2 Corinthians, 12:1-10

Okay, 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Let's start at verse 1 and we'll just go down through verse 10. We're not going to get through it today, but that's what we'll do. Starting at verse 1, 2 Corinthians. It is not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell. God knows. Such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, God knows, how 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, yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool. For I will say the truth, but now I forbear, lest any man think of me above that which he sees me to be, or that he hears of me.

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me of thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure, for this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake.

For when I am weak, then am I strong. This is one of those wonderful highlights in 2 Corinthians. There's been several passages in 2 Corinthians which just, you know, you just read over and over and over again, and it just blesses your heart. Last week, we looked at verse 1, and just for a very quick review here, When Paul said, it is not expedient for me, that was to glory.

What he was saying that, in fact, if you look at the New American Standard, I think it's clear, where it says that boasting is necessary, and though it is not profitable. And we saw last week that it was necessary because Paul's continuing in his quote, foolishness to these believers and pointing out, trying to imitate, if you will, the foolishness of these false teachers who were doing all this boasting. However, they were boasting where? Who were they boasting in? Themselves and Paul was boasting in in Christ.

And we saw that last week, that these false apostles were glorying out from the flesh, and there's just this tremendous contrast as you go through chapter 11 in seeing their boasting or their glorying in the flesh, in Paul's glorying in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And in fact, As you go through, as we pointed out last week, as you go through this entire book of 2 Corinthians, you see the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ and the very ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to see the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the book. This is the only book that I know, from beginning to end, that depicts the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. as it was through Paul, and as it can be, and will be, and is through us as believers. So, we asked a question last week.

Paul says, boasting was necessary. But we ask the question, why isn't boasting in the Lord's work in terms of what He does through us? And Paul says, it's not profitable. It has no value. Even though the Lord is working through us, ministering through us, there's no value in us boasting about it. And the reason is, this is a test. Let's do it the other way.

What is God's purpose? What was Paul's purpose in ministering to these believers? What was his focus? What was his purpose? And what should be our purpose in a local church? To edify believers to bring glory to God. us boasting about how the Lord is using us in ministry, it's not edifying. What's edifying is for us to come to the word and understand what the word of God is saying. Not that that's wrong, there's nothing wrong about it, but Paul says it's not profitable. Now, in verse 1, we didn't hit the end of verse 1, he says, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. Or did we? Did we go through this? If you don't remember, then... The second part.

When you sit down and you read scripture and you see something like this, and he says, but I'll go on to visions and revelations, the question is, why in the world is he saying this? What's his reason for saying this? And this is why it takes so slow to study the Word of God, because you start asking questions about, well, what does this mean? Why is he saying this? Why is he bringing this up at this time?

And then the studying begins. So, as I thought about this, I asked a question. Is it that these false teachers were claiming visions and revelations? That they were saying, oh, the Lord told me this, or the Lord told me that. Or the Lord spoke to me in this way, and the Lord spoke to me in that way. And I think that that is the reason.

It's very interesting. I'm working with a fellow who just became a believer, and we're just working through the Word of God. And he's got to the point where he's become very knowledgeable of Scripture. And so he attends a men's Bible study, and it turns out that...

I was talking to him a couple of weeks ago, and he says, He says, everybody in the Bible study is talking about how the Lord spoke to them this way, how the Lord said this to them that way. And he says, the Lord doesn't speak to me. I don't hear the Lord.

And he says, but yet what I find myself, I find myself of being the teacher. I'm in this Bible study to learn. I don't know beans. And he says, but I'm finding myself to be the teacher. I said, isn't that interesting, Dave, that all these people have all these experiences. And so I asked him, do these men really understand and know the Word of God? He says, they don't.

So how can one be true without the other? You know what I mean? It's doctrine of scripture that becomes personified in our life. And it's the Word of God that has the meaning in our life. And without knowing what the Word of God says, I don't know how one can say, the Lord spoke to me this way, and the Lord spoke to me that way. Whatever the Lord says, number one, it has to be consistent with the Word of God.

