In the lives of individuals and the careers of nations, God exercises great patience and long-suffering. Probationary time is granted in the hope that men ‘should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him’ (Acts 17:27). Sadly, very few seek God during these extended grace periods, which only last so long. But because God is ‘not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’, He dispatches ambassadors with direct appeals to those approaching their end (2 Peter 3:9).
The kingdom of heaven’s last emissary to the Jews was Stephen. In his blossoming career as a deacon, Stephen had proven himself an invaluable asset to the gospel cause. Were his life not cut short, Stephen would have been sent to nations that had never heard the gospel. Yet in His great long-suffering, God was prepared to lay down this faithful servant for a stiff-necked and rebellious people who had murdered His Son.
Filled with the Spirit of Christ, Stephen diligently laboured to heal the sick and cast out devils among the people. Moved with envy at his success, the unbelieving Jews stood in opposition to this man of God, publicly disputing with him regarding the gospel that he preached. But they were ‘not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake’ (Acts 6:10). Having lost the argument, the bigoted mob resorted to force, and violently brought Stephen before the same council that had condemned his Lord.
While the Jews thought they were dragging Stephen to trial, it was, in reality, their own nation that was being summoned to its very last hearing. Before recording angels, the Jewish dignitaries would represent the Jewish nation, and Stephen would speak for the government of God. In Stephen’s trial was fulfilled the words of Jesus:
And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. Matthew 10:18
As Stephen was pushed and shoved into the midst of the Sanhedrin, a calm confidence rested over him. Surely, he would have recalled the words of the Lord:
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. Matthew 10:19-20
Stephen was assured that the Spirit of God would prompt the words falling from his lips, for ‘the battle is the LORD’S’ (1 Samuel 17:47). Therefore, since it was God who would speak, condemning Stephen would amount to condemning God Himself.
Having previously found no fault in Stephen’s defence of the faith, the enraged mob accused him of blasphemy before the council. But the Holy Spirit turned the trial back upon them. Through His servant, God recounted the care and long-suffering He had extended towards rebellious Israel over the centuries. Finally, the Jews were collectively indicted for the worst crime in Israel’s history: they had become ‘the betrayers and murderers’ of their own Messiah (Acts 7:52).
When Stephen finished his testimony, the assembly ‘cast him out of the city, and stoned him’ (Acts 7:58). Having murdered Heaven’s last ambassador to them, diplomatic relations with the Jewish nation were terminated. Having formally rejected the gospel, God rejected them as His people, and consigned the nation to oblivion. After a season, God ‘sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city’ (Matthew 22:7).
As it did for the Jewish nation, the day fast approaches when the world’s probationary time will close. But before ‘the Judge of all the earth’ brings down the hammer, Jesus will choose out emissaries like Stephen who ‘shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them’ (Mark 13:9).
Stephen was ‘full of faith and of the Holy Ghost’ because he had studied the Scriptures, and committed them to memory. The powerful testimony he gave was based upon the Biblical truths he knew by heart. While we are counselled not to premeditate our words or the direction of our arguments at this time, we must have the Scripture weapons stored in our armoury. If we squander our opportunities, we will surely be confounded when pressed to give an answer. When called to stand trial, it is ‘the people that do know their God [that] shall be strong, and do exploits’ (Daniel 11:32).
Christopher Sparks