Well, my topic this morning comes
from the last verses of Acts chapter 7. So if you turn there,
we have looked for a few weeks at Stephen's remarkable sermon,
this first martyr of the church. this first man who, as we've
seen this last few weeks, is someone who was a product of
the ministry, the proclamation of the Gospel of those apostles
from the day of Pentecost on. A man from a Jewish background
but also from a Gentile country, but here he is bearing the most
remarkable witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit
has given us this sermon in greater detail in more length than the
other sermons in all of the New Testament scriptures. And so
it's a powerful, powerful testimony to the fact that this man is
one of those who is full of wisdom, full of wisdom and full of the
Holy Ghost. a man who was a deacon, a man
who began his Christian service by being a servant at tables.
And here he is in this glorious end of his earthly days. There
are so many lessons in it, aren't there? We keep thinking why would
the Lord take someone so gifted and so eminently qualified in
so many ways, would take him away and yet the Church of God
has never suffered by men being taken from it because the Church
of God survives because of the power of God's Holy Spirit and
the work of Christ from heaven. So my topic today is that there
is just a reality of Christ seen by a special revelation, and
that revelation is a personal revelation to individuals, and
it's a revelation which is particular in its defining of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's a revelation that's
comforting to the hearts of God's people as they live in this world
and as they go from this world. The things that matter most in
life are the things that matter at the time of your leaving here. There are so many people that
I have witnessed and I know that you have too, who have collected
enormous amounts of the things of this world and then at the
end of their days and sometimes for the last 20 or 30 years of
their lives it's turned to bitterness before them. They've collected
everything. The things that matter are the
things that you can take from here into eternity, brothers
and sisters. They are the only things that matter. there is a special comfort in
the things of God at the end of a person's life. But also
this witness, this special revelation brings A fruit is fruitful, isn't
it? It's fruitful in its witness.
It's fruitful in the fact that there was a man there who seemed
like the most unlikely convert in the world of Israel. Saul
was there at that time. So let's just read some of these
closing words of this sermon. In verse 51, we'll begin in verse
51. Stephen has just outlined the
history, the history of the nation of Israel, the history of all
of what they have been through, all of what they had experienced
as a people from the founding of their nation, of which they
were so proud, and the beginning of their religion, as they thought,
of which they were so proud. And he speaks, let's go back
a little bit anyway. But Solomon, verse 47, but Solomon
built him a house. Howbeit, the Most High dwelleth
not in temples made with hands, as saith the prophet. Heaven
is my throne, and earth is my footstool. What house will you
build me, saith the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?
Hath not my hand made all these things? And then he describes
them. You stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your
fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not
your fathers persecuted? They have slain them which showed
before the coming of the Just One." That's a beautiful description
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a great description of our
God and Saviour that He's just. In everything He does, always,
He's perfectly just, perfectly righteous. "...of whom you have
now been now the betrayers and murderers, who have received
the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it. When they heard these things,
They heard these things of truth about who they really were, truth
about their religious righteousness, so-called righteousness under
the law. They have not kept it. When they
heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed
on him with their teeth. 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 open, and the Son of Man standing on
the right hand of God. Then 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.
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God. and saying, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit. And he knelt down, kneeled down,
and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep. Melanchthon, one of the great
reformers of the Reformation time, said that Stephen saw heaven
through the shower of stones. Stephen saw heaven through the
shower of stones. There are several things I'd
like us to note. Obviously there is so much in all of this that
we could spend the rest of our time here on this planet and
the rest of eternity singing and talking about these things.
