3. “ I was in the spirit on the Lord’ s day"--1:10. The claim that John was in the spirit means that he was in visional rapture, not in the Holy Spirit, but in the state described of Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:1-21, and of Peter in Acts 10:1-48. As though out of the body, John was in a state in which the external objects and material surroundings were as though they did not exist--he had for the time passed out of the physical world into the spiritual state. This was not the effect of any natural cause, but rather the result of the interposition of supernatural power. The words visions and dreams are not synonymous, and their meanings are not identical, though sometimes they are used indiscriminately in the Scriptures, as in Genesis 46:2; Numbers 12:6; Job 20:8; and Daniel 2:28. In the vision, the subject may be awake, as in 2 Kings 6:17; Acts 23:11; Acts 27:23 --in a state of supernatural ecstasy. But in the dreams through which God revealed his purposes and his will, and in the divine purpose, to him was also imparted the powers of interpretation. The examples of such dreams were numerous, as in Genesis 20:3-6; Genesis 28:12-14; 1 Samuel 28:6; Daniel 2:1-45; and Joe 2:28. This power to interpret was, of course, supernatural and, therefore, the dreams and visions belonged only to the supernatural prophetical and apostolic ages and ceased with them. Since the complete revelation of God’ s will for the redemption of man and the edification of his church has been delivered, and its inspired documents committed to the apostolic records of the New Testament, there can be no need or reason for their existence, and no confidence can be held in the claims and pretensions of individuals and cults presuming to employ them, and such presumption can only be labelled as false and impious. The verse under consideration states that John was in the spirit on the Lord’ s day. The preposition on is the same in the Greek as in, and the context must determine the distinction. The use of it here means in the midst of the Lord’ s day. It is not a reference to the first day of the week, but to the day in which the Lord accomplished these events, as used in Isaiah 13:9 in which Isaiah described the destruction of ancient Babylon as the day of the Lord; and in Zechariah 14:1 where Zechariah referred to the destruction of Jerusalem as the day of the Lord. The phrase meant the day of events connected with the judgments of the Lord. 2 Timothy 1:18 referred to the day of God’ s mercy, meaning the time in which his mercy is extended to men. In this sense the phrase in the Lord’ s day is used in Revelation 1:10; it means in day of the rapture into which the Lord had placed John--that he had been transported into the midst of the scenes of the vision as though he was, himself, in the day of their happening. (4) The voice of the Son of man. 1. “ And heard behind me a great voice"--1:10. This part of the scene was not occult, but auditory. John heard this voice, and it came from behind him, from a point where he was not looking. The great voice was “ as a trumpet” --a signal, as if to announce the approach of a solemn epiphany, a divine presence.