Revelation 4:1 Devotion

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things."”

(Revelation 4:1)

A door stands open in heaven to give John access to heaven and to the vision that he will see. A voice invites him up, the same voice as in 1:10, the voice of Christ. It is always through Christ alone that we have access to God, and the same is true of John. Come up here indicates that John ascends into heaven, whether in the body or out of it (2 Cor. 12:2-3). Moses went up to Mount Sinai (Exod. 19:3, 20), and Paul was caught up to heaven (2 Cor. 12:2) to receive special revelations. Ezekiel saw heaven opened (Ezek. 1:1). Likewise with John. Though the experience of John in unique, God gives the description of this vision to us as well. He thus enables the whole church of God to have access to the heavenly sphere. In this sense, then, we can through appropriating the vision share in the benefits of John’s experience.

The content of John’s vision is what must take place after this. The language is similar to 1:19 and refers to the whole of 4:1-22:5. Because God is in control and has foreordained the entire course of history (Eph. 1:11; Isa. 46:10), he can tell beforehand the character of the entire age leading up to the Second Coming. The guarantee from God is reassuring for believers who must face hardship, persecution, or even death. 

(Dr. Vern Poythress)