But I think this is probably the reason, and Paul goes on in chapter 11 verses 13 to 15 and says, you know, these very guys are the servants of Satan. They are servants of Satan. And if they are, they are going to deceive people. And so I think what these false teachers were doing is saying that the Lord spoke to me this way and they were deceiving these very believers. Here's a question.

Did the Lord communicate to Paul via visions and revelations? As you trace through Paul's life, and you go through especially the book of Acts, Paul talks about all his visions. He talks about the very first vision he had of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. And he was, as a Pharisee, he's headed to Damascus to persecute the church. And he has this vision of the Lord. And there's this voice that says, Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me? And what was Paul's very first response? His very first word, Lord. He called the Lord Jesus. He said, Lord, do you think Paul understood at that very moment and believed? I think so.

Then in Acts chapter 16, he has this vision of a man in Macedonia saying to Paul, come over here and teach us. And then in Acts 22, the Lord speaks to Paul and says, hey look, I don't want you to have any fear in going to these believers in Corinth and speaking to them and teaching them.

And then on his way to Rome, he told the captain of the ship, you shouldn't be sailing, but they got in the ship and it was a shipwreck and a vision came to Paul and says, you're going to be shipwrecked, but everyone in this ship is going to be saved. So Paul had many of those visions, direct revelations from the Lord. He spent three years in Arabia with the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord revealed to him the gospel. There was a revelation that Paul had to go up to Jerusalem in Galatians chapter 2. He talks about that.

And if you look at the entire teaching that we have about the church, how much of the church was prophesied in the Old Testament? This is a trick question. them. If you were an Old Testament saint, you would have no clue that there was going to be a church, that there was going to be a body of believers called out from amongst Jews and amongst Gentiles that were going to be in Christ. They were going to be baptized into the very person of Christ, into his death, burial, and resurrection, and seated with him in the heavenlies. You would never find that out in the Old Testament. Paul was given that truth, and it was a mystery. It was never revealed. The Lord's Table in 1 Corinthians 11.

So when Paul says, I will go on, to visions and revelations, I think what he's saying, he's saying, I'll go on and share with you visions and revelations of the Lord that I've never shared with anyone before. He says, that's what I'm going to do. I'm just going to continue on now and I'm going to continue to share visions and revelations which I've never shared with anyone before. So, he's not talking about that when you look at this passage, he says, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. It looks like he's saying that I know sometime in the future that the Lord is going to give to me more visions and revelations.

Doesn't it look that way when you first look at it? In fact, that's what I thought, but it didn't make sense. The thing that makes sense is that he says, now I'm going to, because, and the reason why I think this is true, because in the very next verse, in verse 2, he goes on and tells us about some visions and revelations. So, in verse 2. Here's what he says, verse 2 and 3. Look what he says. He says, depending upon which translation you have. If you have the King James, it says, I knew a man. If you have the New American Standard, it says, I know a man.

In Christ, who 14 years ago, whether in the body or 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 into the third heaven. And he goes on to verse three and he says, I know how such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I don't know, but God knows.

So the question is this. What was happening as you look at this verse? He says, I know a man, or I knew a man. Who's that man? Because as you read verses two through five, look at verse four. How he, talking about this man, was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which is not awful for a man to utter. He says, of such a one will I glory, but yet of myself I will not glory."

So what does it sound like? Does it sound like this is some guy that Paul ran into somewhere in Jerusalem or wherever? Sounds like a third party, doesn't it? But who do you think this man is? And why do you think this man is Paul? Why would he ever say, I knew a man? Why doesn't he just say, you know, fourteen years ago I was caught up into third heaven?

I mean, that would be much clearer, right? But look at verse six. He says, For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool. For I will say the truth, but now I forbear lest any man think of me above that which he sees me to be, or that he hears of me.

And verse 7 I think is the key. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations Paul says that I should be exalted above measure through the revelations that he's talking about here, being caught up with the third heaven. There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure. And I think verse 7 is the proof text that Paul is talking about himself. Now the question is, why would he be referring to himself as a new man in Christ 14 years ago?

