Unintended Consequences

Physics teaches us that actions are followed by reactions.  Sometimes the reactions are not what was intended.

Stephen the Martyr was taken by force and brought before the Jewish ruling council (Sanhedrin) for faithfully testifying to salvation by belief in Jesus Christ:

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen.

And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

Then they secretly induced men to say,

“We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes;

and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council.

They also set up false witnesses who said,

“This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.”

And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him,

saw his face as the face of an angel. (ACTS 6:8-15 NKJV) *

Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” (Acts7:1 NKJV) *

After a lengthy account of the History of Israel, Stephen fearlessly summarized his defense with a scathing indictment.  Then he was stoned to death:

“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears!

You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.

Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One,

of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,

who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

When they heard these things they were cut to the heart,

and they gnashed at him with their teeth.

But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God,

and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said,

“Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man

standing at the right hand of God!”

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears,

and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying,

“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Now Saul (later the Apostle Paul) was consenting to his death.

(Acts 7:51-60, 8:1 NKJV) *

Following the death of Stephen, Christians were aggressively persecuted in Jerusalem:

At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem;

and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria,

except the apostles.  And devout men carried Stephen to his burial,

and made great lamentation over him.  As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. (Acts 8:1-3 NKJV) *

The rulers intended to destroy Christianity.  Instead, their persecution was the means by which it spread:

Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.  Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.  And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.  For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.

And there was great joy in that city. (Acts 8:4-6 NKJV) *

You can persecute Christians, but you cannot silence the Holy Spirit.  You can kill the bodies of men and women, but the faith they died for will live on.

* biblehub.com/nkjv/acts (parenthetical notes added)