Stephen's Martyrdom
A sermon
(No. 740)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, MARCH 17, 1867, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into
Heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand
of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God."- Acts 7:55,56.
TRUE Christian zeal will seek to do the highest work of which
sanctified humanity is capable. Stephen is first heard of as a
distributor of the alms of the Church to needy widows. He exercised
what was virtually, if not nominally, the deacon's office. Being grave,
and not double-tongued, and holding the mystery of the faith in a good
conscience, he was well fitted for his work. Doubtless he used the
office of a deacon well, and so purchased to himself a good degree and
great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Although the burdensome duty of serving tables might well have excused
him from other service, we soon find him, full of faith and power,
doing great wonders and miracles among the people. And not content with
that, we see him defending the faith against a synagogue of subtle
philosophical deniers of the Truth of God. These, with their allies,
made the valiant deacon the object of their attack, and he at once rose
to be an irresistible witness for the Gospel. Stephen the deacon became
Stephen the preacher! This holy man not only used such gifts as he had
in one department, but having abilities for a more spiritual form of
service, he laid them at once upon the altar of Christ.
Nor is this all, he had a higher promotion yet–when he had thus become
Stephen the wise apologist and brave defender of the faith he did not
stop there–he mounted to the highest rank of the Christian army! He
gained the peerless dignity, the foremost nobility, the brightest
glory–I mean the martyr's name and honor. Stephen the deacon is first
Stephen the preacher, and afterwards Stephen, God's faithful and true
witness, laying down his life that he may seal his testimony with his
blood.
Put a man without zeal into the front place and he will gradually
recede into his native insignificance, or only linger in the front to
be an impediment and a nuisance. But put a man into the rear of the
army of God's elect, and if his soul is full of holy fire you will hear
of the unknown Samson in the camps of Dan, and, before long he will
dash into the vanguard and make the enemies of God's Church know that
the Holy Spirit still dwells in the midst of Zion in the men whom He
has chosen!
If there are any of my Brothers and Sisters here whose abilities are as
yet dormant, I trust that, without ambitiously seeking the chief places
of the synagogue, if they have been useful in any one walk of life they
will enquire whether they may not have talents for a yet wider sphere.
In these evil days we have need to use every soldier in the army to the
utmost of his capacity. When the world is so dark we had need that
every lamp should give some light. We need that each lamp should burn
as much oil as it will carry and that its light may be of the brightest
possible kind.
Stephen, as a martyr, is set before us in the words of our text. I
shall not so much look upon him as witnessing for the Truth, as ask you
to look, first, at the power of the Holy Spirit in him that you may
learn to rely upon that Divine power. Secondly, I shall ask you to look
at the Source of his dying comfort that you may learn to gaze upon the
same ravishing vision! And, thirdly, I shall bid you notice the effect
of this heavenly comfort upon him in the hope that we may live in peace
and fall asleep in ease by faith in the same great Sight which cheered
his dying eyes.
I. First, then, this morning, I shall want every devout mind to OBSERVE
THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AS DEVELOPED IN STEPHEN'S DEATH IN ORDER
THAT WE MAY LEARN TO RELY UPON THAT POWER. Here our grapes hang in
clusters and we would have you note them one by one! I would have you
observe, first, that although Stephen was surrounded by bitter enemies,
no doubt railing and caviling and muttering their observations to
disturb him and distract his mind, yet his defense is wonderfully
logical, clear, consecutive, and forcible.
If you read the seventh chapter through, you might think it was
delivered from this pulpit to an audience as affectionate, appreciating
and attentive as you may be! It does not read like an address delivered
to a furious mob of bigots, gnashing their teeth at the lone, brave
man. In calm, cool, deliberate, bold, stinging language he deals with
them fearlessly and without reserve. He takes the sharp knife of the
Word and rips up the sins of the people–laying open the inward parts
of their hearts–and the secrets of their souls.
