Nowhere else is there such deliverance from the glare and cross-lights of earth as is afforded by a vision of the face of Jesus, brighter than the sun at noon. To everyone there comes the opportunity of catching a vision of that face, sometimes reflected in a human one, as Paul first saw it in the countenance of Stephen. It confronts us when we go on forbidden paths, and summons us to arise and follow the life which is life indeed.

Verse 16: What we have seen is only a part of the great unveiling. He will show us other and greater things than these. Verse 17: We shall be delivered, even as we are sent. The Master holds himself responsible for our safety while we are engaged in his work. Verse 18: We have here an anticipation of Col. 1:19.

We must not disobey the heavenly visions that visit us. When Paul in his dream beheld the beckoning Macedonian, he made a straight course for Europe. Sometimes, in obeying, the first appearances are discouraging, as when the missionaries, on landing at Philippi, met only a few women beside the little river; but the final results will justify the first stepping-out of faith,