It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory.
For I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago—whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God knoweth—such a one caught up even to the third heaven.
And I know such a man—whether in the body, or apart from the body, I know not; God knoweth—how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
Of such a one will I glory; but of myself I will not glory, save in my weaknesses.
For if I should desire to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I shall speak the truth: but I forbear, lest any man should account of me above that which he seeth me to be, or heareth from me.
And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch.
Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
And He hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
May we look to the Lord.
O Father, we are in Thy presence. We pray that Thou wilt remove any veil that may be upon our eyes, that we may behold Thee with open face. May we see the glory of the Lord and be transformed from glory to glory according to His image, by the Lord the Spirit.
Lord, we do expect Thee to do such a work in our midst this morning. We pray that Thou wilt breathe upon Thy Word and make it living, new, and operative in each of our lives, that Thou mayest be glorified.
Give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may know Thee. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We have been fellowshipping in this second letter to the Corinthians, and there we see a man. He is a man in Christ—a spiritual man. This spiritual man is characterized by certain things.
We mentioned that, first of all, a spiritual man is a man with authority. It is not authority that he tries to claim or assume, but it is an authority that is wrought into his life. In other words, spiritual authority is nothing but the measure of Christ in that person.
This authority is needed for the building up of the body of Christ. As Paul said, God had given him authority, not for throwing down, but for building up.
We also have seen that this spiritual man has another characteristic: he is God’s fool. In the eyes of the world, and in the eyes of carnal believers, such a man is a fool.
Why? Because he is not interested in his own interest. He is concerned with the interest of God in His people. So here you find the Apostle Paul saying that he is jealous for the Corinthian believers with the jealousy of God.
Because he was so jealous for them, for God’s sake, he contended with them. For that reason, he was disliked, criticized, and opposed. But the jealousy of God filled his heart; he could not help it.
He wanted to see these Corinthian believers as chaste virgins, espoused to Christ, that they might maintain their singleness of heart toward Christ instead of being led astray into the complexity that is of the world.
He is God’s fool because he is willing—in a sense, he volunteered. It is not something forced upon him, but he is willing to suffer for the sake of the body of Christ. He is to have fellowship with the sufferings of Christ, to fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body, which is the church.
This man is a fool because he is constrained by the love of Christ. He is willing to spend and be utterly spent for those whom he loves; and yet, the more he loves them, the less he is loved. Still, he keeps on loving.
Now he is a fool. So, dear brothers and sisters, just remember that a spiritual man is characterized, first, by spiritual authority; second, by the foolishness of God. But the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men.
Brothers and sisters, how often we try to be wise, try to be clever. Yet we must remember that there is such a thing called the foolishness of God. Unless we are willing to take that foolishness, we will never be spiritual in the real sense.
This morning, we would like to see the third characteristic of a spiritual man: he is a man of vision.
In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul says that he will come to this matter of visions and revelations. Yet you find that, when he is trying to speak about visions and revelations, he becomes most reluctant.
In a sense, he is forced by the attitude of the Corinthians to speak of the visions and revelations that he has received. If he were not forced by the Corinthian believers, probably he would never have mentioned what God had shown him in visions and revelations.
Why? Because he said that fourteen years ago he knew a man—a man in Christ. This man, fourteen years ago, was caught up to the third heaven. Whether in the body or out of the body, he said, he did not know. God knew.
But this man was caught away into Paradise and heard things that men should never utter—tremendous revelations. Yet whether in the body or out of the body, he said he did not know. Only God knew.
Even, my dear brothers and sisters, if you are really given a vision or a revelation from above, you do not know whether you are in the body or out of the body.
Sometimes it may seem as if it is physical: you really see something. Yet it is so spiritual that you do not know whether you are in the body or out of the body. That is, you are in the spirit. You have no way to tell.
That is the reason why this man said he did not know. He only knew that he had been given visions and revelations, but he could not be sure whether he saw them in the body or out of the body.
When you receive a vision or a revelation, that is always the case. If you are so sure that you see it in the body, I wonder if it is a vision or revelation. Why? Because most likely you are not in the spirit.
This man said, “Fourteen years ago.” You know, if we receive a little light, a little vision, a little revelation—if we see a little bit—probably the next moment the whole world will know about it.
Probably you will be on the front page of a newspaper, or we will broadcast it over radio or television. We want everybody to know that we have received a vision and revelation.
Now, I do not mean that in a bad way. Sometimes, probably, you think that God has given you so much, and it is so tremendous, that you would like to share it with everybody. That is good.
Yet, on the other hand, sometimes you find that it is really because that vision or revelation has so elated you that you want everybody to know that you have seen it. That is not too good.
