“the eternal Spirit” (Hebrews 9:14).
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard” (Revelation 1:10a).
“He carried me away in the Spirit… and I saw…” (Revelation 17:3a).
“And he carried me away in the spirit… and showed me” (Revelation 21:10a).
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7a, 11a, 17a, 29a, 3:6, 13, 22).
The Holy Spirit is God, so He is called the Eternal Spirit in the above Scripture reading.
God is not bound by time like we humans are.
He is omnipresent, simultaneously present not merely everywhere, but also in all chronological ages. He lives in the past as well as in the present and even in the future.
Jesus said,
“Before Abraham was, I am!”
Bad grammar? Oh no! Jesus transcends time! He is not a slave of the clock, the calendar, and the agenda! People are! The fact that people have wrist-watches shackled on them proves that they are prisoners of time! We never read of Jesus running so He would not be late to an appointment.
Here is an intriguing, challenging door opened before you into another realm. You are invited in. How do you get in?
“He carried me away in the Spirit… and I saw…”
“I was in the Spirit… and heard…”
Yes, it is possible to walk in the Holy Spirit. God’s Word commands us to walk in the Holy Spirit, step by step. You need not to be concerned about taking a giant leap, just take the next step, in the Holy Spirit! As you do, something amazing happens; walking in the Holy Spirit you are not bound by time, you are in the Eternal Spirit! Then, and only then, you can see and hear!
We can only see and hear things as they really are when God reveals them to us in the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, we see nothing and hear nothing.
The Pharisees all had their doctorate degrees in theology but only a few of them came to Jesus.
John was a mere uneducated fisherman, yet he was carried away in the Spirit and saw and heard what the Pharisees could not see nor hear.
In the book of Revelation, the great visions John saw are recorded. Each of these revelations was preceded by being in the Holy Spirit.
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day and I heard…” “He carried me away in the Spirit… and I saw…”
“He carried me away in the Spirit… and showed me…”
John was not merely tele-transported to another place, he was also chrono-transported to another age, in the Holy Spirit, the Eternal Spirit, yet he did not leave his body.
The entire book of Revelation is about the future. Chronologically, it has not happened yet. But from God’s point of view, the future is just as clear and irrevocable as the past.
Grammatically speaking, John’s wording may be incorrect, because what he describes (in the past tense) has not happened yet. He writes, “I heard… I saw…”
Theologically speaking however, it is absolutely correct, because when John was in the Holy Spirit, he was released from the slavery of time and could rightly say, “I heard… I saw…”
Remember also that Jehovah or more correctly, Yahweh, means “I am what I am.” He inhabits the present, the past, and the future. He is the eternally present God, in Whom we live and move and have our being.
This brings us into an intriguing fact. Notice this! “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10 KJV).
Have you seen it? Did you get it? Or are you still a slave of the calendar wrist-watch shackled to your wrist!
One brief glance around you will confirm that Satan has not yet been thrown into the lake of fire. He is still loose. But John saw him cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, right? The answer is very simple; John was in the Eternal Spirit!
Wow! Can I be in the Holy Spirit also?
Of course! In the Holy Spirit you are not enslaved by time, you can see and hear the devil already thrown into the eternal lake of fire! You are now out of the reach of the tempter as long as you remain in the Eternal Spirit!
There are only two places where you are truly out of the reach of the devil and both of these are in another realm, in the Spirit. They are:
In the Eternal Holy Spirit.
In the Church.
Wait a minute! Did you say; the Church!? The church is full of hypocrites; there is about as much sin in the Church as out of it.
Yes, but I am not talking about the outward shell. There is a Church inside the church. There is a Body inside the body, like there is a Man-child inside the pregnant woman in Revelation 12:4,5.
We need to remember what the Lord Jesus Christ told Peter:
“I shall build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
This Church is the one I am talking about!
Inside this Church and walking in the Eternal Spirit, you are safer than a private driving an armored tank against enemy pea-shooters.
One warning though; to continually walk in the Holy Spirit is possible, but to slip out of the Holy Spirit and walk in the flesh is also possible! This invisible door into another realm is like the fast revolving door you may have seen at a bank.
An evil thought comes into your mind. If you entertain it, feast upon it, just for a moment, you are out! But if you immediately turn to the Lord, repent, and plead the Blood, you are in! And that can be done instantly. Yes, it is the fastest revolving door of the universe! Come in and stay in!
“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. And immediately I was in the spirit; and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne” (Revelation 4:1,2).