As you look at the word no, first of all, there are several different words in the Greek with respect to no. you can know experientially, you can know factually, which is the word that's used here, which is OIDA. He says, I factually know a man. It's a fact. It's not a feeling, it's not an experience, but it's a fact. That I know intuitively, I know factually, and it's in perfect tense. Perfect tense, all it means is that it was a completed action in the past time, has abiding results right up until the present. So, King James says, I knew a man. So, perfect tense, completed action, knew is okay. New American Standard translates that I know a man. It has abiding results, so I know him right now. translations, either one, either translation is okay.

So it's a reality, the Dickens of the Moon says it's a reality in Paul's life. And as I point out, as you go through verses 2-5, it doesn't appear that it's Paul. But the clincher is in verse 6 and 7, we know that it's Paul. So, why would Paul refer to himself as a third party? I believe the reason why he refers to himself as a third party, he's distinguishing between the glorified Paul and the earthly Paul.

Because here he is, caught up into third heaven. He's caught up into paradise. He's snatched away, and he doesn't know whether he's in the body or out of the body. We'll talk about that in a minute. But he's distinguishing between the two states, between his heavenly state that he was in during the Revelation, his glorified state, and his earthly state, which he's in at the time of the writing. So I think that's why he distinguishes why he is the third party.

So now the question is, what was happening in Paul's life 14 years ago? This is a new man, and he says, 14 years ago. As you go through the math here, 2 Corinthians was written about AD 55. or 57. So subtract 14 years from there and you get AD 41 to 43. This is all approximate. So it's about 7 to 9 years after Paul's conversion. His conversion was approximately 34 AD. Again, this is all approximate. His first missionary journey, Acts was in A.D. 44. So A.D. 43, approximate A.D. 44 is pretty close. Is anything significant in the first missionary journey? Well the one thing that's significant on the first missionary journey when he went to Lystra and he got stoned. and they drug him out of the city, and they left him for dead.

The question is, was Paul dead? Did he really die? He may have. We don't know. But the timing is very interesting. The timing is just about the right timing. So about the only thing we can say for certain is this, that it happened about that time, either just prior to his first missionary journey or into his initial part of his first missionary journey. And I'm not even going to guess in terms of what it is. Scripture doesn't tell us, so I'm not even going to guess. So anyhow, that's what was happening.

Now, when you think When you think of, when it says, in the body or out of the body, what do you think of? What comes to your mind? When Paul is saying, I don't know if it's in the body or out of the body, what does that mean? Could mean physical death? In physical death, what happens in physical death? Okay, spirit and the soul.

So death means separation, right? Always, when you look at scripture, every time you see that word death, always translate it separation. And then you ask the question, separation from what, from what? What is being separated? So in physical death, The soul and the spirit is being separated from the body. Physical death. Can you think of anyone else in the New Testament that physically died and their soul and spirit was alive and well?

The rich man and Lazarus, right? Not Lazarus, the friend of Christ, not the brother of Mary, not the brother of Mary and Martha, but the rich man and Lazarus, the beggar, the poor man, remember? He begged for crumbs from the rich man's table, and they both died, and they went to Sheol.

And Christ in Acts chapter 16 gives us this wonderful account. There is no one that could ever give us account of hell except for the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Why would that be? Think of John 1, 1, 2, and 3. Somebody read John 1 verse 3. Okay, so here's the question. Why is it that only Jesus Christ could tell us what hell was like, or Sheol was like, or to describe it? He created it, right? Only the Creator could tell us, right? And He created it, and there was nothing that was made or created apart from Him.

So when He speaks in Luke chapter 16 about hell, we can be rest assured that there's the description. So here's the rich man in the hell portion, and here's Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham in the paradise portion. It's interesting because when we get to verse 4 he says that he was caught up into paradise and paradise in Luke 16 was somewhere in the earth it appears and paradise after the death and burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is in the third heaven.

Do you remember the rich man, he looks over and he says, Father Abraham, just send Lazarus over here. Did he recognize Lazarus? And what did he request? Sin Lazarus over here, that he may just drop a drop of water on my tongue. He says, I'm in torment. Where was the rich man's body? In the grave?

