The Visions of God

In Ezekiel 40, we read of the hand of the Lord taking the prophet Ezekiel from the land of Babylon to the land of Israel in the visions of God. That phrase intrigues me...in the visions of God! There was the land of Israel, to be seen by any and all in the same way as any and all might see it, with its hills and valleys, its cities and towns. Yet, Ezekiel saw it in the visions of God! He saw the land beyond the spectrum of light available to the naked eye...much like the devices used today to see infra-red light.

Infra-red light emanates from us all like a heat wave; and when looking through a special device, it looks like red light or heat radiaitng off of the object being viewed. That light is always there; but it can only be seen with assistance.

In the visions of God, Ezekiel was "assisted" by the Holy Ghost (the "hand of God") to see people and places in a fuller spectrum of light, like God sees them all of the time. He was able to see not only their outward visible features but also their genuine heart condition, regardless of what seemd to be. He could see their potential, whether good or bad; and he could even see the heavenly beings sent to comfort or condemn them. All of this was always there to be seen; but only the assisted eye, only by the anointing of the Spirit, could one see in the visions of God these other (infra-red, if you will) qualities.

If ever we needed a scriptiral truth to be real to us today, it is this one. For we sorely need to view our times in a fuller spectrum of light - we desparately need to see all things and all people in the visions of God! Otherwise, we may miss the hidden potential of some and simply "throw them away" out of our minds and our care. We might also be deceived by the glowing charity of others and yet overlook their absolute hardness and rebellion to God. We might get frightened by the looming storms of our day or we might get discouraged with the manifold wickedness of our world and lose sight of the mission of the Lord!

Yet one glimpse in the visions of God, and Paul began to sing in his prison cell!

Philippians 1:19 - "For I know that this shall turn to my salvation..."

One glimpse of the REAL potential of the situation (getting to the other side to deliver a man from a legion of devils), and Jesus went to sleep on a "pillow of faith" on a ship that was sinking in despair (Mark 4:35-5:20)!

In the visions of God, one can clearly see that "all things work together" because we are in our Father's training ("chastening" - Hebrews 12) program. Whatever comes along, though not necessarily caused by God, will be coordinated by Father God into our conformity to the image of the Son (Romans 8:28,29)!

On and on the list could go from the Bible of people that were "assisted" in their vision to see life in the visions of God. Let us lift up our eyes, as Abraham (Genesis 13:14), and look around us in the visions of God! Let us see Lot accurately as one, though family, that needs to move on! And let us see the true potential of what has been left to us when someone else has already taken the best for themselves! Let us turneth off the TV and turneth on the visions of God to see the Cross and the Empty Tomb in all things and all things in Christ!