Called up into heaven
Rev 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 show thee things which must be hereafter.
Rev 1:19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
Chapter four begins the things which shall be hereafter; prophecy of future events. It is a heavenly view of what happens on earth.
A door was opened in heaven. Jesus in chapter three as knocking on the door of our heart. In chapter three, the beloved church of Philadelphia, was given an open door for ministry. Now, John is invited into heaven, in the spirit, to see and hear great and mighty things. God spoke unto Jeremiah; call upon me.
Jer 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
In chapter four Jesus is calling on John, the sound of a trumpet, distinct, loud and clear, the voice of Jesus, as in Rev 1:10. Come up here, and I will show you things to come.
Rev 4:2 And immediately I was in the spirit; and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
Heaven is a spiritual place, no flesh may enter. John was in the spirit entering heaven. He describes what he sees in words and in symbolic words. He saw a throne, and one setting on the throne.
Some see this calling up to heaven with the sound of a trumpet as symbolic of the church being called up in the rapture.
1 Th 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:
1 Th 4:17 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.
The church is not mentioned in Revelation, after chapter three. The church will not be in the wrath of God, which will be poured out on the earth.
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
The churches were shown what they must do; so put away evil and purify yourself in holy living and the blood of the lamb, escape the coming tribulation. Be with the church that is taken up into heaven. This is the pre-tribulation rapture view. Some believe the church will go through the tribulation. The elect of Israel who have not received Christ Jesus, before the tribulation, will go through the wrath to come.
Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
I prefer to be with those taken up before the great tribulation.
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