Acts 7:55, 56 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God… It is hardly to be doubted that St. Paul preserved the record of these incidents; and we may realize how such a cry from the persecuted Nazarene, as we have in the text, would fix itself in the thought and memory of one so religious and so impulsive as St. Paul. It would be most vividly recalled to mind when he too was smitten down with the glory on the Damascus road, and himself heard the voice of Jesus, the risen and exalted One. Evidently the thing that most impressed St. Patti was Stephen's firm conviction that the crucified Jesus was risen, living, exalted, glorified, Divine. However intensely St. Paul resisted this conviction at first, it had more power on him than he estimated. And the scene is a most impressive one. The howling mob; the reverend officials, borne away from all their proprieties by fanatical excitement; the young Pharisee, too aristocratic to take any actual part in carrying off the victim, or throwing the stones, helping to raise the excitement with stirring words; and amidst all the noise and the violence, the man of God, calm, rapt beyond present scenes, seeing the unseen, and uttering a last splendid testimony: to the one truth he had labored to declare. Say what men may of the Impostor of Nazareth, who was shamefully crucified, Stephen saw him living, and "standing on the right hand of God." We need not think that there was any "external spectacle;" the vision was that kind of internal vision men have had when in a state of ecstasy. The fact of the vision was "inferred partly, we may believe, from the rapt, fixed expression of the martyr's face, partly from the words that followed, interpreting that upward gaze." The vision may be treated as - I. A COMFORT TO THE PERSECUTED ONE. Recall the promises of the Savior's presence always with his people, but especially when they should be brought before kings and governors for his Name's sake. Even making due account of the excitement produced by the surroundings of martyrdom, and its power to raise a heroic spirit, it has never been found an easy thing to face torture and death. But the story of the martyrs provides abundant illustration of the varied ways in which Christ has comforted his witnesses. Stephen was comforted by the vision in three ways. 1. It assured him that what he had testified was true. Christ was living and exalted. 2. It declared that he was not suffering alone. The Christ was in fullest sympathy with him. 3. And it encouraged him to full trust in all his Lord's promises of strength and grace for the enduring and final triumph over his foes. The vision seemed to say, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee." II. A CONFIRMATION OF THE CHRISTIAN TRUTH. At different times different parts of the Christian truth have been the citadel or the redan round which the chief fighting has raged, and on which the issue of battle has depended. In the early Church the conflict was mainly over the question of our Lord's resurrection from the dead. Two things were seen to depend on this resurrection. 1. Our Lord's claim to Messiahship. 2. The spiritual character of our Lord's mission. If risen and exalted, his kingly authorities are declared to be no coarse earthly dominion; he is King of souls, Deliverer of sinners, the living One who saves. III. A WITNESS AGAINST STEPHEN'S PERSECUTORS. And that the witness was effective is shown in its increasing their rage. A dying testimony that was more effective than anything he had spoken in life. But the hated name, spoken of as being at God's right hand in the glory, "let loose the tide of rage which awe had for a moment frozen, and with illegal tumult, councilors and bystanders, turned through sheer passion into a mob, swept him from the chamber with a rush, and hurried him for execution beyond the northern city gate." The times have brought round again the most serious conflict over the truth of the Resurrection. Show the importance of Stephen's life-testimony to this fact, especially as being given when men would have refuted it if they could, and could if it had not been true. Show how the dying testimony sealed the witness of Stephen's life. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, |
    |