‘LESSONS FROM A MARTYR’
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on September 14, 2022 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: September 14, 2022 from Acts 7:54-60
Theme: A martyr’s death may seem like a tragedy from earth’s perspective, but it is a great victory from heaven’s perspective.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
What we might consider a great tragedy is not necessarily tragic. Not from heaven’s perspective, anyway. From heaven’s standpoint, it may be a great victory. And heaven’s perspective is always the right one.
Take the story of the church’s first martyr as an example. A very worthy saint named Stephen was brutally stoned to death for exalting Jesus Christ. From the strictly earth-bound point of view, it would have seemed like a great loss. But when this story is told to us in the Bible, heaven’s perspective is shown to us—and the earthly loss was heaven’s cause for joy.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The telling of this act of martyrdom begins with Acts 7:51-53. Stephen—a bold and faithful preacher and evangelist—was brought before the Jewish council. He was falsely charged with blasphemy and disruption of the temple. But he responded by faithfully declaring the testimony of God from the Old Testament that pointed to fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. And at the conclusion of it all, he bravely—and under the rule of the Holy Spirit—told the Jewish leaders;
“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it” (Acts 7:51-53).
He had told them the absolute truth. The Old Testament Scriptures—which they had pretended to revere—had promised the coming of Christ. And they responded to Christ’s coming in hard-hearted unbelief and aggression. They handed Him over to be crucified. They should have felt the indictment of Stephen’s words. They should have confessed and repented before God. But instead, we’re told in verses 54-60;
When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep (vv. 54-60).
What an example Stephen was! He has, in fact, been an inspiration to countless Christians throughout the centuries who had been called upon to pay the ultimate price for faithfulness to the Lord. And though the circumstances of their murders may seem tragic from a human standpoint, they are not tragedies from heaven’s perspective. The Lord Jesus—for whom they faithfully died—is shown here to have risen from His heavenly throne and standing to welcome His faithful servant Stephen into glory. Even Stephen’s last words demonstrate themselves to be words of victory; because he prayed for the souls of those who slew him.
The Lord Jesus once told His disciples, in Matthew 10:28;
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 1:28) …
showing us where our true fear should be. And in that passage, in verses 32-33, He also added this promise:
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (vv. 32-33).
We’re shown here how Jesus confessed and welcomed His faithful servant. So; the story of Stephen teaches us a lesson that is necessary for believers to remember throughout all the centuries that the church is on this earth—as we faithfully suffer for preaching the gospel until the day of Jesus’ return: A martyr’s death may seem like a tragedy from earth’s perspective, but it is a great victory from heaven’s perspective.
* * * * * * * * * *
As we look more closely at this story, we see some principles involved in this heavenly perspective of things. First, we see that …
1. UNBELIEF HATES THE PREACHING OF HEAVEN’S MESSAGE (vv. 54).
In verse 54, we’re told that—after Stephen gave the indicting conclusion to his defense before the council—“When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.”
It’s interesting that we’re told that these leaders were “cut to the heart”; because that was the same kind of phrase that was used of the Jewish people in Acts 2; who, at that time, responded to the preaching of the gospel from Peter. Back then, when Peter proclaimed the message that they had crucified the Messiah that God had sent to them, we’re told—in Acts 2:37—“they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’” Obviously, this ‘cutting to the heart’ meant that their hearts were—figuratively speaking—flayed open with the conviction of their sin. They were inwardly laid bare; and as a result, they were truly repentant for what they had done. But in the case of the members of the Jewish council who heard Stephen’s defense—and the conclusion at the end—there was no sense of sorrow for sin at all. They were cut to the heart in a way that bitterly angered them. They were laid bare—and it made them furious.
The fury that they expressed is shown in a stunning way. We’re told that they “gnashed at him with their teeth”. What a picture of irrational, almost psychotic hatred that must have been! And what a significance it had! The Lord Jesus used this image in several of His parables—but when He did, it was always used as a picture of anguish in eternal judgment. He said that those who were cast into eternal darkness for unrepentant sin where there would be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30). Here, however, it’s an expression of hatred and rage on the part of those who were in defiance of God.
This reminds us of a principle: On earth, unbelief hates the message from heaven of God’s mercy. As Jesus warned His disciples:
“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).