But I want to touch on some things briefly. One of the things that
I want you to see, particularly as we embark on this, is that
there is Stephen. seeing things and declaring things
that he is seeing and the other men there with him, this Sanhedrin
and Saul, didn't see any of them. There is a special revelation
of God. It's a special revelation of
God. And Stephen in his sermon has revealed that special revelation
that God, the God of glory, came, appeared to our father Abraham. The God of glory appeared to
the patriarchs and made promises. The God of glory guided and directed
Joseph and led him to not only be protected from his enemies
but to be made the ruler of Egypt and to have Egypt, as it were,
in his hands. God revealed himself to Moses. God revealed himself to Moses
in that bush and he revealed himself as a holy God. He revealed
himself to Moses as the one who would return, bring these people,
redeem them as it were, out of that nation. God reveals himself
in special ways to his people and without that special revelation
of himself to people they remain as blind as bats. And no amount of religion, no
amount of evidence piled up. The amount of evidence that lay
before these people was just remarkable and Stephen has just
added another layer of that evidence. They had witnessed the Lord Jesus,
they had witnessed the things on the day of Pentecost and now
they had witnessed Stephen laying out before them their history
which showed that God dealt in special revelation with His people
and that God was holy and just in all He did. And God appeared
to some and doesn't appear to others. I love the story of Mary
and Martha, don't you, and one of the most remarkable statements
of the Lord Jesus in a passage full of the most remarkable statements
of promise about the resurrection from the dead and all those that
die in the Lord are perfectly secure and safe. But he said
to Martha, Jesus said to her, Matthew and John 11 verse 40, Martha was concerned, and the
Lord Jesus says, take away the stone. And Martha was concerned. He said, Lord, by this time he
stinketh, for he has been dead four days. Jesus said unto her,
said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst
see the glory of God. Believers see the glory of God,
the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
glorious resurrection, resuscitation of Lazarus, which pictured the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus and the resurrection of all of
God's people. Their end is not in a tomb. Their end is with
the Lord in heaven's glories. And later on in that upper room
discourse, in John chapter 14, the Lord speaks of Him coming,
especially to particular people. In John 14, He says, I will not
leave you comfortless, John 14, 18. Get a little while, the world
seeth me no more, but you see me. There are particular people
who will see Him again. He only came back to those particular
people. He only revealed Himself to believers
in His resurrection glory. The world seeth Me no more, but
ye see Me, because I live. You shall live also. In that
day you shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and
I in you. He that hath my commandment and
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall
be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself
to him. And Judas, the questions of the
Upper Room Discourse are wonderful questions, aren't they? They're
questions that we would want to ask, and we're so thankful
that they ask them, and we're so thankful for the Lord's answer.
Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, there's two Judas's amongst the
apostles, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself
unto us and not unto the world." How is it that you reveal yourself
to particular people and you won't reveal yourself
to the world. And the world that the Lord Jesus
is talking about there is so often the Jewish religious world,
isn't it? And Jesus' answer is amazing
in John 14, 23. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love
me, he will keep my words. This is a promise from God, isn't
it? We love him, why? because He first loved us, and
we keep His words. We keep His words simply by the
faith that He gives us. We keep His words. If any man
loved me, if a man loved me, he will keep my words, and my
Father will love him, and we will come unto him. and make
our abode with Him." That's how He manifests Himself to His people,
isn't it? And not to the world. He comes
to them. He comes to them particularly
and He comes personally to them. Let's go to our text in Acts
chapter 7 verse 55 and see Stephen's journey. Journey to this meeting
with the Lord Jesus Christ. but He, but He being full of
the Holy Ghost, full of the Holy Ghost. So this work, this special
revelation, this personal revelation, is a revelation that is the work
of God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has taken in
Stephen's sermon and in Stephen's life, He's taken the Word and
He's revealed that Word to be the Word that speaks of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that Word that's revealed
in history, even the history of our day, is that Word of promise
that's revealed. But it's also a Word that's revealed
in the hearts of men. The Holy Spirit was promised
to come, to come as God the Holy Spirit, but He is to come as
a revealer. I quote the words in John 16
and 12 and following. Often, because I love them so
much, it's the great comfort for Simon and Norm as they preach
in the next couple of weeks, and the great comfort for you
here isn't it, that God has promised to be the teacher of His people.
He's promised to be the revealer of His people. We have a treasure,
the treasure of the Gospel, the treasure of the Gospel of the
glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We have that treasure in vessels
of clay. My vessel clay is falling apart, as are yours. But it's
a treasure, isn't it? So that people would look at
the treasure and not at the clay. You'll be inclined to see the
clay as clay, and I trust that the clay never wants to rise
itself up above being clay. But we have these promises from
our God that He will be the teacher. In John 16.12 the Lord Jesus
promised, isn't He? I have yet many things to say
unto you, but ye cannot bear them now, howbeit when He, the
Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself,
but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will
show you things to come. and He will glorify me." He will
glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will speak of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have this charismatic movement
that still pervades so much of the world. The Holy Spirit is
talking about the Holy Spirit all the time. The Holy Spirit
speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. You listen on. He shall glorify
me for He shall receive of mine and shall show it to you. He will reveal it. He will reveal
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and He will show it to you. All
things that the Father hath are mine. What are all the things
that the Father has? His absolute sovereignty. He
is God of this universe. He is the ruler, the creator. He is the sustainer of all. All things that the Father has
are mine. Therefore, said I, that He shall
take of mine and show it unto you. a little while and you shall
not see me, and again a little while and you shall see me, because
I go to the Father." You'll see. So that promise is fulfilled.
