And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Filled with the Holy Spirit while facing a furious council and death by stoning, Stephen looked into heaven and saw its gates opened with the glory of God and Jesus clearly seen as the Son of man at the right hand of God. His standing means He had as it were risen from His throne and stood ready to sustain His servant in martyrdom, watching him with deep interest and commendation. The sight was truth and not blasphemy, proving that Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended to heaven as the promised Messiah foretold by the prophets. Beholding Christ and the glory of His courts filled Stephen with triumph over fear and rage, and the light of Christ's face shone upon him until his own face shone like an angel's before his enemies. That witness cut his hearers to the heart yet they stopped their ears and stoned him while he entrusted his spirit to Jesus and prayed for their forgiveness, and its truth was later forced upon Saul when the glorified Christ met him on the way to Damascus and turned the persecutor into a preacher of the same cause. What Stephen saw shows what faithful people will see at their final deliverance when the heavens part and they behold the glory of God and the Son of man upon His throne, assuring those facing persecution that they will be vindicated and victorious.
Setting of Stephen's Declaration
Stephen, filled with the Holy Ghost, looked steadfastly up into heaven while facing a furious council and mob and imminent death by stoning for presenting saving truth. In that moment of martyrdom he saw the heavens opened with God's glory and Jesus standing at God's right hand. The light of Christ's face shone upon him so that his countenance shone with the glory of the Redeemer like an angel's, a radiance even his enemies saw, leaving him calm and unafraid.
After charging his hearers as stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears who always resist the Holy Ghost and who betrayed and murdered the Just One, he told them openly that he saw the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. The declaration cut them to the heart so that they gnashed on him with their teeth as Satan worked in the children of disobedience. Those who heard understood what the result of such testimony would be, and they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, ran upon him with one accord, cast him out of the city and stoned him. As they stoned him he called upon the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit and prayed that the sin not be laid to their charge, before he fell asleep.
What he saw was heaven opened with the gates standing ajar and the earthly scene of judges and mob fading from his vision. There was revealed the glory of God and of His courts, with angels around him. Jesus was clearly seen as the Son of man standing on the right hand of God, the same one who had lived among people on earth.
He spoke this final testimony openly by the Holy Spirit as he recognized his life was in danger before hostile judges who were resisting his words. The time, place, and occasion of trial and imminent death are important to its full significance.
Christ Standing to Sustain
Jesus standing at God's right hand means as if just risen from His throne, standing ready to sustain His servant who was about to suffer martyrdom for His name. Heaven was opened to Stephen as he faced martyrdom, and Christ stood ready to sustain him in his suffering, filling him with triumph rather than fear. The sight of the glory of God's courts gave him triumph over the fear of death and the rage of his persecutors.
Jesus stood in commendation upon His faithful witness, a man loved by God who labored to win souls to Christ by triumphant testimony of the crucified and risen Saviour. Christ was revealed as watching Stephen with deep interest and concern as he suffered for his faith in deadly spiritual conflict with spiritual powers. The light of Christ's face shone upon him so brightly in that conflict that his enemies saw his face shine like an angel's.
That light made Stephen's countenance shine with the glory of the Redeemer, a radiance even his enemies saw as he faced death by stoning for presenting saving truth. The sight left him calm and unafraid, calmly fearless with angelic light while the earthly scene faded from his vision. Seeing the glory and Christ gave him triumph rather than fear over death and the rage of his persecutors.
Proof of Risen Messiah
Stephen truly saw the heavens opened and looked into the kingdom of glory, beholding Jesus as the Son of man standing at the right hand of God after His resurrection and ascension. What priests and rulers condemned as blasphemy was truth and verity, for as he was dying he beheld the glory of God and Christ exalted in heaven. The vision proves that Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, the crucified and risen Redeemer and promised Messiah. It agrees with what the prophets foretold about His rejection and crucifixion and then His resurrection and ascension, showing Him to be the promised Messiah rejected and crucified, then raised and ascended.
