Rend Heart, Open Heavens

The prophet cried out to the LORD in Isaiah 64:1-2, "Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence-- ² as fire burns brushwood, as fire causes water to boil-- to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!"  Too long had the heavens been like brass - not because of the sins of the nations - but the sin of God's own people (Deut. 28:23).  He acknowledged this in the following verses.  Isaiah 64:6-7 says, "But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. ⁷ And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities."  I wonder if we too live in such a day.  Without God's intervention, we have no hope in this world or beyond.

I am reminded of the beautiful picture provided when Noah released the dove from the ark.  God had judged the inhabitants of the world because of their wickedness and only those who were in the ark were left alive.  God rent the heavens with lightning, thunder, and torrential rain.  Genesis 8:6-12 says, "So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. ⁷ Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. ⁸ He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. ⁹ But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. ¹⁰ And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. ¹¹ Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. ¹² So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore."  Noah sent out the raven, a bird which fed on carrion and considered unclean.  When the Law of Moses was given, doves were an animal deemed acceptable for sacrifice.  None of this is without significance.

Satan is a unclean spirit gone into the world, much like the raven going to and fro throughout the earth.  The dove when it was sent out and later returned because it found no "resting place for the sole of her foot," a picture of the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters.  The second time Noah sent out the dove, she returned carrying an olive branch, signifying the waters had receded from the earth.  It was a picture of peace being restored.  The next time the dove was sent out, she did not return because she found a suitable habitation.  The story of Noah sending out a dove is the first reference to a dove in the Old Testament.

It is very significant that the first mention of a dove in the New Testament is right after Jesus Christ - the Prince of Peace foretold in Isaiah 9:6 - came up out of the water from being baptised.  As a sign to John the Baptist and all around that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah, a voice called out from heaven, "This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove lighted upon Him.  This event was recorded in all four Gospels (Matt. 3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22, and John 1:32)  It is written in  John 1:32-34, "And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. ³³ I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptises with the Holy Spirit.' ³⁴ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."  Not only is Jesus the One who was filled with the Holy Spirit without measure, but Jesus is also the One who baptises with the Holy Spirit and fire.

If that wasn't amazing enough, it gets better.  After Jesus rose from the dead, He breathed on the disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."  Though they had been given the Holy Spirit, He strictly commanded them to tarry in Jerusalem until they were filled with power from on high and said in Acts 1:8:  "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."  When the Day of Pentecost had fully come and the disciples (about 120) were praying in one accord in an upper room, a sound of a mighty rushing wind filled the house, tongues of fire appeared above their heads, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.  God had rent the heavens and the Spirit had been sent to come upon the disciples of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.  God had done it!  It wasn't because of the righteous efforts of Christians, but the righteousness of Christ imputed to them that the Spirit rested upon them and His power was evidenced through them.  The followers of Christ walked in faith coupled with obedience, and the Holy Spirit was sent in fulfillment of His Word according to His grace.  God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask (Luke 11:13) and obey Him (Acts 5:32).

It is written in Joel 2:28-32:  "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. ²⁹ And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. ³⁰ "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke. ³¹ The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. ³² And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls."  Does your spirit bear witness that the Holy Spirit has regenerated and come upon you?  You need not pray that God rend the heavens, for the Holy Spirit has already been given!  Joel 2:12-14 says, "Now, therefore," says the LORD, "turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning." ¹³ So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. ¹⁴ Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him-- a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?"

The baptism with the Holy Spirit is not for your sole benefit, but is always connected with service unto the LORD.  Sometimes this baptism or initial filling is called the "second blessing" after conversion, but it is more still.  After we are baptised by the Holy Spirit we need to be filled again and again, leaky vessels that we are.  R.A. Torrey puts it well:  "It is the work of the Holy Spirit to apply to us that which is already ours in Christ.  it is His work to make ours experientially all God has and all God is, until the work is consummated in our being "filled unto all the fulness of God."  This is not the work of a moment, not a day, nor a week, nor a month, nor a year; but the Holy Spirit day by day puts His hand, as it were, into the fullness of God and conveys to us what He has taken therefrom and puts it into us.  Then again He puts His hand into the fullness that there is in God and conveys to us what is taken therefrom, and puts it into us.  This wonderful process goes on day after day and week after week and month after month, and year after year, and never ends until we are "filled unto all the fulness of God." (The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, Torrey, pg. 109)

Has the Holy Spirit found a clean place to set down His foot in your heart?  It is only the blood of the Lamb of God that can wash you clean of sin.  No amount of human effort can make God rend the heavens and come down.  But Jesus Christ has opened a way to heaven for all who humble themselves before Him in repentance, those who rend their hearts before Him in faith.  Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and the door will be opened unto you.  With confidence in Christ and the scriptures we have complete assurance that being saved and filled with the Holy Spirit is the Father's will for whosoever believes and asks Him!