God's inspiration does not necessarily result in good results

The Theology of the Costly Call: From Zechariah to Stephen

In the economy of the Kingdom of God, there exists a profound paradox that often eludes the modern seeker: the movement of the Holy Spirit is not a guarantee of worldly preservation, but a summons to divine faithfulness. When we speak of the "guidance of the Spirit," we are prone to envision a path cleared of thorns, yet the witness of Scripture—from the courts of the First Temple to the gates of Jerusalem in the Apostolic age—tells a far more demanding story.

To understand the nature of spiritual obedience, we must look at two bookends of martyrdom: Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, and Stephen, the Protomartyr.

The Prototype: Zechariah and the Peril of Truth

The account in 2 Chronicles 24 serves as a sobering reminder that the Spirit’s prompting can lead directly into the shadow of death. Joash, a king who began well under the tutelage of the priest Jehoiada, eventually succumbed to the seductive flatteries of the princes of Judah. The transition from the worship of the Living God to the service of Asherah poles was not merely a change in liturgy; it was a fundamental betrayal of the covenant.

When the Spirit of God "clothed" Zechariah, he did not receive a message of comfort for the king. He received a mandate of confrontation. Standing in the temple court, he asked the ultimate question of gain and loss: "Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper?" Zechariah knew the political climate. He knew the fickleness of the king who had forgotten his father’s kindness. Yet, he did not calculate his survival. He spoke because the Spirit compelled him. The result, by any human metric, was a catastrophe: he was stoned to death in the very house of the Lord he sought to protect. His final cry, "May the Lord see and avenge!" was a plea for divine justice in a world that had abandoned it.

The Fulfillment: Stephen and the Vision of the Son of Man

Fast-forward to the nascent Church in Acts 6 and 7. Here we find Stephen, a man "full of faith and the Holy Spirit." His narrative is the New Testament mirror to Zechariah’s. Just as Zechariah stood before a backslidden nation, Stephen stood before the Sanhedrin—the religious elite who had become "stiff-necked" and "uncircumcised in heart and ears."

Stephen’s sermon was not an attempt at a legal defense; it was a theological indictment. He explicitly linked his audience to the killers of the prophets, effectively echoing the blood of Zechariah. When the Holy Spirit moved Stephen, He did not grant him the silver-tongued diplomacy to escape the Council. Instead, He granted him a vision of the Heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

The parallels are striking:

The Rejection: Both spoke to those who had "forsaken the Lord" (Zechariah) and "resisted the Holy Spirit" (Stephen).

The Sentence: Both were executed by stoning—a death reserved for blasphemers, though they were the ones speaking the truth.

The Transformation of the Cry: While Zechariah called for vengeance ("May the Lord see"), Stephen, under the New Covenant of grace, cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." Stephen’s death appeared to be a strategic "loss" for the early Church. They lost a brilliant apologist and a devoted deacon. However, in the mystery of God’s sovereignty, Stephen’s "failure" was the seed of the Church’s expansion and the catalyst for the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.

A Theological Synthesis: Beyond Gains and Losses

As theologians and believers, we must confront the reality that God’s inspiration does not necessarily result in "good" results as defined by the world. If we measure the Holy Spirit’s movement by the metrics of safety, prosperity, or immediate fruitfulness, we will inevitably judge the prophets as fools and the martyrs as failures.

1. The Priority of Loyalty over Utility

God does not value the "external fruit" of a mission more than the "inner loyalty" of the messenger. Zechariah’s mission was "unsuccessful" in that the people did not repent at his word, yet he was perfectly successful in the eyes of God because he was faithful to the message.

2. The Weight of Eternal Victory

We must recognize a spiritual fact: those who are willing to live for God must be prepared to die for God. The "gain" of the Spirit is often an internal peace and an eternal perspective that renders physical "loss" irrelevant. When Stephen was being pelted by stones, his face shone like an angel. He had already won because he was standing on the side of Truth.

3. The Refusal of Calculation

True ministry is the willingness to act in the absence of a guaranteed outcome. If we only obey when the "gains" outweigh the "losses," we are not following the Spirit; we are merely following a business plan. The Holy Spirit moves us to a place where the only question that matters is: "Am I being faithful to the One who called me?"

Concluding Reflection

May we, like Zechariah and Stephen, learn to decouple our obedience from our circumstances. Whether the Spirit leads us to the mountaintop of revival or the valley of the shadow of death, our mandate remains the same: unwavering fidelity. A life lived under the impulse of the Holy Spirit may look like a tragedy in the annals of men, but it is written as an eternal victory in the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us not be shaken by the reactions of the world, but be anchored in the approval of the King.