnesses? We read in Acts 6:13 that they were FALSE witnesses. We know that they also stripped off their coats. But according to Jewish tradition, the guilty were stripped so that the punishment would be more brutal. However, here we read the witnesses took off clothing. (Unbeknownst to them admitting guilt)

Saul, who we know today as the Apostle Paul, had not yet experienced his conversion, he had not yet met Jesus on the road to Damascus. At this point he is young, probably late teens to early 20's.

Acts 7:60

Tells us that Stephen fell on his knees and cried out to the Lord not to hold this sin against them. Then he died.

Again Jewish tradition sheds light on this. The tradition was that the guilty were to confess their own sins. But instead, here we see Stephen (the innocent one) confessing the sins of the guilty. He was confessing the sins of the ones who were his persecutors.

The enemy attacks the innocent and applauds the guilty but Stephen walked faithfully with Jesus and even in death showed the mercy of Christ in his final words.

Pastor wonders how impactful that prayer of Stephen was as he was being stoned…. Was that prayer part of the reason that the young man named Saul would ultimately become the Apostle Paul?

God moves in mysterious ways!

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