In the Spirit by Ps Michael Podhaczky

As I read the first chapter of Revelation this morning, I was reminded of the central theme of this book; the unveiling or revelation “of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show his servants, things that must shortly take place.” (Rev 1:1 cf. v19; 4:1; 22:6). As such, it is important to view the unveiling of the person of Jesus Christ as the most important key to revelation.

                                

Keeping this foundation of the unveiling of Christ in mind, the writer, John describes himself as “worshiping in the Spirit”, or “in the Spirit” (Rev 1:10). He repeats this idea three more times throughout the Revelation. John writes, “Immediately, I was in the Spirit, and behold…” (Rev 4:2); “So he (an angel) carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw…” (Rev 17:3); “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me…” (Rev 21:10). The repetition of this idea appears to establish it as the hinges for the following passages to hang from (Rev 1:9-3:22); (Rev 4:1-16:21); (Rev 17:1-21:8); (Rev 21:9-22:5); and concluding with (Rev 22:6-21).

By his use of the phrase (or something similar) “I was in the Spirit on the Lords Day, and I heard…and I saw…” (Rev 1:10,12), it would seem that John was purposeful in putting himself in a place to worship and focus on the Lord. Kenneth Wuest’s expanded translation writes, “I entered into a different experience in the sphere of the Spirit.” It was then that the Holy Spirit showed John the things he recorded in the Revelation.

Are you spending purposeful, intentional time, as John was, to worship and hear from the Lord? Perhaps you are already doing this, but could you do it even more?