The Door Standing Open
Printable PDF
J Preston Eby, Taken from: The Book of Revelation - Part 65
“After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven!” (Rev. 4:1, Amplified Bible). The door is standing open — now! Heaven is accessible — now! Sonship is attainable — now! Immortality and glory are obtainable — now! The throne is reachable — now! The Voice is calling — now! The door is standing open! Aren’t you glad!
What is lacking is a people that are in consciousness so in the heavenly dimension now; so alive to the things that are eternal, the things that are spirit, that even without them speaking this explicitly, their very presence exudes the atmosphere of life and the fragrance of the heavenly. God is preparing a people, a heavenly and celestial race, set in time. “…and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come He might show…” (Eph. 2:6-7). This is meaningless prattle unless the Spirit opens our understanding! We have been warned by the carnal minded of this age about the danger of being so “heavenly minded” until we are “no earthly good.” That is what the world says, and what should you expect from the world but to controvert and take the wisdom of God and so distort and pervert it until it appears ridiculous and absurd to have mankind believe exactly the reverse! But these words are being written to show that we have no choice, no option as to whether we will be heavenly minded or not, for we have heard the Voice calling, “Come up hither,” and we stand in the blazing glory of the door opened in the heavens. The truth is, my beloved, IF WE ARE NOT HEAVENLY MINDED IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE OF ANY EARTHLY GOOD!
It is only as a power reaches down and touches earth that it can be raised and quickened, transformed from the image of the earthly into the image of the heavenly. And Paul, the apostle of apostles, through whom the sacred secrets of God were revealed by the grace of God, defying the empty and inane cavilings of men and their fruitless doctrines and hollow traditions, admonished those who would be the sons and daughters of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the HEAVENLY CALLING…if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which ARE ABOVE, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things ABOVE, NOT ON THINGS ON THE EARTH. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Heb. 3:1; Col. 3:1-3).
It is when we are quickened to the realm of spirit, to the heavenly and celestial, to that bright glory world where alone can be perceived eternal truth and reality, that we hear our heavenly Father speaking from the throne of eternity. Long before the ages were framed and before the cosmos appeared out of the wastes of chaos, there in the glory and wonder of His presence, from out of the depths of His omniscient mind, His purpose for the ages and the world and every creature was laid down upon the infinite blue-print, plan by plan, purpose by purpose, age by age, person by person, so that each eonian purpose and every divine decree shall be guided and controlled by His omnipotent hand to grow and mature from glory to glory until His vast family of beloved sons shall deliver up to Him all things in perfection that God Himself might be All-in-all.
The notion that one could in some way become so “heavenly minded” that he would be “no earthly good” reveals the incredible darkness and deluded stupidity of the carnal mind and its pitiful inability to comprehend things that belong to heavenly realms. Oh, that the wisdom of man which is foolishness with God might be torn from our hearts that we might see beyond the mists and theories of time and tradition right into the very heart of the eternal where is found the infinite wisdom that teaches us how it is that until one becomes truly HEAVENLY MINDED he CANNOT be of any EARTHLY GOOD! The fact is, the only reality in the universe is SPIRIT! The things which are seen are temporal, says the Lord, and the things which are not seen are eternal. There is the wisdom of God in a mystery! Until one learns how to live and have his being out of spirit, out of the invisible realm, out of his very innermost being, he will continue to be held captive by the corruption of the flesh and dwell in the shadow of death.
That wonderful prayer Jesus taught His disciples, which we call The Lord’s Prayer, begins with the words, “Our Father which art in heaven.” Until men recognize by the illumination of the Spirit who their Father is they remain lost and dying in the dense darkness of the carnal mind. Spiritually, they are no different than the adopted child who has never been told he is adopted and has no concept of who his biological parents truly are or from where he came. Our Father in heaven is not the one who gave us our physical life in the womb of our earthly mother. The only reason Jesus could tell the vast throng gathered around Him, “Call no man your father upon the earth, for ONE IS YOUR FATHER, which is in heaven,” is that we all must recognize that our life did not begin with our physical birth. Our true Father is not a man upon earth, but our true Father is a spirit and He is in heaven! Can we not see by this that our life did not begin on earth — it began in heaven! Nothing could be plainer than this! Over and over again Jesus taught the multitudes about their “heavenly Father.” Just look up the word “father” in Strong’s Concordance and see how many times in the four Gospels Jesus told the people that God was their Father!
And these were not born again men under the New Covenant, they were natural men under the servitude of the law. Once we know who and where our Father is it is easy to understand where our life began and from whence we came. Our birth, our beginnings, were with God! God is our Father! Aren’t you glad!