Between the joints and the marrow he deliberately inserts the two-edged
sword and discovers the thoughts and intents of their hearts. He could
not have delivered that searching address with greater fearlessness had
he been assured that they would thank him for the operation! The fact
that his death was certain had no other effect upon him than to make
him yet more zealous. What secret spirit helped him thus to speak? Had
he prepared that speech with long elaboration and forethought? Had that
oration been carefully composed, revised, and learned by heart?
Far from it! He was not so unmindful of our Savior's words, "But when
they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak: for
it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak. For it is
not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you."
Seized upon, doubtless, without previous notice, and dragged before the
council without being allowed a moment for deliberation, Stephen stood
up and defended himself with the Truth of God as it is in Jesus! He
spoke with all the skill of a practiced debater, with all the
deliberation of one laboriously prepared, and with all the vigor of one
whose zeal was like a fire in his bones!
To what do we trace this mouth and wisdom which his enemies could not
deny? To what, indeed, but to the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit exerts
such a power over the human mind that when it is His will He can enable
His servants to collect their scattered thoughts, to concentrate all
their powers upon one topic, and to speak the words of Truth and
soberness with unaccustomed power. Moreover, the Lord can also touch
the stammering tongue and make it as eloquent as the tongue of Isaiah
of old to proclaim the Truth of God in the name of the Lord.
I will not argue, my Brethren, that a minister, when called to speak
for Christ, ought at all times to speak extemporaneously. I am so far
removed from that opinion that I conscientiously believe that when we
have the opportunity for studying the Word, if we waste it in idleness
it is mere presumption to trust to the immediate inspiration of the
moment. But I will say as much as this, that if the Christian minister,
or if any one of you are called to speak for your Master– when you can
have had no preparation, you may confidently depend upon the Spirit of
God to help you in your hour of difficulty–yes, and I will go farther
and say that if more of our ministers believed in the power of the
Spirit of God to help them in their preaching, their preaching would be
more effective and God would own it more greatly to the conversion of
souls.
It seems to me a curious piece of absurdity, if not a specimen of
blasphemy, for a preacher to ask the help of the Holy Spirit in his
preaching, and then to pull his manuscript out of his pocket! Where is
the room for the Holy Spirit to work? Have they not bolted and barred
the door against Him? What thoughts can He suggest? What emotions can
He excite? The paper is the guide of the hour. Why, then, should they
mock the Holy Spirit by asking for His assistance–an assistance which
they will not follow? Or, if I shall have committed every word to
memory and prepared every sentence, and then shall come into the pulpit
and ask to have an anointing from the Holy One to help me to speak,
what do I but ask Him to do what I do not want Him to do, since I can
do quite as well without Him as with Him, and should be thrown out of
my course if He did assist me?
It seems to me that after due study of the Word, if the preacher–if
you, dear Friend, the teacher–will cast yourself upon the teaching of
the Spirit of God, though distractions may occur, though in the
congregation or in the Sunday school class there may be much to throw
you off track and to make you lose the thread of your discourse. If you
can rest upon the Spirit of God, He will enable you to speak with
power, point, propriety, and personality. It is better to be taught of
the Holy Spirit than to learn eloquence from the rules of oratory or at
the feet of masters of rhetoric. The Spirit of God needs to be honored
in the Church in this respect. I am quite sure that if He were more
glorified we should find more who spoke with power–because we should
find more who spoke with the Holy Spirit. Let this first remark stand
with you for what it is worth, and I am persuaded that there is far
more in it than some will care to see.
Notice next the energy of the Holy Spirit conspicuously displayed in
the manner and bearing of the martyr. What a right royal and triumphant
bearing the man has! He does not stand in the midst of the raging
multitude with his eyes fixed upon the ground as though, humbly patient
and doggedly resigned, he felt crushed and overwhelmed. Neither does
he cast his eyes around to observe a gap in the dense ring of cruel
persecutors! He has no wish to elude the penalty of witness-bearing. He
gazes steadfastly up into Heaven. They may gnash their teeth but they
cannot disturb that settled gaze!