But here is a man who had received such tremendous visions and revelations, and he had never told anybody about them until fourteen years later. Even then, he was being forced.
It was because the Corinthian believers would not accept Paul or his apostolic authority that he was forced to tell them what vision and revelation God had given him fourteen years ago.
Students of the Bible are not able to pinpoint the exact occasion. They offer different explanations.
Probably, fourteen years ago cannot refer to the vision Paul received on the road to Damascus. On the road to Damascus, Paul received a tremendous vision, but this cannot refer to that time. It must have happened sometime later than that.
Some people think that Paul refers to the time when he was in Arabia, in the desert. You remember that after he received the vision on the road to Damascus, after a short period with the believers in Damascus, he went away to Arabia. There he spent about three years alone with God.
Some people think that the experiences he mentioned as occurring fourteen years ago refer to that time while he was alone with God: that he was caught up to the third heaven and caught away to Paradise. We do not know.
Others think that it was at the time when the Apostle Paul and Barnabas were preaching in the regions of Galatia. While they were preaching in Lystra, a lame man was healed, and the whole city was stirred.
The priest of Zeus came with garlands and bulls. They thought that gods had appeared in human form, so they wanted to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas.
Paul and Barnabas tore their garments, leaped into the midst of them, and tried to stop them. They said, “This is what we have come for: that you may be delivered from all these vanities.” They were hardly able to stop them from doing that.
But how fluid is human emotion. The next moment, you find that they turned against Paul. They stoned him, dragged him out of the city, and left him there.
Only the believers stood in a circle over that dead body. Then Paul got up.
Some people think that Paul was really dead, that he was stoned to death but was raised up miraculously by God. When he was dead, they think he was caught up to the third heaven and caught away to Paradise.
Now, it might have been that time. We do not know. Other people offer other explanations. But anyway, this is not important. The important thing is that fourteen years ago Paul had this experience: he was caught up to the third heaven.
What is the third heaven? Sometimes you hear people say there are seven heavens, as if heaven has seven layers. But really, according to the Bible, if you have a third heaven, then you have a second heaven and a first heaven.
Usually, we say that the first heaven is where the air is—the clouds. The second heaven is where the stars are. The third heaven is where the throne of God is set. God’s throne is set in the third heaven.
So Paul said that this man was caught up to the third heaven. Now, that is a tremendous experience.
He was not only caught up to the third heaven; he was also caught away to Paradise. Oftentimes, we mix up these two places. We think that heaven is Paradise, and Paradise is heaven. But strictly speaking, this is not true.
The third heaven is where God is, where His throne is. But Paradise is the place where the blessed dead go to rest and wait for the time of resurrection.
You remember the thief—the robber—on the cross. At the last moment, he trusted in the Lord. He was only hoping that, in the future, perhaps in the distant future, the Lord would remember him.
But the Lord said, “Today, thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.” What does it mean? It means that because he had believed in the Lord Jesus, even at the last moment, after he died and his spirit left his body, his spirit and soul would go to Paradise, the place of the blessed dead, and wait for the time of resurrection.
No one can enter into heaven without a resurrection body. It is too bright; you cannot stand it. It is too pure. You need to be clothed with a resurrection body in order to go to heaven.
When a person dies, those who are the Lord’s go to Paradise. Those who are not go to Hades. You remember that story our Lord told of the rich man and Lazarus.
Now, that is not a parable. Whenever the Bible speaks of a parable, it says that it is a parable. But on that occasion, the Lord was unveiling something behind the scene—something no living man had ever seen, but which the Lord knew.
He opened the veil a little and told us of the life afterward, the world after a person dies. There He showed us that there are two places. One place is called Hades, and the rich man was there suffering.
Lazarus was resting in Abraham’s bosom. That is Paradise. No one can cross over, for there is a great gulf separating these two places.
Some people think—and this is the traditional concept of Christianity—that after the Lord was raised from the dead and ascended to heaven, He took Paradise to heaven. He took all those who were in Paradise to heaven.
So the traditional concept is that Paradise, the place which was underneath the earth, is now in heaven because Christ has taken Paradise to heaven.
But, dear brothers and sisters, is Paradise in heaven, or is it still underneath the earth?
There is no Scripture that tells us explicitly that, at the ascension of our Lord Jesus, He took Paradise to heaven. On the contrary, you will find that Paradise is still underneath the earth.
Why? Because one day, when the Lord gathers His people, those who are dead in Christ Jesus shall be raised from the dead. When they are raised, they are caught up to the air.
Now, if they are already in heaven, they should come down to the air. But the Scripture says that they are caught up to the air.