There is a passage in the book of Hebrews that speaks of those great heroes of faith under the Old Covenant, and it says, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city” (Heb. 11:13-16). These men of God were strangers on the earth. They were seeking a country — Abraham knew that the ground he walked on in the land of Canaan was not the true land of God, for “he looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” He was searching for the City of God and knew that he was only a pilgrim and stranger in the land of Canaan, though God had led him thither. “If they had been mindful” — that is, if they had remembered that country from whence they came, that celestial realm, that heavenly kingdom, that spiritual reality from whence they were lowered into this earth-realm; if somehow the veil could have been removed from off their minds, from the limitations of their earthiness so that they could have remembered that country from whence they came — they might have had opportunity to have returned. But instead they died in faith — still looking for the city of God, the kingdom of God — spiritual reality!
Blessed be the name of the Lord! God has provided some better thing for us and now we can return — the way has been opened into the presence of God, into the life of God, into the glory of God, into the kingdom of God, into the Holiest of all, into the throne of God. That’s what this journey into God is all about — a return to the Lord! It is our return to the heavenly; our return to the spiritual; our return to the image of God; our return to Eden; our return to the kingdom; our return to the incorruptible; our return to the throne! In the words of the little chorus:
All God’s sons are coming home,
All God’s sons are coming home —
Home to the Father, home to the throne,
All God’s sons are coming home!
All creation is coming home,
All creation is coming home —
Home to the Father, home to the Son,
All creation is coming home!
Coming home, coming home,
Never more to roam;
Open wide thy arms of love,
Lord, I’m coming home!
There’s a call within us, and deep calleth unto deep. I tell you, my beloved, there is something within me, an inner compulsion, and I know that I have passed the point of no return. There is no turning back from this quest for God’s fullness. I can’t go back to the world — the world has nothing to offer me; it is all vanity and vexation of spirit. I can’t go back to religion — religion holds nothing for me anymore; it is an abomination. I can’t even go back to Pentecost, back to the Holy Place — for the veil has been rent, the heavens have been opened, I have heard the Voice bidding me to “Come up hither,” and I stand in the glory of the door opened in heaven and have tasted the powers of the world to come. There is no turning back because my heart has been awakened by the Father of glory! For some in this hour the veil has been rent, the door stands open, and we pause in the vestibule beholding the transcendent glories of that land from whence we came. By the blood of Jesus we have been granted the opportunity to return. We no longer feel strangers to our heavenly homeland! God has redeemed us, awakened us, renewed us, and in His Son made us to be again who we truly are! Christ the door is standing open in the heavens!
The Seven Heavens
One of my many moments of being spiritually thrilled was upon examining the second statement of the Lord’s prayer: “Our Father which art in heaven.” But to be correctly translated it should read, “Which art in the heavens,” for it is plural, not singular. So, contrary to popular thought, God dwells in more than one heaven. The great king Solomon cried out, “Behold, I build a house to the name of the Lord my God, and the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods. But who is able to build Him an house, seeing the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? who am I that I should build Him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before Him?”(II Chron. 2:4-6).
Paul spoke of a man who was caught up into the third heaven, and God, our Father, is the God of all the heavens! God dwells in the heavens! He fills every heaven! He rules in every heaven! He is above every heaven, beyond every heaven, higher than all heavens and greater than the reality of each heaven! In our journey into God we pass through all these heavens! Jesus passed through all the heavens on His way into the glory of the Father. How do we know this? “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things” (Eph. 4:10). In His ascension to the throne of His Father He passed through — experienced — all the heavens. Not only did He pass through them, He has also filled them all so that God in Christ is the essence of every heaven. You will find Him on a different plane, in a different dimension, in a unique aspect of His life and purpose, in each heaven.
Heaven is not a place, not a planet somewhere out in the vastnesses of infinity — it is a sphere or a realm of spiritual, divine reality. It is a dimension of life. It is a level of God-consciousness. It is the invisible realm of Spirit that transcends this gross material realm. It is as omnipresent as God is omnipresent. It is an absurdity to say that heaven is a place somewhere beyond the blue where God dwells, and then say that God is omnipresent. The omnipresent spiritual dimension is co-existent and co-extensive with the physical universe, but on a different plane of reality and level of consciousness, on a different “frequency,” if I may use the term in an illustrative sense. It is the dimension of spirit reality, of spiritual being, where God is all that He is. God dwells in the heaven that is beyond the time-space continuum, and therefore undetectable by the natural senses of man or the probings of technology. Heaven can only be discerned, contacted, seen, entered, or experienced by spirit!