The vision belongs to Stephen's mighty, triumphant testimony borne through the Holy Spirit that Jesus is the Son of God, wrapped as he was in God's glory. His hearers rejected that Spirit-given evidence, stopping their ears rather than be convinced, and continued in persecuting Christ's disciples. Paul afterward proclaimed the same cause for which Stephen died, defending from prophecy that the crucified Jesus was the Son of God. Stephen's testimony to truth could not be refuted, for his faith was grounded in Scripture and he met hostile disputants with assurance, wisdom, and unanswerable arguments. His opponents answered defeat not by accepting the truth but by dragging him from the judgment hall and silencing him by violence, stoning him as his face shone with heavenly glory.
The one Stephen saw was the same Jesus who had lived among people on earth, recognized by heavenly light, now ascended to heaven where He lives to intercede for humanity. Risen and at the right hand of God, Christ continues to work for the salvation of men and women and calls people to join Him in that work.
Conviction of Saul and Church
Saul came to know that Stephen's vision was true when the glorified Christ was revealed to him on the way to Damascus, and Stephen's sermon was then brought forcibly to his mind. He recognized that Stephen had truly looked into the kingdom of glory and had seen Jesus as the Son of man standing at the right hand of God after His resurrection and ascension. The words condemned as blasphemy were truth and verity, agreeing with what the prophets foretold about the rejection, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of the promised Messiah. Remembered in the light on the Damascus road, the vision proved Jesus is the Messiah, the crucified and risen Redeemer ascended to heaven, and it exposed Saul's zeal in persecuting Christ's followers as ignorance and error and the work of Satan done through trust in the priests and rulers.
At the stoning Saul stood by consenting and approving, before he went on breathing threatenings and slaughter against the disciples and seeking authority to bind men and women of this way and bring them to Jerusalem. At that time he was a rabbi and statesman, a member of the Sanhedrin educated by Gamaliel, very zealous for the suppression of Christianity. Priests and rulers had convinced him that Stephen was a blasphemer and that Jesus whom Stephen preached was an impostor, and his settled conviction that the priests and scribes were right made him bitter in opposition to Christians and zealous in persecuting believers. Stephen's triumphant death greatly stirred Saul's mind and shook his prejudice, yet he accepted the leaders' claim and urged persecution.
Stephen's face had been lit with heaven's radiance, and the glory on his face with the compassion of his dying prayer was striking evidence that Saul had ignored while urging persecution. Saul later remembered that evidence with anguish, horror and remorse as he recognized his guilt in persecuting believers and in wrongly rejecting Jesus. God's presence with Stephen in trial and martyrdom, by a power greater than earthly strength sustaining him, stirred Saul to doubt whether his opposition to Jesus' followers was righteous. The vision glorified Stephen and testified to the truth of his message, and its impact remained in the memory of those who witnessed his death, including Saul, and contributed to his conversion.
Spoken with faith and constancy with the signet of God upon his face, Stephen's proclamation of the opened heavens reached to the very soul of those who heard it and testified to the truth of what he proclaimed. His martyrdom made a deep impression upon all who witnessed it, was a sore trial to the church, and resulted in the conversion of Saul, from whose memory the faith, constancy and glorification of the martyr could not be effaced. Stephen's death did not hinder the gospel, for though his stoning appeared to let Christ's enemies triumph, it led to Paul's conversion and helped bring thousands to the gospel. Heaven's glory on his face and the compassion in his dying prayer convicted the Sanhedrin member Saul, who became a messenger of Christ to Gentiles, kings and Israel, called to preach and strengthen the disciples. He would fill the place Stephen had held in the church and continue the same cause for which Stephen had died and which Paul later proclaimed in the synagogue, that the crucified Jesus is the Son of God, using prophecy to show it, as part of the witness through which the first Gospel church in Jerusalem after Christ's ascension revealed the power of the risen Saviour.
Stephen witnessed for Christ by blood shed in martyrdom at a definite spot in Jerusalem that remained known and could be gazed upon, bringing the vivid scene of his death back to mind. Paul looked upon it with anxiety, remorse and sadness because it recalled his former life and bitter prejudice against the followers of Christ. It raised the question whether he was going forward to a similar fate in Jerusalem, the city that had murdered the prophets and rejected and slain the Son of God and over which hung the threatenings of divine wrath.
Pattern for Final Deliverance
Stephen's gaze into heaven shows what God's people will behold at their final deliverance. At the voice saying Look up, the black angry clouds part, and like Stephen looking steadfastly into heaven they look up and see the glory of God and the Son of man seated upon His throne. In His divine form they discern the marks of His humiliation. From His lips they hear Him present before His Father and the holy angels the request that those given Him be with Him where He is.
