THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN
[p. 478] THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN
Genesis 7:11; 2 Kings 7:2; Malachi 3:10
You will observe in the passages I have read, the expression, “windows of heaven”. I want to speak a little about the windows of heaven, or as, they may be more correctly rendered, the floodgates of heaven. Man is accustomed to pay but little attention to heaven, whereas in the Scriptures heaven always takes precedence of earth; and it will be found that, amongst other things, heaven is regarded as a place of reserve, a place in which things are reserved, whether it be judgment, or whether it be blessing, things are reserved beyond the reach of man.
In the first chapter of the Bible you will find that heaven is mentioned before earth; although when earth is mentioned considerably more is said about it than is said about heaven. Heaven appears, as most of you know, in the second day of the creation; and what is noticeable is that the work of the second day is not pronounced good. God commented on His own work, but you will find that on each of the days, save the second, God is pleased with what He has done, He pronounces His work good; He omits to make that pronouncement in regard to the second day’s work, and yet it was on that day that the heavens were introduced.
On the fourth day He again returns to the heavens to tell us that He placed the two luminaries in them, the sun and the moon; then He pronounces the work of that day “good”. Now that is our day. The second day introduced a heaven without Christ in it; that is not a heaven that we desire. We want a heaven with Christ in it, and we want an earth with Christ in it; a Christless earth is intolerable to faith. We want Christ in heaven, and faith looks for Him [p. 479] to govern the earth also. In the book of Revelation there are those who are earth-dwellers, and they give “glory to the God of heaven”. They say nothing about the God of earth. Now, faith recognises that heaven is God’s throne and earth is His footstool. He must have both. To take away the footstool from the throne of God would leave things very incomplete. Looking at things as they exist, if you want the earth without God your future is dark indeed; in saying this I am not referring to what may happen to you presently; you may die very soon.
Need I remind you that you have no tenure of life here? The graveyards remind you of that, the tombstones, the undertakers! You have no lease of life. You may have a lease of a piece of land; they make them out, I believe, for 999 years; it is a remarkable figure to put it at, one less than 1,000, but the land remains and you go; that is how the matter stands. It is dark above the ground, but how much darker below! The future of this earth is black; and this is to say nothing of death, which faces all who are unsaved; no thinking man can deny it. Are you at home in it? Be it ever so bright, which it is not, as I have said, it must be dark for you presently, for you have to consider death and the grave. Yea, more, there is not only what we speak of as the first death, the first death implies a burial; you may get that, some do not. The “two witnesses” in Revelation did not get a burial. Thank God, they did not need it; they did not remain even four days after they were killed, only three and a half, they did not need a burial. I do not expect one myself; there are many here who do not expect burials; if we die however, loving hands put us into the grave in the light of resurrection.
The first burial recorded in Scripture in Genesis 23 was after the truth of resurrection was introduced [p. 480] for burial in Scripture is carried out in faith; we “sow a natural body” 1 Corinthians 15:44; that is, we bury believers who may fall asleep and God raises them. God gives each one a body as it pleases Him, and oh! what a body! A body that pleases God; that is the kind of body we shall get. Well, that is the hope of the Christian, but the hope of a man whose prospects are in connection with this earth, and who leaves Christ out of his reckonings, is very dark. Present conditions speak of nothing else. The most thoughtful amongst men recognise it; they cannot but recognise it, it is forced upon them; it is a mercy from God that it is so. I believe God is appealing to men through the present helpless state of things in this earth as things are dark for them. But then, to lay that aside, think of your own personal future; death is ahead of you; that pale horse and his rider that are spoken of in Revelation 6. Then there is the second death, which is the final doom. The prophet says, “I saw the dead small and great”. Revelation 20:12. Who are they? Scripture speaks about resurrection from among the dead; that is the first resurrection; blessed and holy is he that hath part in it, but who are the dead small and great that the prophet saw? I quite grant, that you will be raised even if you die in your sins, but you wilt not be “raised from among the dead”. Resurrection as it is presented in the gospel is resurrection from among the dead; that is the first resurrection. “Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection, on him the second death has no power”. Revelation 20:6.
