Will you please turn to 2 Corinthians 12? Just one verse—verse 1.
It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. For I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
—2 Corinthians 12:1
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for gathering us together before Thee. Lord, what hast Thou to say to us? We are all here. Open our understanding, that when Thy word is given, it may come right into the depth of our hearts, that we may see Thee through Thy word and be transformed and conformed to Thy image.
We trust Thy Holy Spirit to do this work, and it is all for Thy glory. In Thy precious name we pray. Amen.
Last Lord’s Day, we fellowshipped concerning this matter of vision. As we find in the book of Proverbs, where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; where there is no vision, the people perish; where there is no vision, the people disintegrate.
In other words, we find there is such a thing called the heavenly vision, and it is that vision which our God wants every one of us not only to know, but to experience.
Why is this so? Because this heavenly vision is related to God’s eternal purpose. Even before the foundation of the world, even before God began to do anything, He conceived a will according to His good pleasure. His will is concerned with His beloved Son.
So He put this will into a vision to reveal to us, His people, that His purpose concerning His Son might be fulfilled. Brothers and sisters, there is such a thing called the heavenly vision, and it is a must for every believer.
We find that this is the vision He gave to Peter, and it is also the vision He gave to Paul. Even though the occasions are different and the details are different, the principles, the outline, the content, and the reality of the vision are the same.
Dear brothers and sisters, we feel it is of tremendous importance that God’s people should see that vision. It is the vision concerning our Lord Jesus—Who He is and what He is to us. It is also concerning the church that He is building: what the church is, and what relationship we all have to that church.
We will not go back to what we have already mentioned, but at the very outset we would like to ask a question: Why is it that God’s people today do not seem to have caught that vision, or been caught by that vision?
Now, brothers and sisters, when we come to spiritual things, there is something we all need to know: the natural man can do nothing. God is spiritual, so anything that concerns God is, naturally speaking, beyond us.
The Bible says that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. So when we come to spiritual things, we are all, humanly speaking, helpless. There is nothing that we can do. Everything has to come from God.
But thank God, because our God is the God who reveals Himself. You remember Genesis 16 and Hagar. God revealed Himself to her. Thank God that our God is not One who hides Himself. If God should hide Himself, nobody would ever know Him, because He is beyond us. But thank God, He condescends Himself and wants us to know Him. He is the God who reveals Himself.
Why is it, then, that if God is the God who reveals Himself, we do not receive that revelation and do not see that vision? It is because, as our brother mentioned during the breaking of bread, it pleases God to hide His will from those who consider themselves wise and prudent, but to reveal it to babes.
In other words, if we consider ourselves wise and prudent, then we will find spiritual things hidden from us. But if we really have a heart like a babe—humble, innocent, and considering ourselves as nothing—then God will reveal His mind to us.
When you read the Sermon on the Mount, you find that our Lord Jesus begins:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
—Matthew 5:3, 6, 8
Our Lord Jesus said:
I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes.
—Matthew 11:25
So, dear brothers and sisters, if we really want to receive that heavenly vision, we need to have the attitude of a babe. If we consider ourselves knowledgeable, we will find ourselves kept away from that vision.
Our prayer is that God will always keep us in a spirit of humility, as if we know nothing, and that we will really put our trust in Him. As we have a seeking heart for Him, He will reveal Himself to us and enable us not only to see the vision, but also to be a part of that vision.
This morning we would like to consider together the matter of vision and visions. First of all, the vision is singular. In other words, the heavenly vision is only one.
But when that vision is given, it is given to us only in a broad outline. Just as when Peter was at Caesarea Philippi, the heavenly Father revealed the Son to him, and then the Son continued to reveal to him the church.
It was the same with Paul. When he was on the road to Damascus, our Lord Jesus revealed Himself to him and showed him how He and the church are one: whoever touches Him, the Head, touches the Body.
We need, first of all, an outline of the heavenly vision. That vision is composed of two parts. First, it concerns our Lord Jesus; the second part is related to the church. If we see only one part, then we miss the whole purpose of God.
But when the heavenly vision is revealed, it does not mean that because you have the vision, you therefore have the reality. Put another way, vision gives us only an outline.
Then you find that the Lord gives us visions—many visions—in order to fill in the content. If we have only vision and do not have the reality, we become visionary. There is nothing real; everything is merely idea and ideal.
But as visions continue in our lives, all the details are filled in, until we arrive at the fullness of Christ and the fullness of the church. That is why visions are so important.
Do not say, “Ten years ago God gave me the vision.” The question is, what about today? Are we still receiving visions? Is God still revealing Himself to us? Is He turning vision into vocation? That is our problem.