Their noise and vehemence may roar like the raging waves of the sea,
but from the serene depth of his inward peace his soul looks upward to
the Eternal Throne and is ravished with unutterable delight. He
despises the tumult of the people, not because he is contemptuous
towards them, but because his whole soul is swallowed up in blissful
adoration of his God! He looks up to Heaven and what he beholds through
its opened portals makes him careless of the bloodthirsty foes below.
Wondrous picture!
Behold the man of shining countenance steadfastly looking up as though
he tracked the road through which his soul would soon wing its way! As
though he saw the angelic bands ascending and descending to minister to
him! As though he held perpetual and abiding fellowship with the great
Father of spirits, and was not to be disturbed or distracted by the
rage of men. The bearing of many of the martyrs has been singularly
heroic. You will be struck, in reading "Foxe's Acts and Monuments," to
find how many of the most humble men and women acted as if they were of
noblest blood. In every age the line of martyrs has been a line of true
nobility.
When the King of France told Bernard Palissy that if he did not change
his sentiments he should be compelled to surrender him to the
Inquisition, the brave potter said to the king, "You say I shall be
compelled, and yet you are a king! But I, though only a poor potter,
cannot be compelled to do other than I think to be right." Surely the
potter was more royal than the king! The cases are numberless and
should be as household words among you, in which humble men, feeble
women and little children have shown a heroism which chivalry could not
equal.
The Spirit of God has taken the wise in their own craftiness and
answered the learned out of the mouths of babes. The answers of
uneducated persons among the martyrs were frequently so pat to the
point and hit the nail so well on the head that you might almost
suppose they had been composed by an assembly of Divines! They came
from a better source than that, for they were given by the Holy Spirit!
The bearing of the bleeding witnesses for our Lord has been worthy of
their office and right well have they earned the title, "The noble army
of martyrs."
Now, my Brothers and Sisters, if you and I desire to walk among the
sons of men without pride, but yet with a bearing that is worthy of our
calling and adoption as princes of the blood royal of Heaven, we must
be trained by the Holy Spirit. Those men who are cowardly, whose
profession of religion is so timid that you scarcely know whether they
have made it or not–those men who go cap-in-hand to the world, asking
leave to live–know nothing of the Holy Spirit! When the Holy Spirit
dwells in a man, he knows the right and holds the right and is not the
servant of men.
Most humble among the humble in all things else, when it comes to a
matter of conscience he owns no master but his Master who is in Heaven!
No child of God need fear the face of the great, for he is greater than
they–he is God's true aristocrat! God has put within him a spirit of
uprightness and sternness for the right which the world cannot bend,
let its blasts howl as they will. I pray God we may learn the manliness
of Christianity, for much injury has been done to the faith by
professors adopting another mode of procedure and fawning and cringing
before the mighty.
That upward glance seems to say to us: "Eyes up, Christian! Eyes up!
Let your heart go up to Heaven! Let the desires mount! Let the whole
soul fly towards Heaven." With Heaven in our sight we may walk through
the crowds of men as a lion walks through a flock of sheep, and our
fellow men shall involuntarily acknowledge our power. The power of the
Spirit was also very conspicuously seen in the case of Stephen in
another respect, namely, in the calm and happy spirit which he
manifested. I see no fear! I mark no sign of trepidation! He wipes no
hot sweat from his brow! He faints not, much less does he offer any
plea by which he may escape from their cruel hands.
He never walked out of that gate of Jerusalem with a more joyous and
tranquil spirit on the brightest day of summer, than on that occasion
when they dragged him out to die–still, resigned, calm, and happy! It
is a great thing for a Christian to keep himself quiet within when
turmoil rules outside. When the mind gets distracted we are not able to
judge of what is wise. A disturbed and distracted spirit generally
rushes in foolish haste to escape from the difficulty, and so falls
into sin in some form or other.
