Stephen

The stoning of Stephen in Acts 7 is especially important in two ways.
First: It shows that the Jewish people rejected the Christ, and resisted the testimony of the Holy Spirit. They would not have this grace. This shows what man's heart is when left to itself. They had sinned against God, despised His law, and rejected the grace of Jesus. Now they resist the testimony of the Holy Spirit. The stoning of Stephen is the last grand act of their sins.
Second: This puts the first person of the Church of God into heaven. The heavenly company is now beginning. The first soul has gone into heaven, consequent on the full redemption of Christ. Here all is bright. It is not now as in the Psalms, "In death there is no remembrance of Thee." Thus we have the contrast between those who were resisting the Holy Spirit, and one full of the Holy Spirit.
The burden of Stephen's testimony was that whatever God had sent in grace they had rejected. The temple in which they trusted, God had prophesied against. For example, they had rejected Joseph, and when Moses came they rejected him in the same way. And so with Christ. It was always the same. Whenever God had sent a person in a remarkable way, they had rejected him. Thus on the one hand we get them resisting the testimony of God, and on the other trusting in that which God had rejected.