We do not want to approach this from a theological standpoint; we would like to approach it from a practical standpoint. We would like to choose some practical examples from the Word to show how, when someone has received the heavenly vision, the Lord begins to reveal more and more.
In the following visions, the details are filled in. People enter into the reality and practical side of the vision until the vision becomes a vocation. Not until a vision becomes vocation is that vision living and real.
We would like to use two examples from the Bible. One is, of course, the Apostle Paul.
We all know that on the road to Damascus, this true Pharisee was converted into a real believer. His whole life was changed. Instead of persecuting Christians, he became the persecuted.
But as you read his writings, you discover that he does not tell us that because he received the heavenly vision on the road to Damascus, he was therefore perfect. On the contrary, he tells us how the Lord continued to make that vision real in his life.
I would like to use two illustrations from his life. One is found in Romans 6 through 8. Some people say that the experience of Paul in Romans 7 was his experience before he was saved. But I think we know better: it tells us what happened in his Christian life after he was saved.
Before a person is saved, his mind is not renewed. But here you find a person who knows the will of God. He says, “I know the mind of God. I know what God’s mind is.” Not only that, he has the desire to do the will of God.
But he discovers a difficulty: he cannot do it. It is not because he does not know it; it is because he cannot do it. Why? Because even after he has been saved and has received a new life—the life of Christ in him—he finds a conflict within himself.
This new life gives him a new mind and causes him to desire to do the will of God and to please God in everything. But when he wants to do the will of God, he finds he is not able to do it.
Why? Because he finds that there are two different lives within him. In his spirit, in his new spirit, Christ is his life. But in his soul, he discovers that there is still the old Adamic life.
So far as the inner life is concerned, he wants to do the will of God. But when he tries to do the will of God, the other life—the natural life in his soul—rejects it and overcomes it, because that old life is strong. It has been there for years; it has been working for years.
The new life of Christ in him is weak, while the old life of Adam is strong. He cannot overcome that Adamic life, and there is a struggle in his life.
I believe, brothers and sisters, that we who have believed in the Lord Jesus will all experience such things, sooner or later. Perhaps in the beginning, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, we are as if taken to the clouds. Everything seems rosy.
During our first love, if the Lord requires anything of us, it is easy. But gradually we find that we are dropping down to earth, and in our spiritual life there is a civil war within us.
If we really love the Lord, we will be disturbed by it, because we find that we have more defeats than victories. In Romans 7, this man wants the will of God, but when he tries to do it, he finds another life and another power—the power of sin within him—that drags him down.
So he fights against it, and he discovers that the will is in him, but how to do it is not. Finally, he says, “It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” He is helpless and hopeless.
After struggling for some time—we do not know how long—he cries out:
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
—Romans 7:24
Now, brothers and sisters, have you come to that point yet? As we look back at our experience, after many defeats, if we really have a heart for God, we will not accept those defeats as final. We will continue striving and struggling until we finally discover that we are no match for the old Adam.
When we discover and acknowledge that fact, then we will cry out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?”
Thank God, when we are desperate and really discover that in ourselves we are helpless, the help is there. In Romans 7:24 Paul cries out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?” Then, in the following verse:
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
—Romans 7:25
In other words, you begin to discover that it is not you who overcome; it is Christ in you Who is always victorious. You give up yourself to the Lord and allow Him to do it for you.
When you turn to the Lord and trust in His life for your living, instead of using your own life to live the Christian life, then you find there is victory and there is a shout of victory.
On the road to Damascus, Paul saw the Son of God and called Him Lord. But in his practical life, he had not really made the Lord his Lord. He was still trying to do things for the Lord.
Until he discovered that the Lord is truly Lord of his life and allowed Him to take over his life, he struggled. But when he trusted in the Lord, the victory was there.
You have heard many testimonies concerning this matter: how the Lord has brought us from living the Christian life by our own life to living it by the new life of Christ within us. This is the secret.
Having the heavenly vision does not mean that you have already attained it. It simply means that a new horizon has opened before you, and there is a way, a direction, for you to go. You discover that the life of our Lord Jesus is your life.
So the Apostle Paul could say:
For to me to live is Christ.
—Philippians 1:21
There is another occasion we would like to mention. When Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, in chapter 12 he said, “I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.”
He especially mentioned one thing. He said that fourteen years earlier, he knew a man in Christ—whether in the body or apart from the body, he did not know—who was caught up to the third heaven.
Then he said, “I know such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know—but he was caught up into paradise.” He mentions being caught up to the third heaven, where God dwells, and then caught up to paradise.
We know paradise is where the blessed dead rest. Those who are in the Lord, after they die, go to paradise and rest there until the time of resurrection.
