Walking in Holiness will necessitate you to confront evil head on!
Justice requires confrontation with the wicked, lawless, and unrighteous.
Luke recorded by The Holy Spirit what Stephen spoke to the political powers in Acts chapter 7:
44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen,
45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David,
46 who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house.
48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:
49 ‘Heaven is My Throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, Or what is the place of My rest?
50 Has My Hand not made all these things?’
Stephen reminds the Israelites in charge of the earthly tabernacle who is truly in charge of Heaven and earth.
51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
Being fully led by The Holy Spirit, Stephen did not hold back the Truth!
52 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,
53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.
In other words, they were overtaken with violent rage filling their souls.
55 But Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into Heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the Right Hand of God,
56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the Right Hand of God!”
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord;
58 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.
59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
60 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.
Stephen sacrificed his own self-interest on behalf of the true church. He exposed the hearts of those who were in political control. He was a martyr for Christ.
John recorded what he heard and saw by The Holy Spirit in Revelation chapter 6:
9 When Jesus opened the fifth seal, I saw under the Altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held.
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, Holy and True, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
Stephen’s blood was held under the altar awaiting the full judgment of THE LORD. He boldly spoke the True Word and gave his testimony that had signs and wonders following. He was willing to give himself for the good of many.