Revelation 4, verses 1 to 7 comments, part 1, the Rapture

 

Revelation 4:1 ¶  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; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. 2  And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. 3  And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. 4  And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. 5  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. 6  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. 7  And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

Paul, too, was given a glimpse of the third heaven, the place of God’s throne, but was not permitted to speak about what he saw.

2Corinthians 12:2  I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. 3  And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) 4  How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

John is brought to heaven for the express purpose of being shown things he nor you and I can see from earth. These are not visions from a trance. This is a forceable removal from one place to another, a translation, as one definition of that word is.

Verse 1 of Chapter 4 is often linked with the doctrine known today as The Rapture which Biblically is called the Translation, which in English also means to transport something from one place to another. John, a type of the church, is removed to Heaven. But, in our time, if and when does that happen? This will be a question that must be answered.