Some people think that when our Lord Jesus rose to heaven, He took paradise with Him to heaven, so that paradise today is in heaven. But this cannot be, because at the resurrection the dead will be resurrected and taken up into the air. If they were already in the third heaven, they would have to come down from heaven into the air.
So we know that even today paradise is still in the earth. But what Paul heard in paradise, he was not allowed to share with us. That did not mean, however, that he could not share what he had seen and heard in the third heaven.
Thank God for that. As you read the letter to the Ephesians or the letter to the Colossians, you find Paul speaking about the mystery of God and the mystery of Christ. The mystery of God is Christ, and the mystery of Christ is the church.
These are the two greatest mysteries in the universe. We wonder how he learned about such mysteries. Is it possible that when he was taken to the third heaven, he saw and heard things concerning these mysteries?
Of course, we do not really know when this happened to him. He speaks of fourteen years earlier, but even today people cannot tell us exactly when he was taken to the third heaven or taken to paradise.
The only thing we know is that if one is taken to paradise, it happens when one dies. You remember when Paul first preached the gospel in Asia Minor, how he was stoned and dragged out, thought to be dead. But when the disciples surrounded him, he rose up and went into the city.
I wonder whether it happened at that time, though chronologically it does not seem to have been fourteen years. We do not know exactly when it happened. The only thing we know is that it happened, and there he was able to know the mystery of God and the mystery of Christ in a way almost beyond human understanding.
Because of that, the Lord allowed Satan to put a stake in his life. It was not a little thorn; in the original, it is a stake. The Lord allowed a stake to come into his life so that he might not become proud, having received such revelation and such vision.
Humanly speaking, one would be proud of it. So God humbled him, allowing Satan to put this stake in his life. For that reason, Paul prayed three times before the Lord that the stake might be removed.
We know that when Paul prayed, it was not for a selfish reason. It was for the glory of God, because he was preaching the gospel. If he preached a mighty God while he himself was in such weakness, it seemed to be a contradiction and might appear to hinder the effectiveness of his work.
So for the glory of God he asked the Lord three times to remove it. But the Lord had a better answer:
My grace is sufficient for thee: for My power is made perfect in weakness.
—2 Corinthians 12:9
Paul, having seen that, boasted in his weakness. Brothers and sisters, we usually boast of our strength. We try to hide our weakness and mourn over our weakness. But here is a man who knew God so well that he could boast of his weakness, that the power of God might be manifested.
Even in the life of Paul, the heavenly vision was gradually fulfilled. He was brought into the vision, as well as the vision was brought into him. That is the purpose of God.
Brothers and sisters, just having the vision is a beginning; it is not an end. Do not be satisfied, thinking that because you have received the vision, you have everything. Not at all.
Unless God continually gives you visions and allows you to know more and more, the vision will not become your vocation. You must be absorbed, as it were, into that vision.
Now we would like to use another example: Peter. Peter is the same way. In Matthew 16, when Peter acknowledged our Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, it was a great revelation.
Our Lord Jesus said:
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in heaven.
—Matthew 16:17
In other words, it was a revelation; it was a vision. Peter was brought to see and confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
On the basis of that confession, our Lord Jesus was able to reveal something more to him. He said, “Thou art Peter”—a little stone. You have My life in you. Then He said:
I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
—Matthew 16:18
What a revelation, what a vision Peter received at that time. Yet that is why the Roman Church considers Peter to be the foundation of the church. But that is a mistake.
Immediately afterward, in Matthew 16, our Lord Jesus began to tell His disciples how He must go to Jerusalem, be beaten, be crucified, and on the third day rise from the dead.
The Lord Jesus was revealing how He, our Lord, would become the Christ. He had to give up Himself in order to fulfill the Father’s mission. It was a tremendous revelation.
But what did Peter do? He took hold of the Lord and said, “Lord, this shall never happen unto Thee. Be merciful to Thyself. Do not go to the cross. Thou dost not need it.”
Our Lord Jesus turned and said:
Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto Me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.
—Matthew 16:23
Here you find Satan trying to use Peter to dissuade our Lord Jesus from going to the cross. If this should happen, then there would be no salvation. But our Lord Jesus knew the wiles of the enemy and overcame them.
Even after Peter had received such vision and revelation, he was not there yet. He was still thinking of himself. He was still thinking according to the flesh—not the mind of God, but the mind of man.
How he needed to be delivered until he would see the mind of Christ and live according to it.
There is another occasion in Matthew 17. Our Lord Jesus said that before some of them died, they would see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.
