Finally, regarding the introduction in 1:1-3 we need to consider the conditions for seeing the visions.
“The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God” (v. 1b). The opening of the heavens is God’s special visitation. Whenever people on earth are one with God, the heavens will be opened to them. In the land of captivity there was a man, Ezekiel, who was mature and who was one with God, and the heavens were opened to him. Today the principle is the same. We need the heavens to be opened to us, but in order for the heavens to be opened in our experience, we need to be Ezekiels. If we are today’s Ezekiels, we will have an open heaven.
The first time the Bible mentions the heavens being opened was when Jacob was wandering in his attempt to escape his brother Esau. He had a dream, and in that dream the heavens were opened to him (Gen. 28:11-17). This signified that God intended to gain Jacob as His beachhead on earth so that the heavens could be opened to the earth. When the Lord Jesus was baptized, the heavens were opened to declare that there was a man on earth who was one with God in the heavens (Matt. 3:16-17). When Stephen was martyred, the heavens were opened up to him (Acts 7:56). When the Lord Jesus comes back, the heavens will be opened once again. It is a great blessing for God’s children to have the heavens opened to them.
After the earth had been occupied by Satan and the people on earth had been damaged by Satan, God could not come to earth, and the heavens, where God is, could not be opened to the people on earth. This was the situat ion at Ezekiel’s time. The people of Israel had been damaged by Satan and carried away into captivity, and, as a result, the heavens could not be opened to them. However, among those in captivity, there was a priest who was seeking God and contacting Him and who was connected to the heavens. The heavens could therefore be opened to him and even come down to the earth, enabling God’s heavenly things to be seen by people on earth and to be fulfilled among them on earth. This was truly a great matter.
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 Ezekiels 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!
Not only were the heavens opened to Ezekiel, but the visions came, and something was revealed, unveiled, to him. God said to Ezekiel, “Behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee” (40:4). The heavens were opened for the purpose of allowing Ezekiel to see visions of God. God’s visions are His revelations, which enable us to see divine, spiritual, heavenly things. Those for whom the heavens are not open cannot see God’s heavenly things.
In chapter one God opened the veil in heaven and let Ezekiel see what was behind the veil. Ezekiel saw four living creatures and God’s glorious throne. Because of what he saw, he was burdened to convey these visions to others. What he spoke was not a teaching or something imaginary but a heavenly vision which he had seen in spirit. Every minister of God’s word should convey spiritual, heavenly visions to others. In these messages I am not ministering a theory, a concept, a doctrine, or anything of systematized theology; I am ministering a vision from the open heavens.
All the churches and all the saints need to see heavenly visions. Therefore, what we present to the children of God should not be mere teaching or doctrine or knowledge gained from reading but a vision we have seen in spirit under the open heavens through our contact with God. This will cause God’s people to be recovered from their captivity, and it will lead to the building up of God’s churches. I hope that all the messages delivered among us in the Lord’s recovery will be filled with the visions of God.