The prophet says, “I saw a great white throne ... and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God”. Revelation 20:11,12. Who are the dead? They are a class; those left in their graves after the first resurrection. There are those who shall come forth; those who have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment, John 5:29. “I saw the dead” and, mark you, it is [p. 481] not that they are inanimate, they are standing, a remarkable expression. The dead are standing before God, a terrible thought. Well, that is before you if your aspirations are on the earth, if you think to get on without God and without Christ on the earth. Poverty is no virtue, littleness in this world is no virtue in itself; the cedar and the hyssop go together. Do not try to shelter yourself under your poverty in the presence of God. On the other hand, I need not say that you cannot take shelter in your riches for all is vanity. I saw the dead, small and great, they are all there together. How terrible is the scene! I feel it is right to call your attention to these things as regards the earth.
In Genesis 1, the Spirit of God introduces the earth to us in the third day’s work, and it is an earth that suggests Christ; there is fruit in it, and God pronounces it very good. You may depend upon it God would not pronounce anything very good in which there is not a place for Christ. So on the fourth day He puts Christ, typified in the great light, in heaven figuratively, and now there is a heaven with Christ in it. Do you so regard it? There is a great deal of sentimentality in people’s thoughts about heaven. It was a heaven with Christ in it that Stephen saw; he fixed his eyes on heaven, and he says, “Lo! I behold the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God”. Acts 7:56. How much has come out of it since!
Now, in Genesis 7 heaven is again alluded to, not now to tell us that the sun, or the moon, or the stars are there; no, they are all obscured now, it is to call attention to the fact that judgment is there; the floodgates of heaven were opened, and they poured out judgment for forty days and forty nights. Now, you may say that is all past. Is it past? No! It was a very real thing then; but it was really only a figure of that which is alluded to in the [p. 482] New Testament. We read in Romans 1:18, “There is revealed wrath of God from heaven”; from heaven, think of that! Think of the overwhelmingness of what comes out of heaven. Take a thunderstorm, for example, it is simply overwhelming; nothing on earth can affect it or stay it. You may stop an army, however powerful, but a thunderstorm and lightning out of heaven man is utterly powerless to cope with it.
Now think of wrath — that is the word Scripture uses. Wrath is a terrible word. Heaven has control over all the earth, and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men, every bit of it, every item of unrighteousness of men from Cain’s day down to the lawlessness of Antichrist; all that, including the sins of every unrepentant one, all is taken account of. Do not hope to escape, if you are a Christ-rejecter; it will find you out, “Two women shall be grinding at the mill, one shall be taken and the other left”. Matthew 24:41. What does that mean? It is the discrimination of judgment; even though you may be doing what is right at the moment, such as “grinding at the mill”, you cannot cover yourself with that. What about yesterday? What about the day before? “God requireth that which is past”. Ecclesiastes 3:15. Two women are grinding at the mill, apparently equal in every respect, yet one is taken and the other left; there is the infinite accuracy of divine judgment. “Be sure”, says Moses, “your sin will find you out”. Numbers 32:23. “Wheresoever the carcase is”, says the Lord, “there shall the eagles be gathered together” Matthew 24:28; they come down on the carcase, and how remorseless they are! It is the figure of divine wrath. Even if you are “grinding at the mill”, remember the past; God is thinking of that, too.
Well, judgment found out sinners in Noah’s day; the floodgates were unlocked and the highest mountains were discovered, everyone of them;
[p. 483] though they had climbed to the highest summit of the Himalayas, 29,000 feet high, the wrath of God would reach them there; the tops of the highest mountains were covered. David understood this; he knew that wherever he went God would search him out and find him, Psalm 139.
Well, now, in the second book of Kings we have grace. I cannot enlarge upon it at the moment, but it is a very beautiful scripture. In chapter 2 Elisha goes back over Jordan with the spirit of Elijah, with a double portion of it. It was the spirit of the ascending Man with which he came back. He saw Elijah go up; that is typically Christ going up, and as a reward for the attention he paid Elijah, he receives a double portion of his spirit. So he goes up into the land of Israel with that spirit, and what we find is that it is the spirit of grace; he heals the waters at Jericho; Jericho was the place of a curse, and he turns it into a blessing.
Now, in chapter 7 we have these words, “Hear ye the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord, Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria”. 2 Kings 7:1. That was glad tidings at that time; he did not say where it would come from; he announced the blessing, and that is what we are here tonight to announce. God has commanded blessing; it is available to faith. If there is a man or a woman here upon whom the world leans, who is a support of this world; now mark what I am saying, you will be sceptical. You know the world claims your support, and it seems to have a certain amount of right on its side in claiming it. You will remember the building in which the Philistines feasted as they taunted Samson; it was supported by pillars. It may be you are something like one of those pillars, bearing up the world’s system which the enemies of God delight themselves, and [p. 484] glory in reproach of His servants. If you are a supporter of the world you will come down, and the part of the world you are supporting will quickly come down, too.
