COME UP HITHER
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.
“After this,” that is, after the first two divisions of the book have now been written, as set forth by the Holy Spirit to John as recorded in chapter one and verse nineteen. Revelation 1:19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; He has already written “the things which thou has seen,” as chapter one. And he has written, “the things which are,” as chapters two and three. Therefore as he begins now to write the “things which must be hereafter,” he begins with this phrase, “After this.” That is after these first two divisions, now I begin to start the third and final division.
And since he, along with all other believers of that age, must leave the dead letter of the law which ‘killeth,’ he must be brought up into the influences of the Holy Spirit to receive the living word! 2 Corinthians 3:6 ¶ Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. For “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” 1 Corinthians 12:3
THIS IS NOT THE RAPTURE! Truly it is a rapturous matter to be filled with the Spirit! But no one leaves planet Earth when this command occurs. Just read the next verse of your Bibles! What does verse two plainly state was the result of being commanded to “Come up hither?” Does it not plainly state the result was “Immediately I was IN THE SPIRIT:?” Yes! Not raptured by an ascension into heaven. But was raised up in compliance with Ezekiel’s prophesy that God would give believers a fleshly heart in exchange for their stony heart. Ezekiel 36:25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And it is nothing more than the Apostle Paul’s instructions to both the Ephesians and Colossians. Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: Colossians 3:1 ¶ If ye then be risen with Christ, (that is, in regenerating grace) seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
This is “The Door” Himself doing exactly what he had promised he would. In John 10:9 he stated, “I am the door.” And in John 14 he promised that after he had prepared a place of redemption for them at the cross, he would come and receive them unto himself, that where he was, there they should be also. John 14:2,3 And as he was now sitting upon the throne of his mediation, he would have his Bride to be raised up into the spirituals to sit with him, as Ephesians 2:6 just stated, in heavenly places.
For Jesus Christ is presently reigning Lord! Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Mark 16:19 ¶ So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For as the first Adam caused death to reign among us, so the Last Adam has now caused us to reign in life! Romans 5:17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
But shall not the church be taken up to be with the Lord? Certainly! No one is denying that. To do so would be to deny the scriptures. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 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: 17 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. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
But this event is not to be found in this “Come up hither,” here in Revelation 4:1. It is to be found in the second “Come up hither,” found in Revelation 11:12! For it is there we find the results being an ascension up to heaven! Revelation 11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. Yet this brings with it a need to have the Holy Spirit displace carnal, religious reasoning. And the majority of religion’s commentators and their commentaries fail at receiving the spirit of the word. For here they must deal with their bewildered, and too ofter mangled subject of “the two witnesses.”
And since most have not a clue as to who these two witnesses in biblical reality are, we wind up with a huge entanglement of confusing error, set forth as truth. For most just cannot bear the honest truth of stating, “I just don’t know.”
Therefore let us simply look at the scriptures and seek the Spirit to direct us into the spiritual path for interpretation. First of all, who does the scriptures clearly state that these two witnesses really are? Acts 5:32 And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him. Very simply and plainly stated, without the ‘razzle-dazzle’ of the commentary of Doctor Bottlestopper’s emotional supposition, the two witnesses are the church and the Holy Spirit. – Isn’t that simple? Isn’t that refreshing? Doesn’t that truth ‘set you free’ from the confusing entanglement of religion’s self-exalting vanities?
But another hang up for a majority of carnal religion’s teachers is that they cannot abide the fact of there being an end of gospel evangelism! They have been too severely engrossed in their ‘justification by works’ ministries to cease their aggressive soul-hunting. Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Yet we read in verse seven of that eleventh chapter of Revelation that it shall be so. Revelation 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And we also read of this in Revelation 10:7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. That beast cannot ascend out of that pit until the Sovereign Lord ordains it. Revelation 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, (that is, for the church age.) 3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, (the gospel hardened, evangelized masses) to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
And is this not also consistent with our Lord’s instruction as how this last day compares with two other days in biblical history? Did he not teach us that the end time shall be like both the days of Noah and Lot? Luke 17:26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
And in Noah’s day Noah ceased to give forth his preaching of righteousness (See 2 Peter 2:5), as he was sealed up in the ark for seven days before the rains began. Genesis 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. 10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. 16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
And then in Lot’s day before the fiery judgment fell upon Sodom, the angels of God pulled Lot in from the public and shut the door, closing him off from those appointed to destruction. Genesis 19:10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.
Therefore in both Revelation 10:7 and 11:7 we have it stated that the “mystery of God,” or the gospel, and “the testimony” of the church and Holy Spirit shall have been “finished.” And this is born up by the two times of judgment that our Lord set forth as examples in both the days of Noah and Lot. And this is the time of the “little season.” For God must hold back the powerful gospel in order for Satan to be loosed and go forth to deceive all the nations of the world.
See that in Revelation 20:3, 7, 8 listed above. Revelation 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
We also have this set forth in Isaiah’s writings. Isaiah 26:20 ¶ Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. 21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. The true church of the Living God is removed from its affect upon the public in order that God may exact his judgment upon all gospel rejectors. They must ‘come in,’ in order that God may ‘come out!’
And this can also be seen in the Lord’s cross work. For he removed his disciples into an upper room, away from all public effect while he exacted his judgment upon those of “wicked hands.” John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. 32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.
Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. Acts 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Therefore the powerful gospel was not allowed to go forth until after the Lord Jesus had destroyed Satan’s power of death at his cross! 1 Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Romans 11:33 ¶ O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
Dear Reader, we have already received this first “Come Up Hither.” And the second is yet to follow. And as this first one was an actual occurrence, be assured that so shall the second one come upon us. Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
Pastor Gene Breed
November 5, 2022