Stephen's Last Words and Martyrdom
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
Let us, by way of opening word, speak a few words on two great benefactions to Israel (see Acts 7:44-50).
1. The fathers had the tabernacle of witness. There is a wealth of meaning in this striking naming of the Tabernacle. It is called a Tabernacle of Witness. What does all of this mean? God said to Israel, "Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He." Again God said, "Ye are My witnesses, * * that I am God."
In after years Christ said, to the Church, "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
Now Israel and the Church both of whom are witnesses, have also had witnesses. You all say, yes, they have had witnesses many. True. Yet, among all witnesses, none is more comprehensive in the testimony borne than is the Tabernacle. Everything about the Tabernacle spoke of Christ. Seven times in the last chapter of Exodus we read how Moses wrought this and that in the construction of the Tabernacle, "as the Lord commanded Moses."
In the eighth chapter of Hebrews we read how the earthly Tabernacle served as an example and shadow of Heavenly things; it was for this cause that "Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the Tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount."
No marvel then, that the Tabernacle in the wilderness was called The Tabernacle of Witness, because it bore witness to Christ in His spotless life, vicarious death, and eternal High Priestly work; because also it bore witness to the Greater Tabernacle which is in Heaven; and because in all things it was a testimony of things that should be hereafter.
This Tabernacle so full of meaning in its construction, in its equipment, and in its typical sacrifices, and washings, and Table of Shewbread, Candlesticks and Ark of the Covenant, was God's witness to Israel during her wilderness journeyings.
Stephen presses home the fact that this Tabernacle of Witness was with Israel a Tabernacle that spoke in no uncertain terms of Christ and His fullness. Against this fullness of light; this unmistakable testimony, the fathers had sinned. Their sons in Stephen's day, were none the better. Into the darkness and shadow of death where Israel sat, a great light shone. Jesus Christ came in fulfilment of many and definite prophecies. This the Jews knew. The virginity of His mother, the village of His birth, the slaughter of the innocents, the calling out of Egypt, His city of boyhood and youth, His forerunner, much of His ministry, the details of His death, His resurrection all of these, and much beside, were written in the Prophets.
Stephen made it plain to the people that they were blinded. The Jews had abundant witness, as well as their fathers. The fathers had sinned in the light of the Tabernacle of Testimony, they had sinned in the greater light of the Christ Himself.
2. The fathers had the temple of Solomon. Stephen showed how the fathers had wearied of the personal touch with God which had been so graciously vouchsafed them. At first God had spoken to them face to face; then He had given them His leadership through Moses, and Joshua, and through subsequent judges. The fathers, however, had sought a king, and God had allowed them to select the man of their choice, Saul the son of Kish. Saul became a thorn in their flesh.
Afterwards God gave them David, His choice, and then Solomon. Solomon builded the Lord an House. However, God dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the Prophet: for, Heaven is His throne and earth His footstool. The sad story of Israel's past sin, lay chiefly in their refusal to allow God to lead them. They walked in the ways of their flesh; fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
All of this Stephen set before the people. Do we wonder that hearts walking in pride and boasting; that souls filled with envy and deceit and with every evil working, would accept no such an array of indubitable facts that demonstrated so openly their own wickedness. They would not meekly accept their own condemnation. This brings us to Stephen's last charge.
I. A TERRIFIC CHARGE (Acts 7:51-52)
"Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
"Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers."
As we have followed Stephen's argument, we are driven to the justness of Stephen's conclusion. Before ever he spoke the words just read, the Jews had already caught Stephen's implication. They were keyed to a high pitch of resentment, as Stephen gave His final charge. Truth cuts deeply, and it hurts as it cuts. Let us take Stephen's threefold charge, step by step.
1. Ye stiffnecked. This expression was not of Stephen's own coinage. God had spoken before in a similar strain. God had told of those who hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks. Of the fathers, God had said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people." In fact five times in the days of Moses, this charge had been made. See Exodus 32:9; Exodus 33:3; Exodus 33:5; Exodus 34:9; and Deuteronomy 9:6
No wonder, then, that Stephen likened the sons to their fathers.
2. Ye uncircumcised in heart and ears. This was a terrific charge. The Jews were great sticklers for the religious rite of circumcision. The Gentiles to the Jews were uncircumcised dogs. Jonathan had once said to his armour-bearer, "Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised." David had thrown at Goliath the stigma, "Who is this uncircumcised?"
Stephen's contention was that the sins of Israel had made the typical significance of their circumcision, uncircumcision. They were circumcised in the flesh, but uncircumcised in their hearts and minds. They had a symbolical religious rite, but had lost its symbolism. Thus, they had a form, without the power thereof. Circumcision is nothing, without a new creature.
3. Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost. "Resist" is a war term. It suggests a besieged city, straitly shut up against the enemy. It speaks of stubbornness. A heart that withstands, a will that is unbroken. It describes a tightly closed door, a door locked and bolted against God.
The Holy Ghost was manifest in Old Testament times. The Fathers withstood the Spirit of God. "Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted Me."
The fathers resisted the Holy Ghost, so also did the sons of Stephen's day.
4. As your fathers... so ye. Stephen asks, "Which of the Prophets have not your fathers persecuted?" He says they even slew those who prophesied, shewing before of the coming of Christ, the Just One. Then he added, "Of whom we have been now the betrayers and murderers."
The charge was so evidently true, that the people knew their guilt Stephen stood before them giving them an X-ray picture of their own lives. He showed them the sin of their hearts. He made that sin stand forth in lurid colors, by the contrasts he had made between them and their fathers. He made their sin the more prominent by pressing home to their consciences the light against which they had sinned. He said, in effect, "You have been betrayers and murderers of Christ, even you who received the Law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it."
How these wicked men proved all that Stephen had said in his charge by their treatment of Stephen himself. Their act in the martyrdom of Stephen enforced the truth of Stephen's contentions.
We must stop here and we will take up the Martyrdom of Stephen in our next address on the Book of Acts.
II. WAS STEPHEN TOO OUTSPOKEN?
There are those who think that Stephen was too outspoken, and that by the words of his own mouth he brought upon himself the sentence of death. For our part we fear that most Christians of our own day are quite the opposite. They are given altogether too much to fluttering flags of truce. They soft-pedal where they should cry aloud. They yield convictions where they should stand without flinching.
There is a cry for "peace" at the cost of "faithfulness" to Christ. Men who dare to expose error, and who courageously fight for the faith, are called trouble-makers and disrupters of harmony.
Shall we cry aloud and spare not, or shall we succumb to the call of the stand-patters, who do nothing but pour oil on machinery that is running out of gear? Shall we dare to be a Daniel and disregarding the king's commandment, pray with our windows open toward Jerusalem; or, shall we close our windows and pray in the secret cloister, where we will cause no offence?
Much of the spineless inertia that grips church men today is the result of lukewarmness in spirit. Of such the Lord has said, "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth."
A graveyard may be quiet, but it is not conducive to life and light. We stand hard by Stephen and his fearless defence of the Truth; we endorse his courage and accept his words as the expression of a man who was a God-sent witness, filled with the "Holy Ghost and wisdom." Stephen was not a wild fanatic foaming at the mouth with words of unbridled folly. To be sure, Stephen spoke words that "cut to the heart" but the Word of God always "cuts" it is a two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and joints and marrow, and it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Sermons that have no bite, no hook in them, are spineless, and useless.
III. THE FRENZIED MOB THAT STONED STEPHEN (Acts 7:54; Acts 7:58-59)
A mob maddened by unbridled frenzy is sure to be destructive. A tornado is as easily controlled, as such a mob. A raging fire driven by a tempest is no more ruthless in its ruin. Here are some of the descriptions God has given us of the mob that stoned Stephen.
1. They were cut to the heart. The sword of the truth which Stephen wielded cut deep. It laid bare the inner heart-throbs of the people who denied Christ. We cannot but wonder what a scene it will be when God finally lays bare every life. There is a day coming when the dead, small and great, must stand before the Great White Throne. In that day the books will be opened. The secret thoughts of the heart will be unveiled. The words and deeds of the wicked will be spread before all eyes.
Will the wicked then be "cut to the heart"? They will. However, they cannot instigate a grand rush on Christ, the Judge. They will no doubt cry out, but they will cringe away from before the face of Him who sits on the throne. They will see the sins of their hearts; see the heinous iniquity of their deeds; but they cannot stone the One who lays bare their shame.
From the Great White Throne, and from the face of Him who sits upon it, the heaven and the earth will flee away, and there will be found no room for them. So, also, from that throne will the wicked fall back into the Lake of Fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
2. They gnashed on him with their teeth. The people were like mad dogs, foaming out their shame. They gnashed against Stephen even as they had gnashed against the Son of God, when He stood before Pilate, and as He later hung upon the Cross.
Will the wicked gnash their teeth when, in the last day, they stand before God? Will they gnash their teeth as they pass out into their final doom? Yes, they will. Christ said of the evil servant, that He would "cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Why should sinners in their fury press on toward their doom? Why should they with hard and impenitent hearts set themselves against the Lord? They are but hastening on to where they will gnaw their very tongues for pain.
The stubborn folly of those who gnashed their teeth against Stephen is no more manifest, than is the folly of all who hold out today against Christ. Oh, sinner, bend the knee, break the will, confess your sin; kiss the Son lest He turn from you in the way.