To be calm amid the bewildering cry. To be confident of victory. To be
still and know that God is God. To stand still with the children of
Israel at the Red Sea and see the salvation of God. All this is hard,
so hard that only the Divine Dove, the Comforter, can bring us from
above the power to be so! But when once the art of being still is fully
learned, what strength and bliss is in it! How many of us, in the face
of death, could return death's stony gaze? If it were now de-
creed that at this moment you must lay down your life, could you smile?
Why, the mere thought of it disturbs you, but the fact would alarm you
beyond degree.
But not so Stephen! His soul rests at anchor in an unruffled haven. Oh,
it is in these solemn moments of test when we are not merely talking of
death and vaingloriously boasting of our love to Christ, but when death
actually comes and our love is sternly put to the trial–it is then
that the Omnipotence of the Holy Spirit is seen–when He gives to His
servants that sweet peace which none can know but the man who enjoys
it! I have not yet declared all the glorious works of the Holy Spirit
upon this first Christian martyr. In addition to the accuracy of his
defense, and the royalty of his manner, and the happiness of his
spirit, the Spirit of God was even more clearly seen in his holy and
forgiving temper.
In Stephen's dying prayer he imitates his Lord: "Lay not this sin to
their charge." He stood erect when he prayed for himself, and I know
not that he spoke aloud. But when it came to praying for the multitude
around him, his spirit acquired a greater vehemence and earnestness. We
are told, in the first place, that he knelt down, as if to make them
see how he prayed. And then he prayed with a loud voice that they might
hear as well as see. He spent his last breath in a loud cry to
Heaven–that his murder might not be laid at the door of his
persecutors!
O sweet Spirit of the Son of Man lingering still on earth! "Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do," has been the pattern and
the forerunner of ten thousand prayers of a similar heavenly character!
It has been the mark of a Christian to die patiently with forgiveness
on his lips. Thousands of those who wear the ruby crown this day and
are–
"Foremost of the sons of light, Midst the bright ones doubly bright,"
passed away from earth with just those very words upon their lips!
Surely this is a work of the Holy Spirit, indeed! We can scarcely
forgive those who offend us but a little. We find it not altogether
easy to live at peace with all men–but to die at peace with them and
to die at peace with our murderers–what shall I say of it? Surely this
is what the world cannot understand–a celestial, a Divine
virtue–which must be implanted in human hearts by God Himself!
Note, once more, the power of the Spirit was seen in enabling
Stephen–at such a juncture when the stones were rattling about his
ears and his body was bruised and mangled by them–to pray one of the
most prevalent prayers that ever went up to Heaven! The prayer we have
just mentioned did not die in the air outside Jerusalem's gate–it
passed through the gate of pearl–it reached the heart of God and it
obtained an answer! See that eager, impetuous, young man yonder, about
thirty years of age? The clothes of the witnesses are laid down at his
feet!
He desires to have a prominent part in stoning the hated Nazarene. He
is one of the most fiery of those ferocious bigots. He belongs to the
synagogue of Cilicia, and, having been defeated in argument, he
rejoices that harder weapons are at hand. He is glad to see the heretic
die. He gloats his eyes with the spectacle, for he feels that Moses and
the Law, and the rabbis and the traditions are this day avenged! Mark
that young man well, for Stephen's prayer is meant for him, though he
knows it not. It may be that he heard the plaintive petition and
despised it. It is just possible that having heard it he went away to
sneer at it and to remark upon the hypocritical character of those
disciples of Jesus who could lisp their Leader's dying words as if they
were their own.
Yet I think that blessed petition must have rankled in his heart. He
must have felt that there was a spirit there far better than his own.
