Caught Up to God and His Throne
Part 14 of the Two Witnesses Series
How are the overcomers kept from the hour of testing that is coming upon the whole world? They have been caught up to God and to His throne. We need to understand what the Bible means when it says, “caught up”. Most people think this refers to the physical body of a person going up into the sky. We float up into the clouds and play harps or something. We must get past this childish notion. It makes for nice books and movies, but it is not what the Bible means.
There is the natural realm where we live and there is the heavenly realm where God lives. Heaven is not a place. It is a realm of existence. Heaven is not in outer space. You can’t get to heaven by flying past Saturn, taking a left at the first moon and looking for some pearly gates with Peter waving at you. The heavenly realm is right here, right now, but it is veiled from us.
The context of the child being caught up to God and His throne is to have the veil of the heavenly realm pulled back. The child, the overcomers, then go into the heavenly realm, called the sanctuary, in chapter 11. They do not go anywhere physically. They go from the outer court, the natural realm, into the heavenly realm, the sanctuary. They still operate in the natural, but they are also in the heavens. The term caught up in this context means to seize, carry off by force, claim for one’s self, to snatch out or away. The child must be snatched away because the dragon is waiting to devour it. The overcomers are a threat to the dragon because he knows they are going to torment his followers for the next three and a half years, as the two witnesses.
The easiest way to understand the concept of operating in both the natural and heavenly realms at the same time is the life of Jesus. The life of Jesus is always the type and foreshadow of the overcomer ministry in the last days.
Matt 3:16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, 17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Before Jesus began Him ministry the heavens were opened unto Him. Before the overcomers begin the two witness ministry, the heavens will be opened unto them.
John 5:19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
Jesus said He could do nothing of Himself. He only does what He sees the Father doing. The overcomers will do nothing of themselves. They will do only what they see the Son doing. The Father gave His authority to the Son and the Son will give His authority to the overcomers.
The heavens were opened unto Jesus and they were not shut. The heavens will be opened unto the overcomers and they will not be shut. This is the open door in the letter to Philadelphia. The veil or door into the heavenly realm is open. When the overcomers go through the door into the sanctuary they are “caught up to God and to His throne.”
Rev 3:8 ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
Jesus heard and saw what the Father was speaking and doing. The overcomers will hear and see what the Son, as the Holy Spirit, is speaking and doing.
Let’s look at some other instances of the heavens being opened.
Ezek 1:1 Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.
Ezekiel experienced the heavens being opened to him. The veil to the heavenly realm was pulled aside and he saw visions of God.
John 1:51 And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Jesus told Nathanael that he would see the heavens opened. Did Nathanael have to fly off into space to see into the heavenly realm? The heavens can be opened by God at any time to anyone. We don’t have to go anywhere.
Acts 7:55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
We see an incredible event when Stephen was put to death. He had the veil removed and gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at His right hand!
Ezek 43:5 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.
Again, Ezekiel was lifted up, or caught up, by the Spirit and brought into the inner court and the glory of the Lord filled the house. This is exactly what happens to the child who is caught up to God and to His throne. Ezekiel didn’t fly off into space. He didn’t physically go anywhere. The veil was removed, and the Spirit took him into the heavenly realm and into the glory! He went from the outer court, the natural realm, into the inner court, the heavenly realm. Remember chapter 11, the two witnesses.
Rev 11:1 Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.
The overcomers have gone beyond the veil into the inner court, the sanctuary.
Rev 1:9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet.
John was carried away in the Spirit and was told to write down everything he saw. He left the natural realm and entered the heavenly realm by the Spirit and wrote the book of Revelation.
We need to look at one more person who experienced the veil to the heavenly realm pulled back.
II Cor 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows— 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.
Paul was caught up to the third heaven and heard inexpressible words! The Holy of Holies is a picture of the third heaven. It represents the throne room and presence of God. I doubt if Paul’s physical body flew into outer space somewhere. He was so consumed by the experience that he didn’t know if his body went into the heavenly realm or not. He entered into Paradise and heard inexpressible words. What an experience! May we all have that same experience soon!