3. They cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears. This whole picture is of a crowd swayed by passion, and dead to reason. They would not allow Stephen to finish his address they stopped their ears. They were not open to conviction. Under the full knowledge of their sins, they madly rushed out against the one who had exposed them.
It seems that hell was turned loose. Men were driven by demons. It is the same today, Christ still is despised and rejected of men. He is still hated, maligned, trodden under the feet of men. Some who profess to be His friends are, in fact His chief enemies He is being betrayed with a kiss, set at naught in the house of His friends.
Men, against all reason, are pulling wide the throttle and madly driving on to hell.
The Prophet David said, "Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway." So indeed it proved true in Stephen's case. They had eyes that did not see, and ears that did not hear. They even placed their fingers in their ears and ran against Stephen.
4. They cast Stephen out of the city and stoned him. Thus began the sad story of martyrdom that has blotted the pages of the history of the Church. And yet, the blood of the martyrs has proved to be the life of the Church. Persecution has not stopped the progress of the Gospel. It has the rather produced saints with iron in their blood. It has the rather caused saints to press on and on with the Gospel message. When one died a martyr, a dozen seemed to spring from his funeral pyre.
"I saw the martyr at the stake.
The flames could not her courage shake,
Nor death her soul appall;
I asked her whence her strength was given,
She looked triumphantly toward Heaven,
And told me, 'Christ is all'"
IV. LET US CONSIDER THE LAST HOURS OF STEPHEN (Acts 7:55)
How soul-stirring are the scenes which now confront us. Stephen was a man full of faith and power; he was a man of wisdom but, he was more. Stephen had a courage that knew no fear. Let us watch him as the crowd surged around him, as they ran upon him and cast him out of the city and stoned him.
1. He looked steadfastly toward heaven. Of one thing we may be assured: Stephen did not turn to men in the hour of his need. His face had an upward turn. From whence came his help? Did it come from the hills? Nay. Did it come from his co-laborers in the Gospel? No. His help came from the Lord.
Of another thing we may be assured; as Stephen saw death imminent he did not let his face become downcast, looking into a dismal tomb. He had a faith that pierced the clouds and saw an open Heaven. Death, to Stephen, was only a larger, fuller life. Death, to Stephen, was entrance through an open door to the glories of the skies.
It was D. L. Moody in dying, who said, "Earth recedes, Heaven opens, God calls, and I must go." The Christian looks upon death as the doorway through which he must pass to be forever with the Lord.
Why did so many martyrs face death with eager anticipation? Why did they sing, and shout, and glorify God?
It was because, to them, death had been robbed of its terrors: death could claim no victory.
Why should we weep for those who sleep?
Our God doth comfort give;
Above the night, in realms of light,
Our dead in Christ still live.
Our God is God, not of the dead,
Who cease to see and know,
He is the God of saints who died,
Yet live above earth's woe.
Our dead are blest, from toil they rest
Beyond all pain and care;
No tear, no cry; no pang, no sigh,
Can touch their spirits there.
In safe retreat, in joy replete,
They dwell in peace at Home;
They always wait at Heaven's gate,
The hour that we may come.
The Lord hath said, He'll bring our dead,
When He comes down the skies;
Then from the gloom of dismal tomb,
Their bodies shall arise.
Up in the air, some place up there
Together we will go,
With Christ to dwell, His praises swell,
Where joys eternal flow.
2. He saw the Glory of God. Here is something that illumines the mind and heart. The glory of God that was the supreme vision of Christ as He approached the Cross. In the upper room after the supper, He prayed, and said, "Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." The Lord Jesus did not discourse in His prayer about the sorrows that He was about to share. He looked through them and beyond them to the glory. He said: "Glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory that I had with Thee before the world was."
Thus, as Stephen was gnashed upon by the teeth of men, He looked toward Heaven and saw the glory of God.
Natural eyes cannot usually see what Stephen saw. When the glory of God shone from Heaven upon Saul on the Damascus road, he fell to the earth blinded. Here was even a greater glory, that came to Stephen. Peter said that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed. Peter's words were realized beforehand by Stephen.
Think you now that Stephen was a fanatic madly crying out against those who heard him? If so, God would never have opened the heavens and have shown Stephen His glory.
What will it be to enter into that glory! Yet it is to that very glory that the God of all grace hath called us, after that we have suffered a little while.
"Millions of years our wandering eyes,
May o'er His glories rove."
Yet, there will always be glory to follow.
On the other side of night,
Is the land of love and light,
On the other side of night;
There the sun ne'er shines,
And the moon declines,
For God's glory is the light.
V. LET US CONSIDER STEPHEN'S VISION OF HIS LORD (Acts 7:55, l.c.)
He saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Such a sight, so far as Divine revelation goes, was never given to another living soul. So many things vital to faith lie within this vision granted unto the Church's first martyr.
