In the Book Genesis, there is a story of a man named Jacob running from his twin brother who had vowed to kill him, as soon as his aged father died. He had to run because he had cheated his brother out of his rightful inheritance. Since Esau was a warrior and a powerfully built outdoorsman, and Jacob was slick dealing salesman, Jacob decided it would be in his best interest to find greener pastures. So he hit the road, thinking he would never come back.
Jacob was convinced from birth that he was the rightful heir of the first-born blessing and was the favorite of his mother. Esau, a man’s man, was his father’s favorite. But his mom knew how to handle that, and she walked Jacob through a plan that used legal maneuvers to achieve their shared goal.
Now on the run, and fairly sure that he had left his father and his father’s God far behind, he stopped in the middle of nowhere and pulled up a rock to prop his head on for a miserable attempt to sleep. But he did go to sleep and he had a dream. In the dream, the God of his father, the “self revealing one,” came to him and begin to talk to him, right there where he was laying beside the road.
God spoke to him and extended the same promise to him that he had extended to his father and his grandfather before him. He offered to be his God based on a blood agreement and that if Jacob would accept the offer and walk with this God alone as his partner, that God would bless him and prosper him and use him and his children to extend God’s blessing to all the families of the world.
Jacob accepted this offer and promised God he would tithe (give God the first tenth of) everything he provided him. While God (JHVH) was speaking to him, the heavens opened up and a ladder began to come down from God. It kept coming until it extended down to the very spot where Jacob was sleeping. Then, beings from God’s dimension, from his place at the top, began to come from God down to Jacob and make deposits into his spirit that his head did not understand.
When Jacob woke up, he considered this a message from God spent the rest of his life attempting to honor that covenant he had made with God.
It wasn’t until some years later, after God had taken him through a character-building training course that he began to be conscious of what was deposited in him that night by God. It was hard times that brought them to the surface and showed him the value of what God had deposited in him that night.
He had ideas and understanding of principles that could not be attributed any schooling or training. He showed an understanding of times and seasons, honesty that he had not possessed before, and a principled character that would keep a covenant with God and others, even at great cost to himself.
When heaven opened up and angels came bearing heaven’s blessings and gifts, something solid and valuable and permanent was deposited in this former weakling that established a people and a family that has lasted for three thousand years. Selah. Wow!
Another time this phenomenon was mentioned was when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. When Jesus came out of the water, “the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit was dispensed from heaven and came to Jesus to empower him for his approaching ministry. From that time on, Jesus began to be led in new and power-packed ways.
Then again, we see Jesus in John 1.43-51 using this term. He spoke to the disciples he had chosen and told them, “… you shall see heaven opened and God’s angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.” (John 1.51 - Norlie’s Trans.)
What does that mean? Do they begin to see angels like Jacob did? No, there is no record of it. But the very next story is of a miracle that is much like the miraculous story of the white sheep being kept by Jacob producing spotted and speckled sheep that made Jacob rich.
In John 2.1-11, is the story of the wedding feast of Cana that Jesus mother had responsibility for and apparently because she was going to be embarrassed, she called on his ability by faith and the open heaven he had referred to at the end of chapter one gave them the blessing that they needed. What it means is that heavens abilities and resources become available to the earth any time there is an open heaven and that wherever Christ is, an open heaven is a permanent condition.
Finally, at least for this lesson, the Apostle Paul writes the letter that we have in the Bible, entitled Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. In it, declares that every single believer and group of believers are “In Christ” and that there are blessings that are part of the package of being in Christ.
Listen to Norlie’s translation of Ephesians 1.3. “Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing that Heaven itself enjoys.” And then he begins listing them. Understand that these blessings are in Christ and when you receive Christ, the blessings and abilities are in him. Thus the glory (credit) is his, too.
According to Paul, the deposits God the Father has made in us include:
· Blessed
· Chosen
· Made holy
· Made blameless
· Loved
· Adopted
· Received Mercy
· Made us the objects of His Favor
· Redemption through his Blood
· Forgiveness for our sins
· The Riches of His Grace
· Grace is lavished on us in all Wisdom and Intelligence
· Insight into the Mysteries of His Will
· Unified in Christ with the Apostles, so that the church alive on the earth is not separated from the church in Heaven
· An Inheritance
· Manifested Glory
· The same rules apply to all the Believers
· The same Holy Spirit
· Sealed and Certified as belonging to God
· Holy Spirit as the Guarantee of the Full Inheritance as they experienced in Acts
Jacob was convinced from birth that he was the rightful heir of the first-born blessing and was the favorite of his mother. Esau, a man’s man, was his father’s favorite. But his mom knew how to handle that, and she walked Jacob through a plan that used legal maneuvers to achieve their shared goal.
