One Way Mirror

Lately, in a lot of what I'm reading and hearing from my pastor, a certain quote from Jesus has consistently been mentioned and explained. I have heard it explained that when Jesus said " the kingdom of God is at hand" it can be translated as the Kingdom of God being at arms length. Last Sunday, in my pastor's sermon, he mentioned the story of Stephen and, specifically, the part where Stephen said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God". I have always pictured that scene in my head where a little circle opens up in the sky and it's as if Stephen is able to view heaven in the same way you might look into a house far away on a hill through a bay window. But as I began to think of this scene in the context of the Kingdom of Heaven being at arms length, a totally different picture emerged in my head. I think of one of those mirrors that you see in the police station in movies all the time where the person in the interregation room can only see a mirror but on the other side of the mirror, other people are able to look in on the occupant of the room. But the mirror I'm picturing is way bigger, like a one way mirror that encompasses the entire sky...and when Stephen was allowed to look into heaven, it was as if someone had flipped on the light switch on the other side of the mirror and there right in front of Stephen was a sweeping, breathtaking view of the throne room of God Almighty that filled up the entire breadth of the sky...and at that moment where Stephen could have easily felt the loneliest, he was given the opportunity to see just how close Jesus really was in the midst of the horror of being stoned to death...and then to not only see the proximity of Jesus but then to see Jesus stand at the right hand of the Father as if to honor Stephen in the presence of the Father and the millions of others there in the courts of Heaven..it must have brought Stephen incredible comfort in his last few seconds to know just how close the Kingdom of God was...