Then, in Matthew 17, our Lord Jesus took three of His disciples—Peter, James, and John, the three closest to Him—and led them up to the Mount of Transfiguration. There our Lord Jesus was transfigured.
Glory came out of Him. This was not merely the glory of God; it was the glory of the Son of Man, because He lived such a life as pleased the Father that glory came forth from Him.
Then Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with Him about His departure. In other words, they were speaking about how He had come into the world, how the Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth, and how He was now to leave the world.
How was He to make His departure from this world? While they were speaking of it, Peter awoke and made a suggestion. Peter was so talkative; he always had great ideas.
He said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. We have Thee, we have Moses, and we have Elijah. What else do we want? Let us live here forever. We will make three tabernacles for You to rest in.”
He thought he had made a good suggestion, but the heavenly Father interrupted him. A cloud of glory—the Shekinah glory—came, and they heard a voice:
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.
—Matthew 17:5
Do not talk; hear Him. Your place is still here. Your place is not to make suggestions.
Brothers and sisters, here you find Peter learning another lesson, and this lesson is related to the heavenly vision. Every lesson God enables us to learn is to fulfill that heavenly vision, to put that heavenly vision into our lives, and to put us into that heavenly vision.
You consider Jesus as Lord, but you are trying to be His lord by telling Him what to do instead of listening to what He wants. There is another lesson here: every lesson we learn after believing in the Lord Jesus is related to the heavenly vision. It brings us into that vision and brings that vision into us.
Then there is another occasion in Acts 10. Peter went up to the housetop to pray. As he was praying, he fell into a trance and saw a great sheet coming down from heaven.
Within the great sheet were all kinds of four-footed creatures, birds of the air, and unclean creeping things. Then he heard a voice: “Peter, arise; kill and eat.”
Now Peter, being a kosher Jew, had never eaten anything unclean. He kept the Levitical rules. So he said, “Lord, in my life I have never eaten anything unclean.”
The voice said:
What God hath cleansed, make not thou common.
—Acts 10:15
This happened three times. Brothers and sisters, how strong are our opinions! Even with the voice from heaven explaining to him, Peter still resisted and would not take anything unclean.
But after the vision was gone, Peter was thinking about it. You remember how the messengers from Cornelius came and knocked at the door, and God said, “Go with them.”
Finally, when Peter arrived and saw the people, what did he say? He said that in every nation, those who fear God and work righteousness are acceptable to Him. That was why he had come.
This was the beginning of the gospel being opened to the Gentiles. Even though Peter had already received the revelation of the church in Matthew 16—our Lord Jesus Himself told him, “I will build My church”—he did not yet know what the church really was.
He thought that the grace of God was only for the Jews and not for the Gentiles. He did not see the universality of the church.
In the church, there is no distinction of nationality, social standing, cultural background, or religious background. In Christ, He is all and in all.
Here again, you find a great revelation. That revelation added to the heavenly vision that Peter saw at the very beginning.
Dear brothers and sisters, do not be content merely with the thought that some years ago, by the grace of God, He opened your eyes and you saw the heavenly vision. This is only the beginning.
We need to continue on. If we do not continue, sooner or later we will become visionary. Nothing will be real, nothing true, and nothing practical.
But thank God, after He has revealed to us that initial, beginning heavenly vision, it is His thought that this must continue. That is where visions, in the plural, come into our lives.
So the problem is, brothers and sisters: are we people who are continually receiving visions and revelations?
If vision and revelation stop in our lives, it means that our spiritual life is stagnant. If we are living before the Lord, then we will find that continually we are given more light, more vision, and more revelation.
All these fill in the details. They put us into the vision that God has shown us, make it a reality to us, and put that vision into our lives.
So, brothers and sisters, this is our prayer: do not be content with what you have already received. If we are content, our spiritual life will stop there.
But our spiritual life is living; it is always going on, going on. Thank God, our God is infinite. Therefore, the thrill of the Christian life is that there is never an end.
Today we are learning; even in the age to come, we will still be learning, and there is no end. So, brothers and sisters, let us not sit back and be satisfied.
May the Lord create within us such longing, desire, striving, and willingness. As Paul said:
Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.
… forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
—Philippians 3:12-14
Brothers and sisters, that should be our attitude. May the Lord have mercy on us. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we do praise and thank Thee that Thou art the infinite God, always beckoning us upward to follow Thee. O dear Lord, how wonderful it is that there is no end to knowing Thee, no end to Thy visions and revelations.
Yet, Lord, do not allow us to be stagnant or to stay put. Continue to draw us, beckon us, and call us, that we may forget what is behind and press on toward Thyself.
O dear Lord, lead us, we pray, in Thy precious name. Amen.