CT 7{This chapter has a special importance in a double way. First, it shows, that not only had the Jewish people rejected the Christ, but that besides, they resisted the testimony of the Holy Ghost. They would not have this grace; thus showing what man's heart is, left to itself. They had sinned against God, despised His law, and rejected the grace of Jesus; and now they resist the testimony of the Holy Ghost. The stoning of Stephen is the last grand act of their sins. But, secondly, 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. And here all is bright. It is not now as in the Psalms, "In death there is no remembrance of Thee," etc. Thus we have the contrast between those who were resisting the Holy Ghost, and one full of the Holy Ghost.
The burden of Stephen's testimony was, that whatever God had sent in grace they had rejected, and that the temple, in which they trusted, God had prophesied against. For example, Joseph they had rejected; 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.
Now this shows us what we are, as to our natures. For Scripture always takes a remarkable case, and by means of it presents to us what is in everybody's heart. There is just the same principle governing man now that there was then. There is just the same resistance of the testimony of the Holy Ghost when He sends it now that there was then, and just the same trusting in ordinances. The Holy Ghost gives us, by the mouth of Stephen, a picture of human nature in its most advantageous circumstances. And what the Jews were doing then, is just what we are doing now, as to our natures. Men are as rigid about ordinances now as ever the Jews were, and as determined in rejecting the testimony of the Holy Ghost. But God must have life and holiness, and these, ordinances cannot give.
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," etc. Here Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost, not merely as a prophet, but for himself. Here he takes share in the sufferings and rejection of his Master. The power of the Holy Ghost puts him in the place of testimony, and this draws down the hatred.
We now get the wonderful state and testimony of this man full of the Holy Ghost. 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: and it has not been closed. Unless, as in Ezekiel, heaven was never opened until Christ came. God could take Elijah up to heaven, but until Christ Came there was no object on whom heaven could open. 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 (in Rev. 19), through grace it is 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 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." Now, the principle of this is true for us all. When full of the Holy Ghost (not merely having the Holy Ghost), He so takes possession of all our faculties that nothing else intrudes.
The first effect of this being full of the Holy Ghost is, that Stephen sees only one thing- Christ in heaven. Another thing follows, namely, the capability to persevere. We all know how liable our thoughts are to wander. But why is this? We are not full of the Holy Ghost. When He takes possession of the soul it is not so. How often is a, person occupied all day long with his business or his family, or his pleasure, and when he goes to pray for ten minutes, instead of all the fixedness of soul in the presence of God, in come swarming all the thoughts that the heart is on. Now 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 Ghost is there it is not so. Then the heart is steadfast in the things of God. And. when there is not this fixedness, 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 since the beginning. It was prophesied about, but now there was the thing itself. How came He there -this Man? He came there by perfectly accomplishing redemption. He could never have been there otherwise. The Holy Ghost is the seal of our union with Him. That is what the eye of Stephen was fixed on. Glory is natural to heaven, but Stephen now saw the Son of Man in the glory of God. That is what we see. The One with whom we are united is there for us. Thus we know the perfectness of redemption. Because if He as a man is standing where redemption has brought Him, He gives the Holy Ghost as the seal of our full participation in this place with Him. We have to be filled with the Holy Ghost, 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 commit my Spirit." What did Stephen say? " Lord Jesus receive my spirit." He does not say, "I commit," 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? What did Jesus say?- " 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.
We have never been in heaven. But the home of a child is where its father and mother are. And the One we know better than any mortal being is there. The poor thief had his heart on Jesus. " Well," said Jesus, " you will be with me." Jesus had a hold on his heart. So with Stephen -" Lord Jesus receive my spirit." And 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, is it? No; but "present with the Lord." " I desire to depart and to be -in heaven, does Paul say, "which is far better"? No; but -"to be with Christ, which is far better." It is to be "where the Forerunner is for us entered."
How we should bless God that He has given us a known object in heaven. The Holy Ghost has come down to tell us of all His glory, and so to fix our hearts upon Him. He is, moreover, the seal and assurance that we belong to heaven and not to earth. The Lord give us so to walk, that the Holy Ghost can occupy us with heaven. If we fail, He must occupy us with ourselves; and that is not Christ.