“After these things I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said: “Come up here so that I can show you what must happen after these things.” 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit, and a throne was standing in heaven with someone seated on it! 3 And the one seated on it was like jasper and carnelian in appearance, and a rainbow looking like it was made of emerald encircled the throne. 4 In a circle around the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on those thrones were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white clothing and had golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came out flashes of lightning and roaring and crashes of thunder. ”
Revelation 4:1-5 NET
Almighty God, Everlasting Father, our Prince of Peace,
A door standing open in heaven. God available! Jesus promised Nathaniel that he would see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man (John 1:51). Jesus spoke about being the door for His sheep to enter the sheepfold to be safe in Him and find all they needed. (John 10:9) In Revelation, speaking to the church in Laodicea, Jesus promises he will open the door to those who knock and come through and He will eat with them. (Revelation 3:19) In John’s gospel Jesus promises he is preparing a place for us and we will be free to enter (John 14:1). Jesus opened the door once and for all.
Hebrews 4:14-16 reminds us that we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, so we can live our faith. Our High Priest is able to empathize with our weaknesses, because He was tempted in every way, just as we are—yet did not sin. We can approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Amazing, life changing.
So at the start of a new year, on this the first day, we remember heaven’s door is open because of Jesus. You, God are available to us in life and in death and to eternity. Even if we have not seen heaven, or Your Throne, in dreams or visions, may we know in faith it is there in times of worship or when we need to look up for faith hope and love.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Worship Thursday 1st January 2026
Caroline Marie Noel, was the daughter of an Anglican clergyman and hymn writer. She began to write poetry in her late teens but abandoned it until she was in her forties. During those years she suffered frequent bouts of illness and eventually became an invalid. To encourage both herself and others who were ill or incapacitated, she began to write devotional verse again. Her poems were collected in The Name of Jesus and Other Verses for the Sick and Lonely.
At the name of Jesus
ev’ry knee shall bow,
ev’ry tongue confess him
King of glory now;
’tis the Father’s pleasure
we should call him Lord,
who from the beginning
was the mighty Word.
Humbled for a season
to receive a name
from the lips of sinners
unto whom he came,
faithfully he bore it
spotless to the last,
brought it back victorious
when from death he passed;
Bore it up triumphant
with its human light,
thro’ all ranks of creatures
to the central height,
to the throne of Godhead,
to the Father’s breast,
filled it with the glory
of that perfect rest.
Surely, this Lord Jesus
shall return again
in his Father’s glory,
with his angel train;
for all wreaths of empire
meet upon his brow,
and our hearts confess him
King of glory now.
Lyrics: Caroline M Noel