By David Faust

Have you ever attended the grand opening of a restaurant or a store complete with balloons, cake, and a ribbon cutting? Perhaps you may have wished Heaven would have such a grand opening. Have you prayed but God stayed silent? Have you asked God for clear direction but the fog didn’t lift? In the aftermath of a loved one’s death, did you long for more information about life in the hereafter? There are times when most of us wish that God would pull back the curtain and show us more about Heaven.

Ezekiel received visions so specific that he recalled the precise time and place God revealed them. The prophet wrote, “In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God” (Ezekiel 1:1). Consider what Ezekiel saw, heard, and felt when “the heavens were opened.”

Sensory Overload

• Ezekiel saw God’s glory. Heaven’s grand opening included mind-boggling scenes revealing “the glory of God,” a phrase that appears 12 times in the book’s first 11 chapters. In chapter 1 alone, scene after scene unfolded before the prophet’s inspired eyes. Lightning flashed amid a windstorm, while otherworldly creatures with faces, wings, and fast-moving wheels sped back and forth—marvels of divine engineering. In Ezekiel’s vision brilliant light and the splendor of a rainbow further revealed God’s glory (vv. 4-28).

• Ezekiel heard God’s Word. The phrase “the word of the Lord came to me” appears 49 times in the book of Ezekiel. The Lord not only said to hear and speak the message; he instructed Ezekiel to eat a scroll (3:1-3). Faithful preachers first consume and internalize God’s truth for themselves before they proclaim it to others.

• Ezekiel felt overwhelmed. Heaven’s grand opening moved Ezekiel so deeply that for a week he sat down, agitated and in deep distress (3:14, 15). Other emotions came later. Think of the keen sense of responsibility Ezekiel shouldered when God compared him to a watchman guarding a city wall (vv. 16-21). Imagine how Ezekiel felt when his wife died (24:18). Surely he felt curious about the dry bones that sprang to life (37:1-14) and privileged to predict the messianic kingdom ahead (chapters 40–48).

The Master of Ceremonies

Heaven has had several grand openings over the years. Remember the time God sent fire from the sky to consume Elijah’s sacrifice? Or Jesus’ baptism when the Father’s voice from Heaven said, “This is my Son whom I love” (Matthew 3:17)? It certainly was a grand opening when the risen Christ burst forth from a sealed tomb!

Before drawing his last breath, the martyr Stephen saw “heaven open” and Jesus standing, as if on high alert, at the right hand of the Father (Acts 7:56). For Christians like Stephen, death isn’t a tragic end; it’s a grand opening.

I don’t know all of the details, but one of these days there will be another grand opening in Heaven. There won’t be any marching bands, but the trumpet of the Lord will sound. The Master of Ceremonies himself will appear and escort us to the place he has prepared—a place so magnificent that rainbows and bright light only begin to capture the glory. No balloons or ribbon cutting will be necessary. That will be a grand opening indeed.

David Faust serves as the Associate Minister at East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Based on International Sunday School Lesson, © 2013, by the Lesson Committee. Scripture quotations are from the New International Version ©2011, unless otherwise indicated.

As you apply today’s Scripture study to everyday life, read Engage Your Faith by David Faust and the correlating Evaluation Questions.