The Dying Martyr's Prayer
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. — Acts vii. 59.
As death is inevitable, and as none who die return to give us any account of their condition in a future world, and as reason cannot penetrate the gloom which hangs over the grave, it is a matter of rejoicing that we are in possession of a well-attested revelation, which contains all the information which we need, in regard to the future destiny of man. Even under the old dispensation, although believers enjoyed a glimmering light respecting a future state, yet the light was by no means clear; a mysterious darkness enshrouded the state of the dead. But since the coming of Christ, that which was before obscure has become bright. “Life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel.” The resurrection of Jesus Christ sealed the instructions which he had given on this point. We know that as surely as he lives, in another world, so surely his disciples will live also, and be with him where he now is. His immediate followers, therefore, had no fears of the future; they contemplated death as a kind friend, sent to release them from a world of sin and sorrow. The curse was taken away; the sting was plucked out; the victory was wrested from this universal conqueror.
To illustrate tnese remarks, 1 would refer you to the example of the first death which occurred among Christ’s sincere disciples after his resurrection. I mean that of Stepnen, the proto-martyr; for although we read of the awful end of two professed disciples, Ananias and Sapphira, before the martyrdom of Stephen, yet we know that their profession was hypocritical. They were numbered with the disciples, but were destitute of true faith, and stand on the sacred page as an awful warning to professors in all future ages to beware of hypocrisy, and to take heed of trifling with the sacred profession of Christianity.
Concerning the conversion of Stephen, the Scriptures furnish no account; whether he was one of the seventy disciples, or of the one hundred and twenty who consorted together before the remarkable increase of the church at Pentecost; or whether he was one of those who, on that memorable day, was pricked in the heart, and brought to repentance by the effusion of the Holy Spirit, attending the preaching of Peter, we cannot now ascertain; nor is it important.. It is enough to know from the unerring word of inspiration that he was an eminent Christian; although that name was not yet given to the disciples. When it became necessary to select seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, to take charge of the distribution of the charitable funds of the primitive church, Stephen was the first on the catalogue; and was particularly characterized as a man “full of faith and the Holy Ghost.” He seems to have been, in a very peculiar manner, endowed with miraculous gifts which had been so copiously shed on the disciples on the day of Pentecost; and to have stood forth as a conspicuous instrument in extending the knowledge of the truth; for we read, that “Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.” But it was then, as it has been ever since, the more useful and conspicuous any servant of God is, the more certainly does he become the object of some kind of persecution. The infant church at Jerusalem was a type of all Christian churches ever since. No sooner did she exist, than her destruction was threatened. And whence did this opposition arise? First, from the rulers, who imprisoned and beat the apostles, and forbade them to speak in the name of Jesus; and then from the synagogues, which ought to have been the first to receive, and foremost to defend the truth. And as Stephen was a leading man in the church, these opposers entered into controversy with him. As long as error and sin exist in the world, there must be conflict. Light and darkness — Christ and Belial, can have no concord. But “they were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spake.” They resorted to the usual weapons of the enemies of the truth. They endeavoured to destroy his usefulness by malicious slanders; yea, they suborned men, who said, “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, who said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say, that Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered unto us.”
Stephen was now arraigned before the Sanhedrim, the highest court in the Jewish nation. He seems to have stood alone in the midst of his persecutors; but that Jesus whom he preached, and wrho had said, before his ascension to heaven, “Lo, I am with you always,” did not forsake him at this moment of trial. The Holy Ghost, with whose influence he was endowed, did not now leave him. And to confound his adversaries the more, and to render their conduct the more inexcusable, Stephen was so illumined with the rays of celestial glory, that his very countenance became radiant, as did that of Moses, on another occasion. “And all that sat in the council looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.”
The high priest, who presided in this grand council, now said, Are these things so? Upon which Stephen delivered that remarkable discourse, the substance of which is recorded in this chapter. When he came to the application of his discourse he addressed his persecutors with a directness and pungency of reproof, which produced a powerful impression. He said,” Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the
Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the just One, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers; who have received the law by disposition of angels and have not kept it.” “When they heard these things, 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 Christ standing at the right hand of God. And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at 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 kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lay not this sin to their charge.”
This prayer, which closed the martyr’s course, may have been heard in regard to many; but in regard to one, it certainly was. I refer to the young man at whose feet the witnesses laid their clothes. This young man, a person of extraordinary talent, was a strict Pharisee, well educated, and zealous for the law. He seems to have taken an active part in this prosecution, for he gave his vote against Stephen in the council, when he was condemned, and was forward to assist in the execution. But is it not astonishing that this scene could be witnessed by this person, and others, without conviction? The truth is, that such is the blindness and perverseness of men, that no external means, however striking, or even miraculous, ever did or ever will convert a sinner from the error of his ways, without the internal efficacy of divine grace.
But our present subject is especially Stephen’s dying -prayer to Christ, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” These few words convey much precious instruction, to which I would now call your attention.
1. Stephen addressed his prayer to the Lord Jesus. He had just been favoured with a vision of this divine Person in his glory. He saw him standing on the right hand of God. He would never have thought of addressing himself to any of the saints or angels, who also stood round the throne of God. What should we think, if he had died calling on Gabriel or Moses, and saying, Gabriel, receive my spirit — or, Moses, receive my spirit? No example of any such prayer is found in the Bible. But here, u a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost,” in his dying moments prays to Jesus Christ, and this is recorded for our example and encouragement. And if we may call upon this name when dying, we may also at all times. Indeed, this is given as one characteristic of true worshippers, for the Scripture saith, “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed — for the same Lord is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved.”
