Acts 7:54-6054When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 59And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:54‑60)
As in the thief on the cross I get the model sinner—the pattern illustration of grace, so in Stephen I get the model Christian—God's pattern specimen of a saint on earth, linked with Christ in heaven. I show you a man of like passions with yourselves, going out of the world, and yet superior toeverything in the world, before he goes out of it. If Moses of old said, " I will turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt," we may well occupy ourselves for a little, with the wondrous nature and extent of proper, distinctive, Christian position and power, as exhibited in the Scripture I have read. We behold a poor, feeble creature like you or me on this earth, mark, in the midst of the most trying circumstances in which you could conceive a man to be placed, subjected to the uncontrollable fury of religious bigotry, issuing from the masters in Israel—the highest ecclesiastical dignitaries in the land—the victim of the ungovernable rage of a cruel and excited mob, thirsting for his blood; yet grandly borne by a power not his own, so entirely and magnificently above and beyond the whole concentrated strength of the opposition of the nation, that his very enemies have to own they see his face shining like that of an angel. Could anything exceed this-beloved?
But what fills his vision all this time? On what is his attention rivetted? Is it on anything on earth? No; an all-absorbing, unparalleled object meets his entranced and delighted gaze, as he looks through the opened heavens. He sees the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Full of the Holly Ghost, his eye is steadfastly, undeviatingly, and unflinchingly fixed on this great, this stupendous sight, and lie is equal to anything, surmounts every obstacle, and is carried in triumph above every opposing element around him, He is lost in the contemplation of a Savior in glory. Does this exempt him from suffering, or make an easy path on earth? Let the gnashing of teeth, and the stones answer. Does the suffering or the persecution turn him aside from beholding Jesus, or divert his eye from that allengrossing heavenly object? Assuredly not. His occupation is undistracted and uninterrupted; and that, too, in spite of the most formidable, difficulties against which it' is possible to contend. Nothing moves him. He is commanded and controlled by what he is beholding, and he practically reproduces on earth what he sees in heaven. Now, I ask you to mark this model, It is a picture you ought to have in every one of your houses. I do net mean materially, but you ought to have it before your minds. I direct your attention to a wonderful fact, in connection with what is before us, and press it. Heaven was never opened to a mere man on earth before. Enoch was translated, and Elijah went up in a chariot of fire.. The heavens opened on. Jesus when here; but He Was more than man. But never till this did heaven open to a man like you or me down here in this World, and, beloved friend it has been open ever since. From that moment to this it has never been closed. It is no longer what the angel said to the disciples in the first chapter, " Why stand ye gazing, up into heaven?" Then, the earth was not done with. In answer to the, prayer of our Lord upon the cross, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," God, in the riches of His mercy, gave the nation a further opportunity of receiving their Messiah in glory, even after they had rejected Him on earth. Alas, we know how they treated this additional token of 'God's long-suffering patience, this lingering over them in love, and compassionate reluctance to give them up. They refused Christ in glory, as they had refused Him in humiliation. They would not have Him on earth, neither would they have Him in heaven, and Stephen is the messenger, they are about to, send after Him, to say: " We will not have this man to reign over us."
But God had something in reserve. Failure hag succeeded failure in every dispensation in whichman has been placed here, but after each failure God has brought out some further blessing. To this very messenger, the sending of whom seals the nation's doom., and leads to the definitive setting aside of earth, as a place of blessing for the present, heaven is opened before he goes, and the unfailing One is presented in an unfailing place, and, instead of it being said, " Why stand ye gazing up into heaven," that 'becomes the very thing for the Christian to do, for we read: " But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked 'up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." Earth is closed, so to speak, heaven opened, and this is henceforth to be the Christian's occupation. The remarkable change in the dealings of God in Acts 7, as contrasted with chap. it is of the utmost moment to note, if we are to answer to the thoughts of Christ about His, people now. I get even-a further thing in Paul still. In Stephen get heaven opened 'to a man on earth, who is going out of it, superior to everything in it, yet going out of it; but in Paul I get a man, who is caught up to the third heaven, and then sent back again to the earth to communicate to us the wonders of the place. Not only heaven for a saint going to die; but heaven for a saint going to live; and as to going, there are three states of soul, which I will enumerate, and give an example of each. In Simeon I find one who is ready to go; in Stephen, one who is happy to go; and in Paul, one who longs to go. I am anxious every one of you should clearly apprehend, that what we have here is the introduction of a new dealing of God. It is an inauguration scene. It is the opening out of what is distinctive. We always get the special features of a thing at the time of its inauguration. There are two characteristics which I desire to bring before you at this time, as taught here:—I. Association with Christ, where Christ is. II. The power of Christ, where Christ is not.
Let me try, by God's help, to trace for you first, the former of these two characteristics, viz.,