Heaven’s Open Door

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, ‘Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.’” [1]

Is the door of heaven open to you? Jesus Christ is the opener. He holds the key. But is the door of your heart open to Jesus? Jesus promised. “If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with Me.” [2]

How wonderful! The King of the mightiest kingdom that exists wants to commune with you and me! What wonderous love this is!

John saw a door standing open in heaven. The first voice he hears sounds like a trumpet. The voice says to John, “Come up here.” This sounds like the rapture that the Lord revealed to the Thessalonian Christians.

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” [3]

Jesus said that His coming will be as the days of Noah. People were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. Before God’s wrath on sin was released, God took His faithful followers out of harm’s way. Jesus taught that some will be taken and others left behind. Peter spoke of Noah and his family being taken and others left behind, “[God] saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.” [4]

The Lord will winnow the wheat from the chaff. Like a giant metal detector in the sky, those who believe in Him will be caught up to be with Him. “We wait for God’s Son from heaven, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.” Paul wrote, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” The Heavenly Father will say to His Son, “Go get your bride.” [5]

Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled; you believe in God; believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.” Jesus is going to take His bride. Jesus told us three last days parables in which He takes some and not others. He takes five wise virgins with oil in their lamps and shuts out five foolish virgins. He takes two profitable servants and rejects an unprofitable one. He takes those who show mercy, but casts out those who do not. When asked where these events will happen, Jesus replied, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” Eagles gather where flesh is available to eat. The rapture will happen wherever there are believers. [6]

“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” [7] No wonder that they mourn. The Lord came and took His people to be with Him and they were left behind.

A voice, a trumpet and an entrance to the be with the Lord! Jesus is able to lift John from earth to heaven before the tribulation takes place, but He sends John back to earth to prophesy to the nations. “He said to me, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.’” [8] Thankfully, John returned to earth from this vision and he wrote down what the Lord revealed to him. This is why we have the Book of Revelation today.

I look forward to the day that the Lord says to me, “Come up here.” Eternity with God!

John ascended! He entered the door! He beheld God! He was in the Spirit when it happened. This is a divine vision.

“Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.” [9]

He sees God seated on His throne. God appears like a jasper and a sardius stone. Israel’s high priest wore the jasper and sardius along with ten other gemstones on his chest. Each of the twelve stones represented a tribe of Israel. As the high priest wore the tribes of Israel symbolically on his chest, so Jesus, our High Priest carries us on His heart. Jasper and sardius are the first and last gems, respectively, on the high priest's garments. This description reinforces that Jesus is the “first and the last.” [10]

An emerald rainbow shines around the throne. The green represents life. Life emanates from God. The rainbow about His throne is a complete circle. An unbroken circle represents life eternal. It reminds us of the rainbow that appeared after the flood. John sees a rainbow before the tribulation of the last days, Noah saw the rainbow AFTER the tribulation of the flood.

God had said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.” The rainbow reminds us of God’s grace. God urges us to come boldly to His throne of grace to obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need. [11]

“Around the throne were 24 thrones, and on the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thundering, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” [12]

The 24 thrones with 24 elders around God’s throne represent the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles. New Jerusalem is described as having 12 gates with one name of a tribe of Israel on each gate. New Jerusalem has walls with 12 foundations with one name of an apostle on each foundation. The 12 tribes represent the Old Testament. The 12 apostles represent the New Testament. The 24 elders represent God’s redeemed people. They have crowns because Jesus promised crowns of life to victors. He or she who holds to God’s Word wins. Their white robes indicate the righteousness of Christ. They have been sanctified by the blood of the Lamb. [13]

John heard loud thunder and voices. He saw flashes of lightning! This is what the people of Noah’s day saw after he and his family entered the ark. The visions of thunder and lightning contrast with the beauty and serenity of the rainbow. They represent God’s wrath against sin. The people of Noah’s day experienced the wrath of God. If we trust in our works, God judges us by our works. If we trust in Christ, He saves us by His grace. God’s wrath on sin is what the tribulation is about. Storm after storm, plaque after plaque! John sees the fiery lamps that represent the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is the One who reveals the things of God to us.

“It is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” [14]

“Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal.” [15] A sea that is as clear as glass is a calm sea. Though tribulation is coming upon the earth, heaven is serene.

Before the Old Testament priests would enter the temple, they would pass by the basin of water and the altar of sacrifice. Water cleanses. In the New Testament, all believers are invited to the baptismal basin. In fact, some churches place a baptismal font just inside the front doors of their church. They call the baptismal basin the womb of the church. The crystal sea reminds us that the Lord got us to heaven by cleansing us with His Word. [16]

“And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’ Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: ‘You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.’” [17]

John saw four living creatures before God’s throne. Cherubim that never rest!

Reformation theologians interpreted these cherubim to represent the four Gospels because to them the key message of the Bible is Jesus Christ. Matthew spoke of Christ’s kingly nature. He is the cherubim with a lion’s face. Mark spoke of Christ’s servant nature. He is the cherubim with an ox’s face. Luke spoke of Christ’s human nature. He is the cherubim with the man’s face. John spoke of Christ’s exalted nature. He is the cherubim with the eagle’s appearance. Reformation theologians sought to elevate God’s Word.

Other Bible interpreters understand these four cherubim to represent angels because they are similar to the angels that God revealed to Ezekiel. [18]

More importantly than what they are is what they do. They worship God day and night saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” They glorify, honor, and give God thanks.

Heaven is full of joy, respect, and thanksgiving unto God. What a contrast with earth where people take His Name in vain!

King David brought a sense of heaven to earth when he appointed a multitude of men over the service of song in the house of the Lord. He appointed them to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the Lord with stringed instruments, harps, cymbals, and trumpets. [19]

As the four creatures glorify the Lord, the 24 elders bow down and worship. They recognize that worthiness belongs to the Lord. They take off their crowns and lay them down before God. They say, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” They glorify the Lord. They recognize and confess with their mouths who He is. There is no partisan politics. There is harmony. What one does, all do. They exist to glorify God. So, should we.

Glorifying the Lord should be our navigational compass! If we are praising and glorifying Him, we are spiritually healthy, if not, something is lacking. We are off-coarse. We need to come back to a heart of worship.

Some believe in atheism. Some are humanistic. Some are materialistic. Who is on the throne of your life? The Bible says, “To as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” [20] Christ Jesus is willing to receive you. Are you willing to receive Him? If so, repent of sin and ask Him to be your Lord and Savior. Profess that He alone is able to save you and bring you to His glorious throne.

[1] Revelation 4:1
[2] Revelation 3:20
[3] 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
[4] Matthew 24:37-44; 2 Peter 2:5
[5] Matthew 3:12; ; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
[6] John 14:1-3; Matthew 25; Luke 17:37; Revelation 1:7
[7] Revelation 1:7
[8] Revelation 10:11
[9] Revelation 4:2-3
[10] Exodus 28:17–21; Revelation 1:8; 22:13
[11] Genesis 9:12-13; Hebrews 4:16
[12] Revelation 4:4-5
[13] Revelation 21:12, 14; Revelation 1:5-6
[14] 1 Corinthians 2:9-12
[15] Revelation 4:6
[16] Exodus 30:18-21; Ephesians 5:25
[17] Revelation 4:6-11
[18] Ezekiel 1:4-14; 10:20-22
[19] 1 Chronicles 16:4-6, 31
[20] John 1:12-13