Let us look at this man called a lord here; he is supporting the king, a son of a murderer; that is what Elisha called him, and Elisha was a very gracious man. The king was supported by a “lord”. This lord was supporting a murderer; that is what the world is at heart; it murdered Christ. This king would have murdered Elisha had not God intervened. Now, am I going to support a murderous world? If I am doing so you may depend upon it I am a sceptic in regard to the things of God. I may have some interests to serve; people’s living depends on it, or their honour or prosperity; a host of things depend on your support of the world. And you are sceptical, your selfish heart thinks only of the present, and you forget the future; you are sceptical about the gospel, about Christ, about the people of God; you are a scoffer.
This “lord” was sceptical; he said, “Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven might this thing be?” 2 Kings 7:2. Why should he say, “If the Lord would make windows?” If he had read Genesis 7 he would have known they were there already. Malachi does not say anything about making them, they were there, and they are now, thank God, at the disposal of Christ. But why could not God make windows in heaven? Why, He made the heavens; and if that “lord” had been a simple man he would have bowed to it.
Well, here was the word of the Lord, “To-morrow about this time shall a measure of flour be sold for a shekel”. 2 Kings 7:1. Now the gospel does not say to-morrow; it says there is food now in abundance if you appropriate Christ; if you receive the gospel. The man in Mark 9:22 said to the Lord, “If thou canst do anything [p. 485] be moved with pity on us, and help us”; and the Lord replied, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth”, and the man was prompt to say, “I believe; help thou mine unbelief”. Mark 9:23,24. Would that you could say that tonight! If you can the Lord will help you, and you will get the blessing as that man got it.
This dignitary refused to believe the word of the Lord, and though he saw the fulfilment of it with his eyes, he did not eat of it; that is a terrible thing, to see the blessing and not to be able to partake of it. As Balaam said, “I shall see him but not now, I shall behold him but not nigh”, Numbers 24:17. You will see wonderful things with your eyes; you will see the “great white throne and him that sits on it” Revelation 20:11; but appropriate His grace you cannot then; it will be too late. This “lord” was trodden to death in the gate as the man of God had foretold. The judgment of God is unerring; it finds out its object.
I pass on in closing to say one other word to show that the floodgates of heaven are now open for blessing. We read in the second book of Kings that what that lord did not think possible actually took place. The windows of heaven are to be opened. The Israelite in a future day will bring the tithes into the storehouse, but I do not dwell on that side of it. I only wish to point out to you that there are windows in heaven, and that those windows are now in the hands of the Lord Jesus. Peter tells us, that the gospel has been preached “with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven”. 1 Peter 1:12. The windows are open, so to say, and the blessing pours down. I wonder if you believe in it, or if you are a sceptic? Men do not believe much in heaven; even Christians do not apprehend the bountifulness of what is there, Now the Lord Jesus has gone into it. You will remember that the disciples saw Him go up and a cloud received Him out of their sight. He went into heaven, and [p. 486] He has, so to say, taken the administration of everything there; as having gone in, He is in supreme control of heaven and all that is in it; all the blessedness that is there is poured out in this dispensation, nothing is held back; the very best things are available.
Think of the gift of the Spirit! Have you received it? That is a question that others have put with much more authority than I have. Paul put the question to certain believers at Ephesus. “Have you”, he says, “received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” And they reply, “We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Spirit”. Acts 19:2. Well, you cannot say that; you have heard there is the Holy Spirit. Now I ask you, Have you received Him? The apostle Paul, writing to Titus, speaks about the Holy Spirit; and says, “which he shed on us abundantly”. Titus 3:6. How? Through “Jesus Christ our Saviour”. All comes through His hands. Now one look of faith secures it all for you. One look of faith and it is yours. Do not be a sceptic; be a believer. The believers in this dispensation are believers in all the light that is vouchsafed to us. Are you one of them? The blessing, as we see in Malachi, is not dealt out promiscuously. He says, I will pour you out a blessing. I do not say the Spirit comes down from heaven now on every believer, because the Spirit is already here. He is given to those who submit to Christ.
May the Lord grant that you be not sceptical, but believers in Christ, and so get the good of all that He administers out of heaven.