Whether or not that prayer remained with him just then, in after years
he must have looked upon Stephen as being, if anyone was, his spiritual
father by whose dying prayer he was begotten unto God! In speaking of
his conversion, surely Paul must have thought within himself it was the
prayer of Stephen that was the means of changing Saul the persecutor
into Paul the Apostle of the crucified Son of God!
Ah, well, my Friends, you and I cannot always prevail in prayer, even
in sunny weather. What a grand Spirit must that be who could help
Stephen to unlock Heaven's gates in the dreary article of death! To
have power with God to pluck the Savior by the sleeve and to bring Him
to save this guilty, raving persecutor just when the stones were
falling upon him and his flesh was being battered and bruised! O
blessed Spirit, though the outward man decays, You do renew the inner
man day by day!
Behold, Beloved, how independent of outward circumstances the Holy
Spirit can make the Christian! See what a bright light may shine within
us when it is all dark outside! See how firm, how happy, how calm, how
peaceful we may be when the world shakes to and fro, and the pillars of
the earth are removed! See how even death itself, with all its terrible
influences, has no power to suspend the music of a Christian's heart,
but rather makes that music become more sweet,
more clear, more heavenly till the last kind act which death can do is
to let the earthly strain melt into the heavenly cho-rus–the temporal
joy into the eternal bliss! Let us have confidence, then, in the
blessed Spirit!
Are you looking forward, my dear Friend, to poverty? Does your business
decline? Do you see clearly before you that you will have to put up
with the woes of penury? Fear not! The Divine Spirit can give you, in
your need, a greater plenty than the rich have in their abundance! You
know not what joys may be stored up for you in the cottage which Divine
Grace will make the cottage of content.
Are you conscious of a growing failure of your bodily powers? Do you
expect to suffer long nights of languishing and days of pain?
Oh, be not sad! That bed may become a throne to you! You little know
how every pang that shoots through your body may be a refining fire to
consume your dross–a beam of glory to light up the secret parts of
your soul! Are the eyes failing? Do you expect blindness? Jesus will be
your light! Do the ears fail you? Do you hear but few sounds? Jesus'
name will be your soul's best music and His Person your dear delight!
Socrates used to say–"Philosophers can be happy without music." And we
Christians can be happier than philosophers when all outward causes of
rejoicing are withdrawn! In You, my God, my heart shall triumph come
what may of ills without! By Your power, O blessed Spirit, my heart
shall be exceedingly glad even should all things fail me here below.
May this first point be practically serviceable to you! Trust the Holy
Spirit! Rely firmly upon Him and He will not suffer you to be
confounded.
II. THE SOURCE OF RICHEST COMFORT WILL NEXT BE INDICATED WITH THE HOPE
THAT WE MAY LEARN TO LOOK THERE. It was the end and aim of the Holy
Spirit to make Stephen happy. How could this be done? By revealing to
him the living and reigning Savior at the right hand of God! Whether or
not Stephen saw literally with his eyes the Lord Jesus standing at the
right hand of God we do not know. It is possible that what is meant
here is that his faith became so unusually strong that he had the most
clear and vivid sense of Christ's reigning in Heaven–so much so that
it might be fitly said that he actually saw the Lord Jesus standing at
the right hand of God.
If it were really a supernatural vision, you and I have no ground to
expect a repetition of it, but, if it were a vision of faith, as I
think it was, there is no sort of reason why we should not enjoy it
even now! If we have like precious faith with Stephen, since it is a
great fact that Christ is there, there is no reason why our faith
should not see what Stephen's faith saw! And there is no reason that
this very day our soul's eyes may see Jesus, and our souls may receive
the same joy and gladness of a sight of Christ which Stephen obtained!
What, then, did Stephen see? He saw first, that Jesus was alive. This
is no small thing–
"He lives, the great Redeemer lives! What joy the blest assurance
gives!" Alive, too, after the Crucifixion! Stephen knew that Christ had
died upon the Cross. In that fact was the confidence of his soul. But
he saw that, though once dead and buried, Jesus still lived! Here was
great comfort for Stephen. He was not serving a dead Christ! He was not
defending the honor of a departed Prophet! He was speaking for a Friend
who still existed to hear his pleadings and to accept his testimony!