That is the reason I remember one brother saying that the way Paul put it is significant. Paul said, “I know a man—whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows—he was caught up to the third heaven.”
Then he repeated it: “I know a man—whether in the body or out of the body, I know not; God knows—and he was caught away to Paradise.” Not caught up, but caught away. He was caught away to Paradise.
In other words, Paul mentioned these visions and revelations. He was not only in the third heaven, but he was in Paradise too. If that is the case, perhaps Paul was really stoned to death, and that is why he was taken to Paradise. It might be; we do not know.
But anyway, you find that there is the third-heaven experience, and there is the Paradise experience.
Paul was forbidden to tell us what he heard in Paradise because he heard things that could not be uttered. Because of that, he did not tell, and we do not know. There is no sense in guessing. Do not be too curious about it.
But he was not forbidden to tell us what he saw in the third heaven. Even though he did not mention it in 2 Corinthians 12, you find in other places in his writings that he did tell us what he saw in the third heaven.
Dear brothers and sisters, what can you expect to see in the third heaven?
Every time you find heaven opened in the Bible, a vision is given. What did they see? What is in the third heaven?
Of course, God is there. The throne of God is there. Of course, it is the Lamb who sits upon the throne. Of course, it is the Man in glory. That is what you see in the third heaven.
You may see the four living creatures. You may even see the twenty-four elders. You may see myriads of angels. But these are secondary.
What you really see in the third heaven is only one: you see God, His throne, and Christ. He is on the throne. You see the Man in glory. That is what you see.
What did Paul see on the road to Damascus? The heavens were opened to Paul, and he saw, as he said, the Righteous One. Who is the Righteous One? The Man in glory.
Paul thought of Jesus of Nazareth as One to be persecuted and despised. To his surprise, he saw that Man in glory, in power, in honor. That is what Paul saw.
What did Stephen see when he was stoned to death? He saw the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing there, receiving him.
Dear brothers and sisters, what is the third-heaven vision? The vision of the third heaven is nothing but a revelation of God, a revelation of Christ, a revelation of the Man in glory.
There is a Man in glory, and that Man is our Lord Jesus. Because He is in glory, He guarantees that one day He will lead many sons into glory.
This Man in glory is a corporate Man. He is the new man that Paul talks about: Christ as the Head and the church as His body. That is the vision in the third heaven.
We do not know what Paul saw in Paradise. Probably he met some of his acquaintances there. He saw Stephen there, no doubt. But anyway, we do not know what he heard. We do know what Paradise means: there you find those who are redeemed by the Lord.
Those who are redeemed are resting and waiting for the day of their glorification, for the day when they shall put on a resurrection body and join the One in glory. They will be heirs and co-heirs with Christ.
Brothers and sisters, do we have such visions? Paul said, “I will come to visions and revelations,” and these are both plural—not vision singular and revelation singular, but visions and revelations.
In other words, Paul is a man of vision. As you read his life, you find that he received visions and revelations from time to time—perhaps all the time. He was a man who lived under an open heaven.
Dear brothers and sisters, how important it is that we live under an open heaven. Do you know that this is our inheritance?
If Christ had not opened the new and living way for us, heaven would forever be closed to us. We would be living under a heaven of brass and an earth of iron. There would be no rain and no dew. We would live in hunger and thirst—of course, spiritually speaking.
But thank God, our Lord Jesus has opened a new and living way for us to the holiest of all. The veil is rent.
Therefore, it is our inheritance and our portion that we, as believers, should live under an open heaven. If heaven is closed upon us, something is wrong.
If we are not able to see Christ, something is wrong. If we are not able to receive revelations, something is wrong. If we live by traditions, something is wrong.
We should live under an open heaven, and visions and revelations should be our portion. It is not something spectacular or strange, but it should be our daily food.
In the life of Paul, you find that he received revelation after revelation, starting from the road to Damascus. Before that time, he had no vision or revelation whatsoever. All he had was tradition—the best of tradition.
But beginning from the road to Damascus, Paul began to receive revelations. He received a vision on the road to Damascus. He saw the Man in glory.
That Man in glory challenged him and said, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.” Paul had to surrender and say, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”
He was told to go to Damascus and wait. But that was not the end of his vision. While he was fasting and praying during those three days, in a vision he saw a man coming to him—Ananias. This man laid his hands upon him and opened his eyes.
The revelation continued. In other words, he not only saw the Head, Christ, the Man in glory in heaven; he also saw some parts of the body. Ananias represented the body of Christ in Damascus, and Saul was joined to that body.
But that was not the end. When he was in Jerusalem after returning from the desert, he went to the temple to pray. He was told, “Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, because they will not receive of thee testimony concerning Me.”