The same vision belongs to faithful people facing murderous persecution, who receive a glimpse of Christ and are assured of victory. In a future time of persecution those who refuse to worship the beast or its image or to honor an idol sabbath will look up as Stephen did. As the opened heavens are echoed, the throne of God is revealed to their view. They see a heavenly scene with martyrs gathered near the throne. Shutting out the threats of their persecutors, that sight makes them no longer heed what is threatened against them, and the despised and oppressed and suffering are shown as conquerors who will ultimately be vindicated and victorious.
Trust and Faithful Witness
As Stephen yielded up his life facing death, he entrusted his spirit and his soul to Jesus, who alone is able to keep and care for it, and the sight of Jesus standing at God's right hand with heaven opened illustrates trusting Christ with one's life and committing it to Him in faith. Stephen's vision is an example of Christ manifesting Himself and making Himself known to the faithful as He promises to do. It illustrates how vividly a believer may see Christ by faith, seeing Him clearly with the heavens opened. It presents Christ and the heavenly world as real sources of support in earthly struggle during conflict with spiritual powers.
The scene shows that the righteous have a reward to behold by faith, received even while facing death by stoning for presenting saving truth. Christ standing at the right hand of God watches everything the Father is doing in this world. From there He works in every obedient heart, and sees what each person can do when humbled and teachable as a little child. He gives a work to the one who is meek and lowly in heart and prepares that person to do the work in unity with Himself.
Stephen, the first Christian martyr, died as a martyr for his faith in conflict with spiritual powers. His faith was grounded in Scripture, and he met hostile disputants with assurance, wisdom, and arguments they could not refute, yet his opponents answered defeat not by accepting the truth but by putting him to death. His steadfast witness even under threat of death is an example for Christian workers who may face slander and persecution and must remain faithful to the truth. He was persecuted and killed, but his enemies could not take away his hope or eternal life. His example shows that people may harm the body without destroying the soul's hope of life with God.
Filled with the Holy Spirit while facing a furious council and death by stoning, Stephen looked into heaven and saw its gates opened with the glory of God and Jesus clearly seen as the Son of man at the right hand of God. His standing means He had as it were risen from His throne and stood ready to sustain His servant in martyrdom, watching him with deep interest and commendation. The sight was truth and not blasphemy, proving that Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended to heaven as the promised Messiah foretold by the prophets. Beholding Christ and the glory of His courts filled Stephen with triumph over fear and rage, and the light of Christ's face shone upon him until his own face shone like an angel's before his enemies. That witness cut his hearers to the heart yet they stopped their ears and stoned him while he entrusted his spirit to Jesus and prayed for their forgiveness, and its truth was later forced upon Saul when the glorified Christ met him on the way to Damascus and turned the persecutor into a preacher of the same cause. What Stephen saw shows what faithful people will see at their final deliverance when the heavens part and they behold the glory of God and the Son of man upon His throne, assuring those facing persecution that they will be vindicated and victorious.
Setting of Stephen's Declaration
Stephen, filled with the Holy Ghost, looked steadfastly up into heaven while facing a furious council and mob and imminent death by stoning for presenting saving truth. In that moment of martyrdom he saw the heavens opened with God's glory and Jesus standing at God's right hand. The light of Christ's face shone upon him so that his countenance shone with the glory of the Redeemer like an angel's, a radiance even his enemies saw, leaving him calm and unafraid.
After charging his hearers as stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears who always resist the Holy Ghost and who betrayed and murdered the Just One, he told them openly that he saw the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. The declaration cut them to the heart so that they gnashed on him with their teeth as Satan worked in the children of disobedience. Those who heard understood what the result of such testimony would be, and they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, ran upon him with one accord, cast him out of the city and stoned him. As they stoned him he called upon the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit and prayed that the sin not be laid to their charge, before he fell asleep.
What he saw was heaven opened with the gates standing ajar and the earthly scene of judges and mob fading from his vision. There was revealed the glory of God and of His courts, with angels around him. Jesus was clearly seen as the Son of man standing on the right hand of God, the same one who had lived among people on earth.
