I was watching a teaching by Bill Johnson the other day. It was a teaching I had heard by him before, but my spirit was stirred again. When you hear a teaching that is anointed by the Spirit, it speaks additional things to you that the teacher has not said. The word enters and then births other things in you, in addition to what the teacher has declared. At that point, the teaching becomes your truth…a truth possessed by you that was taught by the Holy Spirit. So, I want to credit Bill with the genesis of this truth but I want to share what has formed in my heart about it, in addition to some key thoughts that Bill presented.
In Genesis 28, Jacob was traveling cross-country by himself. He stopped in a certain place to bed down for the night. As he slept he dreamed. What he saw was a stairway or ladder resting on the earth and stretching into heaven. Angels were ascending and descending on that ladder. Above the ladder stood God, who pronounced a blessing and a promise over Jacob concerning the land of Israel and the Messiah who would bless all nations. When Jacob awoke, he thought, “Surely God was in this place and I was not aware of it…How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven” (Gen.28:16-17). Jacob went on to name the location Bethel, which means house of God.
This must have been a vivid dream that not only made its way into his mind but into his very soul. It was the kind of dream that, when Jacob awoke, seemed as real as the sunrise. He recognized it as a revelation of God and it frightened him. What is interesting is that he declared the place to be the house of God and the gate of heaven. Gates not only mark boundaries and dividing lines, but also allow access back and forth across those lines. Jacob experienced an intersection of heaven and earth, the natural with the spiritual. He saw angels ascending to heaven as they completed assignments on earth and descending to earth as they received new assignments – most likely regarding God’s people since angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister serve those who will inherit salvation (Heb.1:14). So the house of God is a gate that opens up and connects the natural with the spiritual realm.
In John 1, we are told that Jesus is the Word who put on flesh and “tabernacled among us.” Jesus came as both Messiah and the tabernacle where the presence of God resided and the gate of heaven. In John 1, Jesus tells Nathaniel, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (Jn.1:51). Since Jesus has ascended to heaven, we are told that now, as believers, we are the temple or the house of God. We are now the house and the gateway to heaven.
The house of God suggests that we carry the presence of God. Jacob said that God was in that place. The presence of God rested in the tabernacle or the temple. Certainly, Jesus carried the presence of God and so do we as his Spirit lives in us. Remember that the presence of God was manifested from the Holy of Holies. The temple contained courtyards and altars. Then there was the Holy place where the showbread, the candlestick, and the altar of incense stood. But the presence was in the Most Holy Place and manifested from there. The more dedicated, set apart, holy, and committed we are to God, the greater will his manifestation be in our lives.
But the part that is capturing my attention today is the gate of heaven. We are that gate which bridges both realities – the natural and the spiritual. We are the household and the temple of God. We are also the gate through which men can enter heaven and through which heaven may enter the earth. God has chosen us, his church, to be the primary way in which those two realities are connected.
When we preach the gospel, we open the gate so that those who indwelled the natural realm suddenly have access to the spiritual realm as well. As the Holy Spirit takes up residence in them, they become carriers of his presence and citizens of heaven. Through us, his church, heaven also finds its way into the natural realm through our prayers, our declarations, and our message of Jesus Christ. When Jesus told us to pray, “on earth as it is in heaven,” he invited us to pull heaven down and release its power and values onto the earth. When men are healed, heaven is released on earth. When women are set free from the demonic, heaven is released on earth. When mercy and love are released into lives where none existed before, heaven is released on earth. When prophetic words are declared, those things that were spoken in heaven are released on the earth.
God’s design is for us, as individuals and as a corporate body, to be the gate or the doorway through which men gain access to heaven and through which heaven gains access to earth. For us, that is a tremendous privilege and a tremendous responsibility. God had given that opportunity to the Jews as well who were the descendants of Jacob. Theirs was the covenant, the temple, the presence of God, and the promises. They were to be a light to the gentiles and a keeper of the gate. But Jesus proclaimed, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to” (Mt.23:13).
Sometimes, we shut the gate, not necessarily through hypocrisy, but more often by inactivity – neither sharing the gospel, praying, declaring, healing, dispensing mercy, nor setting captives free. It is our activity that keeps angels on assignment. It is bold, audacious prayers that cause the gate to swing open wide rather than rusting on its hinges. I’m certain that God’s desire is for the gate of heaven to be a high traffic gate. We, not St. Peter, are primarily the gatekeepers. May we know our significance and keep the gate swinging in both directions as we fill heaven with the lost and earth with the things of heaven. Blessings in Him.
