Thursday, November 7, 2019

An Open Heaven/Part One


An Open Heaven/Part One
The “Red Letter” Words of Jesus
Day Eleven

And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”  John 1:51 (NKJV)

Before I write a “The ‘Red Letter’ Words of Jesus” devotion, I research the scriptures using several resources. I use the same resources every time enabling some consistency for my research. In relation to the above verse, they all referenced Genesis 28:10-22. Let’s look at these verses to see if there’s a connection to John 1:51.

Here’s the Old Testament background story (see Genesis 27-28): In Canaan, where his family lived, Jacob stole his brother’s birthright. Esau, being furious, wanted to kill him. Jacob fled to Haran, his mother’s hometown in Mesopotamia. One night on the journey, he had a dream. Genesis 28:12-13(a) reads, “A ladder was set up on the earth, and it’s top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it…” The Lord met with Jacob that night speaking many promises to him. All the promises eventually came to pass.

Two important things happened in these verses. (We’ll discuss them in a couple devotions). The first key event was that in the dream Jacob saw angels ascending and descending from heaven on a ladder. God allowed Jacob access into the unseen – a spiritual dimension where the Lord’s purposes were being completed.

Ephesians 6 reminds us some things which happen in our lives are unseen. There’s a sacred dimension where God continuously works on our behalf. It’s a realm we can utilize through prayer, fasting and the armor of God. If we could literally see it, we’d see a place where angels busily accomplish the Lord’s will, battles are fought and our prayers activate the hand of God.

Jacob experienced this spiritual realm in a dream. In John 1:51, Jesus promised Nathanael he would see heaven open. Because of Jesus’ completed work on the cross, we can take comfort knowing we too can access God’s open heaven any time day or night.


https://biblesutdytools.com/bible-stories/jacob-s-ladder-bible-story.html


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