Heavenly Visions

In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. … As I looked, a stormy wind came out of the north: a great cloud with brightness around it and fire flashing forth continually, and in the middle of the fire, something like a gleaming amber. In the middle of it was something like four living creatures. This was their appearance: they were of human form. Each had four faces, and each of them had four wings … and they sparkled like burnished bronze … In the middle of the living creatures there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving to and fro among the living creatures; the fire was bright and lightning issued from the fire… Over the heads of the living creatures was something like a dome, shining like crystal … And above the dome over their heads there was something like a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was something that seemed like a human form … I saw something that looked like fire, and there was splendor all around … This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of someone speaking.”

- Ezekiel 1:1-28 (excerpts)

Heavenly Visions - Condensed Video

Our understanding of God provides the basis of our worldview and the foundation for our response to situations impacting us and events unfolding around and within us. As our understanding of God shifts from little or no knowledge, to intellectual knowledge, to encounter, to relationship, and then to intimacy, the way we experience and respond to the world changes.  

Our relationship with God is analogous to human relationships. We may have some knowledge of another person before the first meeting. We then gain superficial, intellectual knowledge about the person, and as we spend time with one another, as we struggle together through difficult situations, as we agonize together and share joy, as we share real life intimately, transparently, together our understanding of one another gradually shifts from intellectual to soulful and spirit filled. Similarly, with God, we may have intellectual knowledge of Him. We may have memorized Scripture about Him, we may have images of Him in our mind, but have we moved from pure intellectual understanding to encounter, relationship and intimacy? True, spiritual intimacy is the source of understanding.

At times we are at risk of, in our minds eye, recasting God in our image, humanizing Him, minimizing Him, making Him less and smaller than He really is. People who really experience God, when they see God, when they hear Him, when the experience His awesome, indescribable, otherworldly presence, they fall at His feet and worship Him. That is the only natural response. They realize that God is really who Scripture says He is, but awesome beyond our ability to comprehend or express, and they realize that the only thing that matters is Him and life lived in relationship with Him, and they want to tell everyone about their experience with Him. 

The path towards intimacy begins with intellectual knowledge, but the key to life change is encounter. Encounters with God recorded in Scripture were life-changing experiences.

Ezekiel encountered God through a remarkable heavenly vision and his life was forever changed. As he sat by the river one specific day, the date of which he never forgot, the windows to heaven were suddenly opened and he saw amazing sights. He saw heavenly beings glowing with God’s glory in appearance with no earthly comparison. Ezekiel struggled to find words to describe the wonders, the glory of what he saw. He used images of the brightest things on earth he could think of like “brightness,” “gleaming amber,” “fire,” “burnished bronze,” “burning coals,” “lightning,” “crystal,” “sapphire,” and then he sort of gave up searching for earthly images and words and concluded by saying, “there was splendor all around.” Ezekiel peered into heaven and saw amazing sights and the glory of God. Overwhelmed by awe, his immediate response was to fall on his face and his life was forever changed.

Similarly, when Moses met God, he “hid his face and was afraid to look at God” (Exodus 3:6). Moses was tending sheep and he saw a bush that was burning but not consumed, and when he walked over to investigate God spoke to Moses, told Moses who He is, told Moses he was standing on holy ground, and Moses responded with reverent fear, and his life was forever changed.

Isaiah peered into heaven and “saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple…” (Isaiah 6:1). He described heavenly beings saying back and forth to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). And Isaiah, in response to seeing this amazing glimpse of heaven, said, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man with unclean lips…” (Isaiah 6:5) and his life was forever changed. Isaiah was afraid because his lips were not clean; he feared that he was so sinful that he did not belong in the presence of Lord God Almighty, the pure, the divine One.

When Paul met Jesus, he saw a bright light from heaven and in response he fell to the ground (Acts 9:4). He then had a conversation with Jesus Christ and in an instant his life was forever changed. His encounter with Jesus Christ changed everything. On a subsequent occasion Paul experienced a heavenly vision that he mentioned but refused to discuss saying, he “was caught up in Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat” (2 Corinthians 12:4). 

Think about Peter. Think about everything he experienced while living with Jesus. He saw the miracles, he was there when Jesus calmed the storm, he walked on water, he was the first to receive the revelation that Jesus is truly the Messiah, 3,000 people came to know Jesus Christ during his first sermon, and people saw God’s glory flowing through him so much that they wanted his shadow to pass over them. But when Peter presents his resume, the reason people should listen to him, he describes the time when Jesus, James, John and Peter went up to the top of the mountain, and suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared, and then they heard God’s booming voice proclaim that Jesus is His Son, and then they saw Jesus completely transformed to a heavenly brightness (see 2 Peter 1:16-18). He had been with Jesus, but his encounter with God the Father made all the difference.

There are so many more encounters with God described in Scripture. While we think about Moses, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Peter and Paul as superhuman giants of faith, and they were, they were ordinary, flawed people who had each made some poor choices before their encounter. This is the source of tremendous hope for me. God used Moses after he murdered a man. God used Paul after he oversaw Stephen’s assassination. God used Peter after he denied knowing Jesus three times. Regardless of what we have done, God can use each of us.

He desires spiritually intimate relationship with you. I pray that we each continue seeking Him, continue desiring Him, continue growing relationship with Him. I pray that we each encounter Him in a real way, in a way that fills us with reverent awe, in a way that causes us to fall at His feet because we encounter His glory and we recognize who He is and we finally see, and know, and experience the fullness of His glory, and we finally see ourselves as who we are knowing that we are nothing, but made something through Him. And in that instant, we are forever changed.