Stephen saw Him. Saw Him in Heaven, didn't he?
saw Him in Heaven's glory. He looks steadfastly up into
Heaven. To be filled with the Holy Spirit
is to be caused to look up. So much of our flesh wants to
look at the things of this world. It wants to look at the snakes
on the ground rather than the serpent that's raised on the
pole. And the comfort for God's people is not looking at the
things here, it's looking at the things in heaven. The comfort
of God's people and the work of the Holy Spirit is to take
us to see what's there. What is going on up there right
now? We know what's going on right
now up there, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ is seated
on that throne of glory amidst all of his people. Just as when
Isaiah saw Him high and lifted up and His train filled the temple,
the train of the Lord Jesus Christ is all of that which follows
Him necessarily along. The train of the Lord Jesus Christ
is all of His glory and all of His church and He took them all
into heaven. You are, as a child of God, we
are seated with Him in heavenly places right now. And the saints
of God, we often read their songs in Revelation 4 and 5, they're
singing the praises of a successful Redeemer, aren't they? A glorious
reigning Lord. To look up into heaven, being
full of the Holy Ghost, He looks steadfastly into heaven. To see the Lord Jesus Christ,
you must look up. We must look up through the eyes
of faith. He's seen above when He's seen
in His glory. That's when we really see Him,
when we see Him high and lifted up and He saw the glory of God. He saw that glory, the glory
that filled that temple, that Shekinah glory, that glory that
went with the children of Israel, that glory that revealed the
presence and the power and the majesty and the magnificence
and the honour and glory of God." To see the glory of God in Hebrews
1 chapter 3, it speaks of God, Hebrews begins by talking about
God speaking. In these last days, verse 2,
He's spoken unto us by His Son. whom he has appointed heir of
all things, by whom he made the world, who being the brightness
of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had, and I love
this next phrase, he had by himself purged our sins, He sat down
on the right hand of the Majesty on high." That's the brightness
of the glory of God, isn't it? Stephen saw the glory of God. He saw the Lord Jesus in His
redemptive glory. That's what he goes on to say,
he saw the glory of God, that glory that shines, and Jesus
standing at the right hand of God. So often on the scriptures we
actually have pictures of the Lord Jesus sitting and we often
talk about him sitting because sitting implies the fact that
the work is finished. He's done his day's work and
now he's at rest and he's sitting on the throne. And the old kings,
you might recall the story of Esther when she had to go and
see the hazardous. And he was sitting on his throne
and Esther was trembling about the prospect of what might happen.
You don't walk into the presence of kings in those days without
taking your life in your hand, even if you are as attractive
and as sustained as Esther was. But he, sitting on his throne,
he held out that sceptre. And the sceptre being held out
says, you come, you are welcome. The Lord Jesus is pictured sitting
on the throne, isn't it? When this Sanhedrin mob that
now have Stephen in their grasp, having tried to do with Peter
and the other apostles, when the Lord Jesus met with them,
he declared himself to be God. And this was the accusation that
brought the charge of blasphemy and the sentence of crucifixion
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. These witnesses come, these false
witnesses in Matthew 26.61. This fellow said, I am able to
destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. And the
high priest arose and said unto him, answer us thou nothing.
What is it which these witnesses against thee? But Jesus held
his peace, and the high priest answered and said unto him, I
adjure thee by the living God. He takes the Lord Jesus Christ,
now standing before the court of men, but he takes him before
the courts of heaven. I adjure thee by the living God,
that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.
And Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said. Nevertheless I say
unto you, Hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on
the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. They will see him sitting as
a judge on his throne. Stephen saw him standing. It's special to note that, isn't
it? He was sitting. He was received
up to heaven and he sat down at the right hand of God on high. We know in Peter's sermon in
Acts 2.34, David ascended not into heaven, but he saith himself,
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand. You come
up here to the right hand of power and authority, and the
throne of the universe is yours, because you have earned it as
the God-man walking upon this earth. It was His as the Eternal
God, the Son, but it's also His as His purchase by His redemptive
work and His successful obedience to the Law of God. But He's standing. He's standing
now. He's standing in heaven at this
moment. He sees him standing, standing
at the right hand of God. He might be condemned by Pilate,
but he's standing there, and he's standing there ready. It's
almost as if he's been raised up from his seat. He's been raised
to action. Standing, as if to cheer on Stephen,
standing there, moved. And then Stephen says, Behold,
I see. He says, Behold, I see the heavens
opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. You
see, there's a personal revelation of God, isn't there, that must
come. To see Him standing, to see Him
and to meet with Him before we meet with Him in judgment is
to be saved, isn't it? It's to actually meet God. and
survive. To meet God in all of His awesome
holiness and live is to be saved. But it's personal, isn't it?
Stephen could see, and yet there he was surrounded by this crowd.
I'm not sure how many, but it was the Sanhedrin in 70. There
might have been a hundred people there. Stephen saw it and no
one else saw it. When Paul finally came to meet
the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, he saw it and
no one else saw it. When God meets with people, it's
always going to be in a special revelation, isn't it? But it's
also going to be when the heavens are opened. I love that phrase. See this phrase, This revelation,
this necessary revelation of God is particular to people,
but it's also particular, it's personal to people, but it's
also a particular revelation of God to his people. Behold, I see. When God's people
see, they call upon others to behold. Stephen has tried, with
the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in him, he's
tried to glorify and magnify the Lord Jesus Christ before
these people. He's raised him up. And out of
his love for the Lord Jesus he wants others to behold him. He
says, look, look with me. And yet they can't see. And yet
someone was going to look with him and see in some time to come. It's also, he's obviously wanting,
Stephen, he's wanting and we know from his prayer that he's
wanting for these people to repent of their wickedness and their
evil. He is wanting them to show that Heaven does accept the Lord
Jesus Christ and all those that are in Him. He also wants them
to know that the Lord Jesus Christ has risen from the dead as they
have declared again and again and again. But the Heavens are
open. They are open to particular people.
They're opened in a personal way and they're opened to reveal
particular things. He sees heaven opened. The only way we'll see God and
see God in His glory is if the heavens are opened to us. It is a particular revelation,
isn't it? Who do you say I am? There are many Jesuses out there
and there are lots of opinions about Jesus just as there were
in his day. But he said to Peter, doesn't
he, who do you say that I am? And what was Simon Peter's response? You are the Christ of God. We believe that you are the Christ. You are the Messiah. You are
the anointed one of God, the appointed one of God, to come
and to rule. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the Living God." And the Lord Jesus responded, didn't he? Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. Flesh and blood can't reveal
God to people. As much as we long for it, as
much as Stephen longed for it, as much as the revelation of
God's people seeing the Lord Jesus in His glory should create
envy amongst others that they might cry out to Him and say,
others are seeing, don't pass me by, others are seeing, let
me see as well. Flesh and blood hath not revealed
it to thee, but my Father which is in heaven." A few chapters
earlier in Matthew you might recall that they went out, he
sent out these apostles, these disciples preaching and they
came back and the Lord Jesus answered in
Matthew 11.25, I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because
thou hast hid these things. When there is no seeing, there
is still an activity of God. It is a judicial activity, isn't
it? I thank Thee, O Father, Lord
of Heaven and Earth, because Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal Him." You'll only know God by revelation. You'll only know Him by particular
personal revelation, and you'll know Him And he calls his own,
doesn't he? He then says, Come unto me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden. You see, the wise and
the prudent aren't labouring and heavy laden. They have enough
of their wisdom, enough of their prudence to get them by. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you and learn You don't learn from Him, you learn of Him. You
learn of His glory. You learn of His goodness and
His mercy and His grace. You learn of Him in His absolute
sovereignty and His redemptive glory. You learn of Him in His
love. It's the weary and heavy laden
that learn of Him. They don't learn just about Him,
they learn of Him. and lowly in heart." That's how
he reveals himself. He's meek and lowly in heart.