He spoke this final testimony openly by the Holy Spirit as he recognized his life was in danger before hostile judges who were resisting his words. The time, place, and occasion of trial and imminent death are important to its full significance.
Christ Standing to Sustain
Jesus standing at God's right hand means as if just risen from His throne, standing ready to sustain His servant who was about to suffer martyrdom for His name. Heaven was opened to Stephen as he faced martyrdom, and Christ stood ready to sustain him in his suffering, filling him with triumph rather than fear. The sight of the glory of God's courts gave him triumph over the fear of death and the rage of his persecutors.
Jesus stood in commendation upon His faithful witness, a man loved by God who labored to win souls to Christ by triumphant testimony of the crucified and risen Saviour. Christ was revealed as watching Stephen with deep interest and concern as he suffered for his faith in deadly spiritual conflict with spiritual powers. The light of Christ's face shone upon him so brightly in that conflict that his enemies saw his face shine like an angel's.
That light made Stephen's countenance shine with the glory of the Redeemer, a radiance even his enemies saw as he faced death by stoning for presenting saving truth. The sight left him calm and unafraid, calmly fearless with angelic light while the earthly scene faded from his vision. Seeing the glory and Christ gave him triumph rather than fear over death and the rage of his persecutors.
Proof of Risen Messiah
Stephen truly saw the heavens opened and looked into the kingdom of glory, beholding Jesus as the Son of man standing at the right hand of God after His resurrection and ascension. What priests and rulers condemned as blasphemy was truth and verity, for as he was dying he beheld the glory of God and Christ exalted in heaven. The vision proves that Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, the crucified and risen Redeemer and promised Messiah. It agrees with what the prophets foretold about His rejection and crucifixion and then His resurrection and ascension, showing Him to be the promised Messiah rejected and crucified, then raised and ascended.
The vision belongs to Stephen's mighty, triumphant testimony borne through the Holy Spirit that Jesus is the Son of God, wrapped as he was in God's glory. His hearers rejected that Spirit-given evidence, stopping their ears rather than be convinced, and continued in persecuting Christ's disciples. Paul afterward proclaimed the same cause for which Stephen died, defending from prophecy that the crucified Jesus was the Son of God. Stephen's testimony to truth could not be refuted, for his faith was grounded in Scripture and he met hostile disputants with assurance, wisdom, and unanswerable arguments. His opponents answered defeat not by accepting the truth but by dragging him from the judgment hall and silencing him by violence, stoning him as his face shone with heavenly glory.
The one Stephen saw was the same Jesus who had lived among people on earth, recognized by heavenly light, now ascended to heaven where He lives to intercede for humanity. Risen and at the right hand of God, Christ continues to work for the salvation of men and women and calls people to join Him in that work.
Conviction of Saul and Church
Saul came to know that Stephen's vision was true when the glorified Christ was revealed to him on the way to Damascus, and Stephen's sermon was then brought forcibly to his mind. He recognized that Stephen had truly looked into the kingdom of glory and had seen Jesus as the Son of man standing at the right hand of God after His resurrection and ascension. The words condemned as blasphemy were truth and verity, agreeing with what the prophets foretold about the rejection, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of the promised Messiah. Remembered in the light on the Damascus road, the vision proved Jesus is the Messiah, the crucified and risen Redeemer ascended to heaven, and it exposed Saul's zeal in persecuting Christ's followers as ignorance and error and the work of Satan done through trust in the priests and rulers.
At the stoning Saul stood by consenting and approving, before he went on breathing threatenings and slaughter against the disciples and seeking authority to bind men and women of this way and bring them to Jerusalem. At that time he was a rabbi and statesman, a member of the Sanhedrin educated by Gamaliel, very zealous for the suppression of Christianity. Priests and rulers had convinced him that Stephen was a blasphemer and that Jesus whom Stephen preached was an impostor, and his settled conviction that the priests and scribes were right made him bitter in opposition to Christians and zealous in persecuting believers. Stephen's triumphant death greatly stirred Saul's mind and shook his prejudice, yet he accepted the leaders' claim and urged persecution.
