Acts 7:51-60
‘Stephen…said…”Moses…said ‘A Prophet shall the Lord…raise up…. You shall hear Him!’… Which of the Prophets have your fathers not persecuted?… They have slain them which before showed…the coming of the Just One of Whom you have now been the betrayers and murderers!”… He, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into Heaven — and saw the glory of God and Jesus…. Then they cried out with a loud voice and stopped up their ears…and…stoned Stephen (who was) calling upon God and saying: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”‘ Acts 6:9 & 7:2,37,52-59.
Calvin comments: “Stephen…told how…the people wickedly and perversely repulsed the grace of God…. While Moses discharged his own ministry, he also said that other Prophets would come after him…. The worship of God does not properly consist in sacrifices…. All rites do nothing else but foreshadow Christ…. Stephen…says, ‘You are like your fathers who were always rebels against the Spirit of God!’…
“They are…resisting the Spirit, when they stubbornly reject what He says by the Prophets…. It was not out of ignorance that they rebelled against God, but…intentionally. It is evident from that, how highly God values His Word — and how reverently He wishes us to receive it…. ‘Which of the Prophets (have your fathers not persecuted)?’… They are the descendants of wicked men who murdered the Prophets!… He touches on what is set out…clearly in the writings of the Prophets, that they are not the sons of the Prophets but…illegitimate offspring…. It was necessary…to be stripped off (of) them…, the very thing with which they were charging Stephen!…
“All the Prophets were eager to direct their nation to Christ…. The name the ‘Righteous One’ is given to Christ…. For it is His property, to establish righteousness in the world….. Stephen…’was filled by the Spirit’…. He was now armed with the unconquerable power of the Spirit, so that nothing would block his visions of the Heavens…. He was full of the Spirit…. ‘He saw the glory of God’…. When Stephen raised his eyes to Heaven, Christ appeared to him…. He will reveal Himself within us, so that we may really be aware of His presence…. A new sharpness of vision was given to Stephen, to penetrate past every obstacle right to the invisible glory of the Kingdom of Heaven…. It is as if he had said, ‘That Man Whom you think was destroyed by death — I see in possession of the sovereignty of the Heavens!’….
“The preaching of the glory of Christ annoyed them so intensely, that they simply had to explode with frenzy…. They stoned…Stephen…. ‘Stephen…said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”… He fell asleep. And Saul was consenting to his death!’ (Acts 8:1)… The word ‘sleep’…brings out the peaceful character of his death…. It ought to be taken as referring to the body, in case anyone might make the ridiculous assumption…that the souls sleep as well.”
Calvin also says in his Institutes III:25:6: “Let us not doubt…when we come to die…after the example of Stephen, to commit ourselves to the protection of Christ…(Acts 7:59)…. To pry curiously into their intermediate state, is neither lawful nor expedient (see Calvin’s Psychopannychia)”: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’ (Acts 7:59).” Stephen was stoned to death, while praying to Jesus. He fell asleep, awaiting his resurrection! So too should we, when we die!
