DEATH OF STEPHEN - Robert Murray Mcchene
“And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”—Acts vii., 59.
STEPHEN was the first to die as a martyr in the cause of Christ; and he seems to have resembled the Saviour more than any that followed after. His very face appeared like the face of an angel. His irresistible wisdom in arguing with the Jews was very like Christ’s; his praying for his enemies with his dying breath nearly in the same words as the Saviour, and his recommending his soul into the hands of the Lord Jesus, were in the same spirit of confidence as that in which Christ said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” There cannot be a doubt that it was by looking unto Jesus that he became thus Christ-like; and the last view which he got of Christ seems especially to have given him that heavenly composure in dying, which is so much above nature.
Two things are to be noticed:—1. That it was a sight of Christ at the right hand of God. 2. That it was a sight of Christ standing there. Christ being at the right hand of God is mentioned sixteen times in the Bible; thirteen times he is described as seated there; twice as being there; but here only is he spoken of as standing. This appears to have made a deep-end lively impression on the mind of Stephen, for he cries out, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God;” and then, with a sweet assurance that Christ’s hands were stretched out to receive him, he cried,” Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Doctrine.—Since Christ is at the right hand of God, and since he rises up to receive the dying believer, believers should commend their spirit to the Lord Jesus.
I. If Christ be at the right hand of God, the believer’s sins must be pardoned, so that he can peacefully say,” Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” If the grave had closed over the head of Christ forever, if the stone had remained at the mouth of the sepulchre to this day, then we might well be in doubt whether he had suffered enough in the stead of sinners. “If Christ be not risen, your faith is vain, you are yet in your sins.” But is it true that Christ re at the right hand of God? then the stone has been rolled away from the sepulchre. God has let him go free from the curse that was laid on him. The justice of God is quite satisfied. If you saw a criminal put into prison, and the prison doors closed behind him, and if you never saw him come out again, then you might well believe that he was still lying in prison, and still enduring the just sentence of the law; but if you saw the prison doors fly open, and the prisoner going free, if you saw him walking at large in the streets, then you would know at once that he had satisfied the justice of his country, that he had suffered all that it was needful to suffer, that he had paid the uttermost farthing. So with the Lord Jesus; he was counted a criminal, the crimes of guilty sinners against God’ were all laid at his .door, and he was condemned on account of them. He was hurried away to the death of the cross, and the gloomy prison-house of his rocky sepulchre, the stone was rolled to the mouth of the grave. If you never saw him come out, then you might well believe that he was still enduring the just sentence of the law. But, lo! “he is risen, he is not here,” “Christ is risen indeed.” God, who was his judge, hath raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places: so that you may be quite sure he has satisfied the justice of God. He has suffered everything that it was needful for him to suffer, he has paid the uttermost farthing. Now is there any of you hearing me, who cleaves to the Lord Jesus? is this the Saviour whom you take to be your surety? “Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee.” For if your surety is free, then you are free. It was this which gave such a tranquil peace to the dying Stephen. He had the same vile nature which you have, he had committed the same sins as you have, he had the same condemnation over him which you have; but when he saw Jesus Christ, whom he had taken as his surety, standing free at the right hand of God, then he felt that the condemnation had been already borne, that God’s anger was quite turned away from his soul; and thus being inwardly persuaded of pardon, he committed his spirit into the hand of Christ: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Oh’ brethren, cleave to the same Lord Jesus; he is still as free as he was when Stephen died. He always will be free; death hath no more power over him; for he hath suffered all. Take him as your surety; cleave to him as your Saviour, and you may this day have the same peace that Stephen had, and may die with the same peaceful breast, saying: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
II. If Christ be at the right hand of God, then the believer is accepted with God, and may peacefully say with Stephen: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
The Son of God came to be a surety for men in two respects: 1. In suffering the wrath which they deserved to suffer; and, 2. In rendering the obedience which men had neglected to render. If he stood as surety in suffering, then every dying sinner that cleaved to him was to be freed from the curse of God. If he stood as surety in obeying, then he and every sinner that cleaved to him was to be rewarded with a place in glory. Now if Christ had. not risen from the dead, then it would have been manifest that God had not accepted his obedience as worthy of eternal life. But if Christ is risen, and not only so, but if he be at the right hand of God, the place of highest glory in heaven, where are pleasures for evermore, then I am quite sure that God is satisfied with Christ as a surety for man. If you saw some peer of the realm sent away by the king upon a distant and hazardous undertaking, with the promise that, if he succeeded, he should be advanced to the seat nearest the throne—if you never saw that peer return to claim his reward, then you would say at once that he had failed in his undertaking. But if you saw him return, amid the applause of assembled multitudes, and if you saw him received into the palace of the king, and seated on the right hand of majesty, then you would say at once that he had succeeded in that which he undertook, and that the king upon the throne was well pleased with it.
