We Need to see the Heavenly Vision, an Extraordinary Scene

We Need to See the Heavenly Vision Seeing a vision of the wonderful person of Christ is what caused us to believe into Him and have eternal life, and seeing a vision of God’s economy and the church is what brought us into the Lord’s recovery and it is what keeps us here.

At the end of Acts Paul was being tried before the governor and he could say, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision (Acts 26:19). He testified that, from his conversion, he saw the individual Christ and the corporate Christ, and he saw Christ in many things in which He appeared to him.

Paul didn’t see “things from the Lord” – he saw Christ in the things in which He appeared to him. If we only see things we don’t actually have a heavenly vision because the center of the vision and the reality of all the spiritual things is Christ Himself, the all-inclusive One.

Paul was obedient to the heavenly vision, and this vision restricted him, directed him, limited him, ruled him, and was the governing factor in our being, empowering him to do what he did.

If we have a heavenly vision we will have the capacity to overcome any opposition, any hindrance, and any discouragement or disappointment; the heavenly vision causes us to be faithful to the end. As we go on with the Lord and pursue Him in the church life we need to ask Him,

Lord, how much of the heavenly vision do I really see? To what extent has the heavenly vision been wrought into my being? Am I being governed, directed, and motivated by the heavenly vision? Lord, what kind of testimony do I bear to others when it comes to what this vision has done to me personally? Did the heavenly vision revolutionise my life? Did this vision reorder my priorities and balance me in every way? Was my lifestyle affected by my seeing and being under the heavenly vision? Do I have an absolute burnt offering consecration as a result of seeing the heavenly vision?

We have to admit that we have seen something of the Lord, His economy, the church life, His recovery, and the truth in the word of God. We cannot deny what we have seen. But what we have yet seen has not yet matched the scope of the vision. The Lord wants us to see more of the heavenly vision.

The recovered church – Philadelphia – faces the immediate peril not of the roman-Catholicism or deadened denominations but of drifting into Laodicea. When our attitude is, I am rich, I know this, I have this, I have seen everything in God’s word, I’ve been there and done that… – then the Lord will tell us directly, You have no idea that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Come to Me to buy eye-salve that you may see (Rev. 3:18)!

We need to be governed in actuality and practicality by the heavenly vision, or else we will not be able to discern the difference between the Lord’s recovery and Christianity.

May the Lord have mercy on us that we would open to Him, have any veils removed from our eyes, and receive a governing and reconstituting vision from Him that will make us pay any price to follow the Lamb wherever He may go. Such a vision will revolutionize us, encourage us, give us endurance and vitality all the way to the end!

Lord Jesus, we turn our heart to You: remove any veil from our eyes that we may clearly see the heavenly vision. Grant us the mercy to gaze on You with an unveiled face. We focus our whole being on You to behold You and receive Your infusion. Lord, empty us out, make us poor in spirit, and deliver us from our little knowing, our high-mindedness, and our smallness and narrowness. Lift us on a high mountain to see the visions of God. Make us those who see the heavenly vision and who are governed, ruled, encouraged, and kept by the heavenly vision in our daily living.

A Vision is the Seeing of an Extraordinary Scene in the Spiritual Realm

In the Bible vision denotes an extraordinary scene, referring to a special kind of seeing – a glorious inward seeing of something great from God, and it also refers to the spiritual scenery we see from God (see Acts 26:19; Matt. 16:17; Ezek. 1:1; 8:3).

In the human realm vision is different from merely seeing. For example, it is one thing to see on TV a documentary of the Niagara falls, but it something completely different to be there and see the greatness and beauty of this waterfall with all its aspects. The vision given by being there and seeing the reality of that scene is something imprinted in you, something that becomes personal to you.

In the same way, we may hear that someone had a car accident and we may have a certain feeling about it, but when we ourselves are involved in a car accident, our realization of what this means is changed.

