Divine Providence

During the morning time of the Church, the apostles ran into tribulation. After the persecutors tried to boil John in oil, they banished him on the isle called Patmos. Patmos was about one mile wide, made up of solid rock with not a blade of grass or a tree. They felt that by banishing him, sooner or later, he would die a long, slow death; but God had other plans.

Men forget that there’s still a God who has set certain providences in order, and all the moves they can make only fit into God’s great providence. God takes what man intends to “work evil” and “works good” through it. They put John on the island to die, but God only allowed him to be put there to give him the Revelation, one of the greatest books in the Bible. It wasn’t long after the truth of the Revelation began to shine forth that the conspirators hated the fact that they ever put him there.

Let’s find what God has for us in our Scripture text. If we’re not careful, we’ll try to literalize these Scriptures, but the Revelation must be dealt with just like the rest of the Bible. When studying the Bible, always ask these questions: Who’s speaking the message? To who was the message sent? Why was it sent?

First of all, who was doing the speaking? John said, “After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me…” In Revelation, Chapter 1, when Christ made His first appearance there, we find that it was Christ who was talking to John.

Secondly, to whom was it sent? Let’s read Revelation 1:11, “…What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia…” Now we know that Christ was speaking and the message was being sent to the seven churches or the seven congregations of the Church in Asia. Why was the message being sent? Revelation 1:3 tells us, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein…” The message was sent to be a blessing to anyone who reads and obeys it: that includes us. We’re studying a portion of the Revelation, which is not history, but it was sent to be a blessing to all the Church, then and now.

John heard a voice as it were of a trumpet talking with him which said, “Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” Beginning with this fourth chapter, we have an account of the second portion of John’s vision. The Revelation is not happenings: John didn’t see actual happenings, but a vision. We read in Revelation 9:17, “And thus I saw the horses in the vision…” Chapter after chapter, he tells us this was a vision, which was given to him by God.

Obedience Brings Blessing

The first vision he received is found in Revelation, Chapter 1. He saw Christ walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks or the seven churches. God wanted John to have encouragement. The apostles were being killed, and there was a falling away among the Church until John had the feeling that no one was left except him. So the first vision he received was for him to see that Christ was still in control. Christ was walking right in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. There wasn’t a thing going on which He didn’t know about. That’s why He said in Revelation 1:11, “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last…” In other words, “I have the first say and I’ll have the last say. It’s not all over with, John.”

After John received that vision, he was told to write the seven letters to the churches. He did that, and when we get to the fourth chapter, we read, “After this…a door was opened in heaven…” and another great vision appeared. When we realize that John had specifically followed orders and obeyed, there’s a lesson here for us. Those who would improve the discoveries of truth by obeying them are ready for greater understanding and greater vision. When we’ve been obedient to all that God has revealed to us, we can expect something greater to open up.

When he used the expression, “a door was opened in heaven,” the Bible is merely teaching us that we can only know of future events as God is pleased to reveal them to us. I speak with kindness, but the reason we’ve gotten so far off the track is because man feels he can go to certain theological seminaries to learn how to find the deep mysteries of Truth. The truth is, however, unless God opens the doors of our understanding, we will receive no real revelation of Truth. If we could realize this, we’d feel our helplessness on the pathway of living for God.

Also, when God reveals His designs to us, we need to receive them and not pretend to be wise above that which God has revealed to us. God only intends for us to operate in the understanding which He has revealed to us. Let’s measure to all known light and keep our heart open for greater revelations. In the Revelation, we have a picture of God revealing Truth by giving visions, revelations, and understanding. We don’t need to expect any greater understanding until we’ve obeyed our last vision of Truth.

Heaven, or the Church?

After John had obeyed, the voice that talked to him said, “Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” In this “lifted-up position”, John saw certain visions, which are said to occur in Heaven by the wording of the text, but their fulfillment was intimately connected with the affairs of the Church here on earth. Someone may say, “When I read chapters 4 and 5 of the Revelation, I see a picture of Heaven.” Contrariwise, it couldn’t be literally describing God’s Heaven.

