An Opened Door…..of Hope and Promise
"Behold, a door ... opened in heaven" Revelation 4:1
An open door…
You may not have thought about it much but you have been walking through doors most all of your life
They have been all sizes, all weights, all colors.
In John 10:9 Jesus describes himself as the door. "By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture" Any other attempt would be theft.
There are 2 doors in this sanctuary and 13 doors in this building
When a door is opened ….what is behind the door is revealed
Behind your front door your family is revealed…there are doors in your home
Each door opened door reveals another unknown
1. John said he saw a door….A door opened in heaven…I like that
John is certain that heaven isn't a condition like some teach today…….heaven is a real place.
"A door ... opened in heaven." If it opened for John, it must have opened for my sister Candance.
It must have opened for every precious loved one who has gone by way of the grave
And I am certain….yes I am positive it will open for me should I too go by way of the grave!
It must be an awesome moment for a human being to enter heaven.
It was for John. "Come up hither, and I will show thee things ... And immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne" (Revelation 4:1, 2).
This must be our first experience when the "door" opens. I will be invited in to see Jesus!.
2 Cor 5:8 says "We are confident, YES WELL PLEASED, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord
The text says "a door."….a door opened….a door that reveals things not seen before
2. Jesus opened "a door" while ministering to His disciples.
He told us that in heaven there are "many mansions."
There will be room for everyone. Heaven is not a crowded ghetto. There are no slums in heaven
No tiny apartment projects that are falling apart. No restricted areas….no rich class or poor class…..only mansions
3. Peter, too, was permitted to look through an opened door on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Peter saw two residents of another world.
He listened to an intelligent conversation.
Peter saw unbelievable beauty. …. He was overwhelmed by it.
There was a brilliance unmatched by any thing Peter had seen on this earth
Peter said Lord it is good for us to be here ….let us make three tabernacles
He was to learn that where Moses and Elijah dwelt; there were many mansions" and not "tabernacles."
The housing God has prepared makes earth's best look cheap.
A "mansion" goes along with your salvation…..
The moment you decide to follow Jesus….the moment you repent of your sin and trust in the atonement Jesus made for your sin to save your wretched soul …you become a born-again believer…..and a special place is prepared for you.
There's nothing for a sinner in hell. …. And no sinner ever claimed a palace.
A sinner works his or her way from the best of homes, families, and marriages to bars, alleys, jails, filth. ………….only closed doors…………No door opens.
A sinner tumbles into a long and hideous death and in the end an eternal blackout. But to those who know Jesus as Lord and Savor have an open door in heaven!
4. Through the open door in heaven we learn heaven has solved the problem of decay.
……… My bible says it is “eternal life”.
There is freedom from pollution and corruption.
Paul got a glimpse and said "We shall. .. be changed,. .. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality" (I Corinthians 15:51, 54).
Our "mansions" shall be forever new…. There will be no aging. …no painting….no fixing rotten facial boards…
5. Through this door ….. I learn there will be blessed reunions.
I have read about many great men and woman of the faith …….
But there is coming a day soon when I will meet them…and I will know them
"Then shall I know even as also I am known" (I Corinthians 13:12).
I’ll meet Charles Spurgeon,….Charles Finney,…..the Wesley brothers…..Billy Sunday
I'll meet G. Cambel Morgan, and Dwight L. Moody…R.A. Torrey and Jonathan Edwards
I’ll meet Adrian Rodgers…..and Jerry Fallwell…I meet my mom & dad in the Lord Stanley and Bernice Anderson….
I'll meet great woman of the faith like Fanney Crosby and Susanna Westley
Ill talk with king David and the prophets……I’ll introduce myself to the apostles and all the disciples
I'll meet men and woman from around the world that suffered and died for Jesus…Martyrs of every age………………..And ill meet beloved family members that went on before me
6. This “open door” promises me something better than graveyards.
A church I attended in Mississippi was across from an old cemetery. Some afternoons Mary and I would walk through it and read the headstones. I was often reminded my life was short….a ship on the horizon and then gone…A clap of the hands….But I'm heading toward "mansions" not a grave
7. One will hear voices of great appreciation through this door.
Loving and kind words will be said. … Children will know how much parents meant to them.
You will be able to say the things your heart always wanted to say. Children will thank Godly parents….
Brothers and sister will say the words they never had the chance to say. Husband and wives will be able to express what they never had the opportunity to express in this life. I will be able to thank all the great preachers for the books they wrote that helped me…all the scholars who invested their life so I can pick up a concordance or a bible atlas to study God’s Holy Word. I will thank those who gave their life for the Bible translation I can read daily.
I notice something….when Lazarus died we read "many ... came ... to comfort" (John 1 1: 19).