Remember “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C. S. Lewis? He describes a door through which one could walk from this world into Narnia, an entirely different world. Lewis sought to illustrate to us that there is a “door” into another realm, available for us to use. This door is nothing less than the Holy Spirit Himself!
Oh, come now! Are you trying to tell me that the Almighty God is a door?
Why not? The Lord Jesus already told you just that. He said,
“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9a).
Even today the shepherds in the Holy Land bring their flocks into the stony corral at night; then lay down at the entrance. Is not the shepherd the door? He keeps the sheep in and the wolves out.
By our physical birth, we are beings of this present world. By our spiritual birth, when we were born again by faith in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we repented and believed in Him, even into Him, we also became beings of another world, a spiritual realm.
As an illustration, let us say that in between these two very different realms, one physical, the other spiritual, there is this fast revolving door, which is the Holy Spirit.
To travel the fastest our human mind can conceive, at the speed of light, there is still some lapse of time. But to travel in the Spirit, there is no time involved, not even a nanosecond nor a femtosecond. Of course, once in, you can stay in the Spirit for hours. I hope you will stay in the Spirit continually!
Here you have an example of how one traveler was tele-transported:
“And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself in Azotus; and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea” (Acts 8:39,40 NAS).
Is it possible then, to travel in the Spirit into the past?
Certainly. Many of us, when reading the Scriptures, have longed to have been there, seeing and hearing Jesus speak, touching Him, looking into His eyes, leaning on His breast, kissing His feet. Some may wish to see the crucifixion of our Lord. Or see the children of Israel walk across the Red Sea. Or see God shape Adam out of dust and blow into his nostrils the Breath of Life, causing him to live. Or see the conquest of Jericho. Or see the inauguration of the temple of Solomon. Or see the pillar of fire lead the children of Israel across the desert. Or see Christ transfigured. Or see the resurrected Christ ascend into glory.
Yearn no more. You can experience all that and much more!
How?
In the Eternal Spirit!
The Bible has not been written to tantalize us, making us wish we had such good experiences; it has been written to enable us to live those good experiences–in the Spirit! You will not be physically seeing and hearing what Peter and John saw and heard; you will see and hear spiritually! The Pharisees had physical eyes and ears, yet God’s Word declared, “Having eyes they do not see and having ears they do not hear.” It is not the outward sight and hearing we need. Exercise your inner eyes and your inner ears, to see and hear in the Spirit.
How?
In God’s Hall of Fame of those that saw with the eyes of faith we read that “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13).
God’s promises can be seen.
We can be persuaded of them.
We can embrace them.
“By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” (Hebrews 11:27).
The eyes of faith can even see the invisible God!
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 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.” (Hebrews 12:1,2).
You may ask how this is done. Let me give you an example. What is your way to read the Word of God? Do you read it in the flesh, using your mind only, or do you read it in the Spirit, using your whole being, your mind, your heart, and especially your spirit? Try this. Read it to the Lord. Read it prayerfully, in a living dialogue with its Author. As you read, He will give you an inner sense of how it happened. You will begin to perceive the personal lessons He wants you to receive from the particular portion you are reading in the Holy Spirit. Be encouraged! The Lord has prepared everything. He is waiting for you. He desires to have a sweet time with you in His Word.
You will not need to leave your body behind to have such an experience. Everything is in the Holy Spirit. If you are a Christian, one born of God, the Holy Spirit is in you, He can show you anything He wants to, inside of you.
Let’s pray:
Everlasting Father, thank You for causing me to be born of the Holy Spirit when I believed in Your Son as my Lord and Savior.
Thank You that as I walk in the Eternal Spirit and in the fellowship of the Church I am safe and protected by You; even the gates of hell itself shall not (I can repeat this, “shall not”) prevail against Your Church, Your Bride; Your Body, of which I am a little member.
Even the lowest member of Christ’s Body, the heel, will have the privilege of crushing the serpent when You crush him under Your foot. Yippee!
As I walk in You, abide in You, live in You, and You in me, I’m safe and secure. None can pluck me out of Your hands, especially if I happen to be Your little finger! We are united. Wherever You go, I go. We are one.
Thank You that I can walk in the Spirit today!
Help me to stay in the Holy Spirit, to be perceptive to Your still small voice, and not to quench nor grieve the Holy Spirit but to be continually filled with the infinite and eternal Holy Spirit.
Lead me into Your Word. As I read, speak to me. As I pray, remind me of what You told me in Your Word. Speak to me the lessons, the living experiences, in Your Word.
In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Who said, “I am.” Amen!
From Communing With God – Chapter 10