Book of Revelation Chapter 4
- lastdays13
- Nov 4
- 5 min read
Church Raptured
What do you think is being talked about in this first verse? The literal meaning is “after these things (after the things which concern the churches) I (John) looked and the first voice said to me (John) come up hither, and I (Jesus Christ) will shew thee things which must be after these things,” that is, after the churches.
This emphasizes the third and last natural division of the book which includes “things” which “must be” after the rapture of the Church. These three divisions do not overlap, nor are they concurrent. One division is completely finished before the other begins. “After this,” that is, after seeing Christ in the midst of the candelsticks and His foreview of the history of Christendom until the rapture of the Church, John looked and saw a door already opened in heaven. He saw the door to the heavenly tabernacle, which was the pattern for the door to the earthly tabernacle, Heb. 8:5; 9:23-24.
The same silver-toned voice that spoke to John in the first division of the book (Rev. 1:10) spoke to him here and said, “Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” John doubtless was caught up to heaven bodily as were Enoch (Gen. 5:21-24; Heb. 11:5), Elijah (2 Ki. 2), and probably Paul (2 Cor. 12:1-10). The term “Come up hither” is used once more in the book and then it is of the bodily ascension of the two witnesses to heaven, Rev. 11:12.
Matthew 24:31 “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
All the elect are gathered and assembled before Christ. This is the culmination of world history, ushering in the millennial reign of Christ.
This will be the trumpet of assembly (the silver trumpet of redemption), "four" (in Matthew 24:31), means the entire world. We've all heard the saying: "from the four corners of the earth I'm sure. This assembly will not be just Americans, but the true believers from every country of the world. These "angels" are ministering spirits who carry out these orders of their Lord and Master. The "He" here is Jesus (Messiah), but now He is Lord of lords and King of kings.
This "sound of a Trumpet" could be a literal trumpet blowing, or it could be the voice of our Lord sounding like a trumpet. This is the last chronological mention of silver in the Bible. There will be no silver in heaven. "Silver" means redemption, and there is no silver there; because we have already been redeemed. There is only gold in heaven. In the Holy of Holies, there was only gold, because in the presence of God, there was only gold. This gathering together of His elect is what is commonly referred to as the rapture of the church. His church has no denomination. It is "all" who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:52 "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:" "Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
To really understand read all of this account. I have chosen just two verses from the account for here. This will happen so quickly that you would not even have time to blink your eye.
The "I" (in verse 1), is of course John who is writing this. Jesus has been speaking in the previous chapter directly. Now we hear from John about the things he saw. This is after Jesus finishes His messages to the seven churches.
We will see the number "seven" throughout Revelation. Seven means "spiritually complete". Perhaps in this number, God is saying, this is it. There is nothing else to read. If you can't get the message in Revelation, you cannot receive it.
John takes a look toward heaven and is startled "behold", the door of heaven is open. Jesus is the door to heaven. The door of heaven is not closed to the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ opened the way to the very throne of God, when the temple curtain was torn from the top to the bottom (opening the way to the holy of holies), when He died on the cross (Matthew 27:51).
The word "looked" is important also. We must seek before we can find. Jesus is coming back for those who are looking for Him.
Notice, this door was "opened" in the past tense. It is not going to be opened. Jesus opened it for us. It is now open to believers.
John 10:7 "Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep."
Heaven is presently the dwelling place of God. It will also be our eternal home.
The first voice that John hears is either the voice of Jesus Himself, or the voice of Jesus' own personal messenger. It makes no difference, the message itself is from Jesus. When the Lord calls us to meet Him in the air, when the church is caught away, we will hear the trumpet; the silver trumpet of redemption.
There are several other instances in the Bible where the door of heaven was opened. Many prophets also, have seen a vision of the heavenly.
Ezekiel speaks of his look into heaven. Daniel had a glimpse into heaven. When Stephen was stoned to death, he saw into heaven.
When Stephen looked into heaven, he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Most times, Jesus is seated at the right hand because His work is completed, but I believe that He was standing to receive His faithful servant, Stephen, home.
This door has never been closed to the true believers.
When the Lord calls us to meet Him in the air, when the church is caught away, we will hear the trumpet; the silver trumpet of redemption.
In Both (Matthew 24:31 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16), I read at first the voice and the trumpet seem to be interchangeable. The voice of Jesus and His personal angel are a little confusing, as well. Either way the message is from Jesus. This trumpet was talking with John.
The voice that John heard was like a trumpet. This is a powerful voice; it gives a true sound. This voice is talking to us, as well as John.
The voice said, "come up hither" to John, but is always saying to us, "come up hither". Get your mind off the things of this world and look heavenward. The call of Jesus has always been "come". In this specific sentence, He tells John "come up hither", then adds why.
Jesus, the voice, says, "I will shew thee things which must be hereafter." John will be shown a look into the future. John could have had a vision of this, or he could have been transported into heaven for a moment in time to see all of this. We do know that viewing something from the earth makes us see just the here and now. From a heavenly point, we can see yesterday and tomorrow.
Notice that these things of the hereafter must be. Why must they be? Because God ordered it from the beginning of the world and God never changes. We must change to fit His plan, not the other way around.
John is not told a specific time in the hereafter, only that it will be later than the present time he is in.
John is now seeing into the future, after the believers in Christ are raptured into heaven, in this particular scene.