Tagged: Word of God

The feasts of Israel

The feasts of Israel are religious celebrations remembering God’s great acts of salvation in the history of His people. The term “feasts” in Hebrew literally means “appointed times” and in Scripture the feasts often are called “holy convocations.” They are times God has appointed for holy purposes – times in which the Lord meets with men and women.

While there are many religious celebrations in Jewish history and custom, seven are most significant: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. God established the timing and sequence of these feasts to reveal to us a special story – most significantly, the work of the Messiah in the redemption of mankind and the establishment of His Kingdom on earth.

Learn more and download a free study.

I was in the Spirit: Rev. 4:2

Previously: A unique voice (Rev. 4:1)

Rev. 4:2: Immediately I was in the Spirit, and there in heaven a throne was set …

Immediately after Jesus’ call to “[c]ome up here,” John records that he is “in the Spirit” (v. 2). These words are identical to Rev. 1:10, where he is “in the Spirit” on the Lord’s Day. Literally, the phrase may be translated “became in the Spirit” and likely means John is brought by the Holy Spirit into the realm of spiritual vision. J.F. Walvoord and R.B. Zuck explain, “[E]xperientially he was taken up to heaven though his body was actually still on the island of Patmos” (The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, Re 4:2–3).

Matthew Henry provides additional insight: For John, “all bodily actions and sensations were for a time suspended, and his spirit was possessed with the spirit of prophecy, and wholly under a divine influence. The more we abstract ourselves from all corporeal things the more fit we are for communion with God; the body is a veil, a cloud, and clog to the mind in its transactions with God. We should as it were forget it when we go in before the Lord in duty, and be willing to drop it, that we may go up to him in heaven” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume, Re 4:1–8).

While John’s experience is unique – few mortals in scripture are given a glimpse of heaven – the reality of being “in the Spirit” is common to all believers. Roughly 70 times the Bible uses the phrase “in,” “with,” or “by” the Spirit. Sometimes it is positional. Paul writes to Christians in Rom. 8:9, “You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” At other times it speaks of divine inspiration. Jesus, referring to Himself as fulfillment of Messianic prophecy, says, “How is it then that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls Him ‘Lord’” (Matt. 22:43). Still other times the phrase speaks of Christian service guided by the Spirit. Paul, for example, is “resolved in the Spirit to … go to Jerusalem” (Acts 19:21). Those exercising the spiritual gift of tongues/languages are speaking “mysteries in the Spirit” (1 Cor. 14:2). All believers are instructed to “pray at all times in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18). And Christians are “the ones who serve by the Spirit of God” (Phil. 3:3).

No doubt the same Holy Spirit who dwells in believers’ human spirits – sealing them, guiding them, and equipping them to serve – is the same Spirit who, at times, carries the Lord’s chosen servants into the heavenly realm.

Next: A throne is set … and One is seated (Rev. 4:2-3)

How do I know the Bible is true?

Christians generally believe in the reliability and authority of Scripture. But some have doubts and others raise serious objections to the Bible’s claim to be the Word of God. Click here to learn more about a free downloadable study that addresses eight of the more common objections, including: “No one really knows what the Bible says because the original manuscripts are lost,” and “The Bible is full of contradictions.”

A unique voice: Rev. 4:1

Previously: An open door in heaven (Rev. 4:1)

The scripture

Rev. 4:1 – After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this” (HCSB).

John hears a voice and recognizes it instantly. It is “[t]he first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet” (v. 1). This is, of course, the voice of Jesus, who spoke to John many times during His earthly ministry. But now, with the sonic fullness of heaven’s atmosphere, John hears the Messiah’s magnified tones and remembers the sound from Rev. 1:10 as Jesus instructs him to write what he sees to the seven churches in Asia Minor. Now, however, the Savior tells John, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this” (v. 1).

Those who hold to a futurist view of Revelation argue that John’s call into heaven is a foreshadowing of the Rapture, which Paul describes as being accompanied by “a shout” from the Lord and “the trumpet of God” (1 Thess. 4:16). There is some connection between the shouts of Jesus and the opening of the graves. In John 11, Jesus stands outside the tomb of Lazarus and shouts loudly, “Lazarus, come out!” His friend soon emerges from the grave after being dead nearly four days. In Matt. 27:50, just before dying, Jesus shouts with a loud voice and then gives up His spirit. The very next verses record, “Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom; the earth quaked and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had gone to their rest were raised. And they came out of the tombs after His resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many” (vv. 51-53). And, of course, Paul’s teaching about the future resurrection of the saints in 1 Thess. 4:13-18 features Jesus descending from heaven with a shout, resulting in the resurrection of believers whose bodies rest in the graves.

The sound of the trumpet also is significant. Not only are trumpets used to herald kings, alert armies to prepare for battle, and forewarn God’s people of judgment, but Paul tells us a trumpet will sound when it’s time for the church to be called into heaven: “For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed” (1 Cor. 15:52b). Some argue that Rosh Hashanah, the feast of the Jewish New Year, prefigures the Rapture of the church – a feast in which shofars, or rams’ horns, play a prominent role.

Next: In the Spirit (Rev. 4:2)

Read about Christ’s letters to the seven churches (Rev. 2-3)

Read five views of the Book of Revelation

Read what every Christian should believe about the end times

Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?

The idea that the world’s three great monotheistic religions — Christianity, Islam and Judaism — worship the same God is comforting to many people. It’s also a politically correct way to tone down the rhetoric that often generates more heat than light. But is is true? In this post from 2009 — one of the most visited posts on this site — we will ask three simple questions that enable us to compare Yahweh (the God of the Bible) and Allah (the god of Islam). If Christians truly love Muslims, as Jesus does, we must clearly and compassionately share the truth about the identity of the one true and living God.

Click here to view post.