Stephen's speech is fiery and full of love and fury -- love for Christ, fury for the Jews who rejected Him: "You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised." (Here Stephen as much as says, "You are not real Jews. Real Jews would have recognized their Redeemer.) "You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!" The reaction of the Jews is to stone Stephen to death. Stephen accepts his martyrdom and dies as Christ died, with a prayer for his persecutors -- and out of that prayer comes (through the mercy of God) the conversion of St. Paul. In conclusion, "we may say that perseverance as a Christian is the only true test of genuine faith in God and Christ" (Mugridge 81). The themes of Passover, desert, law, and death serve as signposts to perseverance and Christ. Each theme points to the coming of the Redeemer: The Passover foreshadows the shedding of the Blood of the Lamb (Christ); the theme of the desert is continued in the New Testament as both the Baptist and Christ...

The law is handed down by Moses and simplified by Christ, and death serves as the ultimate act of faith in both the Old Testament (see Abraham and Isaac) and the New (see Stephen).
Works Cited

Fitzmyer, Joseph. The Gospel According to Luke (I-IX), vol. 28. Garden City, NY:

Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1981. Print.

Hamm, Dennis. "Are the Gospel Passion Accounts Anti-Jewish?" Journal of Religion

and Film vol. 8, no. 1 (Feb, 2004). Print.

Hays, J.D. "Applying the Old Testament Law Today." Bibliotheca Sacra vol. 158, no.

629 (2001): 21-35. Print.

Mugridge, a. "Warnings in the Epistle to the Hebrews." The Reformed Theological

Review, vol. 46 (1987): 74-82. Print.

New Revised Standard Version Bible. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2009. Print.

Sheen, Fulton. Life of Christ. New York, NY: Doubleday, 1990. Print.