Now on the run, and fairly sure that he had left his father and his father’s God far behind, he stopped in the middle of nowhere and pulled up a rock to prop his head on for a miserable attempt to sleep. But he did go to sleep and he had a dream. In the dream, the God of his father, the “self revealing one,” came to him and begin to talk to him, right there where he was laying beside the road.
God spoke to him and extended the same promise to him that he had extended to his father and his grandfather before him. He offered to be his God based on a blood agreement and that if Jacob would accept the offer and walk with this God alone as his partner, that God would bless him and prosper him and use him and his children to extend God’s blessing to all the families of the world.
Jacob accepted this offer and promised God he would tithe (give God the first tenth of) everything he provided him. While God (JHVH) was speaking to him, the heavens opened up and a ladder began to come down from God. It kept coming until it extended down to the very spot where Jacob was sleeping. Then, beings from God’s dimension, from his place at the top, began to come from God down to Jacob and make deposits into his spirit that his head did not understand.
When Jacob woke up, he considered this a message from God spent the rest of his life attempting to honor that covenant he had made with God.
It wasn’t until some years later, after God had taken him through a character-building training course that he began to be conscious of what was deposited in him that night by God. It was hard times that brought them to the surface and showed him the value of what God had deposited in him that night.
He had ideas and understanding of principles that could not be attributed any schooling or training. He showed an understanding of times and seasons, honesty that he had not possessed before, and a principled character that would keep a covenant with God and others, even at great cost to himself.
When heaven opened up and angels came bearing heaven’s blessings and gifts, something solid and valuable and permanent was deposited in this former weakling that established a people and a family that has lasted for three thousand years. Selah. Wow!
Another time this phenomenon was mentioned was when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. When Jesus came out of the water, “the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit was dispensed from heaven and came to Jesus to empower him for his approaching ministry. From that time on, Jesus began to be led in new and power-packed ways.
Then again, we see Jesus in John 1.43-51 using this term. He spoke to the disciples he had chosen and told them, “… you shall see heaven opened and God’s angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.” (John 1.51 - Norlie’s Trans.)
What does that mean? Do they begin to see angels like Jacob did? No, there is no record of it. But the very next story is of a miracle that is much like the miraculous story of the white sheep being kept by Jacob producing spotted and speckled sheep that made Jacob rich.
In John 2.1-11, is the story of the wedding feast of Cana that Jesus mother had responsibility for and apparently because she was going to be embarrassed, she called on his ability by faith and the open heaven he had referred to at the end of chapter one gave them the blessing that they needed. What it means is that heavens abilities and resources become available to the earth any time there is an open heaven and that wherever Christ is, an open heaven is a permanent condition.
Finally, at least for this lesson, the Apostle Paul writes the letter that we have in the Bible, entitled Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. In it, declares that every single believer and group of believers are “In Christ” and that there are blessings that are part of the package of being in Christ.
Listen to Norlie’s translation of Ephesians 1.3. “Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing that Heaven itself enjoys.” And then he begins listing them. Understand that these blessings are in Christ and when you receive Christ, the blessings and abilities are in him. Thus the glory (credit) is his, too.
According to Paul, the deposits God the Father has made in us include:
· Blessed
· Chosen
· Made holy
· Made blameless
· Loved
· Adopted
· Received Mercy
· Made us the objects of His Favor
· Redemption through his Blood
· Forgiveness for our sins
· The Riches of His Grace
· Grace is lavished on us in all Wisdom and Intelligence
· Insight into the Mysteries of His Will
· Unified in Christ with the Apostles, so that the church alive on the earth is not separated from the church in Heaven
· An Inheritance
· Manifested Glory
· The same rules apply to all the Believers
· The same Holy Spirit
· Sealed and Certified as belonging to God
· Holy Spirit as the Guarantee of the Full Inheritance as they experienced in Acts