Did he have senses? Could he see? Could he hear? Could he taste? and feel? He had all the senses, didn't he? Even though he was apart from the body. His body was in the ground. He didn't need his brain. His brain was in the ground, decaying. But he had his mind. He had his soul and his spirit. Isn't it interesting that we function we can function without a body. Now, the body is the home for the soul and the spirit, but you can see that it can function without.

So, here's Paul. Alright? So, here's Paul. He doesn't know whether he's in the body or out of the body. Could he hear out of the body if he was But apart from his body, could he hear? Could he see? Sure can. And I don't have a clue as to whether he was in his body or out of the body. But whichever it was, he could see, he could hear, he could enjoy the fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. Right? He can enjoy that.

Okay, so the question is, did the rich man have a soul? Soul for sure, and did he have a spirit? Okay, good question. Did he have a spirit? How is man created? He's created in the very image of God, and God's a triune God. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Man is created in a body, soul, spirit. So if man is created in a spirit, does he ever lose his spirit? Does he ever lose his soul? Does he ever lose his body?

So let's take an unbeliever. Does an unbeliever ever Is an unbeliever ever apart from his or her body? We're talking about eternity now. We're talking about forever and ever. Yeah. In other words, if man has created body, soul, and spirit, will man ever be apart either from his body or from his spirit, whether a believer or unbeliever. Now I want you to take it into eternity future, okay? I'm sorry? In eternity future.

Okay, the body is resurrected. Is the body resurrected for just believers or also unbelievers? Everybody. At that point it's unbelief. The body of the believer has already been resurrected. So at the end of the millennial kingdom, at the end of the thousand years that Christ rules and reigns on earth, there's a resurrection. And the only ones that are resurrected at that time are the unbelieving dead. and they're resurrected and their body is united with their soul and spirit for all eternity.

So the point is this. Man is created body, soul, and spirit and for all eternity he will always have a body, soul, and spirit. Now there may be a separation temporarily when a person dies there may be a temporal separation But, but, but as you look into eternity, man has a body, soul and spirit.

So is that does that answer your question, Doug? OK. OK. The spirit is made alive. The unbelieving spirit is not made alive. That means it's made alive through God. Good. Excellent. And thus we have the Holy Spirit. Right. It does not need to be made alive. And the unbeliever has spirits that have never been made alive to God. Right. And so we call that spiritual what? Death. Death means what? Separation. It's separation of the man's soul and spirit from God. So an unbeliever still has a spirit.

Wayne. Okay, all right, good question. Can the body... How are we getting off on these, by the way? But I think the short answer, brief answer to that is no. I think the body is lifeless without a soul and spirit. It has to have a soul and spirit. Yeah, otherwise it decays. In that party? In Sheol, there was two compartments, Paradise, where Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham, and Hell, if you will, where the rich man was, the place of torment. Okay, so now you said all three go together. The resurrected body and soul and spirit go, right. Yes, there will be a body involved.

Doug, I am not familiar with the context of that, so I can't answer it. Yeah. And so the first question I would ask is in Ecclesiastes, is it talking about spirits of believers, unbelievers, you know, this is all spirits, all in terms of, I don't know. OK. I think we have exhausted what does it mean to be in or out of the body. Right. And so now. So now the question is why.

Why doesn't Paul know. Right. And boy. It's hard to put yourself in Paul's shoes here, in terms of what. But think about this. Think about where Paul is, and the fact that he's beholding the glorified Christ. He's at home. He's at home beholding his Lord. And he's face to face with his Lord. He's in this glorious fellowship, glorious intimacy with his Lord.

Now, do you think that any focus on him is of any concern to him? Whether he's got a body or whether he doesn't have a body? But he has a mind and a spirit and that's totally focused on the Lord. And so whether he's in the body or out of the body, first of all, I think he could care less.

And so when he says he doesn't know, he really doesn't know because the totality of his focus is on the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. And think about the intimacy that he's having with the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you're in a relationship and you're having that intimacy with someone, are you aware of what color dress you're wearing? or what color pants you're wearing. You know what I mean?

It's not even in your mind. I tried to think of some example. There's no human example I can think of, although I was thinking about one. Growing up in New York City, I didn't learn how to swim. I first got into the water when I was about 20-some odd years old.