Just so, dear brethren, if you had been in heaven on that most wonderful day that ever was, of which the Christian Sabbath is an ever-enduring monument, when Christ ascended to his Father and our Father, had you seen the smile of ineffable complacency wherewith God received back into glory the surety of men, saying: “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee;” as if he said, “Never till this day did I see thee so worthy to be called my Son;” and again, “Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thy enemies thy footstool,” had you seen all this, then you would have known how excellent the obedience of Christ is in the eyes of the Father. But all this obedience was endured, not for himself, but as a surety for men. He was accepted himself before he left heaven He was infinitely near and dear to the Father, and did not need to become man, to obey for himself. Everything that Jesus Christ did or suffered was as a surety in the stead of sinners. Do you take him for your surety? Do you cleave to the Lord Jesus, because you have nothing of your own to recommend you to God? Then look up with the eye of faith, and see him at the right hand of God. If you cleave to him, you are as much accepted’ with God as Christ is, you are as near to God as your surety is. Ah! it was this that gave the dying Stephen such calm tranquility. He had the same vile nature that you have, he had as little obedience to God as you have, he was a naked sinner as you are; but he took the Lord Jesus to be his surety, the man in his stead; so that, when he saw him at the right hand of God, he felt that Christ was accepted, and that he, also, was accepted in .the Beloved. And thus being inwardly persuaded that in Christ he had a safe way to the Father, he cried, with dying breath, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Oh! trembling, naked sinner, cleave to the Lord Jesus. He ‘is as much offered to you as he was to Stephen. Take him as your surety— leave to him as your Saviour, and you may this day have the same sense of acceptance which Stephen had, and you may die with the same sweetly confiding cry: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
III. If Christ stands up to receive the dying believer, this gives the believer great confidence, so that he may peacefully say: “Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit.”
When believing souls seek for peace and joy in believing, they do very generally confine their ”law to Christ upon the earth. They remember him as the good Shepherd seeking the lost sheep; they look to him sitting by the well of Samaria; they remember him saying to the sick of the palsy: “Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee;” but they too seldom think of looking where Stephen looked—to where Jesus is now—at the right hand of God. Now, my friends, remember if you would be whole Christians, you must look to a whole Christ; you must lift your eye from the cross to the throne, and you will find him the same Saviour in all— “the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” I have already observed, that wherever Christ is mentioned as being at the right hand of God, he is spoken of as seated there upon his throne; here, and here only, are we told that he is standing. IN other places he is described as enjoying’ his glory, and entered into his rest; but here he is described as risen from his throne, and standing at the right hand of God.
1. He rises to intercede: “He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” How often would a believer be a castaway, if it were not for the great intercessor! How often faith fails !— “flesh and heart faint and fail;” but see here, Christ never, fails. On the death-bed, often the mind is taken off the Saviour, by pains of body, and distress of mind; but, oh! happy soul that has truly accepted Christ. See here, he rises from his throne to pray for you, when you cannot pray for yourself. Look up to him with the eye of faith, and cry: “Lord Jesus, receive my. spirit.”
