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Studies in the Book of the Revelation.
"The Day of the Lord" (Rev. 1: 10); the prophetic period of the Book.
pp. 1-5
"I came to be in spirit in the day of the Lord, and I heard behind me a loud voice as of
a trumpet."
Verse 9 tells us that John came to be in Patmos for the word of God and the testimony
of Jesus; verse 10 tells us that he came to be in spirit in the day of the Lord, and verse 11
completes the parallel by saying, "What thou seest write in a book." The word and
testimony were received by signs ("He sent and signified," verses 1 and 2) in the isle
called Patmos, and are vitally connected with the statement "in spirit in the day of the
Lord."
There are four occasions where John tells us that he was "in spirit," viz., Rev. 1: 10, he
became in spirit in the day of the Lord; 4: 2, he became in spirit, and saw the throne in
heaven; 17: 3, he is carried away into a desert in spirit to see the woman sitting on the
scarlet beast; 21: 10, he is carried away in spirit to see the holy city. When John is to
be taken to a desert or a mountain he is "carried away in spirit," and when he is
transported into time, "the day of the Lord," or to the future heavenly sphere, he writes, "I
became in spirit."
The four references made by John find an echo and an explanation in the statements to
a like effect made by Ezekiel.
"The spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the east gate of the Lord's house"
(Ezek. 11: 1).
"And afterwards the spirit took me up and brought me in a vision by the spirit of God
into Chaldea, to them of the Captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me"
(Ezek. 11: 24).
"The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and
set me down in the valley which was full of bones" (Ezek. 37: 1).
In Ezek. 40: 2 we have a close parallel to Rev. 21: 10:--
"In the visions of God brought He me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very
high mountain, upon which was as the frame of a city on the south."
The man with the measuring reed (verse 3), and the command to declare what he saw
(verse 4), also find their parallels in the Revelation. This and the seven succeeding
chapters are punctuated by the words, "then, and, or afterwards, he brought me."
Ezek. 43: 5 records similar words. Ezekiel was not merely taken in vision from one
locality to another, but was taken into the yet future even as was John.
In Ezek. 8: 1-3 the parallel with Rev. 1: is most pronounced.