I had a boss who came out to Pennsylvania where I was working who made me. He said, if you want to raise, you better get on the edge of that pool, stand there, and dive into that water. I said, Mars, you don't know what you're asking. He said, do it. But anyhow, I've always had this kind of fear of the water. I was down at Cape Canaveral. We were launching a spacecraft to the moon. And I had a cousin that was living down in Palm Beach who invited me down one Sunday. And I went down. And they said, let's go snorkeling. I said, let's not go snorkeling.

Oh, but you have to just try it. And they just were on me. I said, okay, I'll try it. So I got the tube on and the glasses on and learned how to breathe through the thing and started, and I can't float. And so I'm in the water and however, I'm looking down in the water and there's all of these beautiful fishes, I mean, striped, yellow and blue, I mean, every common, I got so enthralled with what I was seeing, I forgot about the fact that I can't swim, and I had flappers on, but I just totally forgot about that fact. I felt a tap on my back, and said, you know, we've got to go. We've been here two hours. I said, two hours? I've been in the water two hours? I've never been in the water two hours.

But the thing is, I can see how Paul could be so involved and so wrapped up with the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ that he just completely forgot about Paul. Okay, can't tell stories. So here's the big question. How about you and how about me? It comes down to can we, in this life, experienced the nearness and glorious fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ?

I think we can too. And the thing is, this is God's purpose. This is God's eternal purpose for us here and when we get there. And His purpose for us is to have that intimate fellowship with Him right now. Because if you remember the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ, it says, Father, I pray that they, everybody who believes, may be, what? One with us. And the glory that you have given me, I have given them. So we have the very glory of the Lord Jesus Christ here and now, so that we can have this intimate fellowship with Him.

When it talks about God-knowing, it's the same word with Paul-knowing. It's knowing factually. And Paul says, hey, God knows factually his state. And when he says that he's caught up into third heaven, The word caught, harpazo, in the Greek is the very same word that is used for being caught up in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 in verse 17, which is referring to the rapture, that we're going to be caught up and meet the Lord in the air. It's that very same word. So Paul was, if you will, raptured, raptured up into third heaven, into paradise with the wood. And when it talks about the third heaven, I think scripture talks about three heavens, the first heaven where the birds and the clouds are, and the second heaven is where the stars are, and the third heaven is where God is.

And he further defines that in the next verse, and he says it's paradise. that word paradise is only used two other places in scripture and one was on the cross when the when the thief on the one side on the one cross was was uh... chastising the other thief and says you know don't you know who this man is this man this man doesn't belong here like we deserve to be here but this man doesn't and uh... and they turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he says, Lord. Isn't this interesting? First word. Lord, will you remember me? And what was the Lord's response? Today, you will be with me in paradise. Today. After only three days. Today.

And again, John was the only other apostle that was caught up into third heaven, Revelation chapter 4, and John is on the isle of Patmos, and he sees a door open in heaven, and a voice saying, come up here, and he's given visions and revelations, and so the question comes up, why could John tell us about his vision and revelations, and he writes the whole book of Revelation, chapter 4, 5 on, to talk about the visions and revelations. Why could he speak about the visions and revelations and Paul couldn't say a word? Very good. He was specifically told. And what was Paul told? Not to. Yeah, not to. And so, it's interesting.

Here you see progressive revelation in scripture and the Lord did not want Paul to reveal anything about the third heaven, about paradise. And he waited for John to give whatever revelation that he was going to give about paradise, about the third heaven. And he goes and describes the heavenly city. We'll pick up next week.

Any thoughts, comments, questions? Let's pray. Father again, we're just so thankful for your word and we thank you that that as we read your word and behold it, we can behold the Lord Jesus Christ, we can scrutinize him, and we thank you, Father, for him. We thank you, Father, for your love for us in providing the Lord Jesus Christ not only Father to take away our sins and to nail us to the cross in terms of crucifying the old man, but we just thank you that we can have that glorious fellowship and intimacy with him. now, here. And Father, we are looking forward to that glorious face-to-face fellowship with Him when you take us home. And we just give you thanks in Christ's name.