"The best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else!"
- T. Austin-Sparks
December 30
I saw a door standing open in heaven, and... the voice said, “Come up here, and I will show you....” (Revelation 4:1 NLT)
My aim, in cooperation with the Lord, is to
make everything preeminently practical; and so we apply the challenge
immediately, and I ask you, is the Holy Spirit within you presenting God's
fullness in His Son in an ever-growing way? Is that the nature of your spiritual
life? If not, then you must have some definite exercise before the Lord about
it; there is something wrong. The anointing means that, and if that is not the
nature of your spiritual life, there is something wrong in your case in relation
to the anointing. To Nathanael the Lord Jesus said, "Henceforth" (our old
English word is "hereafter," but I think many people have mistakenly thought
that means the "after life") "ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of
God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." Hereafter, of course, was the
immediate hereafter, the days of the Holy Spirit which were coming so soon. With
an open heaven you see, and you see God's meaning concerning His Son.
That open heaven for the Lord Jesus was the anointing. The Spirit descended and
lighted upon Him. It was the anointing, and it is the same for us. The open
heaven is the anointing of the Spirit from the day of Pentecost onward upon
Christ within us. That open heaven means a continually growing revelation of
Christ.
Oh, let me urge this. I am brought back to urge this.... The open heaven at once
brings God's revelation in Christ to your very door, makes it available to you,
so that you are not dependent in the first place upon libraries, books,
addresses or anything else. It is there for you. However much the Lord may see
good to use these other things for your help and enrichment, you have your own
open heaven, your own clear way through, and no closed dome over your head. The
Lord Jesus is becoming more and ever more wonderful in your own heart, because
"God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness" hath "shined in our hearts,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6).
Daily Open Windows messages have been selected from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the website editor and did not always appear within the original message. In keeping with T. Austin-Sparks' wishes that what was freely received should be freely given and not sold for profit, and that his messages be reproduced word for word, we ask if you choose to share these messages with others, to please respect his wishes and offer them freely - free of any changes, free of any charge (except necessary distribution costs) and with this statement included.