Stephen argued within himself, "If Christ lives after crucifixion, why
should not Stephen live, through Christ, after stoning? If the nails of
the Cross sufficed not to leave the Savior dead, neither shall the
stones from the Jews avail to rob Stephen of resurrection! Jesus rises
from His grave, and Stephen shall rise also! No mean assurance was
this! It is a rich source of comfort for you and me this day if
conscious of our frailty and of the near approach of mortality–because
Jesus lives we shall live also!
Moreover, Stephen not only saw Jesus living, but he knew that Jesus saw
him and sympathized with him! Is not that the meaning of the attitude
which the Lord assumed? We are told that our Lord sits at the right
hand of God, "expecting till His enemies are made His footstool," and
yet in the text He is not seen as sitting, but as standing. Why
standing? One of the old fathers says it was as though the Lord Jesus
stood up in horror at the deed which was being done–as though He were
about to interpose to help His servant die, or to deliver him out of
their hands. He stands up, actively sympathizing with His suffering
witness.
Well, Beloved, this is just what we see in Heaven. The Man of Sorrows
is alive and sympathizes with His people still! Though raised to the
Throne of Glory, He is not forgetful of our shame and sorrow. Think
not, O child of earth that the
Son of Man has forgotten what temptation means and is now a stranger to
human weakness and infirmity! "In all your affliction He is afflicted."
He deeply sympathizes with every one of His tried Brothers and Sisters,
"and in His measure feels afresh what every member bears."
Suppose not that He is an unthoughtful, uncaring spectator of your
trials, child of God! Christ has risen from His Throne to assist you!
He stands at this moment, in the hour of your extremity, ready to help
you. He will send you comfort when you need it, and He will see that
your strength shall be to your day. What a sight was this for the dying
Stephen! Jesus is living and living with the same love in His heart
which He showed on earth–with the same tender sympathy which He
manifested among the twelve when He lingered among the sons of men. The
brightest point in the vision was this–Stephen saw Jesus standing at
the right hand of God. That was the point in dispute.
The Jews said the Nazarene was an impostor. "No," said Stephen, "there
He is! He stands at the right hand of God." To Stephen's mind the point
was settled by what he saw. This was the main thing–the only thing,
indeed, that Stephen cared for–he craved to have his Lord exalted and
he saw Him exalted! The people rage! The rulers take counsel together,
but yonder is the King upon the holy hill of God! Beyond a doubt He is
a reigning monarch, and to Stephen's heart this was all he wished.
If any fear had been felt by Stephen, it was not for himself–it was
for the Church. He thought, "These wolves tear me first, but what will
become of the rest of the sheep? How will any escape from their fangs?"
He looked up and there stood the Shepherd looking down upon the wolves,
and saying to His dearly-purchased sheep, "Fear not, little flock; for
it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." That seems
to me to be the grandest part of the vision– Christ living, Christ
loving, and Christ REIGNING–the triumphant Savior at the right hand of
God!
My Brothers and Sisters, this doctrine has been to my own soul the only
one which has cheered me in times of extreme deep depression of spirit.
As I have told you before, so I tell you now–I have known what it is
to be brought so low in heart that no promise of God's Word gave me a
ray of light–nor a single doctrine afforded me a gleam of comfort. And
yet, so often as I have come across this text, "Wherefore God also has
highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name," I
have always found a flood of joy bursting into my soul, for I have
said, "Well, it is of no consequence what may become of me if my name
is cast out as evil, and if I myself am left in darkness. If pains
should multiply, if sorrows should increase beyond number, it does not
matter–I will not lift up a finger so long as my Lord Jesus is
exalted."