We know for sure that there are some objective realities about Heaven, which are greater than John saw here. Paul saw some, and the law of language would not allow him to express it. There’s no language, whether it’s symbolic or otherwise, which is capable of expressing the greatness of Heaven. Paul was caught up and saw the beauties of Paradise, and it was beyond any lawful expression. Paul spoke seven different languages, but he was spellbound when it came to describing Paradise. Knowing this, we cannot read the Revelation and conclude that John is describing the literal Heaven.

Revelation 4:2 tells, “And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven…” If we’ll consider John’s position, it will give us a clearer understanding of the contents of these chapters. There’s something very striking about the second and third chapters of the Revelation. They contain a most emphatic reference to the present life---a life of conflict, sadness, heartache, and trials. In every one of the letters, he speaks to the people who are in those congregations. Some of them are dwelling where Satan’s seat is, and in others he speaks of great labors, patience, tribulations, and poverty. Then he follows up with such words as watch, hold fast, overcome---through the inspiration that God gave him.

John not only wrote these words: he felt them. When we begin to realize the heartache and misery which he suffered, we’ll understand why these words meant so much to him. This is why he could immediately be in the Spirit. When a man immediately gets in the Spirit, he receives help. John felt something, which lifted him in a special way.

An Open Door

When John said, “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened…” he received help. He could thank God that it was not the end. Why? They had tried to boil him in oil and left him on a rocky island to die. How would we feel if we felt we’d reached our end, then, a door opened? Right away, we’d know that it wasn’t really the end.

Revelation 1:3 tells us, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein…” This message is for the Church for today as much as it ever was. There’s blessing and strength in it, because we’re going through tribulation and trial. It’s sad to say, but some have given up because they felt they had reached their end. The devil made them feel, “I’m banished. There’s no way out.” In any case, if we’ll stand still, God will open a door. He’ll never allow us to be tempted beyond that which we’re able to bear. With the temptation, He’ll make a way of escape; God keeps His Word.

John was just as human as we are. All the tribulation surely bore upon him as it would bear on us. The enemy today tries to make us feel that God has let all the people get mixed together until He Himself doesn’t know who the faithful are. On the contrary, He still knows the faithful ones, and He still has a message for them.

That opened door meant much to John, because all doors had been closed: the door of society was closed against him: the door of liberty was close: the door of human hospitality was closed. Worst of all, the door of his ministerial usefulness was closed. But what did Jesus say? “Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” He showed John vision after vision, then in Revelation 10:11, He told John, “Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings,” and he did. He was one hundred years old when he came off that island and wrote First, Second, and Third John. He took that “measuring reed like a rod” and measured the Church. So, that door being opened to him meant much.

Did you ever notice that such a vision came to Isaiah in the depth of his affliction. Ezekiel received such a vision when he was down in captivity. I could go on naming people who received the same vision while in the midst of trouble and despair. Every one of them received the same vision---the Lord, high and mighty, sitting on the throne. Before we ever accomplish anything for God, which amounts to much, we must individually receive this vision to the satisfaction of our own hearts.

God’s Still in Control

The reason more is not being accomplished today is because too many have lost their vision of God’s position in the Church. They’re trying to work through human operations. The Church needs a new burnished vision of Almighty God sitting on the throne, having full control. It’s no wonder that John was immediately in the Spirit. If there’s anything we need above everything else, it’s a new vision of God’s position and what He can do.

Humanly thinking, if we wanted to go someplace to receive glorious vision, we wouldn’t go to Patmos. Nevertheless, right here’s a truth of which we need to be reminded. It’s in these gloomy spots that God gives the most wonderful revelations. Most of the epistles of the New Testament were written in the basement of a Roman jail. Every one who drew close to God and received anything, which amounted to good for the people, were people who were placed in hard positions.

If we’re not careful, we’ll look at the tribulation and trial and say, “What a hard place we’re in.” Well, these are the places where God wants to give great revelation, great understanding, and great help from Heaven. God can’t give us a revelation when everything is glorious and wonderful or when every need is being supplied. We must get down to where there’s not much left of the flesh: then we’re just getting in good shape for God to talk to us and show us something. To John, this open door was an emblem of renewed supply in the spirit of prophecy. John was being inaugurated for a new office. There’s a strong resemblance here between the prophets and John. When Isaiah was inaugurated into the office of the prophecy, he saw the vision. When Ezekiel was inaugurated into the office of prophecy, he saw the vision. Now John was being inaugurated into a new office: he was becoming a prophet, the last prophet in the Bible. He hadn’t been a prophet before; he was an apostle. When God inaugurated him into the office of prophecy, He gave him the same vision that He gave Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the other ones with whom He dealt. So, this door being opened, meant that there was renewed supply.