He stands there to accept Stephen into Heaven's glory as meek and
lowly in heart. And you shall find rest for your
souls, unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden
is light. These Pharisees had a yoke that
they burdened people with, didn't they? And a whip that they burdened
people with, a whip of the law and a whip of works, just like
religion of today, and blind, blind to the glory of God. The heavens must be opened. If
you're going to see Him, the heavens must be opened. The heavens
were opened to Stephen. and not to his accusers and not
to these murderers at this time. And when the heavens are open,
when revelation comes, it's just exposing what already is. I sometimes like to sit over
there and have the curtain down so I don't get distracted by
things, and sometimes when people come they lift the curtains up
and I'm happy to have it up and let the sun shine in. But lifting
up that curtain doesn't create the car park and the vinnies
and the pub and the mountains and the birds and the sky and
the clouds. All it does, all the opening
up of that blind this morning did, was reveal what was already
there. That's the revelation, isn't
it? That's the extraordinary revelation
of God is that when He reveals Himself, He reveals what's already
existed. He reveals what's happened in
eternity. He revealed that He saved His
people in that covenant of grace from before the foundation of
the world. He revealed the fact that we were one with Him. We're
always seen to be one with Him from eternity from God's perspective.
We were one with Him. in that covenant. We were one
with Him when He walked on this earth and perfectly obeyed the
law of God and loved His Father with all of His heart and soul
and mind and strength and loved His neighbour as Himself. We
were one with Him. We were there with Him when He
died on Calvary's tree. We were there crucified together
with Him. Our sins suffered the infinite
just wrath of God. All these things are revealed.
They are just revealing what already exists. It was thousands
of years ago, brothers and sisters. It existed, but it's revealed.
And when it's revealed, the heavens are open and it's revealed fresh,
as if we're the only ones that have ever seen it. And we run
around like kids let loose from the stalls. Cars let loose from
the stalls. This is so simple. This is so
amazing. The Lord Jesus Christ is so remarkable.
Surely, surely when we declare this to people, they're going
to say, isn't this the most remarkable gift? Isn't this salvation, the
most remarkable salvation? And we're stunned, stunned and
shocked until we've grown out of our naivety. We're shunned
and shocked that people can't get on board with this. Surely, surely, but the heavens
are open to a few, but they're open to reveal what already exists.
They're open to reveal that we are accepted in the Beloved.
They're open to reveal, when always they're open to reveal,
they're always going to be open to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ
in all of his glory, the God-man. And they're going to be open
to reveal that that Lord Jesus Christ, that resurrected Lord
Jesus Christ is a man now in heaven, but he bears the wounds. He bears the wounds by which
we are saved. They are a testimony for eternity. Our sins have marked God. By His stripes we are healed."
He stands there to welcome Stephen into Heaven's glory. The heavens
are opened. Without the heavens being opened
we won't see the Son of Man in all of His glory. It must come
from above. That's why the Lord Jesus said
to us, just ask and seek. And don't stop. Don't stop. Don't give up. Ask and seek. The heavens are opened. The heavens
are opened again and again and again in the scriptures we read
of the heavens opened. When Ezekiel met God, the heavens
were opened and he saw, he saw the glory of God. I love those
opening chapters of Ezekiel, when he meets God in all of His
glory. In the 30th year, in the fourth
month, I was among the captives by the river Chebar, that the
heavens were opened and I saw visions of God." And you go on
and you read, as he meets God in all of His glory, and he was
so overwhelmed, and struck by it, that he was struck speechless
and couldn't speak for days. When the heavens were opened,
when Paul had the heavens opened and he saw things in heaven that
no man could speak of. He was speechless. When the heavens
are opened, people are just amazed by the glory of God. There is
a door that is opened in heaven. There is a door. The door is
the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation 4. And after this they looked
and behold, a door was opened in heaven. and it's, come up
hither, the voice says, the voice as it were of a trumpet. Come
up hither and I'll show you things which must be hereafter. When the heavens are open, we
see the glory of God and we see the glory of God reigning and
ruling over all the circumstances of this world. The heavens are
opened to reveal Him. In Revelation 19, the heavens
were opened in 1911, And I saw heaven opened, and
behold, a white horse, and he that sat on him was called Faithful
and True, and in righteousness does he judge and make war. His eyes were as of a flame of
fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written
that no man knew but he himself, and he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. and the armies which are in heaven
followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white
and clean, and out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with
it he should smite the nations, and he should rule them with
a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness
of the wrath of Almighty God. And he has a name on his vesture
and on his thigh, a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords."