Paul said, “Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on Thee. Certainly my testimony will have weight among them.” But God said, “Go away. Do not stay here. Go to the Gentiles.”
Sure enough, he was sent away to Tarsus. That is why some people say that the fourteen years refer to that period when he was in Tarsus. But anyway, throughout his life, you find that he continued in visions and revelations.
Some people came from James, from Jerusalem, and began to teach the people that they must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses in order to be saved and perfected. There was an argument.
You remember how the church in Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas back to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders there in order to decide about this matter. Yet Paul tells us in Galatians 2 that he went to Jerusalem by revelation.
It was not merely that the church in Antioch sent him there. Actually, he received revelation from God that he should go. So he went. You find that his whole life was governed by revelation.
During his second missionary journey, he was thinking of going to Asia, but God would not allow him. He was thinking of going to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow him. So he went straight ahead until he came to Troas, that seaport, and there was nowhere to go.
In a dream, in a vision, a Macedonian appeared to him and said, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.” The next morning, they all decided that they should go to Macedonia. That was the first time the gospel was preached from Asia to Europe.
When he was in Corinth, the opposition was great. He must have been a little fearful. So the Lord stood by him at night and said, “Fear not; but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee: for I have much people in this city.”
Paul stayed for a year and six months. When he was arrested, the Lord again comforted him, standing by him and saying, “Fear not. Thou must bear witness also at Rome.”
When all hope was given up, an angel of the Lord stood by him and said, “Fear not. Thou must stand before Caesar.”
So you find that throughout the life of Paul, he was a man of visions and revelations. He was given visions and revelations to guide him, strengthen him, and help him throughout his life. He lived under an open heaven. He was a man of vision.
Dear brothers and sisters, is this true with us?
It is not enough merely to testify that fourteen years ago you received a vision or revelation. But how about today? It is important that our whole life should be lived under an open heaven.
There should be an opening of heaven to us, an unveiling of God’s mind and His heart to us, in a continuing and increasing way. Actually, there is no end to it. It is infinite.
But are we living under an open heaven? Do we have visions and revelations?
In Proverbs 29:18, there is the famous verse: “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.” Some versions say, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Where there is no vision, the people disintegrate.
How important it is that we have vision. Why? Because vision gives us direction. Vision strengthens us. Vision carries us through trials and testings. Vision unites us.
Without vision, we are like sand. Vision unites us into one. Without vision, we cast off restraint. In other words, everyone does what he likes. There is no restraint, no discipline.
Vision constrains us, restrains us, and binds us. We need this.
Brothers and sisters, what is this vision? We are not talking merely about something that you see with your naked eyes. Sometimes God does condescend Himself to our level and lets us see something physically, but that is not important.
The important thing is that a vision or revelation is an unveiling of the heart and mind of God. Within God there is a mystery, a secret. Within God there is His purpose and His will.
But God is willing to make His mind, His will, and His secret known to us. How? By revealing it through the Holy Spirit.
He reveals His mind through the Holy Spirit to our spirit. There, in our spirit, we receive a vision. We see something. We see the spiritual reality—not merely appearance.
Even the visions that people saw in the Old Testament were often appearances and impressions. These are not the real thing. The real thing is what lies behind them.
Vision is that which God unveils. In our spirit, we see the reality, the eternal reality of God. Now, that is a vision.
Unless we see this—unless we see the eternal purpose of God, what God really desires, what He is after, what He is doing today and throughout the centuries, and what He wants—we will disintegrate.
Brothers and sisters, we will go all to pieces. We will not be able to stand persecutions and trials. There will be no strength. We will be scattered to the four corners of the earth.
It is vision that gives us strength and direction.
Remember, when Paul stood before Agrippa, he said, “O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” If you want to judge Paul’s life, if you want to judge what he did, that is the answer: “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.”
Here you find that he sums up all the visions and revelations he had received throughout his life in the heavenly vision.
You know, brothers and sisters, when we speak about vision, people say, “Well, I have a vision.” Probably we all have some revelations.
As a matter of fact, if you have never received any revelation or vision, you are not the Lord’s. How do you come to Christ? How do you become a believer?
It is because Christ said, “My Father who is in heaven hath revealed Him unto thee.” Paul said, “It pleased God to reveal His Son in me.” If there is no revelation, if there is no vision, we will never be saved.
We may consider Jesus the greatest man in the world, but we will never see Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. There will be no living faith in Him.
So, in a sense, all believers have, once upon a time, received a vision and a revelation. That is true. But that is the beginning; that is not the end.
Our whole Christian life should be a life of vision, a life lived under an open heaven. There is much more that we need to receive.
