Verse 6 of chapter 22 says, “He said to me, These words are faithful and true; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent His angel to show to His slaves the things which must quickly take place.” The Lord is the God of the spirits of the prophets. In the same principle today, the Lord is the God of our spirit and in our spirit. Therefore, in order to contact Him, we need to contact Him in our spirit.
In addition to revealing the four great “sevens,” Revelation unveils four great visions: the vision of the churches (chs. 1—3), the vision of the destiny of the world (chs. 4—16), the vision of Babylon the Great (chs. 17—20), and the vision of the New Jerusalem (chs. 21—22). At the beginning of each of these visions the apostle John says that he was in spirit. Verse 10 of chapter 1 says, “I was in spirit on the Lord’s Day and heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.” In the Greek text, there is no article before spirit, indicating that it is our human spirit, which is mingled with God’s Spirit. Verse 12 continues, “And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.” John saw the vision of the churches as the seven golden lampstands in his spirit. We need to see all the matters related to the local churches not in our natural mind and understanding but in our spirit. We need to reject our natural mentality and turn to the spirit. There in our spirit we will see the vision of the churches.
Verse 2 of chapter 4 says, “Immediately I was in spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne there was One sitting.” John also saw the vision of the situation of the world in his spirit. Even today, we can understand the real situation of the world only in our spirit. Even the best politicians do not know the true situation of the world. If we are in spirit, the situation of the world will be clear to us.
Verse 3 of chapter 17 says, “He carried me away in spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” This sinful and awful woman is Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and the abominations of the earth (v. 5). The scarlet beast is both the Roman Empire and Antichrist, and the woman sitting upon the beast is the apostate Roman Catholic Church. This indicates a confederation between the false religion and worldly politics. Again, the principle is that in order to see the vision of the mysterious Babylon, we need to be in spirit. If we are in spirit, we will be clear that the Roman Catholic Church is the great harlot on the earth (v. 1), the counterfeit of the New Jerusalem that corrupts and damages the Lord’s Body.
In the last of the four visions, 21:10 says, “He carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” In order to see the vision of Babylon the Great, we need to be in the wilderness, but to see the New Jerusalem we must climb a high mountain in the spirit. We must be in spirit to see the vision of the churches as the seven golden lampstands, the vision of the world situation, the vision of Babylon the Great, and the vision of the New Jerusalem. How much we need to be in spirit! To see the heavenly visions requires us to be in our spirit.
In summary, Revelation tells us that the Spirit of God today is the seven Spirits of God for God’s administration in judgment, that the Lord is one with this Spirit in speaking to and dealing with His church, that the Spirit is one with the completed church as the bride, that the Lord is the God of the spirits of the prophets, and that in order to see the heavenly visions we need to be in our spirit. It was in the spirit that the writer of this book, the apostle John, saw the visions concerning all the great matters—the churches, the destiny of the world, Babylon the Great, and the New Jerusalem.