Acts 7:55, commentary and pictures

Full of the Holy Spirit, Stephen looked up steadfastly into heaven when heaven was opened to him, and he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God beside the throne as if just risen from it. Jesus stands there ready to sustain His servant who is about to suffer martyrdom for His name, looking upon him with commendation and deep interest and giving him calm, courage and fearlessness amid rage and conflict with evil powers. The sight is true testimony that Jesus who was crucified is the promised Messiah, risen and ascended and exalted at God's right hand, where He lives and continues His work for the salvation of men and women. Stephen's faith, heavenly light and triumphant death greatly stir Saul, convicting him that Christ upheld His witness and helping bring him to Jesus to become a messenger of Christ, though priests and rulers at first overbear the impression and settle him in bitter opposition. In the final crisis the faithful will likewise look up steadfastly as Stephen did and see the glory of God and the Son of man, with heaven opened to their view to shut out mockery and threat and assure them of final triumph and welcome before God's throne. As he gives up his life Stephen entrusts his soul to Jesus, showing that Christ alone is able to keep it and that enemies may kill the body but cannot take away hope and eternal life.

Vision Wording and Setting

Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit, and the boldness of his preaching and the wisdom he showed came through the power of the Spirit. He was so filled while those he rebuked were cut to the heart and gnashed on him with their teeth, with Satan working in the children of disobedience. This came after his closing charge that they resisted the Spirit as their fathers had persecuted the prophets and had betrayed and murdered the Just One.

Being full of the Spirit he looked up steadfastly into heaven. Heaven was opened to him with its gates standing ajar, the earthly scene around him faded from his sight, and angels surrounded him. What he saw was the glory of God and Jesus, the Son of man, standing on the right hand of God and beside God's throne, as if just risen from His throne. He beheld the glory of the courts of God with Christ standing there in that posture.

The vision came at the close of his final testimony about Christ in connection with the prophecies and the temple. It was spoken under the direction of the Holy Spirit amid rising hostility and resistance from the people, when he knew his words were his last testimony and his voice would soon be silenced, so he abruptly ended his sermon. The verse belongs to the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who died for his faith. He bore witness to the risen Saviour in Jerusalem at a definite place after the gospel had been preached there and the Holy Spirit had been poured out.

When he proclaimed the opened scene before him, his persecutors stopped their ears and rushed furiously upon him. They dragged him from the judgment hall, cast him out, and silenced him with stones rather than answering him from Scripture, though he testified to truth the priests and elders could not answer. They refused to hear the powerful evidence that Jesus is the Son of God and stoned him to death while surrounded by God's glory. As he died he called on Jesus to receive his spirit and not to lay the sin to them, before falling asleep.

Christ Standing to Sustain

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Stephen looked steadily into heaven and saw God's glory with Jesus standing at God's right hand, heaven opened to him with its gates ajar, and Christ standing as if just risen from His throne, ready to sustain His servant who was about to suffer martyrdom for His name. The earthly scene around him faded while he faced his attackers without fear, and the heavenly vision left him calm and courageous amid the rage of his persecutors and the hostile crowd rushing on him like wild beasts gnashing their teeth. When he proclaimed the glorious scene opened before him, his persecutors stopped their ears and ran furiously upon him.

Jesus looked upon His faithful witness with commendation and deep interest, who had borne triumphant testimony of the crucified and risen Saviour at the cost of his life. He looked down on Stephen during a fierce spiritual conflict and terrible conflict with evil powers, while Satan was working in the children of disobedience who gnashed on him with their teeth after he rebuked them.

The light of Christ's face shone on Stephen so brightly that even his enemies saw his face shine like an angel's. His face was calm and unafraid, shining with angelic light and heavenly glory, and bore the signet of God. As he testified to truth that the priests and elders could not answer, his opponents dragged him from the judgment hall and silenced him with stones rather than answering him from Scripture. The glory shining on his face flashed upon Saul the persecutor and helped bring him to Jesus, and his faith and constancy in that vision could not be effaced from memory.

Stephen was sustained in his martyrdom by divine power, by a power higher than earth and higher than any earthly power. His testimony and conduct left Saul with evidence that Christ upheld him, which Saul later remembered with horror as he faced his guilt in persecuting Christ's followers.

The vision is an example of Christ manifesting Himself and making Himself known to the faithful.

Testimony That Jesus Lives

The opened heavens gave true testimony that Jesus is the promised Messiah, risen and ascended, and the sight of God's glory confirmed the truth of the witness borne at the cost of a charge of blasphemy from the priests. What had been condemned as blasphemy was later recognized as a true sight of Christ's glory and a true witness to the risen and exalted Jesus. The dying martyr looked upon the kingdom of glory, and his vision confirmed the truth of the words for which he had been condemned.

