“In Revelation 1, what does it mean that John was in the Spirit?”
February 2024 – Grace & Truth Magazine
QUESTION: In Revelation 1, what does it mean that John was in the Spirit? Was his spirit separate from his body; but then how could he have written things down? Do we know how long it took for the Revelation to be revealed to John? How would the Revelation have been delivered from Patmos where John was in exile?
ANSWER: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work,” we are told in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ( NKJV ). God has not given us His Word to entertain us or to satisfy our curiosity. As we read the Scripture, many questions may arise in our minds. If, once we have passed our time in this scene we still have questions about events God tells us about in His Word, eternity will doubtless be long enough to ask them. However, I hardly think we’ll be occupied with the questions that fill our minds at present when we are with the Lord in glory. Nor do I think that we will line up to ask Moses and David, Peter and John, Martha and Mary, and the rest of the men and women in the Bible the questions we would like to ask them now.
God is quite succinct in His Word, meaning that He specifically states what He wants to say without adding useless words. What He tells us is relevant to our lives to teach us, help us, encourage us and draw us closer to Himself. He opens up the future to us, helps us to know Him better, and warns us against making the same or similar mistakes as persons in the Bible. Often we may need to look away from a particular passage and search the Word to find an answer to a question we may have. We can never find some answers, since God for His own wise reasons has not deemed it beneficial to put them into His Word. The reason for this is that they would do us no good at all, but would deflect us from the lessons He wants us to learn from a passage. How the Revelation entrusted to John would have reached his fellow-believers is one such question. It might be interesting to know this, but how would it help us with our needs today?
Our Lord Jesus promised His disciples and, by extension, us today, that He would never leave them or forsake them (Mt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5). Not only was the Lord Jesus with John, but He also appeared to him when John was exiled alone. In this situation, John was unable to meet together with fellow believers around the person of the Lord Jesus to remember Him in the breaking of bread, as we find other disciples doing on the first day of the week in Acts 20:7.
John may have felt useless to the Lord in His circumstances. However, the Lord wanted to use him for a purpose that would be good for the brothers and sisters in the seven assemblies to which the revelation was to be sent, as well as for believers since then.
How long it took to receive the vision is not told us. Likewise, Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 could not describe, in words we understand, the glories of what he saw when he “was caught up into Paradise” (v.4). If we knew some of these things we would like to know, we might be trying to have the same kinds of experiences.
Being in the Spirit involves being occupied with the Lord Jesus. The object of the Holy Spirit is to occupy us with Him and to set before us His glories (Jn. 16:14). It involves not being absorbed with the things of this world, the cares of life, our problems or whatever would distract us from Him. Instead, the Holy Spirit causes us to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ and render to Him the worship and adoration of our hearts. There are many necessities in our daily life that rightly occupy our time and interest. When for the moment we can set these aside to focus on Him, this is being in the Spirit. Even when we cannot join with others, we can and should enjoy such moments as the Lord enables us. He will make them precious to us.
As to the matter of John’s being in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, we are not given an explanation of how to be in the Spirit. Instead, we are told to hear what the Spirit says to the churches addressed in Revelation 2–3. We are to learn from the revelation the Lord Jesus gave John about future events in the chapters that follow. We don’t need to have similar experiences to those John had. Rather, we are to learn what God would say to us through this vision He gave to the beloved apostle. There is much to learn from this book that concludes the Holy Scriptures and ties together points that go back all the way to Genesis.
Indeed, the more I think of these questions, the more I am thankful that God hasn’t given us the answers to such questions which spring from our curiosity. He has given us something so much better and more worthwhile. May we thank Him for the Revelation. Let us study it more intensely to obtain the blessing promised to those who read it, hear it and keep the things written in it. What an encouragement we find in it to see that the Lord will have the final victory over all the wicked efforts of Satan, who often seems to be winning when we look at how things are going downhill in this present evil world. How wonderful it is to hear the call of our Lord at the end of the book (22:20), “Surely I am coming quickly!” We cry out in return, as written in that same verse, “Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus!”
Answered by Eugene P. Vedder Jr.