THE CHRISTIAN WITH A HEAVENLY VISION – PART ONE

Greetings, friends. Today, I want to bring a message on The Christian with a Heavenly Vision

The Christian with a Heavenly Vision

And the text is from Acts of the Apostles 26. As we go along I will indicate the relevant verses.

PRAYER

Father, we want to thank You for another opportunity to hear Your Word. I pray for my friends in radioland; and I pray, dear God, that You would speak to us all today the Word of Life – the Word that brings health and healing…in Jesus’ Name. Amen!

The Apostle Paul was defending himself before King Agrippa following his appeal to Caesar. He had taken his case out of the hands of Governor Festus who sought to sacrifice Paul at the altar of the whims and caprices of his Jewish enemies. In Acts 25:9,

Acts 25:9 we read,

⁹“But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these things?” To which Paul replied ¹⁰“I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where l ought to be judged. To the Jews l have done no wrong, as you very well

know.”

The topic comes under this defense of Paul. And Permit me to read the relevant verses. In Acts 26 from verse 15,

Acts 26:15

¹⁵ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶ But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. ¹⁷ I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, ¹⁸ to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’

¹⁹ “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

From this, I will make a few observations concerning the Christian with a heavenly vision.

The Christian with a heaven vision will see an unusual light from heaven. The Christian with a heavenly vision will hear an authoritative word from heaven. The Christian with a heavenly vision will carry out the vision of heaven. I’m not implying that the Christian will have the exact experience that Paul had on the road to Damascus. But by way of application, what the Christian with a heavenly vision will experience will be similar in its spiritual content. Let’s start with the first one, that the Christian with a heavenly vision will see an unusual light from heaven.

In Acts 26:13, the Apostle Paul says,

¹³ at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me.

This is Paul’s personal account. In Acts 9:3, there we find Luke’s account of the same incident. And that was the first time it happened. In Acts 9:3, Luke says,

“As he [Paul] journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.”

It was an unusual light. The sun is brightest at noon time, yet this light that Paul saw was brighter than the sun at noon.

1. This light from heaven that Paul saw was a blinding light.

• Paul lost his vision temporarily to gain his sight permanently, He stopped seeing Jesus Christ
• from his jaundiced human perspective and started seeing Him from heaven’s perspective. He testified to this later in 2 Corinthians 5:16 where he says,

2 Corinthians 5:16,

¹⁶‘Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.”

He saw Him as an impostor. He did not regard Him as the Messiah the Saviour. But when this light came from heaven Paul started seeing Christ for who He was.

Before anyone would see reality as God sees it, he or she must cease to see from his or her own faulty human perspective. Friend, how do you see Jesus the Christ? Do you see Him as a mere man, or do you see Him as the Saviour of the whole world, or do you see Him as your personal Saviour? Until you see Him as your personal Saviour you will still remain in your sins.

17. This light from heaven that Paul saw was not only a blinding light, it was a transforming light. This observation is related to the first one we just talked about. Paul was no longer the same after he saw the light, as we can see in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 and 2 Corinthians 4:6 and 5:17.

In 1 Corinthians 15:9 Paul said,

⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

The light from heaven showed him the grace of God. He experienced the grace of God, and he became a changed man. Instead of being a persecutor of the church Paul became the ambassador of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 4:6;

2 Corinthians 4:6, Paul testifies…he says, “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

And in 2 Corinthians 5:17 he testifies to the transforming power of this Light from heaven Jesus Christ, when he says:

2 Corinthians 5:17

 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

This was his experience. And this would be the experience of anyone who sees this light from heaven. lt is a contradiction for anyone to claim to have experienced the light of God’s salvation from heaven and yet he or she is not transformed. Reformation is not enough; you must become a new creation, new not in the sense of something most recent, but new in the sense of something entirely different, something out of this world, if you please. No pun intended.

The Christian with a heavenly vision will not only see the light from heaven, will also hear an authoritative voice from heaven. In Acts 9 and Acts 22:9 –

Acts 9:7 and Acts 22:9 there is an apparent contradiction that needs to be addressed. ln Acts 9:7, Luke says;

“And the men who journeyed with him (Paul) stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.”

But in Acts 22:9 Paul seems to contradict Luke when he says:

“And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me.”

ln this second account of Acts 22:9, the Greek construction implies hearing without understanding which is tantamount to not hearing. This means then that hearing the authoritative voice from heaven was exclusive to Paul, those who were with him did not hear this authoritative Word from heaven, and this is the privilege of a Christian with a heavenly vision. Such a one hears from God what others may not hear, what others cannot hear. ls it any wonder then that people without a heavenly vision cannot hear the voice of God in the Word of God, the Bible. To them, the Bible is a closed Book – and no wonder they are easily deceived by charlatans. The authoritative voice from heaven makes the Christian with a heavenly vision a person with purpose, makes the Christian a witness for Christ.

I want to ask this question, have you seen the Light from heaven? There is a chorus that says,

I have seen the light,

The light of God,

I have seen the light of God alone

I have seen the light.

Have you seen the light of God from heaven? It’s a transforming light. But before it transforms you it will blind you, you will lose your sight in terms of how you’ve been seeing God and seeing life. You will now start seeing from heaven’s perspective, and you will become transformed.

Why don’t you invite Jesus into your life now.

Let us pray.

PRAYER

Father, thanks again, for this short time we have spent together around Your Word. I commit into Your hands my friends, and ask for as many as are inviting Jesus into their lives at this moment, Lord, give them assurance of Your salvation. Transform their lives. Remove anything and everything that is not of you that must be of Satan. Make them new creations…in Jesus’ Name. Amen!