Acts 7:1, 44-60And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen said:
“Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
49 “‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, 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 he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
She was sitting across from me at the Bible study lunch I attended yesterday. When we were all finished somehow the conversation turned to life after death (it wasn’t the specific subject of the study). She shared with the few of us that she had spoken with a pastor at her church about her final arrangements. “I want them to bury me with my… so everyone can…” We all chuckled. It was a course statement, if not humorous.
We had actually gotten into the conversation because of her more serious question: “Are we spirit?” Pastor Chad answered wisely, “That depends on what you mean by ‘spirit.’ We’re all one, body, soul, and spirit.” That went to conversations that ranged from cremation to soul sleep.
“Soul sleep” is a belief that after a person dies, his/her soul “sleeps” until the resurrection and final judgment. The concept of “soul sleep” is not biblical. When the Bible describes a person “sleeping” in relation to death (Luke 8:52; 1 Corinthians 15:6), it does not mean literal sleep. Sleeping is just a way to describe death because a dead body appears to be asleep. – from the Got questions website
Luke describes Stephen’s death here with the words, “…he fell asleep.” And while we do not believe in soul sleep, there is a mystery in the state of being between the moment of death and the Great Last Day. That mystery is that we are not just embodied spirits. We do not come from spirits created by a Mr. & Mrs. God from another celestial dimension as the LDS would lead us to believe. We are whole beings. And as such when we die we are not yet fully restored to the ultimate experience of heaven. Our bodies wait here on earth even as our souls are with the Lord.
This is a mystery. There may be a manner in which the dead in Christ fall asleep in this world and wake up at the resurrection. But it seems that doesn’t really account for the yearning of the martyrs under the altar as described in Revelation 6:10. They yearn for the final day of judgement. I suspect that Stephen is among that number.
But as Stephen dies, he prays as Jesus did, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” So there’s another mystery. The martyrs cry out for God’s vengeance, yet Stephen prays for God’s mercy on his murderers. I’ll let God sort all that out – as I will in regard to the workings out of the judgement and final Day of Judgement.
I do know this: God’s mercy, grace, and forgiveness grows ever more precious to me as I age. It’s not so much that I feel like I’m staring death in the face. But it is a deepening awareness of how desperately I need God’s forgiveness and the righteousness of Christ Jesus.
That became very real and personal to me at that Bible study when I shared Walter Wangerin’s Ragman parable. (See Wangerin share this on Youtube below, and stay tuned for Ken Medema’s impromptu piano/vocal response.) As I was reading it to the few people who were there, I could barely keep from weeping. It was so emotional. And this is the wonder of it all for me: to think that someone so good, so powerful, so strong, so gracious should seek me out an offer me his better clothing touches a place deep in my heart.
When I fall asleep at the end of my life, I look forward to waking up and seeing the my ugly rags shining for cleanness because he died for my sins, and yours, and the world’s. And his resurrection fully vindicates all who put their faith in him.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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