When the heavens are open, we'll see the Lord Jesus Christ. Not
as some pathetic wimp who's trying to get people saved. Not as some
pathetic wimp who loves but can't cause his love to manifest itself
in them responding to him as he truly is. They'll see him
as a reigning sovereign king. Stephen saw the heavens open.
He calls on these people to behold. He wants them to see with him,
but they can't. Behold, I see, and the Son of
Man standing on the right hand of God. He reminds them yet again
that the Lord Jesus Christ He spoke of Him as Jesus. He now speaks of Him in that
title which He wore Himself in His humiliation, the Son of Man. He sees the Son of Man standing
on the right hand of God. The right hand of God is the
right hand of all power. The Lord Jesus Christ has all
authority, has all power. He has power to rule and He rules
by His Spirit in the hearts of His people. He doesn't rule as
these religious people rule. He's ruling over these circumstances
that Stephen was in. He's ruling and reigning. That
Son of Man name is a name which honours Him amazingly. I love
Daniel 7 verse 13. It says, I saw in the night visions,
behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven
and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before
Him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,
that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. His
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and
his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed." The Lord Jesus
Christ is standing, as the Son of Man is standing there. He's
standing there to receive His people. He's standing there to
stand in judgement of His foes. He's standing. The thing that's
remarkable, isn't it, about the Son of Man, about our great God
and Redeemer, is that He's moved. He's moved by the circumstances
of his people. We know that he sits in heaven,
but at this particular juncture he gets up from his seat to stand
as it were on the edge of heaven. And when someone stands up, A
king can sit and reveal his glory but when people stand up they
reveal all they really are to them. I was on a flight in America
in August and I happened to sit next to a professional basketball
player and he was sitting down and I was sitting down so I didn't
take much notice of him. And when he stood up, he was
one of the few people I've seen that had to sort of bend over
as he walked down the aisle of the plane, he was so tall. When
the Lord Jesus stands, He stands to reveal all of His glory. It is remarkable, brothers and
sisters, isn't it, such is the personal relationship between
our Lord Jesus and His people, that He is moved. He is moved
by us. You might recall in the scriptures,
in the Gospels, that he stopped at the cry of those blind men
at Jericho. He stopped and he reached out his hand to
touch the leper. And when he was walking through
that extraordinary crowd on the way to raising Jairus' daughter
from the dead, there was a woman who touched him and the Lord
Jesus stopped. God of this universe, brothers
and sisters, moves because of his people's needs. And he moves
to stand. He moves at the time of their
greatest need. And such is the case with God's
people, isn't it? At the time when we're at the
end of our abilities we find that God moves in remarkable
ways His wonders to behold. His standing. It's interesting
too to note that His standing and not speaking Stephen's spoken for him, brothers
and sisters. That vessel of clay has spoken
on his behalf. The Lord Jesus now speaks through
his people. He doesn't have to speak audibly
from heaven anymore. He speaks to the hearts of his
people through the proclamation of the Gospel. He just has to
stand and reveal himself to his own. And this is a comforting
revelation, isn't it? It's a personal revelation, it's
a revelation of the particular character of God, and it's a
comforting revelation. When they heard this, then they
cried out with a loud voice, Acts 5.57. They cried out with
a loud voice and they stopped their ears and they ran upon
Him with one accord. They ran upon him. That word,
to run upon him, is exactly the same word that's used of that
herd of pigs that ran down, that demon-infested herd of pigs that
ran down that hill and were drowned when the Lord Jesus released
those demons to go to the pigs. They ran upon him. they ran upon him with one accord,
and cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And witnesses
laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling
upon God, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord Jesus received my spirit
and he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, lay not this
sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep." It's a glorious picture, isn't it, of the end
of a believer's life on this earth. The revelation of the Lord Jesus
is comforting to God's people, isn't it? All we need is for
Him to be revealed and God's people are at peace, no matter
what the circumstances are. All we need to do is behold Him
by the eyes of God-given faith and there is a peace that God
gives, a peace that's beyond understanding. And it doesn't
matter It doesn't matter the circumstances. What matters is
His presence and His power and His comfort to be with His people. They ran upon Him. They stopped
their ears. It's extraordinary, isn't it?
