Acts 7:44-60
Stephen completes his account. Appearing as the accused before the Sanhedrin, it is on the contrary he who, on the behalf of God, sets out the terrible charge against this stiff-necked people (see Exodus 32:9; Exodus 33:3). "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost", he tells them, he himself being filled with the Holy Ghost. Alas, does it not often happen also to us that we resist the Holy Ghost, when it concerns doing the will of the Lord or of not doing our own will.
What a contrast between the peace of the disciple absorbed by the glorious sight of the Lord Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and the rage of his adversaries. Their rage induces them, without even a semblance of judgment, to commit a crime which will result in the rejection of the Jews as a nation for many centuries and in their dispersion throughout the world. In comparing the last words of this faithful witness (vv. 56, 60) with those of the Lord on the cross (Luke 23:46; Luke 23:34), we notice once again how the disciple resembles his Master on whom he gazed.
This murder is the tragic conclusion of the history of the rebellious people recounted by Stephen. He signs it with his own blood becoming, after the long list of persecuted prophets (v. 52), the first martyr of the Church (1 Thessalonians 2:15-16).