Stephen's face had been lit with heaven's radiance, and the glory on his face with the compassion of his dying prayer was striking evidence that Saul had ignored while urging persecution. Saul later remembered that evidence with anguish, horror and remorse as he recognized his guilt in persecuting believers and in wrongly rejecting Jesus. God's presence with Stephen in trial and martyrdom, by a power greater than earthly strength sustaining him, stirred Saul to doubt whether his opposition to Jesus' followers was righteous. The vision glorified Stephen and testified to the truth of his message, and its impact remained in the memory of those who witnessed his death, including Saul, and contributed to his conversion.
Spoken with faith and constancy with the signet of God upon his face, Stephen's proclamation of the opened heavens reached to the very soul of those who heard it and testified to the truth of what he proclaimed. His martyrdom made a deep impression upon all who witnessed it, was a sore trial to the church, and resulted in the conversion of Saul, from whose memory the faith, constancy and glorification of the martyr could not be effaced. Stephen's death did not hinder the gospel, for though his stoning appeared to let Christ's enemies triumph, it led to Paul's conversion and helped bring thousands to the gospel. Heaven's glory on his face and the compassion in his dying prayer convicted the Sanhedrin member Saul, who became a messenger of Christ to Gentiles, kings and Israel, called to preach and strengthen the disciples. He would fill the place Stephen had held in the church and continue the same cause for which Stephen had died and which Paul later proclaimed in the synagogue, that the crucified Jesus is the Son of God, using prophecy to show it, as part of the witness through which the first Gospel church in Jerusalem after Christ's ascension revealed the power of the risen Saviour.
Stephen witnessed for Christ by blood shed in martyrdom at a definite spot in Jerusalem that remained known and could be gazed upon, bringing the vivid scene of his death back to mind. Paul looked upon it with anxiety, remorse and sadness because it recalled his former life and bitter prejudice against the followers of Christ. It raised the question whether he was going forward to a similar fate in Jerusalem, the city that had murdered the prophets and rejected and slain the Son of God and over which hung the threatenings of divine wrath.
Pattern for Final Deliverance
Stephen's gaze into heaven shows what God's people will behold at their final deliverance. At the voice saying Look up, the black angry clouds part, and like Stephen looking steadfastly into heaven they look up and see the glory of God and the Son of man seated upon His throne. In His divine form they discern the marks of His humiliation. From His lips they hear Him present before His Father and the holy angels the request that those given Him be with Him where He is.
The same vision belongs to faithful people facing murderous persecution, who receive a glimpse of Christ and are assured of victory. In a future time of persecution those who refuse to worship the beast or its image or to honor an idol sabbath will look up as Stephen did. As the opened heavens are echoed, the throne of God is revealed to their view. They see a heavenly scene with martyrs gathered near the throne. Shutting out the threats of their persecutors, that sight makes them no longer heed what is threatened against them, and the despised and oppressed and suffering are shown as conquerors who will ultimately be vindicated and victorious.
Trust and Faithful Witness
As Stephen yielded up his life facing death, he entrusted his spirit and his soul to Jesus, who alone is able to keep and care for it, and the sight of Jesus standing at God's right hand with heaven opened illustrates trusting Christ with one's life and committing it to Him in faith. Stephen's vision is an example of Christ manifesting Himself and making Himself known to the faithful as He promises to do. It illustrates how vividly a believer may see Christ by faith, seeing Him clearly with the heavens opened. It presents Christ and the heavenly world as real sources of support in earthly struggle during conflict with spiritual powers.
The scene shows that the righteous have a reward to behold by faith, received even while facing death by stoning for presenting saving truth. Christ standing at the right hand of God watches everything the Father is doing in this world. From there He works in every obedient heart, and sees what each person can do when humbled and teachable as a little child. He gives a work to the one who is meek and lowly in heart and prepares that person to do the work in unity with Himself.
Stephen, the first Christian martyr, died as a martyr for his faith in conflict with spiritual powers. His faith was grounded in Scripture, and he met hostile disputants with assurance, wisdom, and arguments they could not refute, yet his opponents answered defeat not by accepting the truth but by putting him to death. His steadfast witness even under threat of death is an example for Christian workers who may face slander and persecution and must remain faithful to the truth. He was persecuted and killed, but his enemies could not take away his hope or eternal life. His example shows that people may harm the body without destroying the soul's hope of life with God.