A thought occurred to me: In Acts 7, Stephen preached his marvelous sermon, summarizing the history of his people and framing that history through the prism of their rejection of God’s holy messengers (namely Moses and Jesus, with himself being the latest). In the midst of the sermon, the preacher mentions the Temple and how the beloved building in Jerusalem was never meant to be the place where God was kept. God is too big to dwell in Temples made with hands (Acts 7:48). It was at that point that the audience went from angry to murderous. They charged at him, held him down, and bludgeoned him with heavy rocks until he was dead.

Among those in the crowd of murderous people was Paul, who would later famously be converted to Christianity. Paul was listening to the same sermon Stephen was preaching. He consented to Stephen’s death. He held the cloaks of the murderers. He sought permission from authorities to round up others like Stephen, so they could suffer the same fate. That was his legacy…until he found the Lord and learned the truth. From that point on, he became a preacher of righteousness.

Years later, Paul found himself in Athens, surrounded by a host of idol-worshipping pagans, sneering at him in mockery as he preached to them about the one and only God, the Creator of the universe. In the midst of his sermon, Paul describes the singular greatness of God, and how He, unlike the pagan gods of the Greeks, is too big to dwell in Temples made with hands (Acts 17:24).

Gee I wonder where he heard that before…

What a full-circle moment for the man! He went from hearing about the inherent limitations of a Temple and being driven to murderous rage, to proclaiming the inherent limitations of a Temple, fully prepared to suffer the consequences for his message. I wonder if he had a momentary flashback in his mind to that fateful day in Jerusalem as he uttered those words in Athens. I also wonder sometimes if Paul thought of Stephen while he was being stoned in Lystra (Acts 14).

Either way, I know this much: Paul and Stephen both died in the service of their King, and despite Paul’s role in Stephen’s death, Stephen and Paul will be reunited in the best of ways when the Lord returns, and they will live forever together—brothers—in the Heavenly Temple big enough to contain the whole presence of God.

~ Matthew