BP 188
“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” ~ Mark 1:9-11
Torn open.
The Greek verb—schidzo–can refer to splitting wood, the tearing of a garment when a new patch is sewed to it, even to rocks being split open (Matthew 27:51). All these usages connote what I see as a powerful, disrupting action. In Matthew 27 the word schidzo is used twice, once referring to the rocks but then also to the temple curtain being torn.
The writer, Mark, uses schidzo twice in his entire gospel. The first occurrence is the one cited above when Jesus was baptized. What an amazing moment! As Jesus was coming out of the muddy waters of the Jordan River and praying (according to Luke 3), He saw the heavens being torn open, and out of the torn skies descended the Holy Spirit. At the same time, the Father–the third member of the Trinity–announced, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Yes, what an amazing moment—a gathering of the Trinity! This moment was recorded in Scripture in three gospels, so it seems that Jesus was not the only one who witnessed this event. Thankfully, it was not for His eyes and ears only just as the Transfiguration was not for Jesus alone but was witnessed by Peter, James, and John.
God revealed the intimate Trinity Moment at Jesus’ baptism at least with John the Baptist if not with others who were gathered at the serpentine Jordan River. Human eyes and ears were permitted to witness the beautiful relationship experienced for eternity by the Father, the Son, and the Spirit!
The heavens were being torn open. Thirty years earlier, Jesus had already torn the heavens as the Messiah and come to earth as a baby after a four hundred year “silence” from God. But Jesus wasn’t the only one to appear that night.
No, on that holy night, other citizens of heaven penetrated the space-time continuum and revealed themselves to humans. First, a single angel tore open the heavens and shone with the glory of the Lord to announce the coming of the Son of God: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” ~ Luke 2:10-11.
Then a multitude of the heavenly host appeared to the shepherds to praise God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (2:14) It is interesting that God the Father announced His being pleased with people here amongst the shepherds and then His pleasure with Jesus at His baptism.
Now, flash forward thirty years to the day of Jesus’ baptism which marks the beginning of His three-year march toward the cross and the explosion of God’s salvation into the race of men and women. On this special occasion at the river, the three members of the Trinity convene (as we have mentioned) to affirm that Jesus is the Son of God, beloved and pleasing to the Father.
I think it is very notable that the tearing of the heavens came while Jesus was praying to the Father. How important for us to persist in our prayers as we seek for the heavens to open for us and bring the Presence of God into our midst in the person of the Holy Spirit.
I mentioned earlier that Mark uses the word schidzo in his gospel twice. The first time was at Jesus’ baptism as mentioned above. Do any of you know the second time this strong word is used? Yes, it is in Mark 15:37-39 where it says, “And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Soni of God!”
Before Jesus died, he uttered a loud cry. Just so you know, the original Greek makes it clear that we are talking about a scream here. Jesus screamed out in a great voice, “It is finished!” This scream was a victory cry! Coupled with His resurrection to life which was to occur in less than seventy-two hours, Jesus had won the victory over sin, Satan, and the grave.
More than that, Jesus had opened the way to God for all of humanity who had been separated and alienated from the Father since the Garden. Just look at the loaded first two verses of Romans 5: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
All these words echo the scream of Jesus that “It is finished,” that the way has been opened by the body and blood of Jesus to approach the Father as adopted children. We can now freely run to the throne of the Father without fear.
So, what happened to assure us that we can now approach God without sacrificing the blood of animals to temporarily cover our sins? “The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”
First, the heavens were torn open when Jesus invaded our world in the fullness of time as a baby. Then they were torn open at the baptism of Jesus when the Spirit and the Father joined Jesus in a rare “Triune-ophany”—an appearance of all three members of the Trinity. Lastly, the heavens were torn open at the death of Jesus (as represented by the tearing of the curtain) so that we could have access to God’s presence.
All three tearings of the heavens scream out great hope for us. He came to us. He died for us. He tore open the curtain for us. I suppose we could even say that the heavens were torn open a fourth time when Jesus ascended back to the Father. Fortunately, He did not leave us alone at this tearing. Shortly after the fourth tearing of heaven, He gave us the Holy Spirit to live in us as a guarantee of our salvation and our future homegoing to live with Him.
