Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the River Chebar, that THE HEAVENS WERE OPENED and I saw visions of God.
Ezekiel 1:1 (NKJV)
The prophet Ezekiel was a man of great joy living amongst a broken humanity. The Jews had been captured by the Babylonians and whilst everyone was miserable, forlorn, dejected and depressed, Ezekiel was literally having the time of his life.
The scriptures declare that the heavens were opened and he was seeing visions of God.
Put another way, the unseen spiritual world of God and His heavenly court was now visible and being made know to the prophet.
Incredible!
An open heaven means an open realm of the unseen.
And the unseen, or spirit realm, is a very real world, more so than the natural physical world that we are accustomed to.
I’ll never forget the amazing angelic encounter I had at the age of nine years.
I had just fallen asleep in my room when all of a sudden, I felt a presence come into my room that was so strong that it woke me up. I switched on the lights and there kneeling at the foot of my bed was this huge angel.
I wasn’t saved back then and didn’t know too much of the Bible, hardly any in fact, but I distinctly remember noticing the wings behind the angel. At first I thought it was its neck but when I recounted the story to my grandfather the next day, he quickly surmised that it was the wings I had seen. He stared at me for a moment and then in a quiet voice, went on to say that it was probably one of the archangels that had come to visit me.
The amazing thing about this angel, that I will never ever forget, was his appearance.
It seemed as if someone was pouring liquid gold from above into the shape of the angel. This gave the appearance of a constant flow and movement to the shape. Everything about the angel seemed to be fluid. Although his actual shape never changed, within the shape there was this constant shimmering, flowing movement.
When I tried to look at the angel it was like looking into the brightest of suns, there was such a radiance and glow.
I couldn’t make out any of its features, like the colour of eyes and hair. All I could see was the outline and everything just glowed with a bright, yellow, gold, liquid colour.
I was keenly aware that he was looking at me and the only part of his eyes that I could see was his eyelashes which I saw when he happened to blink. And when he blinked I felt a tremendous wave of peace flood my soul.
To begin with, fear had gripped my heart, but the more I looked and beheld, the more it seemed as if peace oozed out of him, until my heart was completely overwhelmed with peace.
This lasted for several minutes, and then, as quickly as he had appeared, he disappeared and I almost immediately went back to sleep.
The point I am trying to make is that the heavens are opened.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus rent the veil and we can and should expect to have godly visitations.
Ezekiel was by the river Chebar and whilst everyone else was being affected by the turn of events, Ezekiel positioned himself under an open heaven and encountered God. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take that any day!
You know, the Bible is a book full of ordinary people who experienced supernatural visitations of God, because of an open heaven.
If they could, while living lived under the old dispensation, how much more you and I living under the new covenant?
DECLARATION:
The heavens are open and no matter what I may be facing in the natural, by faith, I position myself for God encounters and heavenly visitations.