I believe that every genuine Christian heart that loves the Savior
feels just that. Like the dying soldier in the hour of battle who is
cheered with the thought, "The general is safe. The victory is on our
side. My blood is well spent, my life well lost, to win the victory."
Let Christ reign and I will make no bargain with God as to myself! Let
Jesus be King the whole world over–I care for nothing else! Let Him
wear the crown! Let the pleasure of the Lord prosper in His hands! Let
His covenant purposes be fulfilled! Let His elect be saved! Let the
kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His
Christ, why, what matters it even though ten thousand of us should go
pining through the valley of the shadow of death? Our lives and deaths
would all be well spent to earn so great a reward as to see Jesus
glorified! I would like to put this telescope, then, to the eye of
every sorrowing Christian here, because having had so sweet an
influence upon my own heart, surely it might comfort theirs.
Dear Friend, you are troubled this morning. You are cast down. You do
not prosper as you could wish in heavenly things. Well, but Christ is
not troubled. He is not cast down! And the great fight, after all, goes
rightly enough. God's great purposes are subserved. Christ is
glorified! Here are two or three pearls for you–gaze upon them, and
prize them. First, remember that your exalted Savior is exalted to
intercede for you. If He has power, He uses it in prayer for you.
Christ has no merit which He does not plead for you.
Jesus has received no reward in consequence of His death which He will
withhold from you. Dear to the Father He is, but He uses that influence
on your behalf. Joseph said to the butler, "Speak for me when it shall
be well with you." But the butler forgot him. It is well with Jesus
today, and, depend upon it, it is well with you, also, for the
Well-Beloved cannot forget you! And as He always has the Father's ear,
He will pray the Father for you and whatever you need shall surely be
given you.
Remember, too, that Christ has this power not only to intercede for
you, but to prepare a place for you. Christian, Christ is a king of
boundless wealth and He desires to use the wealth of His royal treasury
to furnish that mansion of
yours most richly–so as to make it worthy of the Giver who shall
bestow it upon you! Moreover, Jesus is in Heaven as your
representative. You are virtually in Heaven at this very moment in
God's esteem. Your Representative is there. My Captain is in Heaven,
why should I fear? How can God give Heaven to the head, and Hell to the
foot? As sure as Christ is there, every one of those who are virtually
united to Him shall be there also!
Only prove that Christ is in Heaven and you have proven that every
Believer must be there, too! Christ's body cannot be mangled. You
cannot cut the spiritual body of Jesus into pieces and throw one limb
of it into Hell, while the head goes up to Heaven. Because He lives, we
shall live also! And it is His will that where He is, there should also
His people be. Jesus is in Heaven full of power–there to intercede, to
represent, to prepare–and that far-reaching power darts its rays down
to earth. The keys of Providence swing at the belt of Christ!
Believe it, Christian–nothing occurs here without the permit or the
decree of your Savior who loved you and gave Himself for you. Does the
enemy rage? Jesus will put a bit between his jaws and turn him back.
"Surely the wrath of man shall praise You: the remainder of wrath shall
You restrain." Your Lord Jesus Christ has all power in Heaven and in
earth–and all this power He will exert to bring every one, even the
weakest of His children, into His bosom. Blessed be the sweet love of
God which has given us an Omnipotent Shepherd to watch over us by night
and by day! His head is crowned because He has conquered all His foes.
Surely, we may see in that crown of victory the indication that no foe
shall ever be able to conquer us! I wish that I could bring out to you
the sweetness of the thought of Jesus glorified as I have enjoyed it in
my own heart. It charms me to think, sometimes, that as surely as sin,
death, and Hell are under the feet of the Son of Man, so surely shall
these very feet of mine he set upon the dragon's neck. If I am in
Christ, as certainly as Jesus is a conqueror, so shall I be more than a
conqueror through Him that has loved me!
