In the Spirit, pt. 1

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” (Rev. 1:10). 

The best time to meet with Jesus is on His holy day, the Sabbath.

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words….” (Isa. 58:13).

“Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:28). 

But, Satan has always had problems with the Sabbath because it offered humanity special privileges with God. All heaven gave special attention to the human children of God.

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” (Gen. 2:1-3).

After creating everything on the new planet during the first six days, God created the Sabbath on the seventh. He created a time to spend in communion with Adam and Eve. Before the first day of labor began, God offered rest. Rest in Him. There was no need for physical rest, because Adam had yet done no labor. This was nurturing, the nursing of a mother to her newborn, after her labor. Was there labor involved in Adam by his coming into existence? Probably not. But, there was labor involved in his cooperating to bring Eve into existence. There was the stress of looking for his mate among the other animals, and finding none. That was work. That was labor. Adam labored on the sixth day.

Now he could rest from the anxiety of not having a helpmeet, a companion to do things together, go places together, talk together. A constant friend and helper, Eve was a counselor and the only object on earth upon whom he could bestow his supreme regard.

That Sabbath became the first of 313,034 weekly Sabbaths since. It was not only a whole day of communion with each other, but especially a day of communion with their Maker. All day, every Sabbath, they were in the Spirit because Jesus was walking with them. And in His presence was fullness of joy.

Each day can be like the Sabbath. Yet, each day is cumbered with the cares of this life, and burdened with stresses that distract from the fuller communion with Jesus on His day of rest. We must work. Work is a blessing. But the greatest blessing of all throughout the week in between Sabbaths, is knowing that the Sabbath is coming. “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest.” (Heb. 4:11). The Sabbath rest is never so good than after six days of labor.

But, Jesus’ rest is more than physical. It is spiritual rest. “We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1Jn. 4:16). Love and trust are twins. Trust permits the nerves to be calm, and trust consummates that peace in the expression of love. There are no threats in trust and no fears in love. The only fear is that we lose the peace and rest in God. “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” (Heb. 4:1).

This is what being in the Spirit is all about. John in the Spirit was him dwelling in God, abiding in Christ, living in Their love. The eternal Spirit is that love eternally. It is eternal life that begins at the new birth in Christ.

“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ.” (2Cor. 5:16-18).

Being in the Spirit means to be in Christ. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3).

The Spirit is synonymous with God and His only begotten Son.

“The LORD possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old.

I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.

When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.

Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:

While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.

When He prepared the heavens, I was there: when He set a compass upon the face of the depth:

When He established the clouds above: when He strengthened the fountains of the deep:

When He gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass His commandment: when He appointed the foundations of the earth:

Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him;

Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and My delights were with the sons of men.” (Prov. 8:22-31).

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen. 1:26). “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.” (Gen. 5:1,2).

 To be in Christ is to be in the Spirit. And this is for everyone who will go for it. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Rom. 8:9,10).

John beheld “what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” (1Jn. 3:1). And marveling, John entered deeper and deeper into thoughts of God’s love that he had seen while he had spent his life walking with his Master. The heat of the sun and the things of earth disappeared; the endless sea ceased to imprison him. This world’s troubles went silent; the gnawing hunger and thirst faded away. The concerns for the churches dampened. Hour after hour on that Sabbath day, John’s peace deepened while he went deeper into faith and love for his Master. He was in the Spirit; he was in the Prince  Messiah. He had the Son.

John’s yearning moved God to send Jesus to the lonely exile, and the Revelation came to him. Jesus gave John the special gift of His future secrets as a reward for the disciple’s faith and love for Him. The last father of the church received that special benefit of inspiration not because he was a mighty figure who could sit stately upon an earthly throne of gold. The heavenly benediction came to John as he sat on a rock, living off of vegetation, grimy, dressed in filthy rags, and sleeping on the bare ground. The Revelation filled with promise came because of persecution.

“I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Rev. 1:9).

Jesus is always “full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14). If He blesses a person or a nation with great grace, He must balance that with great testing truth. Otherwise, the grace is not appreciated. After Jesus has tested His people by a stressful test and they endure it faithfully, then He can bless them with His special self-revelation. “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever.” (Deut. 29:29).

The blessed communion that came out of the horrific persecution prepared John for the special revelation that Sabbath day. John had proven himself to be faithful to the core. His big test accomplished, the Lord could reward him with a message to the church throughout the centuries to come. “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” (2Chron. 16:9).

Will we suffer the loss of everything in exchange for a visit from Jesus by His Spirit? Would we do anything to hear His voice through His Spirit? Would we let His Father’s Law grind on our consciences in order for the His angels to escort us to His Son, so we can become His disciple? Would we allow our idols to be taken away in exchange for time spent together with the holy One? Would we too like to be in the Spirit, and also see Jesus? “Every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him” “hath life.” (John 6:40; 1Jn. 5:12).

“And the Spirit [of the Bridegroom] and the bride say, Come.” (Rev. 22:17).

“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28).

“Christ…is our life.” (Col. 3:4).

 “And if Christ be in you, [sin that is in] the body is dead…; but [Christ’s] Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Rom. 8:10).

“This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” (1Jn. 5:11).