1. There is the proof of the ascension of Christ. Christ had been seen, after His resurrection, as He went up. Peter and the Apostles had preached that He had gone into the heavens, and that He was exalted to the Father's right hand. Stephen saw Him there. Here was a wonderful witness to Christ's living reality, and to His presence with God a witness born by a man who dared to declare the Truth even at the price of his death; and of a man who was filled with the Holy Ghost as he looked and saw.
2. There is the proof of Christ's supremacy over Satan. He who ascended went up through principalities and powers, and took His seat far above them. The men who surrounded Stephen were children of the wicked one, energized by the devil, the prince of the power of the air, but Stephen saw Christ above them a Conqueror, Thus Stephen knew no fear. Nor should we. We have a victorious Christ who is given all authority and power.
3. There is the proof of His acceptance with the Father. Christ was seen by Stephen at the Father's right hand. That is the place of acceptance, and of recognition that is the place of power. Men below were about to martyr Stephen because he preached Christ; men below were set against the Lord and His anointed. Up above how different the scene, great was the contrast. God was according to the One whom the people despised, all honor and glory. How blessed is the thought:
"God is now willing in Christ reconciled,
Willing to save you and make you His child;
God is now willing, are you?"
If God gives Christ acclaim, should not we? If God is satisfied with Christ, should we not also be satisfied.
4. There is the proof of the Headship of Christ over the Church, Stephen seeing Jesus at the Father's right hand conceded that Christ the exalted was clothed with authority over the Church. Not man, nor pastor, nor evangelist, nor elder, nor deacon, nor bishop, but Christ is Head of the Church. Not pope, not conference, not ecclesiastical Board, but Christ is Head of the Church.
5. There is the proof that Christ is intimately cognizant and lovingly considerate of His saints who suffer for His sake. Christ standing at the Father's right hand, is Christ watching, Christ concerned, Christ animated in behalf of His own. The martyr is not one forsaken; he is one observed. The martyr not only saw Heaven opened, but Heaven saw him.
"God lives shall I despair.
As if He were not there?
Is not my life His care,
Is not His hand Divine?"
The Psalmist gave promise "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, * * Thou art with me." The Spirit by Isaiah said: "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee."
How helpful, how full of comfort is this scene of Christ standing in eager concern as His first Christian martyr is stoned to death.
VI. LET US CONSIDER STEPHEN'S LAST PRAYER (Acts 7:59-60)
1. He prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Beautiful beyond compare is this prayer of expectancy. Stephen knew where the spirits of those in Christ went at death. He saw Heaven opened not alone to give him a view of God's glory; not only to show Him Christ standing at the Father's right hand; but, he saw Heaven opened to give his spirit entrance.
Blessed be the God of grace, when this life is over, there is no oblivion; no spirit held in a cold damp grave there is departing to be at Home with the Lord.
2. He prayed, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." This prayer breathes the spirit of Christ on the Cross. It does more. It reveals to us the spirit with which Stephen had delivered his apology. Stephen had spoken plainly; he had laid the charge of murder against his hearers, but he had not spoken harshly.
One is reminded of the darkest anathemas that ever felt from the lips of Christ the Woe! Woe! woe! of the 23rd of Matthew spoken against Jewish hypocrites. The startling names that Christ gave the hypocrites "Whited sepulchres"; "Blind guides"; Children "of hell"; "Fools and blind"; "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers." Yet, when one reads the last two verses of Matthew 23:1-39, the verses that give Christ's final words, he understands the spirit with which Christ had spoken. Hear Him: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, * * how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"
So we assert that Stephen's words of strong condemnation were prompted not by wrath but by deep concern. Even Paul who so plainly outlined before Israel their sin, said, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, * * I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart * * for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites."
Let us preach hell, but let us not preach it in a hellish way. How tender the compassion, how genuine the concern that Stephen had for Israel as He prayed, "Lay not this sin to their charge."
VII. LET US CONSIDER THE ALL GLORIOUS END OF STEPHEN'S LIFE
This is the way the Word put it, "And when he had said this he fell asleep." "Asleep," what does that mean? We remember how Christ said, "Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awaken him out of sleep." The disciples said, "Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well." Then said Jesus plainly, "Lazarus is dead." Again we read, "Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him."
The sleep of Lazarus could not mean cessation of existence because our God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Sleep cannot mean that the spirit of the redeemed is detained by the tomb in unconscious repose, because the spirit goes to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Sleep does mean cessation of toil, and trouble. Stephen fell on sleep, because he passed beyond the reach of the surging mob that stoned him. He rested from his labors, and his works will follow him.
Thank God for this delightful view of death. Let us not, however, make the word "sleep" mean anything contrary to the testimony of other Scripture.