What sweeter sight could Stephen see than this, when the enemy was at
his worst, still Christ was unconquered! And Stephen could read in that
the fact that Stephen would be unconquered, too! The stones that felled
and crushed him would not destroy him! The voice of his blood would cry
from the ground and the spiritual Stephen would become the victor over
the hosts of error! The Truth would spring out of the dust and blossom
like a sweet flower, and God would be glorified when His servant was
slain!
Thus I have indicated to you the delightful vision which can give us
comfort. Lord, open our eyes to see it!
III. Finally, THE COMFORT ITSELF is worth a moment's consideration. We
do not find that the appearance of Jesus in the heavens stopped the
stones. When the Son of Man came into the furnace with Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego, the fire did not burn the three holy children,
but on this occasion, though the Son of Man was there, the fire did
burn Stephen.
Stephen's life is not spared. He dies as certainly as if Jesus had not
been there. That is the plan of the present dispensation. The Lord
Jesus does not come to us to forbid our suffering, nor to remove our
griefs, but He sustains us under them. We beseech the Lord thrice that
this or that may depart from us. It does not depart–that is not the
general way with God–but we get the answer, "My strength is sufficient
for you. My strength shall be perfect in weakness." It was so with
Stephen.
The stones fell. They beat about his head. They stopped his eloquent
tongue. They dashed into his heaving lungs. They bruised his tender
heart. There lay his mangled corpse–an object of love and of
lamentation to the saints that were at Jerusalem. The love of Christ
had not preserved the flesh. And who ought to expect it? We have heard
it said, "If Christ died for His people, how is it that they die?" Such
questioners forget that the people of God must die because Jesus died!
The death of the flesh is no bad thing, but a blessing! It behooves us
to tread in the Savior's steps that we also may die unto the flesh, but
be quickened in the Spirit.
The death of Stephen we do not look upon as a calamity. The death of
the flesh was but a necessary fellowship with the crucified Redeemer,
for Stephen did not die as to his spirit–that enjoyed immortality
which the rugged masses of rock which were heaved upon him could not
injure. Stephen's glorious comfort was in being sustained within,
though not shielded from without–in being preserved as to his inner
man, though the outer man was bruised and battered. This is the comfort
you and I may expect.
Through the darts we must go and they must stick in our flesh–but they
shall not poison the blood of our soul. Beneath the storm of hail we
must stand and yet no hailstones shall be able to strike our heart to
injure it. Through the fur-
nace we must go and the smell of fire must pass upon us–but we shall
come out of the flaming heat uninjured by the blazing fire. 'Tis ours
to suffer and yet to conquer, to die and yet to live, to be buried and
yet to rise again! How sweetly is Stephen's triumph pictured in those
last words, "He fell asleep." This is the life as well as the death of
a Christian!
When the world has been most in arms against a Believer it is wonderful
how God has given sleep to His beloved. How the saint has rested with
perfect composure in the sight of his enemies and his cup has run over
in the time of drought! Calmly on the bosom of his God he has laid his
head and left his troubles for his God to bear. This shall be the death
of the Christian. Let his death be as painful as that of Stephen's, it
shall be quite as composed. He shall shut his eyes to earth and open
them to Heaven!
His body shall but sleep in that royal sepulcher where Christ Himself
once reposed, to be awakened by that heavenly trumpeter who shall bring
the tidings of resurrection to the sleeping myriads of the saints!
Courage, Brothers and Sisters, because the Holy Spirit dwells in us and
because Christ up yonder is triumphant for us! Let our tribulations
abound–our consolations also shall abound by Jesus Christ–and we
shall be more than conquerors through Him that has loved us!
I wish you all had a share in these precious things. If you had, it
would not matter how badly I spoke of them–they would charm your
souls. But if you do not understand them, I pray that you may. May the
Spirit of the Lord open your eyes to see the power of the Spirit and
the glory of Christ! And may you and I before long see Him face to face
in Paradise. Amen.
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A Troubled Prayer
A sermon