This opening of the door and what came out of it is the antitype of the manna which God gave from heaven. Let’s read Psalm 78:23-24: “…he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, And had rained down manna upon them to eat…” In our Scripture text, we have a door being opened again: a renewed supply.

God didn’t give John a vision of God’s Heaven and its surroundings, but a renewed, vivid picture of the true Church in he purity, sanctity, and bliss, and how she overcame from that point forward. John thought the Church was coming to the end, so the voice said, “…I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” God was letting John know that with all that had happened, the Church was still intact; everything was operating just exactly as God had planned.

“Come Up Hither…”

John had been through many things which had blurred his vision of the Church. Even today, when we go though hard trials, unless we stay very close to God, we’ll have a blurred vision of the Church. Among all the clatter, strife, division, and ugly attitudes, we need to hear the voice of Christ saying, “Come up hither.” Whenever we get down to where we have wrong attitudes and can’t worship the Lord together, we need to “come up”!

Men with much less understanding in past ages have manifested the love of God in much greater ways than is being manifested today. Have you ever read about some of the old brethren? How about Charles Wesley and George Whitfield? They couldn’t agree on doctrine in any way and could never work together in the thought of preaching together. In spite of that, they loved God, went their ways, and won hundreds of thousands of people to the Lord.

George Whitfield died one day and a man asked Charles Wesley, “Do you think you’ll see George Whitfield in Heaven?”

“No, I’ll never see him in Heaven.”

“Oh, you don’t think he went?”

“Oh, I know he went to Heaven, but I’ll never see him there. George Whitfield was so much a better man and lived close to God than I, that he’ll be so close to the throne and I’ll be so far away that I’ll probably never see him.” Now, that’s the right attitude. We read in Philippians 2:3, “…in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves.”

John had been living in the midst of strife and had been pastoring a congregation at Ephesus, which had left her first love. They not only hated systems of false doctrine, but they hated people. The voice said to John, “Come up hither,” and immediately, he was in the Spirit. Thank God, you can still get in the old-time Spirit, which The Church has been in down through the years. Yes, the experience and greatness is still there. The Church has never lost her force, her beauty, or her power. She’s still the Church against which the gates of hell cannot prevail

“Come up hither” is a message that we need to hear and consider. When God says, “Come up hither,” He’s saying in so many words, “Don’t let your minds be confined to the little cloudy, stormy, perishing planet on which you’re living. This earth is only intended as a temporary home for our bodies, not a dwelling place for our souls.” God is saying to us today, “Come up hither, mortal man: turn the dimensions of your mind loose and revel a little bit in infinite things.” Putting it in plain, Bible language, Jesus said, “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it”. (Matthew 10:39) Too many can’t find this new spiritual life because they want to hold to the things of the old life.

Lift Up Your Eyes

The Apostle Paul didn’t use the words “Come up hither,” but he taught the same thing in Colossians 3:1-2: If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set you affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” What are those “things above” where Christ sits on the right hand of God? Truth and rectitude.

Lift up your eyes for there’s a door opened in Heaven, and Jesus is standing there. What’s He saying? “…buy of me gold tried in the fire…” (Revelation 3:18) How can this bring blessing? If I understand anything about prophecy, the Church is in a discouraged position. We need a vision. Therefore, we need to look up through the open door and get a message from Jesus.

We need to ask ourselves the question, are we morally ascending? Are we ascending in our spiritual life? There’s no standing still; if we’re not going forward, we’re going backward. If we’re ascending in the things of God, we’re increasing in dominion over this world; we’re reigning over this world more easily, more powerfully, and better than we ever have. Yes, if we’re ascending, there’s constant growth in the moral forces of our life. In too many cases today, this is not the way it is.

The kind of world we’re living in, has nothing to do with our living a godly life right here in this present world. We should only be ascending morally: there ought to be something detestable in our heart and life against the terrible things, which are going on around us. If we’re ascending, there’s increased interest in spiritual domain. I thank the Lord for an open door of communion with God. This vision comes clear when we’re in the Spirit. John had to get in the Spirit in order to see the true vision that God had for him, and so must we.

