THE KING’S BUSINESS
248
Stephen and -gnashed upon him with their teeth, he did not lose his composure. The explanation o f that is that he was “ full of the Holy Ghost:” the Spirit-filled man will be calm under any circumstances (2 Tim. 1:7). The expression, “ full o f the Holy Ghost’’ has a different significance from “filled with the Holy Ghost” (cf. Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31) : the latter expression described the Holy Spirit coming uporf one at a definite point o f time and filling one for the time being wifh His glorious presence and power; the expression “ full of the Holy Spirit” describes an abiding condition. Being “ full o f the Holy Spirit” involved Stephen in inevitable conflict with men who were full of Satan. Being full of the Holy Spirit also led Stephen to look up rather than around, “he looked up stead fastly into heaven.” The Spirit-filled man will always have an upward, look, and because he has an upward look he will always be calm. In that awful hour of trial, because he was filled with the, Holy Spirit and looked upward, a wonderful vision came to-Stephen and sustained him. As he stretched his eager eyes heavenward, heaven opened to him even while he was still in the flesh and in the full possession o f his physical powers and mental facul ties. What did he see? He saw “the glory o f God, and Jesus standing on the right hand o f God.” The question inevitably arises, did Stephen really see this? ' Did he really see the glory o f God? Did he really see Jesus standing on the right hand o f God? Or was it only a subjective vision? The inspired record says that he actually saw “the glory o f God, and Jesus standing on the right hand o f God,” there fore there is no doubt that he did. If I am fair and unprejudiced I must accept the testimony of this wonderful man, which he was so soon to seal-with his own blood. The testimony o f one such man given under such circumstances, to what he has actually seep, outweighs with rne the speculations of a thousand agnostics as to what they do not know. Many great questions are set tled by what Stephen saw that day, and tes tified to before the stones began to crush
in that devoted head. His testimony set tles the fact that there is a God, that God is in heaven (i. e., God has a local habita tion, though-in a sense He is everywhere), it settles the fact that He manifests Him self visibly to men, and that He has a glory that can be seen by those who have eyes open to see it. It settles the fact that Jesus is now in heaven, and that He is at the right hand o f God, and that He is there as* “the Son of Man.” There .are those who ,tell us that at His resurrection and ascension He ceased to be man, but here one who saw and knows tells us that He is a man now in glory, a Divine man it is true, but nevertheless man. There are 'doubtless many today who,' “ full o f the Holy Ghost” alsq get a sight o f God’s glory that fills the soul with rapture and the life with peace, but not just such a sight as Stephen got here. That vision was not granted to Stephen for his own sake alope, but -for our sakes as well. As far as Stephen himself was concerned, this sight of the glory of God, and Jesus standing on His right hand, was granted to strengthen him for suffering and ‘witnessing. Death no longer had any terrors for him,. how could it have ? He saw where he was going and to Whom he was going. “ Behold,” he cries, “ I see the heavens opened, and the Son o f Man standing on the right hand o f God.” He was a faithful and fearless wit ness to the last. No howling mob. could stop his testimony, and what a valuable tes timony it is. Christ had been seen after His resurrection by 500 persons. He had been seen by the disciples as He ascended before their eyes, 'but now He is seen in heaven itself at the right hand Of God. So we can no longer doubt His Deity, nor our security. What most occupied Stephen’s thought and attention in what he saw was Jesus Himself. He was more taken up with Jesus than he was with the glory o f God, marvellous as that was. He was taken up with Jesus as “the Son o f Man standing on the right hand o f God.” Jesus left heavep as God only, He had been there as God through all eternity (John 1:1, 2; Phil- 2:6) ; but in His incarnation and
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker