Revelation 4:1

The Vision Of Heaven.

‘After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven. And the first voice which I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, “Come up here and I will show you the things that must happen hereafter”.'

‘After these things I saw' - This was the next thing John saw chronologically but that does not mean that it followed what was in the previous vision chronologically in time. That must always be decided by the context. The phrase demonstrates the beginning of a totally new vision, confirmed by the statement of his being once again ‘in Spirit' (Revelation 4:2). This vision begins the outworking of God's purposes in history from John's days onwards as is clear from what follows.

‘And behold a door opened in Heaven'. John realises that he is to be allowed to enter Heaven in vision (compare 2 Corinthians 12:4 where Paul also was carried up into Paradise).

‘And the first voice that I heard was one of a trumpet speaking to me, saying ‘Come up here and I will show you the things which must occur hereafter'. The description suggests that this is the same voice as he had heard in Revelation 1:10. But here there is no vision from the future. Having previously been carried forward to ‘the Lord's day' he is now back to his own day hearing the same Lord speaking to him and is to be allowed a vision of Heaven at the time of writing.

This raises the question as to how this relates to the first vision. The answer is that it is providing the context for what is to follow for the churches and for the world, leading up to His appearing in glory. His readers need to be aware of activities in Heaven, which will result in activities on earth, that will prepare for His coming. There is no suggestion that this vision is ‘on the Lord's day'.

Some seek to relate it directly to the vision of the son of man coming with the clouds of Heaven into the presence of the ancient of days (Daniel 7), something fulfilled at the resurrection and ascension (Matthew 28:18; Acts 2:33; Acts 7:55; Ephesians 1:20), as though it was the same event. But this must be considered extremely doubtful. While both are visions of Heaven and must therefore be expected to have certain similarities, there are no similarities as to the events that take place and the description of God is very different. Furthermore in Daniel 7 the son of man comes out of suffering and into the presence of God to receive a kingdom, while here He is already ‘in the midst of the throne' (Revelation 5:6) and about to control the destiny of the world with the aim of bringing things to their final conclusion. This scene therefore comes later than that in Daniel 7. God wants His people to know that what is about to come on them is part of that process. We must therefore view it as a separate occasion.

‘The things which must be hereafter', that is, after that point in time. The coming events are to follow the time of John's vision on the Isle of Patmos, which resulted in the letters to the seven churches. These are events which will ‘shortly happen' following the revelation to the seven churches, and will be introductory to His coming. It will be an encouragement to John and his readers in the times of trouble ahead to recognise that what they are experiencing is part of the preparations for the end.