There was this sermon which had revealed to them that they were
just the descendants of all those who had those who had the most
extraordinary revelations in gold and yet nothing moved their
hearts. And Stephen, led by the Holy Spirit, is right in declaring
that they are uncircumcised in their hearts. They have never
been moved in their hearts. And people who haven't been moved
in their hearts, they stop their ears. They stop their ears. They stop their ears to the word
of God. They stop their ears to the revelation
of God. And all they want to do to the
servants of God is to cast them out. to cast them out of the
city. Here they are, this mob that's
just been accused of being lawbreakers. They are about to break one of
the laws of the Roman Empire. They didn't have the right to
put people to death at that stage. Just weeks earlier they had crucified
the Lord Jesus Christ, caused Him to be crucified, but they
couldn't do it themselves. That was their claim to Pilate.
Pilate said, you go away and deal with Him. We don't have
that right. That scepter was taken away from
Him. But it is a comforting thing,
isn't it? It's a comforting thing to know
that he fell asleep. I love that description. On Wednesday
morning I'll go in and they'll put a little needle in me and
I'll be blissfully ignorant of all that goes on. I don't want
to know about it. I don't want to go searching it out. I trust
the fellow who's wielding the knife and has got the needle
in his hand. But it's a remarkable picture, isn't it? Falling asleep
is just the sweetest thing. And you sleep so well while that
operation is going on, you're not aware of anything that's
going on. It is a lovely picture, isn't it? He fell asleep. He fell asleep with visions of
the Lord Jesus Christ standing in all of His glory. He fell
asleep with the Lord Jesus Christ standing there to welcome Him
into Heaven's glory. And it's sleep for God's children. That's all it is. It's sleep. It's just sleep. And we are meant
to comfort one another with these things. We are meant for this
to be comforting for us. This revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ, these promises fulfilled, again and again and again He
just fulfills His promises. He fulfills them in our hearing,
He fulfills them before us. But the greatest fulfillment
of it all, isn't it, is that this is not the end. Leaving
here is not the end. Leaving here is getting rid of
this body that causes all of this problem for us. Paul says
to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 4, he says, But I would not have
you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep. That's
the description of God's people all the time, is that they are
asleep. That you sorrow not, even of others which have no
hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
so them also which sleep in Jesus. That's a lovely description,
isn't it? The dying. It's sleeping in Jesus. will
God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent, not go before them which
are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. you'll look up to behold Him.
One day this whole world will look up to behold Him coming
and all of His people will be gathered to meet the Lord in
the air. All of His people, those that
have died in Him, slept in Him and those that are alive, all
of them are going to go through exactly the same transformation.
You cannot escape that transformation, brothers and sisters, from this
earthly creation into that heavenly one. to meet the Lord in the
air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." It goes on forever,
never ever to finish in a new creation, a physical creation,
a real creation. Therefore comfort one another
with these words. Comfort one another with that
prospect. Look up, don't look at the things
around, look up. There is that revelation, isn't
it? He manifests himself. to his
own. But also we need to not forget
that this witness, this witness that seemed so despairing at
that time where this sermon was preached and there was not one
recorded convert. Stephen was cast out like a dog
and stoned, cast out of his city and stoned to death, treated
as someone who was a blasphemer. And yet, and yet, there was one
man there. The witness of God's people is
always fruitful, brothers and sisters. It's always fruitful
because it brings glory to God. Any time we have an opportunity
to witness, may the Lord cause us to witness faithfully of His
glory and cause Him to be lifted up in the sights of this world. Stephen is in glory. But his
prayer was answered, wasn't he? He said, Lord, lay not this sin
to their charge. Stephen didn't know who the there
were, but God did. God did. And we read yet again,
for the rest of the book of Acts, we'll read of the wonder, the
wonder of Stephen's legacy of that faithful witness in the
Apostle Paul. who has written so many remarkable
things to cause God's people to be comforted. The Lord took
Stephen to glory after that short, short ministry. He took him to
glory to be with him. Stephen's been singing the songs
of heaven for 2,000 years, brothers and sisters, and for the last
1,900 he's been singing them besides Saul, who was there responsible
for his death. Such is the wonder of redeeming
life. Such is the wonder of the power
of our great God and Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. Such is
the fruit of His death. Let's pray.