Walk

315. Seeing the invisible

Open the Door to Heaven

How can we do it?

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, ‘Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1).

John was on the Island of Patmos feeling down and out, probably not knowing why things were going so poorly. Why was he a prisoner? Why did Peter get crucified? Why did James get beheaded? All of the sudden, Jesus appeared to him and told him to look into the invisible realm, through the DOOR. God wanted him to see that what was in the invisible was more real than what was in the visible realm.

We need to get used to God’s ways and the way He speaks. What if He had said in Genesis 1, “Oh man, all I see is darkness.” In Genesis 1, God said what was not, and it was. His Word was enough to create everything. But after He created Adam, He didn’t create just by His Word. After that He spoke to Adam and Adam said what was not, and it was. God entrusted mankind with His creative powers.

God spoke some very impossible things to Abraham as if they were actual facts. Romans 4:16-22 says, “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence of Him whom he believed – God, who gives life to the dead and call those things which do not exist as though they did (speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed. – Amplified Bible); who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore ‘it was accounted to him for righteousness.’”

Seeing the invisible is not only for God, it is also for us.

Hebrews 11:1-2 (Amplified Bible) says, “Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. For by [faith – trust and holy fervor born of faith] the men of old had divine testimony borne to them and obtained a good report.”

Faith is our God-given sense to see into the eternal, the invisible. The eternal cannot be picked up with our eyes and ears, so we need a reliable sensory organ; that is called faith. If you smell a rotten egg, but later see it is a pulp wood plant, your eyes gave the more reliable evidence. So it is with faith. It is more reliable than our 5 senses. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). You don’t have to work up faith, it is God-given. It really is God’s faith planted in us. Mark 11 and Romans 12:3 (NIV, 1984) talk about “the measure of faith God has given you”.

Adam had it before he sinned. Noah saw the invisible (Hebrews 11:7), Moses saw it as well (Hebrews 11:23-26), and many others had faith, including a man called Gideon (Hebrews 11:32).

How does this apply to us today?

All these people in the Old Testament were given a peek into the future by God speaking to them. Now God gives you and me a peek into the past to view the Cross of Jesus and all that it provided for us by grace and faith. When we rely on the Word by faith, we see the invisible. The Holy Spirit will open our eyes.

The “INVISIBLE” Word says that we are:

· Righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21).

· Justified (Romans 5:1).

· Forgiven for our past, present and future sins (Acts 26:18).

· Accepted by God (Romans 15:7).

· Delivered from shame (Matthew 27:35-36; Hebrews 2:10).

· Crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20).

· Saved by grace and going to Heaven, not by our works, but by the work that Jesus did on the Cross (Ephesians 2:8).

· Healed (1 Peter 2:24).

· Prosperous (2 Corinthians 9:8).

· All our needs are met (Philippians 4:19).

· Guarded by angels (Psalm 91:11-12).

· Protected, so we have no reason for fear (Romans 8:15; 2 Timothy 1:7).

· Overcomers over every evil circumstance that attacks us (Romans 8:37).

· Have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

· A vessel to be inhabited by God Himself, the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).

· Heirs to the character of God (Romans 8:29).

Do you feel like you are all these things?

Probably, not. Most likely, Abraham did not feel like the father of many nations, nor did Gideon feel like a Mighty Man of Valor.

How does this kind of faith come? Romans 10:17 says that it comes by hearing God speak. You might say, I have been reading the Bible, and I have not seen past the visible into the invisible. Maybe, maybe not. But there is a veil, an invisible veil that goes over our eyes. In the Garden of Eden, after Adam sinned, God placed a veil between Adam the sinner and the Word of God. It was represented by the great big Cherubim angel and the flaming sword (Genesis 3:24). God cannot allow a sinner to have insight into His Word any time they want. He has conditions.

2 Corinthians 4:4 (KJV) says, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Don’t be like the priest Zacharias in Luke 1.

One time, when Zechariah’s division was on duty, he was serving as priest before God. He was chosen by lot according to the custom of the priesthood to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

Luke 1:8-22 says, “So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ And Zacharias said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.’ And the angel answered and said to him, ‘I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.’ And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.”

Maybe Gabriel would have thought to himself, “Buddy, I am not accustomed to this ‘visible’ realm, where truth is doubted. I have come from the presence of God and have been sent to speak truth to you. Why don’t you believe?”

How can we do it?

Only through the Word of God made alive by the Holy Spirit.

The first condition is repentance, which simply means to turn from your old ways towards God and His system of the Word of God.

The next condition is to come under the authority of Jesus and His Word and be an obedient disciple.

2 Corinthians 3:16 (Amplified Bible) says, “But whenever a person turns [in repentance] to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away.”

Then watch out, you will see the invisible!

The ISOB lesson “The Flowing River” would be an excellent tool for seeing the invisible.

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