God did more than open the door to Heaven. This devotional reading looks at how God Himself called John to walk through the door.
Nuggets
- John was invited to God’s throne room.
- What the voice like a trumpet was saying was for John to walk through Heaven’s door.
- John didn’t know what to expect when he walked through the open door into Heaven.
- John had already been in spirit to talk to Vision Man, but this in spirit could be construed as something different.
We talked a lot in the last devotion about John’s second vision being an invitation to Heaven. He was invited through an open door to come into God’s presence.
God Himself was the One Who called John to enter. Let’s look at how the invitation was given.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the On the Day of the Lord theme, click the button below.
Devotions in the Opening the Door of Heaven series
Accessing Heaven
“… And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up here ...” (Rev. 4: 1-2 ESV)
John was invited to God’s throne room.
Voice like a Trumpet
I almost missed this. I got the voice-like-a-trumpet part, but I almost missed the first-voice part.
This is referring back to Revelation 1: 10. “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet” (Rev. 1: 10 ESV).
Guild made the following observation. He wrote, “The first voice that talked with John was as a trumpet; and so is the trumpet of the law the first voice that talks with a sinner for his conversion (Isaiah 58:1).”
Resource
Look closely at the verse in Isaiah. “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins” (Isa. 58: 1 ESV).
One way the trumpet was used was to signify the reading of the law. We talked in Revelation 1 how a trumpet will play a large part in the Second Coming.
Well, the verse in Isaiah identified the trumpet as a voice. To me, that gives it a strong, clear quality.
I like the combination of those two things. The voice with a strong, clear quality is presenting, as the trumpet of the law, the Plan of Salvation.
The voice of the trumpet is calling one and all through the open door to Heaven.
Bevis had a good question. What if we didn’t have voices from Heaven? What if we just had the laws and commandments?
Resource
That would be so impersonal. It would be a cut and dry to-do list. Do the do’s. Don’t do the don’ts.
Instead, we have God Who sings to us (Zeph. 3: 17). We have Jesus Who comes to us. We have the Holy Spirit Who does everything for us – teaches us, encourages us, comforts us.
We would miss all that if we didn’t hear Their voices.
Instead, we have a Sovereign God Who deals with us personally. We have a divine God Who gave His life for us. We have a Spirit Who never leaves us.
Sometimes, trumpets can get really loud. It has to be to be a war cry. Everyone must be able to hear it.
Come Up Here
What the voice like a trumpet was saying was for John to walk through Heaven’s door.
Now, since I think God is Vision Man and not Jesus, I think this is God’s voice and God’s throne.
God is the One to call us to salvation. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn. 6: 44 ESV).
If this is an open-door invitation to eternal life, it must be from God.
That is logical to me. God created us. We were the ones who disobeyed Him, causing our banishment from His presence.
God wants us back.
Hughes identified the purpose of the invitation. He wrote,
“(1) These ‘things’ contain the substance of the Divine purposes concerning the destiny both of the people and the enemies of God. (2) These purposes had never been disclosed till now.”
Resource
The hadn’t-seen-until-previously part interested me. I need to process that.
Old Testament people knew that there was a Heaven.
- “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep” (Gen. 1: 1 ESV).
- “Who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth— the Lord is his name” (Amos 9: 6 ESV).
They just didn’t know that it was a place for them to go. When Jesus came, that was the first that had heard of that concept. “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (Jn. 14: 2-3 ESV).
Now, Heaven wasn’t a place John would go some day. It was a place he was going today.
I Will Show You
“... ‘and I will show you what must take place after this’” (Rev. 4: 1 ESV)
John didn’t know what to expect when he walked through the open door into Heaven.
One of the reasons Revelation is so hard to understand is that it is written about future events. What was shown to him was so far out of his experience – and probably comfort zone – that he probably had trouble grasping all of it.
Another reason is that John was being shown events from a heavenly perspective. God sees things a different way than we do. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55: 8-9 ESV).
To me, Heaven is going to be about worshiping God 24/7/365/eternity. But I think we are going to be in for a surprise.
We may never sing Amazing Grace again. We may never sing Wayfarer. Or In the Garden. Or King of My Heart.
We may never listen to a sermon again – no more three points and a poem. We may never hear mass again.
Think about it. Will we be needing to hear the laws and commandments? We will have our new, pure bodies that can’t sin.
I don’t know what it is going to be like. I just think it will be something we’ve never seen before.
What we are going to need – and John needed then – was to see Heaven through a holy mind. We have to be elevated to God’s level – as much as we can in these earthly bodies.
If we take our usual I-hate-change attitude, it won’t work.
Doesn’t God want our focus to be on spiritual things? We, like God, shouldn’t put priority on the physical. We, like God, need to focus on the spiritual and our condition thereof.
In Spirit
“At once I was in the Spirit ...” (Rev. 4: 2 ESV)
John had already been in spirit to talk to Vision Man, but this in spirit could be construed as something different.
Before, John was talking with Vision Man, but he was still on Patmos. Did he physically go to Heaven here?
Personally, I think that is NFNR – nice fact, not relevant.
Oh, sure. We would love to know all the nitty, gritty details. But it doesn’t change the outcome. We have to focus on the vision, not the how it all shook out.
Exell took a stab at why God allowed John the vision of Heaven. He wrote,
“God allows man to gaze into the mysteries of the life above. … Here we see the love of God, in that: He reveals the unseen to the race; His wisdom in that He casts a little light upon the problems of futurity.”
Resource
I think this ties into Colossians 3: 1. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col. 3: 1 ESV). It is part of, like the Ephesians, keeping our first love. We have to keep God as our priority.
Bevis said something that got me thinking. In order to hear God, we have to be in the Spirit.
Do we envision that as being in a trance? Do we think of it as an out-of-mind, out-of-body experience?
What if it just mean being in Christ? Our hearts have to be open to Him to see Him.
Yes, that would make it more than a special occasion occurrence. We would be in the Spirit daily.
But isn’t that what we are supposed to do? Aren’t we supposed to walk with the Spirit?
Is this one of the ways that we are missing God?
Making the Connections
We have to approach the open door to Heaven realizing Who God is. He is Sovereign God. His majesty and glory are indescribable by our mere words.
We have to realize we have never been in a worship service like we will encounter in Heaven.
Don’t worry. True disciples will love it. Goats masquerading as sheep won’t be there.
How Do We Apply This?
- Determine what God wants us to do and do it.
- Let God show us what Heaven is like.
- Seek things that are above.
- Study prophecy in order to read history and current events.
Resources
Father God. We are humbled. You call us into Your presence. You allow us a glimpse of Your glorious home. You do this so that – one day – we will be called to make that our home for eternity. We can’t wait for that day. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.