This is an excerpt from Jesse’s book, “Heaven – Close Encounters Of The God Kind” in which he tells of the wonderful things Jesse learned during his trip to heaven in 1988.
I felt weaker and weaker as we approached the Throne room. It looked to me like millions of people were there. Looking around, I saw twenty-four empty seats near the Throne. I said, “I’ve read in the Scriptures about the twenty-four elders” (Revelation 4:4). “Those are their seats! Where are they?”
“Jesse, we’re servants here,” David told me as he had earlier. “They’re out in the city and in Paradise blessing and helping people. We help people here. Everyone serves. Somebody is always trying to do something for you. Someone will always ask, ‘What can I do for you?'”
Even the flowers turn toward you in an attitude of service. They turn and “look” at you. They don’t have eyes, but they know you’re there. And you can’t smash them; they go through your legs. I would look down at a flower I had stepped on and think, Why didn’t I smash it? You can’t kill anything there. There’s no destruction.
After seeing the way everyone served each other in heaven, I don’t think God is looking for brilliant individualists. I believe He’s looking for team players. I remembered the account in the Bible when James and John, the sons of Zebedee, asked Jesus how they could have a special place in heaven. In Mark 10:43-45 Jesus explains:
…but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:
And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.
For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
(Mark 10:43-45)
Angels Were Praising God
There were several big angels with wings flying around the room. They were huge! Their faces were distinctive as though carefully chiseled. They looked like they had a thirty-foot wing span. The angel with me didn’t have wings; he looked just like a human being.
The closer I got to the Throne of God, the weaker I became, because of the glory of God. When people are coming to the Throne, you see God’s anointing on them, that glory on them, from the different levels. But when you get to the Throne, nothing compares to the glory of God.
When the light from the Throne hit me I couldn’t stand up; I fell down, and the angel gave me more of the fruit saying, “Eat this so you can withstand the glory of God.” I ate it, but my knees had just buckled. I stayed on the floor. Everyone else was standing up. For a lack of a better way of putting it, when you stand or fall at the Throne, God’s glory washes out your glory. His glory goes in you and on you.
Everything in heaven is beautiful. The floor looked like marble with gold in it, gold threads or veins running through the marble. Although I couldn’t look up for very long at a time, I looked up from the floor in the direction of the overwhelming Light, and I saw Him! I saw Elohim, Jehovah God, Yahweh sitting on the Throne!
But I saw His feet —only His feet. The Light was so bright that came from Him, I couldn’t see His face. Now I know why the Scripture says we can’t see Jehovah’s face and live —at least, I knew I couldn’t! I had to keep looking down, the Light was so intense. But I looked again, and I saw the lower part of His hand resting on the arm of the Throne. He is so big —you can’t describe Him in a dimension. His hand is huge!
His body, the form of it, is sort of like energy, spirit. There’s a wall around the Throne, but the Throne is higher than the wall —that’s why you can see the Throne from every direction, from a distance. And that power, that energy-like smoke of God, covers all around the chair of the Throne itself.
I heard a sound, Whoooooosh! There was a massive amount of energy in that place. That’s the only way I can explain it. It was God’s power! You hear that noise, then the energy goes back into Him. There is smoke and power and noise—the place is noisy! And angels are hollering.
The angels with wings were circling the Throne, singing and shouting, “The Great God Jehovah!” Every time they circled the Throne they praised God because they saw a new facet of Him they had never seen before.
And they express what they see by saying “Holy! Holy! Holy!” That’s how vast God is! Even though the angels have been flying around God’s Throne since the beginning of their existence, they are still seeing new revelations of His character, His love and His glory!
There was a cloud that looked like smoke going up from the Throne and I heard that massive sound, Whoosh! It was power like I’ve never experienced in my life. Then I saw God’s finger barely move and when it moved, an angel that was flying near Him was thrown up against a wall. Bam! It didn’t hurt the angel, but I felt if God just barely moved, a universe could be annihilated.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Jesse Duplantis, minister of the Gospel, motivational speaker, television personality, and best-selling author, has been in full-time ministry since 1976 and is the founder of Jesse Duplantis Ministries, located in the Greater New Orleans area of south Louisiana in the United States of America. With over four decades of sharing his unique blend of humor and faith around the world, generations of believers have been inspired by his messages and countless numbers have come to know Jesus Christ as Savior through his ministry.
Known for his unflinching, status-quo-breaking messages and humorous take on experiences in the life of the believer, Jesse continues to draw large audiences of believers through social media, television, and meetings held around the world. With speaking engagements booked years in advance, Jesse Duplantis continues to keep an intense traveling schedule, flying throughout the United States and the world preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. With no booking agents pursuing meetings for him and no set fees imposed upon churches for speaking engagements, Jesse chooses his outreach meetings based on the same two criteria he always has: invitations that come in and prayer over each one. This uncommon way of scheduling in today’s world means Jesse’s many followers may find him speaking in some of the largest churches and venues in America and the world, as well as a great many small and growing congregations, too. No church is too big or small for the Holy Spirit, as he says.
Side by side with his wife Cathy Duplantis, the co-founder and chief of staff of Jesse Duplantis Ministries and the senior pastor of Covenant Church in Destrehan, Louisiana, Jesse continues to fulfill his life’s calling by daily taking up the Great Commission of Jesus Christ: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Through social media, television broadcasts, books, and other ministry products, as well as through many evangelistic meetings, the JDM website, the JDM app, and Voice of the Covenant magazine, Jesse Duplantis continues to see growth in his ministry and expand each year while maintaining his roots. Jesus is the center of his life. The salvation of lost people and the growth of believers is the purpose of his ministry. And for both he and his wife, every day is another day to “Reach People and Change Lives, One Soul at a Time.”