Heaven Opened on Christ and on the Believer - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

The LORD is near - Wednesday, November 16, 2023
by Jacob Redekop, Brian Reynolds, John van Dijk, Eugene P. Vedder Jr

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Heaven Opened on Christ and on the Believer

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him.
Matthew 3:16 NKJV

Heaven Opened on Christ and on the Believer
We find in the Word four memorable occasions on which the heavens open. Christ is the object of each of these revelations; each has its special character. In the above verse, the Holy Spirit descends upon Him, and He is acknowledged the Son of God.

At the end of John 1, He declares Himself to be the Son of Man. There, He mentions heaven being opened, with the angels of God ascending and descending upon Him. He is, as Son of Man, the object of their ministry.

At the end of Acts 7, an entirely new scene is opened. Stephen, by whom this testimony is rendered, is filled with the Holy Spirit, and the heavens are opened to him. The Christian is filled with the Spirit, heaven is opened to him, the glory of God is manifested to him, and the Son of Man appears to him, standing at the right hand of God. This is a different thing from the heavens open over Jesus, the object of God's delight on earth. It is heaven open to the Christian himself, his object being there when he is rejected on earth. He sees Jesus, the Son of Man in the glory of God. The difference is as remarkable as it is interesting to us; and it exhibits, in a most striking manner, the true position of the Christian as on earth.

Afterwards, in Revelation 19, we have heaven open, and the Lord Himself comes forth, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Thus we see: 1) Jesus, the Son of God on earth, the object of heaven's delight, sealed with the Holy Spirit; 2) Jesus, the Son of Man, the object of the ministry of heaven, angels being His servants; 3) Jesus, on high at the right hand of God, and the believer, full of the Spirit, and suffering here for His sake, beholding the Son of Man in the glory; and 4) Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, coming forth to judge and make war against the scornful men who dispute His authority and oppress the earth.

-- J. N. Darby

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