It is an evil time in which we live. Satan knows that his time is short,
and he tries everything in his power to mislead the very elect. The Bible says that unless
this time had been shortened, the very elect would fall. We who are elected by God, must
watch and pray. If you do not stay on your knees and in the Word of God at this time, you
will go astray, even being right here at KwaSizabantu.
Richard Wurmbrand is an excellent example of how God keeps those, whose mind is stayed
on Him. He was ill-treated and tortured exceedingly by the communists in Romania. They
gave him and the Christians with him in jail, human dung as their food and urine as their
drink. Exceeding physical torture was continually inflicted upon him. They would beat him
and burn him with hot irons for his faith in Christ, yet would he remain faithful and not
deny his Lord. They placed him in solitary confinement for an extended period of time, so
much so, that he felt as if he was going off his head, and yet he remained faithful to
Christ. While he was in prison, he communed with his fellow-Christians by code through the
walls. They would encourage one another, and even confess their sins one to another via
this code and then they would pray for each other.
While Richard Wurmbrand was in prison, his wife, Sabina Wurmbrand, was free. One day
the Lord spoke to her through His Word, that Richard would be set free and preach in
Jerusalem on mount Zion. She rejoiced greatly, as those rejoice who walk with God and
hears His voice. She clung to God's promise, even though the communists told her that her
husband would never come out alive from prison.
The communists tried everything to brake Richard Wurmbrand, but they failed. Eventually
they thought of a plan to get his wife to brake him. They told her that her husband had
died in prison, hoping that she would marry again, and so Richard Wurmbrand would be
broken in, when he hears of this. She simply thanked them for their message, but in her
heart she said, "They are lying, for I have God's promise that it is not true."
She clung to God's Word, and their plan failed again.
One day one of the Christians from her church, who was in prison with Richard
Wurmbrand, was broken in by the communists, and they allowed him to go free, under one
condition. He must go to Sabina Wurmbrand, Richard's wife, and tell her that he saw his
corpse with his own eyes. Then he must woo her and marry her. So when he came back to the
church, he told Sabina of all the hardships they endured, how that God kept him faithful
through it all, and eventually he was let free. He told her that her husband had died in
prison, and for the first time she took her eyes off God's promise and actually believed
him. She trusted this man from her church, who suffered for the name of Christ. Later he
proposed marriage to her, but she went and prayed first about it. She knew that marriage
to him would make life much easier for her, but still she prayed about it. Although she
had forgotten God's promise, God in His faithfulness, who will not allow us to be tempted
above what we are able, did not give her peace about the matter. So she simply refused.
Not long after that, Richard Wurmbrand was released from prison, and they were
reunited. They went to Jerusalem and he preached on mount Zion. As he preached, God's
light suddenly filled her again, and she remembered the long-forgotten promise she had
clung to so dearly.
Here we see the power of prayer and of God's Word to keep one in this present evil
world. Oh, keep your eyes on God's Word and His promise. Remember how that the wise men
took their eyes off the star, and nearly procured a great disaster, unless God stepped in.
Our text for today we find in Acts 7:59 - 60. Stephen was only a young Christian, but
he was filled with the Holy Spirit. His last words matches closely to Jesus' last words on
the cross.
We usually read that Jesus is sitting at God's right hand, but here we read that Jesus
is standing at God's right hand. Jesus is touched by the suffering of His children. He
stood up because of Stephen's suffering. Those that touch God's children are touching the
apple of God's eye.
Those that stoned Stephen did not want to hear the truth. Even while Stephen was dying,
his face shone with God's glory, but they shut their hearts up against God's Spirit. No
one is so blind and deaf as the one who does not want to see and hear.
Stephen committed his spirit into God's hands, and afterwards he still kneeled and
cried to God with a loud voice, praying for his enemies. He was led by God's Spirit and
his body was filled with God's Spirit. We read in the Bible that only those led by God's
Spirit are His children.
Rom 8:14
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they
are the sons of God.
This prayer of Stephen was one of the most powerful prayers ever prayed, besides the
prayers of our Lord Jesus. In stead of praying revenge on his enemies, he asks that God
would not hold this sin against them. There is no trace of hatred or bitterness to be
found. Jesus answered this prayer powerfully. There was a young man standing nearby,
rejoicing over his death, and consenting to it, whose name was Saul. He distressed and
destroyed God's church exceedingly, and if it was not for this prayer of Stephen, who
knows, but he might have continued that way and done even worse. He caused men and women
to blaspheme, put them in prison and caused them to be killed. But Jesus never held this
against him, just as Stephen prayed. At his conversion, Jesus asks him why he is
persecuting Him, and that was the last we hear of it from Jesus. Do you hold grudges and
bitterness against others? Do you number the sins of others that they commit against you?
Stephen's short, powerful prayer, caused a Saul to be changed into a Paul. And I don't
know if there ever was another person in history, besides our Lord Jesus Christ, who
changed the world so much and had such an impact on the world, as Paul. If he did not come
to Christ, a large part of the Acts of the apostles would not be there, and many books of
the New Testament would never have been written. Even the reformation came about because
of Martin Luther being converted by Rom 3:28, written down by Paul through the Holy
Spirit:
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by
faith without the deeds of the law.
This Paul also suffered for Christ's sake as few other people have suffered for Christ.
Many come to Christ, because of all the promises of health, wealth and prosperity. But
that is not the Gospel Paul preached and lived. They did not expect to have an easy life,
but knew that faithfulness to Christ would require suffering for His sake. Five times he
was chastised with 39 stripes. These whips they used had pieces of metal, bones and stones
at their ends, so that the flesh would be ripped off when you are lashed. It is said that
sometimes one could see the lungs of the person as he breathes, after he was chastised. At
another time he was stoned and left for dead. He stood up from there and immediately
preached the Gospel in the city. Such are Christians that are heroes of the faith and are
to be honoured greatly. Just think of how he must have looked like, after all that
suffering! Many times he had to go hungry and naked, covered with frost, and yet in all
that, he still preached the Gospel with an unwavering faith.
What do you do when people persecute you and hate you? Jesus said in Mt 5:44 & 45,
