Heaven Shall Be Opened To You

Theme: Heaven shall be opened to you

Text: 1 Sam. 3:1-10; 1 Cor. 6:12-20; Jn. 1:43-51

Our theme for today’s sermon is “heaven shall be opened to you”. Whenever the windows of heaven open in the Scriptures we are given a revelation of God. We either see a new aspect of His being or a new way of His dealings with men. We see Him as a God who blesses and gives generously or as a God who takes sin seriously and judges sinners. The believer is however spared God’s judgement as he has already been forgiven in Christ. When the heavens open man is given a vision of God and heaven and sees what God has prepared for those who love him. He sees “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined”. (1 Cor. 2:9) When the heavens are open there is no barrier between earth and heaven and nothing is able to come between us and God, between our prayers and God’s blessings. Heaven shall not remain closed but shall be opened to you.

God wants us to live under open heavens because under it we have a revelation of Who He is. This revelation will eventually lead to an intimate relationship with Him that gives us access to His presence. Open heavens gives us unhindered access to God’s presence and His blessings. In His presence God will not withhold any blessing from you. He did not withhold His Son from us neither would He withhold the Holy Spirit from us. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:13) Open heavens gives us access to God’s abundant supplies. God knows what we need and has everything we need. At Creation God made sure that He created everything that man would ever need before He created man. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8) and He has everything we will ever need.

In the days of Eli the heavens remained closed because the spiritual leaders were corrupt and God’s people were not obeying His law. The sons of Eli, the priest, paid no attention to the Lord or to the regulations concerning what the priests could demand from the people. They were even sleeping with the women who worked at the entrance to the Tabernacle. “The word of the Lord was rare in those days and there was no widespread revelation” referring to a closed heaven. God chose Samuel to replace Eli and the heavens were opened to him because of his dedication and love for the Lord. The heavens remained close to Eli but were open to Samuel to hear the voice of God. Samuel, however, was not familiar with the voice of the Lord so God used Eli to reveal to Samuel how he should respond to God’s voice. This means that it is possible for God to stop speaking to someone who was once very spiritual. When God called to Samuel, Eli had enough spiritual knowledge to know what was happening and advised him on what to do for God to speak. Samuel responded to God’s call and received God’s revelation about what was about to happen. Eli was there and the message was about him and yet God would not give him the message. The tragedy of Eli’s life was that he was someone who God used to speak to, who still had enough spiritual knowledge but whose life no longer pleased the Lord. God desires to open the heavens to bless us. Like Samuel we need to be dedicated and ready to say ‘speak Lord, your servant is listening’.

The heavens had remained closed since the time of the Old Testament prophets when there was a lot of communication between heaven and earth. God would come down and talk to His people or feed them from heaven. This changed at the baptism of Jesus when the heavens were opened. When Jesus was baptised by John the heavens were opened and the Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove. John bore witness saying “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him”. (John 1:32) At His baptism the Father spoke from heaven saying “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased”. (Mark 1:11) This describes the Trinity, the presence of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We all need open heavens to communicate with God. When the heavens are closed we are not able to hear God’s voice and direction and our prayers remain unanswered as they contradict God’s will for our lives. Many believers are not even concerned about hearing God’s voice since they see no need for His direction. They have already made up their minds and only need God to meet their need their way. Their main interest for seeking God is to please themselves and not to please God. God does not want us to have limited access to His blessings. He wants us to live under an open Heaven, where we have free access to His abundant blessings.