Seeing an Open Heaven

I wanted to share a little bit of T. Austin-Sparks' testimony with you today. If you are not familar with Sparks, he was one of the most spiritual beings that has ever graced this planet. The Spirit poured through Sparks in a way that few have experienced. He left behind a treasure of speeches and writings that will, without a doubt, stand the test of time. Sparks' testimony hits on many of the key points that have been revealed to me by the Spirit over the years. I would ask you to read it slowly and perhaps even several times. I've added bold to emphasize what I believe are the important points. May Sparks' testimony be great light for you:

"So the first thing, then, is a presentation and a seeing of the Lord Jesus. I wonder if I may refer to a personal experience in this matter. I do not want to talk about myself, but I want to help you by illustrating. For many years, I was what was called a minister in the denominations. I was a minister of what are called churches. I was a minister of two denominations at the same time. So I had the big religious buildings. And I wore a clerical collar and attire, and I was in that whole system of organized Christianity. I had a big pulpit. And I preached sermons, and I was paid to do it. Well, I was very earnest. I really believed that I belonged to the Lord. My heart was reaching out to the Lord.

But, the time came, when the Lord showed me Jesus Christ. He began to reveal His Son in me. You see, I knew the Bible. I was teaching the Bible everywhere. When I went to a big church in the north of London, they had no Bible teaching meeting. They had only a very small prayer meeting. But I decided that we would have, what we called, a Bible school. So I got a big blackboard made, a blackboard as big as this whole platform. I decided that I would give Bible lectures. So I started going right through the Bible. I went from Genesis to Revelation. The result was that that place was crowded with people for the Bible lecture. I say that to show you that I did know something about the Bible.

The day came when I saw the Lord Jesus, and all these other things were like nonsense. All this church business was like little children playing at going to church. All this dressing up in clerical clothes, oh, how silly it was! I really had not seen the Bible. I had it all in my head, but really the Bible was a closed book. When the Lord showed me His Son, all these other things went. It was like nonsense to me, I saw that the Lord Jesus is the Church, not these things. I saw that the Lord Jesus is everything in the Bible. The Bible is not a book, the Bible is Christ. I saw the Bible in Genesis, I mean, I saw Christ in Genesis. All through the Bible I saw Christ. It made everything else so foolish. It simply turned me inside out and upside down. All those other things had to be left behind. I saw the Lord Jesus. I do not mean I saw Him with these natural eyes. But what Paul meant when he said, "It pleased God to reveal His Son in me." That is what happened in my case.

And a new thing began from that time. A new ministry began, a new work of God began. And I am here today on the other side of the world because of that. I have come to you not as a Bible teacher, but to speak to you of what I have seen of the Lord Jesus, and to say to you that the fundamental thing is seeing Jesus."

What a lovely testimony! When Sparks says revelation "simply turned me inside out and upside down," that is the mark of the Cross. I've made that remark several times in reference to my own personal testimony. The apostle Paul said the same thing. Revelation changes everything. As I've said before, there is no substitute for revelation. Put simply, revelation is the gateway to Love. It reveals an open heaven. And, oh, how marvelous it is to see an open heaven.

May God reveal His Son in you.

Agape,
Steve