The persecution of Christians is an awful thing. Christians have faced everything from cold shoulders and harsh words to beatings, imprisonment and death. Stephen was the first Christian martyr, it must have been awful for him and his family. It’s hard to describe something like this as light and momentary, and yet that’s how the apostle Paul described his troubles (including being stoned 2 Cor 4:17, 11:25).
Sometimes we may wonder how it’s achieving a glory that far outweighs all the troubles, but in Acts 8 we get a glimpse! The result of the awful martyrdom of Stephen is the spread of the gospel to the nations. Up until this point the focus had all been in Jerusalem, but remember Jesus had said the gospel must spread out from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). As a result of Stephen’s martyrdom and the persecution of the Jerusalem church, Christians were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, taking the gospel message with them (8:1, 4).
We hear about a wonderful incident which leads to the gospel going beyond Samaria to Ethiopia. A God fearing man was on his way back from Jerusalem to Ethiopia, and he happened to have just bought a book for his journey back. He was tucking into the prophet Isaiah when Philip is prompted to run alongside the chariot and talk to him! You can imagine Philip trying to get words out as he ran alongside, thankfully the man invited him up. It just so happened (by the Lord’s providence) that the man was reading Isaiah 53, and from there Philip was able to explain how Jesus was the lamb who died in our place so that we could be forgiven.
The Spirit was at work in the Ethiopian and he responded by turning to Jesus in repentance and faith. The gospel was spreading far and wide because of the persecution. And as we’ll see in the next chapter, one of the chief persecutors is also going to be impacted as he meets the risen Jesus.
Stephen didn’t get to see all the good that came from his persecution, but he did get to see Jesus and be with Him which is better by far. We might not see the good when we are persecuted, but we can trust the One who works all things His glory and our good. The good often involves the spread of the glorious gospel.
As has famously been said “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church” (Tertullian).
Whatever we face in this lifetime and whatever the worldwide church faces, we can trust that our King Jesus is building His church and the gates of hell will not prevail.
Light and Momentary Troubles 
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