2. The second truth which we may learn from this text is, that the soul exists separate from the body in an intermediate state between death and the resurrection; and that in this state it is with Jesus. When we look at the dead body of a fellow-creature, and attend merely to the suggestions of sense and reason, we are tempted to suppose that the thinking principle which recently actuated this body, has become extinct, or has ceased to be active; but sense and reason are not to be trusted in this case. Divine revelation, which is the word of God, teaches no such gloomy doctrine. It opens to our view another state of being — another world, where Christ is gone, and gives us assurance that believers, while their bodies rest in the grave, are with Christ. So our Lord, when on the cross, said to the penitent malefactor, “This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” And Paul, who had been caught up into the third heaven, had such a sense of the excellency and glory of the place, that he “had a desire to depart and be with Christ.” He knew “that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;” and that to be “absent from the body” is to be “present with the Lord.” And are not Moses and Elias in the heavens? The latter, indeed, has his body with him; but the former died and was buried.
Stephen undoubtedly asked and expected to be received at once into the presence of Christ. He does not say, Receive me at the resurrection. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” The idea of the sleep of the soul, or of some other place than heaven being its residence till the resurrection, is unscriptural Surely Christ has ascended into the highest heavens — and where he is, there also it is his will that his disciples should be with him. He has gone to prepare a place for them — and when he comes, he will bring with him all who have died in the Lord. Is he the Head, and are they members of his body, and will he not gather all those who are united to him around him, as fast as they leave the world?
3. Every believer, when called to die, should consider it his high privilege, cheerfully and confidently, to commit his departing spirit into the hands of Jesus, his Lord. He who acts the part of a kind Shepherd, while we are passing up through this wilderness, guiding, protecting, and feeding his little flock, and even carrying the lambs affectionately in his bosom, will not forsake the sheep of his pasture, whom he loves, and for whom he has laid down his life, when called to pass through the last gloomy valley. There are many shadows of death through which he leads them safely, but in their passage over one which is pre-eminently deep and dark, he has enabled one of old, as an example to the flock, to say, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”
Death is abhorrent to nature; and many are, all their life, subjected to bondage through fear of death; but Christ came to deliver us from those appalling terrors; and he does it by enabling us to exercise faith in his name. The soul that sc believes in the day of adversity, and in the last hour, as to be able to commit itself unto Christ by an act of unwavering confidence — that soul need fear no evil. If the great High Priest, and the ark of the covenant lead the way, the swelling waters of Jordan shall be driven back, and a free passage to Canaan be secured. Death has no power to harm the true believer, since Christ, the Captain of salvation, received his envenomed shaft into his own vitals. He has extracted the venomous sting, and trode the monster under his feet; so that he makes his people conquerors, and more than conquerors, through his love. “0 death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory!”
4. No doubt the martyr’s prayer was heard. No doubt the every where present Redeemer would willingly receive the precious deposit, now with confidence committed to him. None that trust in him shall ever be confounded or disappointed in their hopes. There is some reason to think that every believer when he dies will be conducted to Paradise by angels commissioned for that purpose. In the account of the rich man and Lazarus, we read that no sooner had the soul of this pious beggar departed from the body, than it “was carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom.” Now this representation of the state after death, does not seem so much to have been intended to teach what happened to a single individual, as to furnish us with a general view of the different circumstances of the righteous and wicked, when they enter into the invisible world. And, therefore, we may conclude that all true saints, as well as Lazarus, will be provided with a convoy of angels. And would it be considered an extravagant thought, that those angels which act as guardians to the people of God here, keeping watch around their dwellings, and holding them up in their hands, should be the ones commissioned to perform this kind office; for no doubt they contract an affection for those committed to their charge, and would be prompted to engage in such a service in behalf of those souls whom they watched over, during their painful pilgrimage through the world. And for aught that we know, the departed saints will need some persons to be their guide in the new regions into which they at once enter, and where they are entire strangers.
But, however, pleasing may be the thought of being met at the very entrance into the future world by angels, the true believer finds no prospect of the future state so pleasing, as that which promises to bring him into the presence of his Saviour. That which reconciles him in an absence from the body is, the expectation of the presence of the Lord. And as he is not only ever present to render effectual aid in time of need, and has especially signified that he will comfort and sustain his friends in their last conflict, the disembodied spirit desires to be received into his kind embrace. And as he has a body, and therefore is visible in heaven, it will above all things pant for an admission into his immediate presence. For this, Stephen prayed, and for this thousands have since prayed; and their suit has not been denied. How happy they are who are thus present with the Lord, no human heart can conceive, or tongue express. Truly, their joy is now full.
REFLECTIONS.
1. As we must take this journey — as there is no discharge in this warfare — and as we have no experimental knowledge of the country to which we are going, and have no opportunity of conversing with any who have experience in this matter, it is obviously of the first importance to secure a guide who will both have power to protect and wisdom to conduct us safely through this gloomy valley Such a guide is the great Shepherd of Israel.
2. Our sensitive souls naturally shrink with dread from the thought of plunging into an unknown state of existence. If we feel no dread of the misery of hell, yet we cannot easily divest ourselves of the fear of appearing in the immediate presence of God; and even the idea of the sudden blaze of celestial light and glory, creates a degree of dread entering the invisible world. As the appearance of a single departed spirit, however much beloved, would throw us into consternation, we are prone to transfer these feelings to a future world. But the true remedy for every kind of fear is to cast ourselves into the hands of our divine Redeemer. He has loved us, and died for us, and will receive our departing spirit, and introduce them to the seats of the blessed in that way which wisdom and goodness will direct.
3. But what shall the dying sinner do? Who will receive his spirit in that awful moment? He rejected the Saviour, and now the door of mercy is closed for ever. Now he may cry and not be heard. Alas! alas! alas! what will become of the impenitent sinner when God requires his soul?