Heaven is also the realm where God is revealed by the Spirit. Heaven is the realm where God is known in the Spirit. Heaven is the realm where God may be touched in the Spirit. Heaven is the realm in which God can be experienced in the Spirit. God is the God of the heavens, and if ever you will see Him, if ever you will know Him, if ever you will touch Him, if ever you will experience Him — it will be in the heavens of His Spirit where He dwells, in the realms of His Being. Heaven means “height, eminence, elevation.” Heaven is the high and holy realm of the Spirit in which God exists. To be in heaven is to be in the Spirit! To experience God spiritually is to experience heaven! To be “caught up” in spirit is to be “raptured” to heaven. The heavens are the various realms or levels of spiritual experience where we meet and know God. When God and His realities are revealed to you by the Spirit, heaven is opened and you behold heavenly (spiritual) things! In the lower heavens, where most believers dwell, you know God in a more elementary way.
It is wonderful to know God in His heavens! Each heaven speaks of a plane of relationship with God by the Spirit. When the Lord reveals Himself to us on a higher plane, in deeper measures, in richer and fuller dimensions of His life, riches, wisdom, knowledge, glory, and power, and we experience Him in it, we ascend in Him to a higher heaven. As we pass through the heavens we come to know and experience God in greater and grander measures! It is indeed wonderful! The spiritual world is a world with which we have become familiar as we have walked in the Spirit of God and experienced more and more of our union with the Father; a world so wonderfully real that all who once have their eyes opened to it beg to remain in its celestial precincts, never more to return to the lowly estate and level of the natural man. And now I declare that not only the heavenly hosts, myriads of spirits, but heaven itself is all around you even as you read these lines, and, should the Lord but take away the veil of flesh from your sight, your spiritual eyes would behold the celestial realm and you would see that beings, incredible in glory and power, are all about us; for the Lord and the heavens in which He dwells are not far from any one of us. They are indeed closer to us than the air that we breathe, closer even than the blood coursing through our veins!
Those holy sons of God who sit with Christ upon His throne in the heaven of His throneship shall restore all creation into the love and glory of God. The one man Jesus, when on earth as a manifest Son of God, taught, saved, delivered, healed, and raised up His thousands; His many brethren raised up into the power of His resurrection and throneship shall teach, save, deliver, heal, and raise up their billions. Thus shall their ministry and their years roll on from age to age until that wonderful age of all ages, the dispensation of the fullness of times wherein everything in all heavens, and in the earth, and throughout all realms of the universe is gathered together into one in Christ and God becomes All-in-all. What glories lie beyond this, we cannot yet know. Of this we may be sure: we who are redeemed have entered a progressive institution, a kingdom in which stagnation shall never enter. We will ever go on “from glory to glory” for “of the increase of His governmen. . .there shall be no end” (Isa. 9:7).
We will never come to the place where we can sit down with folded hands and say, “This is the end.” We, who are being raised up into the heavenly realm, have entered a stage of action, we have become active agents in the greatest development program ever conceived! A whole universe with planets, worlds, heavens, and hells awaits our touch and guiding hand. “What is man that Thou art mindful of him? Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left N-O-T-H-I-N-G that is not put under him! But we see not yet all things put under him (man). But we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor…” (Heb. 2:6-9). Surely these words can mean nothing less than UNIVERSAL DOMINION! That belongs to “the man” in Christ!
Away out there in the blue is a kingdom of life and light and love for every son of God to explore and develop and perfect. And if ever, in all the countless ages to come, that kingdom should become too small or over-crowded for its citizens, let us remember that we, being as He is, are therefore, one and all, the very same kind of Beings as He who simply spoke the word, and lo! the present worlds appeared. Being like Him, sons of God upon the very throne of His glory, we will also be creators, one and all, and not destroyers, as in our Adamic state. WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM! Sonship to God does not entitle one to mere residence in God’s limitless and eternal domain, but to the ownership and rule of that domain, in proportion to our growth and stature in Christ. Being heavenly beings, we can inherit, by our obedience to the heavenly Father, heavenly riches which will not only be a place, but royal pomp and splendor and majesty and dominion beyond compare. Oh, that it were possible to lift men above the shadows, and give them just a glimpse of something higher! Mortal minds are so entirely inadequate; human eyes so dim; human ears so dull!
John saw a door opened in heaven. When he passed through the door he beheld a throne. God gives definitions in His Word. He tells us exactly what certain things are — if we have ears to hear. One of the definitions is found in Acts 7:49. “Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool.” HEAVEN IS MY THRONE! The Greek word for heaven is ouranos. It is a word appearing in the New Testament 275 times. And the meaning of the word is “elevation, height, exaltation, eminence.” Therefore we have exactly the same thought if we say, “My throne is elevation, height, exaltation, and eminence.” That, my beloved, is the central idea of heaven in the New Testament! “Ouranos” is not a place. It is the height, the very pinnacle of glory and eminence and exaltation and majesty and authority and power over all God’s limitless domain! This authority is in and by the Spirit, for God is Spirit, and does not sit upon a physical throne!