Astronomers select the best locations for their observatories. They build them in as high a position as they can, in an elevated position---free from the traffic, so their instruments won’t quiver. They want to get a clear vision, so they get far from the rattle, the confusion and the smoke from the furnaces.

Someone may say, “There’s not any smoke in the spiritual life.” Well, Revelation 9:2 will tell us about smoke as the smoke of a great furnace (where they’re turning out Babylon’s images). We must get free from the smoke of Babylon if we ever get a clear vision of God’s plan for us. We need to get high on Mount Zion, a high spiritual position, above the hills and the clouds, far from “the wheels of time” and industry, free from materialism, and out from the flesh and in the Spirit. How we need this heavenly vision, and even above human reasoning to the level of faith.

Faith in God

When we move by faith, people are going to say, “That’s unreasonable.” No, it’s not unreasonable; it’s beyond human wisdom. Humanism is working today as never before to kill the faith line. It works to bring us down to the level of the intellectual mind and what we can reason out ourselves. How many of us will be honest? Are we trying to work out our problems in a human way? God never intended for us to “work them out”. We read in 1 Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.”

What a move is being made in the religious world against holiness and righteousness! If we attempt to stand up and live a holy life in a righteous manner, people will rise up against us. These anti-holiness spirits are working and they’re deceptive. They don’t try to cause us to commit outright sin; one of the deceptions is to get us to relax our spiritual efforts. The longer we live for God, the more dangerous this becomes.

The more years we put behind us in our experience, the more capable we feel of making decisions. But truthfully, we’re no more capable of making decisions than the convert who “got saved last week”. The Bible ways, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that” (James 4:15). God is teaching John, and us, that the Church got in the condition she was in because she tried to guide her own path, go her own way and make her own decisions by human reasoning. God is bringing John right back to the fact that God is on the throne. He’s the one who rules and guides the lives of the people. We need to get a vision of how God governs the Church. There was never such a time when there was such a lack of real bible government. I know there’s a lot of man-rule going on, but I’m talking about Bible Church government.

A Vision Is Necessary

Some don’t believe in dreams and visions. Let’s read Acts 2:16-17: “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days [Biblically speaking, the last days are from A. D. 33, the day of Pentecost, through to the end of time, the Holy Ghost dispensation], saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons [He didn’t say a thing about them talking in tongues.] and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” The Church needs some visions and dreams. If we’re spiritual, we’ll be getting visions of the Church doing a greater work than she’s doing today. We’ve gone through a terrible shaking time, almost an upsetting time, but the true vision of the Church is that she’s destined for victory. She’s going to reap souls. Show me more spiritual people and I’ll show you people who are getting a vision of the mission fields. We’ll see more people being called to the ministry. These are the visions he’s talking about.

We can get straightened out on our doctrine through a vision. Peter was filled with the Holy Ghost, but he was all messed up on his doctrine; he had his light under a bushel. God gave him a vision to show him that salvation was not only for the Jew, but also the Gentile. He didn’t immediately understand everything in the vision, and we may not always understand everything we get in the vision. Let’s Just hold steady, and if we received a vision through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it will only be a few days until there will be a reality appear.

The reason too many are stumbling along is because they don’t have the least idea of what God wants them to do or where they’re to work. Proverbs 29:18a tells us, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” When the Holy Ghost is poured out on us, we’ll see vision and we’ll dream dreams. Why don’t we have more visions about spiritual things? Because of what’s on our mind when we go to bed: there are too many other things on our mind. There are two definite times when our mind needs to be cleared of other things---when we start the day and when we finish the day. These are times when our mind needs to be cleared of everything else and turned to the things of God.

What kind of vision do we need? We need a vision, first of all, that God is still reigning on the throne. Second, we need to see the Church in her true position---humble and full of submission to God.

Do we have the divine direction of God for our life? Maybe we have experienced terrible tribulation and, just like John, feel that it’s the end of the Church. God wants to re-burnish our vision. If we’ll look up in a submissive manner to God, own ourselves as God shows us to be, and be submissive to God’s will for our life, whatever it is, He will lift us in the Spirit. “In the Spirit” is not just something, which happens to us in church services: the Bible tells us to walk (live) in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). Again, are we in the Spirit? [The End]