Sometimes we hear people say, “I do have a vision.” What vision do you have?
Some people have a vision of world evangelism. They see the world evangelized, the whole world coming to Christ. They have that vision. Thank God for that vision.
Others have a vision that everybody should be healed. God is a healer, a mighty healer, and no one should be left in sickness. Everybody should be healed. Thank God for that vision.
Some people see that every Christian should be prosperous and rich—the gospel of prosperity. They say, “You do not need to drive a Chevrolet; you can drive a Cadillac or a Lincoln Continental.”
Others may have a vision to open an orphanage, a vision to open a hospital, a vision to be a foreign missionary, or a vision of this and a vision of that. Now, thank God for all these visions, if they are true.
Sometimes they are right. Sometimes they are visions coming from God. But, dear brothers and sisters, do you know that because we have visions of this and visions of that, instead of finding God’s people united, we find their visions divide them?
Everyone thinks that his vision is the vision. Everyone thinks that this is the thing God is doing. Instead of bringing God’s people together, they divide them. Why?
I can only think of a jigsaw puzzle. You know, you have a jigsaw puzzle—perhaps one hundred pieces, perhaps two hundred pieces—and all these pieces are in such odd shapes.
Probably you pick up one piece, and I pick up another piece. You say, “That is it.” But, brothers and sisters, that is not it. That is only part of it.
That piece in itself is meaningless. It looks strange. You cannot figure out what it is. Unless you put all these pieces together, then you see.
You not only see the vision, but you see what part your piece plays exactly.
The problem today with God’s people is that we have all these pieces and bits. We have this vision, that vision, this revelation, that revelation. If they are from God, thank God for all these visions and revelations. Do not look down upon any of them. They are all important and necessary.
But if you do not see the whole thing, brothers and sisters, it is meaningless. It does not serve God’s purpose. It falls short of God’s glory.
For instance, world evangelism: certainly we should preach the gospel to the nations. Certainly God wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, because it is not His heart to see anybody perish.
Certainly we should go and preach the gospel, disciple the nations, baptizing them and teaching them all things that Christ has commanded us. Certainly we should do that.
But suppose all the people of the world are evangelized and saved. Then what? Then what?
Why does God want them saved? Why does God save you? Does He want to save you merely so that you may go to heaven and walk on the golden street? Now, street—only one street.
Is that all? Brothers and sisters, why does God want you to be saved? Why does God want the world to be evangelized?
It is part of the heavenly vision: the Man in glory.
God has His eyes on the Man in glory. God wants man—but that Man is in glory. Today, men are in shame and humiliation, in sin, under the curse, and in death.
But thank God, there is a Man in glory today. This Man in glory is to bring many men to glory. That is what God wants. God wants a new man.
In the new man there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither American nor Chinese. In that new man, Christ is all and in all. That is what God wants. That is the picture.
Brothers and sisters, if God has given you a part to play, a piece that fits with other pieces, then you will find that the whole thing will come out: a glorious picture—the Man in glory.
Remember, dear brothers and sisters, all these visions and revelations are the filling in of the vision.
How blessed it is if you will be like Paul and, in the beginning, see the framework of that vision first. Then, as you go on with the Lord, you are filled in with visions and revelations.
That will save lots of trouble. But unfortunately, with many of God’s people, all they see are bits and fragments. They take these bits and fragments as the whole, without seeing the overall vision of God.
Oh, brothers and sisters, may the Lord have mercy upon us. There is nothing more needed among God’s people today than that, by the grace of God, we may be given the spirit of wisdom and revelation unto the true and full knowledge of God.
May we know His eternal purpose and know what the heavenly vision really is.
Dear brothers and sisters, if you see this, then when the Lord begins to fill in the details, you know where each piece should stand. Every piece will be joined together and fitted together.
That is what is meant by our being fitted together and joined together, with everyone fulfilling its part for the building up of the body of Christ in love.
So, a spiritual man is a man of vision. Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee because Thou hast opened the way to heaven for us. There is no need for us to live under a closed heaven.
We praise and thank Thee that this is our portion: an open heaven for us. O Lord, give us visions and revelations, that we may know Thee and know Thy Christ.
May we know Thy will and Thy pleasure. May we see that Man in Christ, that Man in glory.
O Lord, deliver us from taking a part as the whole. Teach us how to fit that part into the whole. Guide and lead us. Have mercy upon us as a people.
Bless Thy people everywhere throughout this church. Give Thy heavenly vision to Thy people as the time is drawing near.
Lord, we want Thee to have that which Thou art after, and we want to give ourselves to Thee for that purpose. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.