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THE KING ' S BUSINESS 2. Stephen had a view of the Divine glory through an open Heaven as if God were sealing his witness with Di– vine approval. To the dying Saviour the Father's face was hidden by the thick clouds and heavy darkness that gathered around the cross. 3. Stephen showed the same light that was seen In Moses' face when he came down from the holy mount in– candescent with the Sheklnah glory. The sacred body of the Saviour to the outward eye was no whit different from the bodies of the two criminals that were crucified with him, stained with blood, bruised by the scourge and his face marred more than any man's. 4. The Saviour was tried and con– demned by due process of Jaw. He had a legal trial. Every technicality of Jewish and Roman law was scruoulous– ly met to the satisfaction of his ac– cusers. Stephen was lynched by a mob. Every member of the crowd that stoned him to death was a murderer in the eye of the law, Including Saul of Tar– sus, who did not soil his hands with the stones but who held the garments of those who acted and abetted the crime. This final and complete rejec– tion of the Gospel presented by Stephen in the power of the Holy Spirit sealed the doom of Israel and brought their dispensation to a close. Christ, whom Stephen saw standing in Heaven await– ing the outcome of their decision, then sat down at the right hand of the Ma– jesty on high, which attitude he main– tains till now. The Jews outside the land of Palestine were given the chance to ratify this choice under the ministry of Paul which followed after his con– version. The book of Acts closes with the door of mercy fast closed to the J ew and the day of grace for the Gen– tiles dawning in the Christian age.
Stephen doe~ not cut a very large figure in the book of Acts. His his– tory comes wholly in chapters 6 and 7, save Paul's allusion to him in 22:20. He stands at COIDffiNTS the parting of the SELEOI'ED ways .and marks By Keith L. Brooks a revolution within Jewish Christianity. His speech Is the longest In Acts, and Luke evidently regarded him as the true transition from Peter to Paul. He was a pioneer of progress and, as Is often the case, paid the pen– alty for his prophetic insight and fore– sight by being ahead of his age. He comes into the story In a rather Incidental way as one of the seven who were chosen to serve tables (Acts 6: 2) so that the twelve might devote them– selves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. It seems likely, though not certain, that "deacons" grew out of this arrangement. There Is no mention of "elders" till Acts 11:30. The outstanding man In the list of seven is Stephen. "Crown" Is the mean– ing of his name. He won the martyr's crown and wore the halo of glory from the face of Christ. He heads the list as a man "full of faith and of the Holy Spirit" ( 6: 5). He entered upon his work "full of grace and power," who also "wrought great wonders and signs among the people" ( 6: 8). It Is plain that Stephen was like Paul in the combination of the mystic and the practical. He was a man of vision who brought things to pass. We have the story of but one day of his life, the last: yet there is no man in the New Testament of whom we are told so much without one blemish being re– vealed. Stephen furnishes one of the famous " ifs" of history. If he had lived, who can tell what his career would have been? Would he have challenged first place with Paul as the heroic pathfinder for Christianity? Already he had ex– celled the Twelve in his philosophic grasp of the significance of the Chris– tian movement In its bearing on Juda– ism. If Stephen and Philip (the evangel– ist, as he became,) are types for modern deacons, some of them fall short of their opportunities. The average dea– con takes this office more as an honor than as a call to service. One of the saddest misfortunes in Christian his– tory Is the officialism that has confined
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