Reading: “A door was opened in heaven.”—Revelation 4:1
Lord, give me a call to “come up hither” and by faith behold the glories that shall be revealed, and immediately I shall be in the spirit as he was. Is it not true, Lord, that all your possessions are mine? And shall I not take the map of them from scripture, and look over them with holy rapture and delight? Do men of the earth take pride in their lands and manors, the very holding of which is precarious, and which begin to slide from under their feet as soon as they enter upon them? And shall not an heir of God, a joint-heir with Christ, rejoice in having a kingdom that cannot be moved? Come, my soul, look within the veil, where the Forerunner has entered for you, and now that God the Holy Ghost hath opened a door in heaven, behold what felicities are presenting themselves to you view. Behold, amidst all the glories of the palace, how eminently Jesus appears as a Lamb in the midst of the throne—freshly slain—as if to testify the eternal unceasing efficacy of his blood and righteousness. But what an innumerable host are these, which stand around the throne, and encircle the Redeemer—“these are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!”
They were once in the path of tribulation that you are now in; they were once sinners here below, as you are now; and they owe all their advancement, not to their merit, but to divine bounty. Blessed be God the Holy Ghost, for first opening to the beloved apostle, this door in heaven. Look up, and behold the door still open; and look in often by faith, and behold your Redeemer, and his redeemed. Realize these blessed things, and seek strength of faith from Jesus that will bring down the present enjoyment of heaven into the soul, before the Lord shall finally and fully call you up to the everlasting enjoyment of him in glory.
Leave A Comment