LifeLog - 12.15.07 - The Greatest Story Ever Told: Forever Told 4.

Heaven Opened

Later on in John’s informative 1st Chapter Jesus meets a man He appears to be meeting for the first time. As Jesus sees the man coming He greets him as if He knows him. The man is a bit surprised and asks, “How do you know me.” Jesus replies, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Phillip called you.” The man, Nathanael, is blown away and blurts out, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.” Jesus is not impressed. He tells Nathanael that this paranormal phenomenon, which he’s so impressed with, will be shown to be a mere token as “heaven is opened and the angels of God ascend and descend on the Son of Man.”

For the first time since Adam and Eve hid from God in the Garden of Eden God and a human being will cooperate with one another continuously. The Son of Man will be fully engaged in the work of Heaven just as Heaven is involved in the day-to-day goings on of the Son of Man. Heaven and the Son of Man will cooperate completely in the work of the “Kingdom of the Heavens.” Later, when his detractors accused Jesus of overpowering the devil and his minions by the power of the devil himself, Jesus said to them, “… if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.” (Luke 11:20) The “finger of God” was, indeed, the instrument by which He did His work. The “Kingdom of God,” has come to us. The will of the Father is now being fully done in the life of a man; the Son of God, who, is at the same time, the Son of Man.

Jesus, the “Son” of our race – the Child of our highest hopes – is more than our Hero. He’s intimately involved in our lives. There’s no air of superiority; no distance. He has come to live among us. He “became poor so that we can be rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9) Identifying so completely with us and living under the same circumstances we do He becomes a real life role model of how our lives were intended to look. He is also our Mentor/Teacher. He said, of Himself, “I am … the truth …” (John 14:6) He is the most knowledgeable, discerning, wise man we will ever meet. As Dallas Willard put it, “He is simply the smartest person who ever lived.” (The Divine Conspiracy, pg. 94) And John is quick to remind us of important things He taught while He was here. The most important of those lessons is about the “new kind of life” He’s demonstrating in His own day-to-day living.