There is a great need one for another……….…speak comforting words
Today we are in a hurry….We often times forget to say kind things and thank loved ones daily
The walk from the open grave to the ride back to the house is the longest ride any one takes after he or she says "good-bye" at the cemetery. …I've taken that ride many times before….I know. And during that ride every surviving person searches his or her soul wishing they had expressed what should have been said but never was.
I need more than Valentine's Day or Memorial Day, I need a reunion day.
AND THANK GOD THERE WILL BE A WONDERFUL REUNION DAY THROUGH THE OPEN DOOR THAT JOHN SAW IN HEAVEN. BECAUSE THE SAME DOOR WILL BE OPENED TO EVERY BORN AGAIN CHILD OF GOD
8. Another thing I learn as I look through the open door is that "time shall be no more."
When I was in high school there was a song titled "Time is on my side, yes it is” What a lie of the Devil
We have so many timepieces monitoring our lack of time here on earth as we know it now……
AGE is a watch that can not be reset…it ticks away minute by minute
Your hair turns white…..teeth lose their grip…..limbs become uncertain…and your eyes dim.
But through this open door I get a glimpse of a world of agelessness.
No mind or body will ever be impaired.
You can check in your glasses…..throw away your canes and crutches, …..dump the pacemakers, hearing aids, hairpieces, throw out braces, bridges, and elastic stockings.
The lame will walk….and the blind will see. …The deaf will hear. The mute will speak.
The twisted will be straight. ….The wrinkle will be smoothed. Your memory will be sharp
And nothing …I repeat nothing …..will make afraid."
9. In heaven we will know our Jesus in "the power of his resurrection" (Philippians 3:10).
"Behold, a door. .. opened in heaven." "And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal" (Revelation 4:4, 6).
The great laver of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness is no longer needed. Redemption is complete.
There will be no more washings. There everyone is a King and Priest unto God. In the presence of the Living God Almighty….the Alpha and the Omega…the beginning and the end …..Holy and clean forever
Many have walked through that opened door before us…. They wait patiently for us….
They are the ones mentioned in Hebrews 12:1…
"Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us"
They have long since they reached the finish line. There is no glossary of medical terms like arthritis, cancer, leukemia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, HIV, Kidney failure, gout….It is perfect health unlimited. In heaven there is an environment of victory….. There are no failures. All are optimists.
It is an economy without complaint. …. The weather is perfect. There will never be a forecast of storm. Supply and demand are in perfect ratio. Agriculture will never be subsidized. The Administration is faultless.
10. Through that opened door ….There I will meet angels who have watched over me.
But my very first vision will be of JESUS. "A door was opened in heaven: ... And immediately. . behold, a throne ... and one sat on the throne" (Revelation 4:1, 2).
11. Jesus makes the life-to-come as He makes this present life.
It begins and completes in Him.
He is the Author and the Finisher. He is the Door. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10: 10). All benefits are through and by Him.
12. There are enough open door "peeks" into heaven and into hell for everyone to make a choice.
It's madness to choose hell. …yet millions will choose Hell by default or neglect.
Opportunities pass by…..other doors open and call us away…..
The door of education invites……. The business door says, "I am the way." ……..
the sports door offer excitement and satisfaction.
There are so many doors that open and call us to walk through them
But Jesus says, "All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers" (John 10:8).
If you miss heaven, believe me when I tell you in …..Hell will be filled with people who will curse the bar…the friend that sold them drugs, the filthy magazines, the quick profit, the lies and deceit of this world system that enticed them daily
You'll despise the super bowls and the finals that drew you away from the one true door..The door" that opens to heaven.
One day, soon, if the Lord tarry I will receive a summons-
I will step out of this world as I know it and into another world….I will walk through the open door I have spoken about today….and I will be with Jesus for ever!
If I go by way of the grave…..I will also walk through that open door, “For to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).
There is nothing more exciting than an opened door to heaven……..
BUT There is nothing sadder than a closed door.
Your destiny is in one Person's hands. "He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth" (Revelation 3:7)…..JESUS
I have heard souls cry when it was too late. And it's an awful scream of agony. Today is the day of our Lord. We are living in 2017 AD….. the YEAR of our Lord. Every calendar marks the years since Jesus came. ….Perhaps next year's calendar will never be printed. Perhaps tomorrows calendar date will be the date you are called to give an account of your life.
Will there be an open door that no man can close….. Or will there be a closed door no man can open for you. In Noah’s day the open door of the ark was a place of safety to Noah & his family, but it was a closed door to all who refused the free invitation for years
The choice can be settled right here and now….you see it is a choice you have to make yourself
Will you choose the open door to heaven today…….
Will you ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins
If you will the Bibles says he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins
Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow
