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Author
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Topic: Those who gave all for The Gospel!!
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Carol Swenson
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Member # 6929
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There are two words for “crown” in the New Testament: diadema, which means “a royal crown” and gives us the English word “diadem”; and stephanos, the “victor’s crown,” which gives us the popular name Stephen. You can inherit a diadema, but the only way to get a stephanos is to earn it.
Acts 6 and 7 center on the ministry and martyrdom of Stephen, a Spirit-filled believer who was crowned by the Lord. “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).
Stephen the Martyr (Acts 7:54-60)
You wonder what kind of a world we live in when good and godly men like Stephen can be murdered by religious bigots! But we have similar problems in our “enlightened” age today: taking hostages, bombings that kill or maim innocent people, assassinations, and all in the name of politics or religion. The heart of man has not changed, nor can it be changed apart from the grace of God.
What were the results of Stephen’s death? For Stephen, death meant coronation (Rev. 2:10). He saw the glory of God and the Son of God standing to receive him to heaven (see Luke 22:69). Our Lord sat down when He ascended to heaven (Ps. 110:1; Mark 16:19), but He stood up to welcome to glory the first Christian martyr (Luke 12:8). This is the last time the title “Son of man” is used in the Bible. It is definitely a messianic title (Dan. 7:13-14), and Stephen’s use of it was one more witness that Jesus is indeed Israel’s Messiah.
Stephen was not only tried in a manner similar to that of our Lord, but he also died with similar prayers on his lips (Luke 23:34, 46; Acts 7:59-60). A heckler once shouted to a street preacher, “Why didn’t God do something for Stephen when they were stoning him?” The preacher replied, “God did do something for Stephen. He gave him the grace to forgive his murderers and to pray for them!” A perfect answer!
For Israel, Stephen’s death meant condemnation. This was their third murder: they had permitted John the Baptist to be killed; they had asked for Jesus to be killed; and now they were killing Stephen themselves. When they allowed Herod to kill John, the Jews sinned against God the Father who had sent John (Matt. 21:28-32). When they asked Pilate to crucify Jesus, they sinned against God the Son (Matt. 21:33-46). When they stoned Stephen, Israel sinned against the Holy Spirit who was working in and through the Apostles (Matt. 10:1-8; Acts 7:51). Jesus said that this sin could never be forgiven (Matt. 12:31-32). Judgment finally came in a.d. 70 when Titus and the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.
For the church in Jerusalem, the death of Stephen meant liberation. They had been witnessing “to the Jew first” ever since Pentecost, but now they would be directed to take the message out of Jerusalem to the Samaritans (Acts 8) and even to the Gentiles (Acts 11:19-26). The opposition of the enemy helped prevent the church from becoming a Jewish “sect” and encouraged them to fulfill the commission of Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:18-20.
Finally, as far as Saul (Acts 7:58) was concerned, the death of Stephen eventually meant salvation. He never forgot the event (Acts 22:17-21), and no doubt Stephen’s message, prayers, and glorious death were used of the Spirit to prepare Saul for his own meeting with the Lord (Acts 9). God never wastes the blood of His saints. Saul would one day see the same glory that Stephen saw and would behold the Son of God and hear Him speak!
When Christians die, they “fall asleep” (John 11:11; 1 Thes. 4:13). The body sleeps and the spirit goes to be with the Lord in heaven (Acts 7:59; 2 Cor. 5:6-9; Phil. 1:23; Heb. 12:22-23). When Jesus returns, He will bring with Him the spirits of those who have died (1 Thes. 4:14), their bodies will be raised and glorified, and body and spirit will be united in glory to be “forever with the Lord.” Even though we Christians weep at the death of a loved one (Acts 8:2), we do not sorrow hopelessly; for we know we shall meet again when we die or when the Lord returns.
God does not call all of us to be martyrs, but He does call us to be “living sacrifices” (Rom. 12:1-2). In some respects, it may be harder to live for Christ than to die for Him; but if we are living for Him, we will be prepared to die for Him if that is what God calls us to do.
In 1948, Auca martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal, “I seek not a long life, but a full one, like You, Lord Jesus.” Two years later, he wrote: “I must not think it strange if God takes in youth those whom I would have kept on earth till they were older. God is peopling Eternity, and I must not restrict Him to old men and women.”
Like Stephen, Jim Elliot and his four comrades were called on January 8, 1956, to “people Eternity” as they were slain by the people they were seeking to reach. What has happened to the Aucas since then is proof that the blood of the martyrs is indeed the seed of the church. Many Aucas are now Christians.
“Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).
(Wiersbe)
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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barrykind
Advanced Member
Member # 35
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I. St. Stephen
ST. STEPHEN suffered the next in order. His death was occasioned by the faithful manner in which he
preached the gospel to the betrayers and murderers of Christ. To such a degree of madness were they excited,
that they cast him out of the city and stoned him to death. The time when he suffered is generally supposed to
have been at the passover which succeeded to that of our Lord's crucifixion, and to the æra of his ascension, in
the following spring.
Upon this a great persecution was raised against all who professed their belief in Christ as the Messiah, or as a
prophet. We are immediately told by St. Luke, that "there was a great persecution against the church, which
was at Jerusalem;" and that "they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria,
except the apostles."
About two thousand christians, with Nicanor, one of the seven deacons, suffered martyrdom during the
"persecution which arose about Stephen."
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The HEART of the issue is truly the issue of the HEART!
John 3:3;Mark 8:34-38;James 1:27
Posts: 3529 | From: Orange, Texas | Registered: Jun 2002
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barrykind
Advanced Member
Member # 35
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STEPHEN, ONE OF THE SEVEN DEACONS OF THE CHURCH AT JERUSALEM, STONED WITHOUT THE GATE OF THE CITY, BY THE LIBERTINES, A. D. 34, SHORTLY AFTER THE DEATH OF CHRIST
Stephen, which in Greek signifies a crown, was one of the seven deacons of the church at Jerusalem, a man full of faith and the wisdom of God. Acts 6:5.
He was well versed in the holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, and very eloquent. It happened that there arose certain of the sect of the Libertines, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, and disputed with Stephen; and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the
spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned a few men to say: We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, and set up false witnesses, to say, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: for we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face, as it had been the face of an angel. Acts 6:9-15.
Then said the high priest to him, Are these things so? Thereupon, this god-fearing man explained himself and answered with many reasons; he, moreover, adduced, as if with a heavenly tongue, and with incontrovertible reasons, many scriptures of the Old Testament, to show that Christ is the true Messiah, and that the Gospel is true. Acts 7: 1-53.
But when he began to speak with great warmth, and to set before the eyes of his accusers their bloodthirstiness, their wrath was kindled the more against him, for these things cut them to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. Verse 54.
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at 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. Verses 55 and 56.
But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and 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. Verses 57 and 58.
In the meantime he called and said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 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. Verses 59 and 60.
Such was the end of this upright man Stephen, to whom the honor of Jesus Christ was dearer than his own life. It is stated to have taken place in the year thirty-four after the birth of Christ, in the nineteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, which was the thirty-eighth year of his age. It happened in the seventh year after the baptism of Christ. Nic. lib. 2. cap. 3,
This having occurred, some godfearing men attended to the body, and carried it to the grave, greatly lamenting this pious martyr. The stones were to him as rivers of sweetness.
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The HEART of the issue is truly the issue of the HEART!
John 3:3;Mark 8:34-38;James 1:27
Posts: 3529 | From: Orange, Texas | Registered: Jun 2002
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