LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (5)

“The voice said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.’ And instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it” (Revelation 4:1-2 NLT)

God want to take us on an excursion in the realm of the spirit.  When John heard the invitation from God to come up to heaven for deeper revelations, he accepted the invitation and instantly he was in the spirit. What does it mean to be in the spirit? Well am sure I know what the Bible means by that but we can attempt an explanation from other incidences in the Word of God. Paul spoke of similar experience in 2 Corinthians 12:1-3.

This boasting will do no good, but I must go on. I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord. ²I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows. ³Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know ⁴that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.”

To “be in the spirit” could be to be brought into “visions and revelations from the Lord.”  The Lord may open His deep mysteries to a believer to enable the person see and experience His eternal goodness and wisdom. At such times, He grants one special privilege  to see those things which eyes have not seen or those things which no ear has heard of the things He prepared for those who love Him, but which the Holy Spirit has the prerogative to reveal to the believer as He will  (1 Corinthians 2:9-12). Our Lord had earlier promised that when the Holy Spirit comes, He will lead us into all truth and take from what belongs to Jesus and declare it unto us(John 16:12-15). Such encounters in visions and revelations can be a form of being in the spirit.

Again, to “be in the spirit” could mean and imply being “caught up into the third heaven.”  The third heaven is the physical home of God. It is the tabernacle of His glory and the place of His throne. It is the place where spirit of believers go to after death to be with their Father.  To be “caught up into the third heaven” could be to be taken out of one’s body. Sometimes we have dream experiences that looks like out of the body experiences. You may have seen yourself in a dream doing something while your body is fast asleep. When God summons one’s spirit out of his body into the third heaven, it is called out of the body experience. Paul said that “to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:8 NKJV). This must not be confused with astral travelling which people of the occult indulge in to the detriment of their souls. As astral travelling or soul projection is what one does through soulish power under the influence of satan. Being caught up in the spirit is what God does when He summons any of His children into His Presence when it pleases Him. The person involved did not have to plan for it. It happens unexpectedly as in the case of John.

It is also clear that “to be in the spirit” could be out-of-the-body or in-the-body experience. As we have explained in the out-of-the-body experience, only the human spirit is interacting with heaven. In the in-the-body experience, the fully conscious person is interacting with heaven.  It is more like the person becoming overshadowed with the glory of God in an awake experience, much like what happened on the mount of transfiguration with our Lord and the three apostles, Peter, James and John.

The unique feature of being in the spirit is the full activation of one’s spiritual senses.  John testified, “And instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it.”  Therefore, to be in the spirit involves the activation of our spiritual senses so that we can see into the spirit realm and hear the voices of God and of His angels, and sometimes smell the heavenly aroma. John’s spiritual eyes were activated and he saw a throne and One who sat on the throne. This is the level of intimacy God is calling us into.  It will come when make quality time to be with God in prayer and reflective study of the Bible.  May the Holy Spirit inspire you to press in for such an intimacy with our Father in Jesus’ name.