The Heavenly Offensive

The message of the Lord Jesus was summarized in the New Testament in one sentence: Repent! For the kingdom of heaven/God is at hand.¹ This word was a radical departure from that of other religious teachers of the day because it spoke about the move of God in the present tense. The synagogue services of his day would reserve sections of their weekly programs for the reading of the law and prophets, respectively.² They thus looked back to the deliverance God worked in the Exodus, but also longed for the future deliverance that Messiah would bring. Jesus stood among them and messed up their happy theological teeter-totter when he said, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears!³ Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of the law and prophets that the Jews were looking forward to, and this was a stumbling block to the religious leaders that led them to plot his death.

The ministry of Jesus was the earthly manifestation of a present spiritual offensive, in which heaven was invading earth. This fact is seen especially in Mark's account of the baptism of Jesus.

And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened [Gr. schitzomenous], and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:

(Mar 1:9-10)

All four of the gospels record that the heavens were opened at the baptism of Jesus, suggesting to us how important this event was to the early Church in understanding the advent of Christ. However, it is only Mark who used the Greek term schitzomenous⁴ to describe the event. This is a term that implies force, violence, and drama. In other words, the opening of the heavens was not a slow, peaceful moving of the clouds, but rather more like the whirlwind that took Elijah to heaven—or the tempest that came upon Mount Sinai when God came down to give the Law to Moses. The heavens were literally torn open in a violent manner, and those who were present would not soon forget the event.
The heavens being torn open at Jesus' baptism was a sign because the heavens held a particular meaning in the Old Testament prophets. This picture did not come out of left field. The lexicon of the prophets speaks about the heavens being a veil that separates God from his creation on earth. Psalm 104:2 states that God stretches out the heavens like a curtain. Isaiah 40:22 states the same thought in more detail—that God spreads out the heavens as a curtain or tent to dwell in. The thought is that God cannot be seen by mortal men because he is hidden by the the skies that separate heaven from earth.⁵
The Tabernacle idealized the partitioning of heaven and earth with its intricate linen veil. The veil was woven in the colors of the night sky and embroidered with artistic representations of flying angelic creatures. The outer court, representative of the earthly abode of men, was thus separated from the throne of God by a symbol of the heavens.
The tearing open of the heavens at the baptism of Christ was actually a prophetic event that had been written about by the Isaiah:

Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,

(Isa 64:1)

Isaiah longed for the time that God would rip open the partition that separated Him from His creation, and thereby break forth in the earth in redemptive acts of justice and judgment. The prophets in general looked for a time in which heaven would invade the earth. The New Testament prayer, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,⁶ is actually a concept from the Hebrew prophets—it speaks of the will of the Sovereign King above all kings being imposed on the formerly rebellious kingdoms of men here on earth in an act of triumph. We are therefore praying daily for heaven to invade earth.
The crowd that was gathered at the Jordan River on the day that Christ was baptized therefore saw the evidence that in the person of Jesus, heaven was invading earth. God would break forth out of His heavenly dwelling place to directly intervene in the affairs of men on earth through the ministry of His Son.
Notice that when heaven began its invasion of earth on that day, it was in the form of a dove. This is the great paradox of biblical Christianity. God has come in the person of Christ to conquer and reclaim his wayward creation—but the God who breaks forth out of the torn heavenly veil descends in the form of the most harmless of creatures. What is more harmless and peaceful than a dove, one of the international symbols of peace?
So the ministry of Jesus would be one of peace, in which he would teach humility, charity and forgiveness as keys to kingdom favor.⁷ But make no mistake—this peaceful ministry of Christ was an open attack on the strongholds of men and demons who had previously kept men in bondage to darkness. The religious leaders of his day recognized the threat to their kingdom from the Preacher of peace, and persecuted him accordingly. But the weapons of his warfare were not the same weapons that the children of the earth use. It would be by his sacrifice, rather than by his sword, that he would triumph over all principalities and powers.⁸

What are the implications to us today? We long for God to break forth in overwhelming power in our world, overthrowing the strongholds of darkness and sin. I believe we live in a season in which God is once again rending the heavens, coming down to do things through His servants which eyes have not seen and ears have not heard since the beginning of time.⁹ He is breaking forth in His people to do the greater works that Jesus predicted for his followers.¹⁰
Let us keep two things in mind:
First, God stepped through the torn heavenly veil to empower His Son before Christ had done any kingdom work. The favor shown at his baptism—Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased—this was entirely due to relationship, and not any work he had previously done. God shows favor on those who love and serve Him out of intimate relationship, not out of duty.
Second, the Spirit that conquers the strongholds of sin comes in the form of a dove. Readjust your spiritual vision to understand that peace and love are weapons that satan cannot stand against! This is not reconstituted 60's hippie-talk—this is truth. The Sermon on the Mount tells us what kind of character God puts His favor and blessing on. Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are the meek; blessed are the merciful; blessed are the peacemakers,... If God has not put His favor on the Church taking up swords to defend the faith, then neither has He put His favor on us taking up the carnal weapons of rhetoric and politics to try and fight His battles. We overcome by putting on the mind of Christ,¹¹ that humbles us to become obedient, but leads to every knee bowing to the name of Jesus.

1Mat 4:17, Mk 1:15

2See Sketches of Jewish Social Life by Alfred Edersheim

3Lu 4:21

4Related words are Schism, schitzoid – words that indicate tearing or splitting.

5See also Gen 1:6-7, where the heaven is called the firmament, which is particularly described as the partition between earthly and heavenly things.

6Mat 6:10

7See the Sermon on the Mount, Mat 5-7.

8Col 2:15

9Is 64:1, 4. Lynn's paraphrase

10Joh 14:12

11Phil 2:5