Open Heaven

We have been takling about the vision Jacob had of the ladder between heaven and earth in Genesis 28.

What was happening in that gate in Jacob's vision? Angels were ascending and descending. If they're ascending, that means they've already descended, right? When I was looking at this, I thought, "Oh God, but this was the Old Testament. Where is it in the New Testament?" Turn to John's gospel, chapter 1, verse 47, "When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, 'Here is a true Israelite in whom is there is nothing false, no guile.'" Jesus had a prophetic word or a word of knowledge. "'How do you know me?' Nathanael asked. Jesus said, 'I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Phillip called you.'" Now that's a revelatory gift. He had a vision. And this word of knowledge (or prophecy or a vision). The seer aspect that came in there by the gift of the Holy Spirit affected Nathanael in verse 49, "Then Nathanael declared, 'Rabbi, You're the Son of God! You're the King of Israel!'"

Now look what Jesus said in John 1:50: "Jesus said, 'You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You shall see greater things that than.' He then added, 'I tell you the truth -- '" (which is a 'verily, verily' in King James. In Portuguese it's 'inverdage, inverdage'. It means, "Hey, listen up! What I'm about to tell you is really important. Don't miss it!".) "'...I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.'"

This word 'Son of Man' does not mean 'little ol' me' like I like to use the term (as in 'God's gonna use little ol' me'). The 'Son of Man' was not a title of humility. The 'Son of Man' was from Daniel chapter 9 where it's a Messianic title. Daniel said, "I saw one coming from the Ancient of Days like unto the Son of Man." This was a Messianic title. Jesus said, "You shall see heaven open and angels of God ascending and descending on the Messiah, on Me!"

I already told you the two times the Bible tells us that angels were ministering to Jesus: the wilderness temptation and in the Garden of Gethsemane when He was alone praying and the disciples, the three closest ones are still at a distance and the others are farther than that.

But in John 1, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth. You shall see angels ascending and descending on Me." Do you believe it happened? I do. Which means it happened more than the Bible tells us. The Bible didn't tell us every time Jesus was ministered to by angels. But this text lets us know that it happened more than those two times, because Nathanael had to see it. John said if everything Jesus said and did was recorded, I guess that all the whole books in the world wouldn't contain it.

The bottom line is that we don't know all the times that angels ministered to Jesus but we know that they did so at least three times because the Bible tells us so. If God used angels with Jesus while He walked on the earth, doesn't it follow that He would also use angels with His body, the church?

Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 1, verse 14. The way I understand Scripture, what opened heaven for us, the Church, the gentiles, was the Cross. The ladder is the Cross. Don't misunderstand my focus of this message. I'm trying to bring a balance to the Church, because most of the Church just doesn't know what to do with anything in the Bible that talks about angels. It's almost like, "Well, that's way back then. We don't know what happening now."

Even the New Age is talking all about angels, but they're not really understanding things correctly. There are angels, and if they get ministered to, it's by the low quality angels that can't get close to the throne anymore. They're just running on their own power -- you know, the fallen ones. Those "angels" are moving in their own created power, their own being.

Angels, unlike us, were created to be able to handle more. They don't fall out as easily as we do. God is personal and He also has this power about Him. We have to get glorified bodies to really enjoy getting close to Him in heaven, because these earthly bodies, because of the Fall short out. I don't think before the Fall that we shorted out so easily. Now the way we're wired, we're 110 and He's way past 440. The angels must be running at least 220 wiring, if this is making sense to you. I'm using an analogy. The angels come from His throne and they carry His glory. It's not theirs, it's His.

We want to focus. This is made possible because of the Cross. All I want is for you to understand all that Jesus got at the Cross for you. Too much of our preaching has been just about forgiveness, but salvation is much more than forgiveness. At the Cross He purchased my forgiveness; He gave me authority over demons. He experienced at the Cross the scourging and 'by His stripes we are healed,' so healing came through the Cross. But I'm also saying that at the Cross was the release of not only the Holy Spirit upon us in a way that we could never have apart from the grace of God purchased at the Cross, but it's the Cross that creates the open heaven and the ladder. The grace and mercy of God comes through Jesus' Cross, and He's raised to the Father, now He sends out the Spirit. But also, we entered into a new dimension of activity between heaven's angels and us because of the Cross. So we need to thank God for the Cross and all its benefits. We worship only the One who hung on the Cross, who was marked by the Cross. That's the only One we worship. Know that He has given so much for us.

Hebrews 1:14 says, "Are not all angels ministering spirits?" That word 'ministering' comes from the Greek word 'diakonis' from which we get the word 'deacon,' which means servant. "Are not all angels servants?" They are spirits that serve. Then it says, "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation." Now, who is that? That is the church, is it not? Angels were created by God to worship Him and serve Him. One of the ways angels serve God is when He sends them to serve the apple of His eye, His creation that the enemy is trying to destroy. He sends angels to serve those that have been redeemed in a special way.

I want to stop and pray. Father, I ask, while I'm teaching, would You send angels to minister to those who are reading this lesson and who need a healing touch from You. Lord, we ask for the activity of the angelic host cooperating with the moving the Holy Spirit because of Jesus, to happen for those who are reading this teaching. I pray Lord, that if there's somebody that needs healing of cancer, healing of leukemia, healing of Hepatitis C, healing of AIDS, they'll be healed as I teach.

Lord, I thank You that one of my interns, 22 years old, just a few weeks ago was preaching in a little church, stopped and said to some woman, "You've got something wrong with your blood." It turned out she had AIDS. He didn't know it. He just declared, "You're healed." She went to the doctor the next week and checked her blood and she was totally healed of AIDS.