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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