But in the face of this hatred for the gospel, we next see that …
2. JESUS STANDS FOR THOSE WHO FAITHFULLY PROCLAIM IT (vv. 55-56).
In verses 55-56—even as the authorities were seething and gnashing their teeth at him—we’re told this about Stephen; “But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” It was as if the Holy Spirit lifted Stephen’s vision past the rage of men, and upward to the pleasure of the Son of Man.
In 1 Peter 4:14, the apostle Peter wrote to a group of Christians who were suffering for their faith. He told them;
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified (1 Peter 4:14).
There is a special grace that the Holy Spirit grants to those who faithfully suffer for Jesus’ sake. He blesses them; and perhaps even at times grants them a foretaste of heavenly glory. This certainly seems to be the case with Stephen.
It’s significant that Stephen called Jesus “the Son of Man”. That’s the name that is associated, in Daniel 7:13-14, with the coming of the Son of Man as King of kings and Lord of lords to rule over the kingdoms of this world. It may be that as unbelieving men were raging against the declaration of God’s anointed King, Stephen was being given a clear sense of certainty that every knee will nevertheless bow to Jesus and every tongue confess Him as Lord—even the knees and tongues of those who were, right then, raging against the word of God.
And it’s also significant that Jesus was “standing”. In the Scriptures, Jesus—after His redeeming work for us was completed—is presented in the Scriptures as having sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (see Hebrews 1:3; 10:12). But here, Jesus is presented as standing—perhaps as a way of expressing His readiness to receive His beloved witness Stephen into the glory that He purchased for Him. What a picture of victory in Jesus! It was as if He was saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant … Enter into the joy of your lord” (Matthew 25:21).
Now; these words of Stephen—declaring what He saw of Jesus—bring us back to earth’s perspective again. His words provoked the council to even greater rage. And what they did next show us that …
3. WHEN UNBELIEF CANNOT SILENCE THE WORD, IT SEEKS TO SILENCE THE PREACHER INSTEAD (vv. 57-58).
Verse 57 tells us, “Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him.” Their actions were clearly showing that they did not want to hear what God was saying to them through Him. They did not want to hear of the glory of the One who is their ultimate Judge. They took hold of Stephen and sought to kill Him just as they had sought to kill Jesus. As Jesus said in John 15:20-21;
“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me” (John 15:20-21).
Verse 58 goes on to say, “And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” It’s interesting that these attackers are called “witnesses”; because the word in the original language is the one from which we get the English word “martyr”. These, however, were “witnesses” against Stephen. It may have been the false witnesses that testified lies against Stephen in Acts 6:13-14. And it’s interesting also that, as they rose up to stone Stephen, they entrusted their garments to a young Pharisee named Saul. Saul’s willingness to watch their clothes for them was the way that he expressed his approval of what they were doing. This ‘Saul’ later becomes known to us as Paul the apostle. He once testified before his fellow Jewish men that he had prayed;
“‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him’” (Acts 22:19-20).
And so; Stephen was murdered for his faithfulness to God’s message. But notice one more thing we learn from this story;
4. THE PROCLAIMERS OF HEAVEN’S MESSAGE RESPOND WITH GRACE TOWARD THOSE WHO HATE IT (vv. 59-60).
We’re told in verses 59-60, “And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” Seeing heaven’s perspective, he resigned himself to the Lord of heaven.
Notice that, with his dying words, Stephen prayed for those who killed him. He prayed in words similar to what we read that the Lord Jesus prayed from the cross in Luke 23:34; “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” That is particularly significant because Luke—who recorded those words from the Lord for us—is also recording these words for us from Stephen. No doubt this was meant to show us that Stephen—who was beholding the Lord’s glory in heaven—was following the Lord’s example on earth.
With this, we’re told that Stephen “fell asleep”; which is the way that the death of the believer is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. They only “sleep” in the sense that their bodies rest in the ground—awaiting the ‘awakening’ of resurrection at the coming of the Lord.
* * * * * * * * * *
Heaven’s perspective, then, of the death of a faithful martyr for our Lord is quite a bit different from earth’s perspective. What seems to earth to be a tragedy is—from heaven’s standpoint—a glorious victory. That certainly was the case of this man Stephen; whose name in the original language (stepanos) means “crown.
Let’s also embrace heaven’s perspective. And if we are called upon to suffer for our Lord, let’s say what that very same young man Saul—who personally witnessed Stephen’s faithful homegoing—said many years later at the end of his own life:
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown [stepanos] of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing (2 Timothy 4:6-8).
AE
