John Calvin Commentary Acts 26:16

"But arise, and stand upon thy feet: for to this end have I appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a minister and a witness both of the things wherein thou hast seen me, and of the things wherein I will appear unto thee;" — Acts 26:16 (ASV)

But rise. Christ threw Paul down so that he might humble him; now he lifts him up and tells him to take courage. And we too are daily thrown down by his voice for this purpose: that we may be taught to be modest. But see, whomever he throws down, he also gently raises them up again.

And this is no small consolation, when Christ says that he appeared to him not as an avenger to punish him for his madness, for those beatings he had unjustly and cruelly inflicted, for his bloody sentences, or for the trouble with which he had afflicted the saints, for his wicked resistance to the gospel, but as a merciful Lord, intending to use his diligence and to call him to an honorable ministry.

For he made him a witness of those things which he saw, and which he would see later. This vision was worthy to be recorded, through which he learned that Christ reigns in heaven, so that he might no longer proudly despise him, but acknowledge that he is the Son of God and the promised Redeemer. He had other revelations afterward, as he says in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 12 (2 Corinthians 12:1).