The stoning of Stephen in Acts 7 is especially important in two ways.
First: It shows that the Jewish people rejected the Christ, and resisted the testimony of the Holy Spirit. They would not have this grace. This shows what man's heart is when left to itself. They had sinned against God, despised His law, and rejected the grace of Jesus. Now they resist the testimony of the Holy Spirit. The stoning of Stephen is the last grand act of their sins.
Second: This puts the first person of the Church of God into heaven. The heavenly company is now beginning. The first soul has gone into heaven, consequent on the full redemption of Christ. Here all is bright. It is not now as in the Psalms, "In death there is no remembrance of Thee." Thus we have the contrast between those who were resisting the Holy Spirit, and one full of the Holy Spirit.
The burden of Stephen's testimony was that whatever God had sent in grace they had rejected. The temple in which they trusted, God had prophesied against. For example, they had rejected Joseph, and when Moses came they rejected him in the same way. And so with Christ. It was always the same. Whenever God had sent a person in a remarkable way, they had rejected him. Thus on the one hand we get them resisting the testimony of God, and on the other trusting in that which God had rejected.
What Is in Everybody’s Heart
This shows us what we are as to our natures. Scripture always takes a remarkable case and by means of it presents to us what is in everybody's heart. The same principle governs man now as it did then. There is the same resistance to the present testimony of the Holy Spirit as there was then, and the same trusting in ordinances. The Holy Spirit gives us by the mouth of Stephen a picture of human nature in its most advantageous circumstances. What the Jews were doing then, is just what men are doing now. Men are as rigid about ordinances now as ever the Jews were, and as determined in rejecting the testimony of the Holy Spirit. God must have life and holiness; ordinances cannot give these things.
The testimony of Stephen cut the Jews to the heart, and "they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost." Here Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit, not merely as a prophet, but for himself. Here he takes part in the sufferings and rejection of his Master. The power of the Holy Spirit puts him in the place of testimony and this draws down the hatred of men.
Full of the Holy Spirit
Wonderful is the state and testimony of this man full of the Holy Spirit. Everything is changed by it. "But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." This opening of heaven is a wonderful fact; it has not been closed.
We read of heaven being opened four times. On the first two occasions—as to Sonship (Matt. 3) and angels seen in service (John 1), it was confined to Him. But on the occasion before us, as well as on the last occasion (Rev. 19), it is opened through grace to us too. Christ having been rejected, heaven cannot open on any object here, but it opens and we see the object there. Heaven does not open on us, but to us. When heaven was opened to Jesus He had no object. He was the object. Heaven opens to us, for the object is given to our hearts up there. "He, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." The principle of this is true for us all. When full of the Holy Spirit (not merely having the Holy Spirit), He so takes possession of all our faculties that nothing else intrudes.
Christ in Heaven
The first effect on Stephen of being full of the Holy Spirit is that he sees only one thing—Christ in heaven. Another effect follows, namely, the capability to persevere. We all know how liable our thoughts are to wander, but why do they? We are not full of the Holy Spirit. When He takes possession of the soul it is not so. Often a person occupied all day long with his business or family, or pleasure, finds when he goes to pray for ten minutes, instead of devotion of soul in the presence of God, a mind swarming with all the thoughts that are in the heart. This is a test of the condition of the heart. The house is a little empty and the door left open to Satan.
When the Holy Spirit is there it is not so. Then the heart is steadfast in the things of God. When there is not this devotedness, we ought to recognize it as failure.
When heaven is opened, Stephen sees a Man in the glory of God. Never had such a thing been seen. It was prophesied about, but now was the thing itself. How did He come there-this Man? He came there by perfectly accomplishing redemption. The Holy Spirit is the seal of our union with Him. The eye of Stephen was fixed on that. Glory is natural to heaven, but Stephen now saw the Son of man in the glory of God.
The Perfectness of Redemption
We too by faith see the One with whom we are united there in the glory for us, and we know the perfectness of redemption. This is because, if He as a man is standing where redemption has brought Him, He gives the Holy Spirit as the seal of our full participation in this place with Him. We have to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to know and enjoy it.
"We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." The effect on Stephen of seeing Christ in glory as the fruit of accomplished redemption is that he is changed into the same image. What did Jesus say on the cross? "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." What did Stephen say? "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." He does not say, "I commend," but he can say, "Receive my spirit." Thus we see the same spirit animating Stephen. He has the same unhesitating confidence in the Person he was looking to.
What is death here? "Absent from the body, and... present with the Lord." Thus we see the Spirit of Christ in Stephen as he looks upwards. And when he looks down on those who were stoning him, what does he say? Jesus said, "Father, forgive them," and in the same spirit Stephen says, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." It is lovely to see that the moral effect—grace—is just the result of looking up steadfastly at Jesus.
The Child's Home
The home of a child is where its father and mother are. The One we know better than any mortal being is in heaven. The poor thief had his heart on Jesus.
Jesus told him he would be with Him. He had a hold on his heart. So also with Stephen, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." So in two other passages which speak of our portion in dying. "We are willing rather to be absent from the body, and... present"—in heaven? No, but "present with the Lord." Paul desired to depart and to be with Christ which was far better, where our Forerunner is for us entered.
How we should bless God that He has given us a known object in heaven. The Holy Spirit has come down to tell us of all His glory, and fix our hearts upon Him. He is, moreover, the seal and assurance that we belong to heaven and not to earth. May we so walk that the Holy Spirit can occupy us with heaven. If we fail, He must occupy us with ourselves and that is not Christ.
Present Testimony