Filled with the Holy Spirit and surrounded by God's glory, he declared powerful evidence that Jesus, who had been crucified, is the Son of God. His testimony was vindicated from prophecy and set forth truth that the priests and elders could not answer. Instead of answering from Scripture they refused to hear the evidence, stopped their ears, dragged him from the judgment hall, and silenced him with stones. The same truth he defended unto death was afterward proclaimed and supported from prophecy by Paul.

In dying he testified that heaven, not an earthly temple, is the place of God's presence and that Jesus is exalted beside God. Divine light from heaven enabled him to recognize Jesus, who had lived on earth as a man, and to testify to what he saw. Jesus has ascended to heaven in His divine and human form and lives to intercede for humanity. He knows human sorrows, temptations, conflicts, and anguish because He endured them Himself, and He offers help and strength in trouble.

The scene shows Jesus alive after His resurrection, exalted at God's right hand and continuing His work for the salvation of men and women. Standing there He sees everything the Father is doing in this world, and from there He works in every obedient heart. He sees what each person can do when humbled and teachable as a little child. To the one who is meek and lowly in heart He gives a work to do, and He prepares that person to do the work in unity with Himself.

Conviction Leading Toward Conversion

Stephen’s faith and steadfastness in the hour of his vision marked him as honored by God, and the glory seen upon him, with his words and bearing, reached to the very soul of those who heard him. What was spoken and seen could not be effaced from memory but remained with the witnesses and testified to the truth he proclaimed. The scene made a deep impression upon all who witnessed it, even though his martyrdom was a sore trial to the church. His vision of God’s glory and Jesus at God’s right hand was striking evidence of God’s presence with him. That evidence stirred Saul to doubt whether his opposition to the followers of Jesus was righteous and shook his prejudice against Jesus and His followers.

Saul, who witnessed the stoning and consented to it and acted a part in it, was a rabbi and statesman educated by the most learned teachers of the age under Gamaliel. He was a member of the Sanhedrin and very zealous for the suppression of Christianity. He allowed the malice and prejudice of the priests to control him and took part in the martyrdom despite the evidence set before him in Stephen’s face and testimony. From that consenting stand he went on breathing threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.

The first impression upon Saul was then overborne when the priests and rulers convinced him that Stephen was a blasphemer. They persuaded him that the Christ whom Stephen preached was an impostor and that those in holy office were right. So Saul settled in his mind that the priests and scribes were right and became bitter in opposition to Christianity, persecuting, imprisoning, and condemning believers for their faith in Jesus.

Stephen’s triumphant death greatly stirred Saul’s mind. His testimony and conduct, the heavenly light upon his face, the glory flashing from it, and the compassion in his dying prayer convicted the onlookers. That testimony left Saul with abiding evidence that Christ upheld His witness in martyrdom by a power higher than earth. That shining face and sustaining power helped bring Saul the persecutor to Jesus and helped lead him to become a messenger of Christ to Gentiles, kings, and Israel.

Saul later remembered the radiance of heaven on Stephen’s face and his testimony with anguish and horror as he faced his own guilt in persecuting Christ’s followers. His later visits to Jerusalem were attended with anxiety and remorse as the scene of the martyrdom in that definite place rose vividly before him. He then asked himself whether he was going forward to a similar fate. He came to recognize Stephen’s vision as a true sight of Christ’s glory and Stephen’s witness to the risen, exalted Jesus as truth rather than blasphemy, confirming Jesus as the promised Messiah.

Stephen had been raised up for an important place in the church. His death by stoning at the hands of Christ’s enemies made it appear that wicked men were triumphing and that God’s cause was not advancing. But God brought good from it, and the death did not hinder the gospel. It became the occasion for Jesus to reveal Himself to Saul, and through Paul’s preaching thousands came to the gospel.

Pattern for Final Persecution

In the final crisis and at the deliverance of God's people, the faithful likewise look up steadfastly as Stephen did and see the glory of God and the Son of man in divine glory, seated on His throne. They recognize in His divine form the marks of His humiliation and hear Him ask the Father that those given Him may be with Him. In the same way, when faithful people face anguish and persecution for refusing to worship the beast or its image or honor an idolatrous sabbath, heaven opens to their view and they see God's throne and the martyrs gathered around it. The scene serves as a pattern for persecuted believers who, while mocked and threatened for remaining faithful, look beyond suffering to heaven. The heavenly scene shuts out surrounding mockery and threats and reveals the martyrs near the throne. It assures them that the people the world despises will finally triumph, be honored, vindicated, and welcomed before God's throne.

Entrusting the Soul to Christ

As he faced death and was giving up his life, Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, saw the glory of God and Jesus at the right hand of God. In that hour he entrusted his soul to Jesus, showing that Christ alone is able to keep it. The soul is too precious to entrust to anyone else, and his act illustrates that it should be committed to Christ in faith and trust. He was persecuted for his witness to God, and though his enemies could imprison and kill his body, they could not take away his hope or eternal life.