How many times have you ever stepped outside and into a cloud? I know I’ve done this a few times in my life. Sometimes the atmosphere is so thick you can’t see beyond the extension of your hands. Other times it is a bit lower and nipping at your knee caps. Still it can also form a blanket just above the reaches of the roof tops and more times still, it resides above the water and unfurls itself over the banks. The temperature is cool and moist. The earth and the heavens are within a few degrees of separation. This unification of heat sources causes the heavens to slip down and touch the planet. It can be both beautiful and dangerous.
When Jesus walked the Earth it became a sense of fog for the known world. He set it on edge and did not retreat from the mission. He was sent to do what the Father gave Him (John 6:38). He introduced what the true “Bread of Life” was and is (John 6:35). His mission was clear but those who were and are called didn’t always see so clearly. There was a fog…
As I continue in my journey with the Lord, I know I am not satisfied with what I’ve been. I’m grateful for it, but its not where I want to be. To be where God is, oh how marvelous! But where is He? Where are the heavens at? How far apart are we? What is the depth of the great divide? The answer is two-fold: our separation was the width of a veil (Mark 15:38) … and now it is the thickness of the door to your heart (Revelation 3:20).
Journeying down this road of realization I’m fully discovering more to Him than meets the eye. Over the course of the bible there were occasions where people, or specific individuals, would get a glimpse beyond the veil. It was as if God pulled it back for them and He did. Moses would spend much time atop God’s mountain and asked to see Him. But in His goodness, God could not be seen face to face with human eyes, so Moses caught a glimpse from the cleft of a rock (Exodus 33:21-23).
“And after the fire, a still small voice (I Kings 19: 12).” The Lord passed before Elijah and spoke to him; Elijah was touched by an angel and fed (I Kings 19). Elisha saw the army of God that was with him (II Kings 6:17). Heaven was invading Daniel’s prayer time. He recognized Gabriel from a previous vision, but this time was not a dream (Daniel 9: 21-23).
Then came the Cross of Christ. It rent the world as the veil was torn, rocks broken in half, and the earth quaked (Matthew 27: 51-53). Yes, the violence of the Cross began at the garden and carried on through the Roman soldiers driving nails into the hands and feet of Jesus, but it wasn’t the end. His comeback provided the punch that humanity needed. With His resurrection, Jesus gathered the sleeping souls and took the keys back (Matthew 26: 30 – 28:20).
What man struggled to see before hand became an immediate testimony. Mary Magdalene sat in the tomb weeping, spoke to angels before turning about to see her Lord (John 20: 11-18). Then some walked along the road to Emmaus and had a conversation with the Risen Christ (Luke 24: 13-35).
Yes, the Father had removed the distance between the realms we exist in. Peter wrote of it in his first letter to those who were of the Dispersion.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1: 3-5).”
God saw fit to bridge that gap that man could not. When the heavens invade on the next foggy morning or afternoon, step outside… Feel it. Say a prayer. Listen. Ask for your faith to be like this!
Godspeed, The Journeyman
Ps. Today’s story has been building for a while. He is something, or rather, Someone that I want to know better. If heaven is so close, may it invade our day and everyday! Be the salt!
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