Stephen, [see note #11]
as far as we are told, had not known the Lord during His life on earth.
Certainly he was not appointed, like the apostles, to be a witness of that
life. He was simply the instrument of the Holy Ghost, distributing to whom
He would.
He begins therefore their history from the beginning of God's way, that is,
from Abraham, called out by the revelation of the God of glory, slow indeed
to obey, but at length led by the patient grace of God into Canaan.
Nevertheless, he was a stranger in the promised land; and bondage was to be
the portion of his descendants, until God interposed in grace. The lot,
therefore, of the blessed patriarch was not that of possessing the
promises, but of being a stranger; and that of his descendants was to be
captives until God delivered them with a strong arm. Nothing can be more
striking than the calm superiority to circumstances displayed by Stephen.
He recites to the Jews a history they could not deny, a history they
boasted in, yet it condemned them utterly. They were doing as their fathers
had done. But two persons are specially prominent in Stephen's account, in
connection with the goodness of God towards Israel at this period-Joseph
and Moses. Israel had rejected them both, given up Joseph to the Gentiles,
rejected Moses as judge and leader. It was, in cases which the Jews could
not deny or object to, the history of Christ also, who, too, at the time
appointed of God, will indeed be the Redeemer of Israel. This is the
substance of Stephen's argument. The Jews had always rejected those whom
God had sent and in whom the Holy Ghost had acted, and the testimony of the
same Holy Ghost in the prophets who had spoken of the Christ whom they had
now betrayed and slain. Besides this, according to Moses, they had
worshipped false gods, even from the time of their deliverance out of Egypt
[see note #12]
-a sin which, however great the long-suffering of God, would cause them to
be carried away, now that they had filled up the measure of their iniquity,
beyond the Babylon which had already been their punishment.
It is a most striking summing up of their whole history-the history of man
with all the means of restoration supplied. The full measure of guilt is
stated. They had received the law and had not kept it, rejected the
prophets who had testified of Christ, and betrayed and murdered Christ
Himself-always resisted the Holy Ghost. What they did trust in, the temple,
God rejected. God Himself has been, as it were, a stranger in the land of
Canaan; and if Solomon built Him a house, it was in order that the Holy
Ghost might declare that He who had heaven for His throne, and earth for
His footstool, whose dominion was universal, would not dwell in houses of
stone, which were the creation of His own hand. Thus we have the complete
summing up of their history, connected with the last days of their
judgment. They always resisted the Holy Ghost, as they had always disobeyed
the law. Judaism was judged, after the long patience of God and all His
ways of grace with man as means were exhausted. For Israel was man under
the special dealings and care of God. Man's guilt now is not only sin, but
sin in spite of all that God has done. It was the turning-point of man's
history. Law, prophets, Christ, the Holy Ghost, all tried, and man at
enmity against God. The cross had really proved it, but this had added the
rejection of the testimony of the Holy Ghost to a glorified Christ. All was
over with man, and began anew with the second Man ever in connection with
heaven.
Their conscience convicted, and their heart hardened, their will unchanged,
the members of the council were filled with rage, and gnashed upon him with
their teeth. But if Stephen was to bear this definitive testimony against
Israel, he was not merely to render the testimony, but much more to place
it in its true relative position, by a living expression of that which a
believer was in virtue of the presence of the Holy Ghost here below
dwelling in him. In their history we have man always resisting the Holy
Ghost; in Stephen, a man full of Him consequent on redemption.
Such are the elements of this touching and striking scene, which forms an
epoch in the history of the assembly. The heads of Israel gnash their teeth
with rage, against the mighty and convincing testimony of the Holy Ghost,
with which Stephen was filled. They had rejected a glorified Christ, as
they had slain a humbled one. Let us follow out the effect as to Stephen
himself. He looks stedfastly up to heaven; now fully opened to faith. It is
thither that the Spirit directs the mind, making it capable of fixing
itself there. He reveals to one who is thus filled with Himself the glory
of God on high, and Jesus in that glory at the right hand of God, in the
place of power-Son of man in the far higher place than that of Psalm 2,
that of Psalm 8, though all things were not yet put under Him (compare John
1:50, 51). Afterwards He gives the effect of the testimony borne in the
presence of the power of Satan, the murderer.
"I see," said Stephen, "the heavens opened." Such then is the position of
the true believer-heavenly upon the earth-in presence of the world that
rejected Christ, the murderous world; the believer, alive in death, sees by
the power of the Holy Ghost into heaven, and the Son of man at the right
hand of God. Stephen does not say "Jesus." The Spirit characterises Him as
the Son of man! Precious testimony to man! Nor is it to the glory of God
that he testifies (this was natural to heaven) but to the Son of man in the
glory, heaven being open to him, and then looks to Him as the Lord Jesus,
to receive his spirit, the first example and full testimony of the state of
the believer's soul after death with Christ glorified.
With regard to the progress of the testimony, it is not now that Jesus is
the Messiah, and He will return if you repent (which, however, does not
cease to be true), but it is the Son of man in heaven, which is open to the
man that is filled with the Holy Ghost-that heaven to which God is about to
transport the soul, as it is the hope and the testimony of those that are
His. The patience of God was doubtless still acting in Israel; but the Holy
Ghost opened new scenes and new hopes to the believer. [see note #13]
But remark that Stephen, in consequence of seeing Jesus in heaven,
perfectly resembles Jesus upon earth-a fact precious in grace to us: only
that the glory of His Person is in all cases carefully guarded. Jesus,
though heaven was opened to Him, was Himself the object to which heaven
looked down, and who was publicly owned and sealed of the Father. He did
not need a vision to present an object to His faith, nor did it produce any
transformation into the same image by revelation of the glory. But "Father,
into Thy hands I commit my spirit" is found in "Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit." And the affection for Israel which expresses itself in
intercession, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," is
found again in "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge"; save that here the
Holy Ghost does not now affirm that they are ignorant.
But it is well to dwell a moment on that which brings out more clearly the
especial position of Stephen, the vessel of the Spirit's testimony, so
definitively rejected by the Jews; and the divine character and Person of
Jesus, even where His disciple is most like Him. Heaven is open to Jesus,
the Holy Ghost descends upon Him and He is acknowledged the Son of God.
Heaven opens on Jesus, and the angels descend upon the Son of man: but He
has no object presented to Him; He is Himself the object on which heaven is
gazing. Heaven will open at the end of the age, and Jesus Himself come
forth on the white horse (that is, in judgment and triumph). Here, too,
heaven opens, and the disciple, the Christian, full of the Holy Ghost, sees
into it, and there beholds Jesus at the right hand of God. Jesus is still
the object, before of heaven, now of the believing man who is filled with
the Holy Ghost; so that, as to the object of faith and the position of the
believer, this scene is definitively characteristic. Jesus has no object,
but is the object of heaven when it opens; the saint has, and it is Jesus
Himself in heaven when it is open. Rejected, and rejected by the Jews, like
Jesus, partaking in His sufferings, and filled with His Spirit of grace,
Stephen's eyes are fixed on high, on the heaven which the Holy Ghost opens
to him; and he sees the Son of man there ready to receive his spirit. The
rest will come later; but it is not only Jesus, whom the heavens must
receive until the times of restitution, but also the souls of His believing
people until the moment of resurrection, and the whole church, in spirit,
detached from the world that rejected Him, and from Judaism that opposed
the testimony of the Holy Ghost. The latter, Judaism, is no longer at all
recognised; there is no longer any room for the long-suffering of God
towards it. Its place is taken by heaven, and by the assembly, which, so
far as it is consistent, follows her Master there in spirit, while waiting
for His return.