2. He rises to defend.—(1.) The world is a sore’ enemy to the believer—by temptation on the one hand, and persecution on the other. Oh! how hard it strives to cast him down. Happy believer, you are safe in a dying hour! 1st. Because the world cannot reach beyond death. The sneering tongue cannot spit its venom beyond the grave. The stone of violence may kill the body, but it hath no more that it can do. 2d. Even if it were possible that some arrow of the world might reach beyond the grave Jesus hath risen up to defend. His everlasting arms are underneath the departing soul. (2.) The devil is a worse enemy in that hour. He stands close by the dying bed. He often molests, but he cannot destroy, if you be cleaving to Jesus. Christ has all power in heaven and in earth, and he rises up to defend your soul. “Be not afraid,” he says, “it is I.” Ah! dear brethren, cleave to the Lord Jesus now, if you would have him to stand up for you in a dying hour—if you would cry with confidence: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
3. He rises to receive the departing soul.—This is the sweetest of all comforts to the godly. It is a sweet thought, that the holy angels are waiting to receive the believing soul. When Lazarus died, the good angels carried him into Abraham’s bosom. But, oh! it is sweeter far, to think that Jesus looks down upon the dying bed, and stands up to receive the soul that loves him.
Oh! dear brethren, he is the same kind Saviour in death that he is through life. (1.) Once you lived without prayer—without God — ithout Christ, in the world; did Christ not stretch out the hands all the day, even then? (2.) Once you were lying under convictions of sin; you felt yourself worthy of hell, and that God would be just if he never had mercy on your soul; did not Christ draw near to your soul, saying: “Peace be unto you?” (3.) Again, you were groaning under the power of temptation, crying against indwelling sin: “O wretched man! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” did not Christ draw near and say: “My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness?” (4.) Once more: you may yet groan under the weight of dying agonies. The last enemy is death—it may be a hard struggle—it may be a dark valley; yet look where Stephen looked; and, lo! Jesus is standing at the right hand of God, waiting to receive you to himself. Oh! sweet death, when God is with you, the Spirit within you, and Christ waiting to receive you. Behold! he stretches out his hands to receive your departing spirit. Breathe it into his hand, saying: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
1. Learn that death is no death to the Christian: “He that liveth and believeth on me, shall never die.” It is only giving the soul into the hand of Christ. He knows its value; for he died for it.
2. Learn that to die is, to the believer, better than to live. If Christ rises up to receive the soul, then the soul goes to be with Jesus. But to be with Christ, is to be in glory; therefore it is far better. Oh! be willing, Christians, to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord. There you shall be free from pain of persecuting stones; no more sneering, cruel friends, no more doubts about your soul, no more sin within your heart. “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove, that I might flee away and be at rest !*
3. Learn the dreadfulness of having no interest in Jesus Christ. You must die; and yet, how will you die, poor Christless soul? To whom will you commend your dying spirit? (1.) There will be no good angels waiting round your bed; no gentle hands of ministering spirits stretched out to receive your trembling soul. (2.) You will have no Christ rising up to receive you. You never washed in his blood; you would not come to him to have life; he often stretched out the hands, but you pushed them away; and now he will have no pity for you. (3.) You will have no God; God will not be your God; he will not be your friend; you have always been his enemy. Your proud heart will not be reconciled to him; and now you will find him an enemy indeed.
Where will you go? Die you must. Your breath must cease. These eyes that look on me this day, must close in death; that heart you feel beating in your bosom, must cease to beat. And what will you do with your soul? to whom will you commend it, a naked, guilty, shivering thing, with the wrath-of God abiding on it? None of the angels will dare to shelter it. No rocks, or caves, or mountains, can hide it. Hell itself will not be a hiding place from the just wrath of God. Oh! be wise now: “Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?”
4. Learn, if you have lost any friends in Christ, to be comforted over them. It is true they, are gone from you; but remember they have gone into far tenderer hands. You stood up to bend over their dying body; but the Lord Jesus stood up to receive their undying soul. Your feeble, but affectionate hands, were stretched out to smoothe their dying pillow; but the Almighty hands of the Saviour formed a sweeter, softer bed for their departing soul. Follow their faith; look to the same Saviour; and when you come to die, you will use the same sweet words: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
St. Peter’s, Dundee, Aug. 13, 1837.