So, all four times the heavens were torn open, it was good news for us! All four of these “tearings” were about God pursuing us out of love for intimacy (Immanuel, God with us) and relationship.
Of course, we anticipate a fifth time that the heavens will be torn indicating God coming to us yet again. Jesus told His disciples in John 14:1-3, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
More amazing news! Jesus will come again and take us to Himself, “that where I am you may be also.”
So, what does all this tearing of the heavens have to do with psycho-spiritual-relational health that Designer Therapy for Life attempts to address?
All five of these references to the tearing of the heavens are denied by those who have been persuaded to be materialists—those who believe that reality is only composed of what can be perceived with the physical senses. None of these amazing moments (the five tearings) in the history of the world (and heaven) are available to unbelievers—those who do not believe the comings and goings between heaven and earth ever occurred or can occur.
Those who do not believe in the supernatural truth of Scripture possess only what this world offers with its fleeting pleasures. The believer, meanwhile, possesses a whole other world that exists beyond the physical senses and the material world. There are so many riches that spiritual truth gives to the Christ follower, but today I mention merely one: hope.
Read what Romans 8:22ff says about the amazing and awesome hope of the believer:
”For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
Secular psychology does not have ultimate hope to assuage the sufferings and groanings and separations we experience in this world. It can only offer to those who come to therapy fleeting hopes, paper swords to wield in the face of the immovable object of death.
What might some of these fragile psychological hopes be? That you are an amazing person? That you can choose to live with courage until the dark night of death swallows you up never to live again? That you can battle depression and anxiety with the hope of temporary truths like tomorrow can be a better day if you convince yourself, or that your anxiety can lessen if you teach your (dying) body to relax and breathe deeply and tell yourself that you are a lovable person who can make a difference in this (dark and temporary) world?
Yes, there can be some truth to those secular, materialistic ideas. But again, they are a mosquito in a hurricane. The person without Jesus has no hope against what really troubles people in the darkest recesses of their souls: why am I here and where will I go on the dreaded day of my death?
The tearings of heaven are the ultimate and only hope of all men and women. Even though we live in a fallen, broken world full of temporality, suffering, grief, and death, we wait patiently for a hope that we cannot see with physical eyes. We walk by faith with spiritual eyes (2 Corinthians 5:7) that see beyond the hopelessness of this earthly existence. We know that the best is yet ahead—and it’s not in this lifetime. We do not minimize these fleeting years on planet earth, but we live with the hope of life beyond death.
So, rejoice in the tearings of the heavens. Cultivate hope as you grow closer to Jesus in this lifetime as preparation for enjoying Him forever in His immediate presence. And love everyone around you because there are no ordinary people in this world. Everyone has been created fearfully and wonderfully by God and may one day be a fellow citizen with you in heaven. So, learn to love and serve these amazing beings while you are here.
Secular psychology has no ultimate hope to offer beyond this temporal world. It is earth-bound. It has no vision for the invisible world. At its worst, it is smoke and mirrors that distracts from what is true in and beyond this world–sometimes very intentionally, e.g., faith in God is a delusion.
In the best scenario, God can use even the truth of secular psychology to point a person to the unseen world of spiritual truth especially if it is focused ultimately on relationships and truth. He can use it to help tear down ancient towers of lies and shame and heal trauma that might otherwise preclude moving toward God and others. So, there are occasions when general revelation may open the door to special revelation. But be careful. Research shows that most people will adopt the values and world view of their therapist.
Wonderfully, the study of the soul (psychology) done in the context of heaven’s truth potentially leads to the most amazing hope. What is that hope? There is so much to it, but a huge part of it is found in Revelation 21:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’”
Why is the hope of heaven amazing? Why is life after death such a treasure to comfort us not only in our dying days but on our best days on this current earth?
Jesus will be there. He will dwell with us. The Trinity that tore the heavens and appeared at the Jordan River two millennia ago will be our light, our joy, our closest friend.
So, believers, wait patiently for the hope of another tearing of the heavens–the tearing that will happen the day we finally go home. In the meantime, we groan. But we also do something else that feeds the fire of joy in our hearts.
We hope.
We hope for what He promised at the tearings, for what is a certain hope ready to be revealed on the day when Jesus tears open the heavens once more.
