All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” (The Sanhedrin charged him with speaking blasphemous words against God, Moses, the Laws of Moses and the temple of Israel.) To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ (Acts 6:15-7:3)
In Daniel 10:6, Daniel describes an angel’s face as lightning. In heaven angels’ faces shine with the glory of God. In the same way, God shines His glory on Stephen. God wants the Sanhedrin to know that Stephen’s words are directly from His mouth.
The glory of God is the light and splendor that stems from His nature. When God’s glory appeared to Abraham, it moved him. I can imagine he fell to his knees in praise and had no doubt he should obey God and leave His country and people. Taking his family, he followed God, trusting Him and wanting to be more like Him. When Abraham strayed from God, things didn’t go well for him, so he desired to be close to God.
God’s glory is available to all Christians through the Holy Spirit. We should pray for God’s light, look for it, bask in it, and display it, so we can be more like Jesus. “We Christians have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him. (2 Corinthians 3:18 TLB)
Father God, I praise you for giving me Your glory through the Holy Spirit. Help me look for, find, and bask in Your light, so I can shine through the darkness of this world and become more like Jesus. I pray in Jesus’ precious and holy name, amen.