We will understand a great spiritual truth when clearly we see that the higher one goes in God’s heavens, the higher one ascends into the realms of the Spirit, the greater the intensity of the throne of power and glory! Those who dwell in the lower heavens of spiritual experience and union with God have a little spiritual authority and power. The higher the heaven, the more lofty and exalted the realm of the Spirit, the greater the power of God’s throne! Heaven is His throne! Heaven is height, elevation, exaltation, eminence. The higher the heavenly exaltation, the greater the power and authority of the throne. Can you not see the mystery? Christ has ascended to the highest heaven and therefore has been given all power and all authority in all the heavens and in all the earth! And this very Christ is now the door — the “star gate” into the throne zone! The door is standing open, dear one, and a mighty voice bids you to “come up hither” to the throne zone! Oh, the wonder of it!
Heaven is not a mansion over the hilltop, nor the gratifying of the needs and desires of this vessel of clay. It is not that which will bring creature comfort. It is not a state of carnal creature enjoyment and rest. Get the idea of golden streets, gold bathtubs, and gurgling streams of water out of your mind! There is no such thing materially in heaven! The celestial realm is something infinitely higher. It is eminence, power, majesty, glory, righteousness, peace that passes understanding and joy unspeakable and full of glory! It is becoming the same kind of a Being as the One who made the worlds (Jn. 10:34-36; I Jn. 3:2), and will bring, not inactive rest with fluttering wings and strumming harps, which in a few short hours even becomes exceedingly tiresome, but activity and accomplishments far surpassing that of earth’s limitation! As Jesus said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (Jn. 5:17). It includes kingship and priesthood over God’s eternal and infinite domain. It is dominion and power and redemptive and creative influence far above that which earth can contemplate or even imagine!
Website Author’s Note:
Can the Seven Heavens, or stages of our experience in Christ, be seen in the Seven Days of Creation? I believe so!
DAY 1 - The Eternal Light that is Christ Jesus breaks upon the horizon of our hearts and mind, thus shedding His Light upon the formless void of our “earth” which here, is under a deluge of turbulent water. The word “light” here is owr (אוֹר) meaning: TO BE LIGHT (as a source), with the “lights” of the sun, moon & stars being ma’owr (מָאוֹר) meaning: LUMINARY (something either containing, or reflecting light).
DAY 2 - The “waters” are separated by an expanse, which in Hebrew means: EXPANDED SURFACE (SOLID), FLAT AS A BASE (SUPPORT). God calls this expanse “HEAVEN” - in other words, HEAVEN is symbolic of our FAITH, the FOUNDATION upon which everything else is built. In the Bible, “water” is mostly symbolic of the Holy Spirit, but can also symbolize people.
DAY 3 - The waters under the expanse are gathered so that “dry land” appears. God names this “dry land” Earth. . .as in a now fertile mind where “seeds” can be grown and harvested. Seeds are symbolic for the Word of God. . .and God saw that all He had created so far was GOOD.
DAY 4 - The “lights” are symbolic of the three stages of our walk. . . many are the dimly lit “stars” which are observable from the outer court of God’s Tabernacle. Those who have moved on into the Holy Place operate by the light of the candlestick or “moon”, i.e., Pentecost - the “firstfuirts” of the harvest season. But those who have entered through the veil into the Most Holy Place are immersed the the Shekinah Glory - the FULL Sun of God, or the balance of the harvest season which is our dwelling in Him - Tabernacles. ALL of these are GOOD in the eyes of God.
DAY 5 - Next, the living creatures symbolize all of the things we have overcome in this world and gained dominion over. “When i consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon, the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that Thou visiteth him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hand; Thou hast put all things under his feet.” (Psalm 8:3-6)
DAY 6 - Man is made in the likeness of Christ! Aren’t you glad?! You see, in the Spirit realm of Heaven, male and female (Spirit and Soul) co-exixt in one being that is able to procreate the Life of the Spirit tirelessly and endlessly until every last thing that has breath is praising Jesus to the Glory of the Father!
DAY 7 - This is That Day, the Day of the Lord - the Day of His REST. . .”This is the Day that the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. . .Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Yehovah: we have blessed you out of the House of Yehovah.”
The articles on this website are made available at no cost. God’s way is, “. . .Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8). As members of Christ’s Body, we do not have anything to sell, nor do we rely on donations. We trust God to lay it upon the hearts of those He chooses to provide the means for publishing these studies. God bless!