God wants us to have not just a seeing but a vision of what is in His heart. He wants us to have a heavenly vision, something that will be imprinted on us, become personal to us, and control us. You cannot “unsee” a vision.

Once you inwardly see the wonderful Christ, you are captured by Him and you cannot go back. The inward seeing is glorious because the spiritual scene is glorious, and this glorious spiritual scene gets inside of you and will stay with you forever.

Job had a lot to say about God and His ways of dealing with him, but when he saw God, he abhorred himself and repented before Him. As believers in Christ we need to be those who not only generally hear about God, casually read the Bible, and occasionally meet with the other believers, but those who receive a heavenly vision and live a daily Christian life and church life being controlled by the heavenly vision, as the Apostle Paul was.

When the vision comes with the Lord Himself as the center, everything changes.

God continues to need a people who can cause His heavens to be opened. Today the earth is still occupied by Satan; the people on earth are still in Satan’s hands; and most of God’s people are still in captivity. Thus, there is an urgent need for some, like Ezekiel, who will seek God, contact God, and be God’s priests ministering before God. If God has such Ezekiel’s today, the heavens will be opened, the people on earth will be able to see heavenly visions, and the heavenly things will be fulfilled on earth. In these days may we all seek God and contact Him, and may the heavens be opened to us! (Life-study of Ezekiel, pp. 18-19)

To have a Vision We need Revelation, Light, and Sight

Eph. 1:18 The eyes of your heart having been enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

In Eph. 1:17-18 we see that in order to have a vision, we need to have three thing: revelation (the eyes of our heart need to be unveiled), light, and sight. The eyes of our heart need to be enlightened so that we may see what is the purpose of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

Whenever our heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away (2 Cor. 3:16). We need to freshly turn our heart to the Lord and keep it open to Him, pure before Him, and focused only on Him. As we turn our heart to the Lord, He removes any veil from our face, and we can see.

However, we also need light – the divine light – to shine after the veil is turned away. We need to come to the word of God in a living way, praying over God’s word with the exercise of our spirit, so that we may receive the heavenly vision. When the divine light shines over the divine revelation in the word of God, the divine revelation becomes the divine vision in us governing our daily living.

A vision is an extraordinary scene that we see as we turn our heart to the Lord and have His light shine on us. If our eyes are opened when we pray-read the word of God, we will see the vision, and the revelation we see in God’s word becomes a governing vision in our being.

The divine revelation in the word of God, an extraordinary scene from God concerning His economy, is right in front of us – but many times we are veiled with all kinds of concepts, opinions, etc, and even if we are unveiled, we may not have the spiritual sight and the divine light shining so that we may see. How much we need to pray to the Lord,

Lord, unveil us to see the heavenly vision. We turn our heart to You and come to Your word in a new way based on Your precious blood. Lord, cause us to see! Enlighten the eyes of our heart so that we may see the heavenly vision. Expose and remove our concepts and opinions, and grant us the spiritual sight to see the vision of Your economy! Lord, we want to look with our eyes, hear with our ears, see with our eyes, and set our heart on all that You show us!

References and Hymns on this Topic

Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Triune God’s Revelation and His Move (msgs. 1-2), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Heavenly Vision, week 1 / msg 1, The Governing and Controlling Vision—the Vision of God’s Economy.
Hymns on this topic:
# Remove my covering, Lord, / That I may see Thy light, / And be deceived no more, / But all things see aright. / Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee. (Hymns #426)
# Oh, may a clear, controlling vision of / The Lord’s economy direct my heart, / And burn in me until my spirit’s wholly set afire! / With spirit strong and active we’ll press on / To consummate God’s goal— / New Jerusalem, Hallelujah! (Song on the Controlling Vision of God’s Economy)
# In this godless age / Lord, You need some Samuels / Burdened with a vision clear of Your economy / Where’s Your ark today? / And the ones who’d care for You, / E’en to put themselves aside to gain Your heart’s desire? (Song on Seeing a Vision of God’s Economy)