“Well, it is not of profit to me to boast, for I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord” (verse 1, JND). Driven by the attacks at Corinth upon his ministry into giving an account (ever so brief!) of what the service of Christ had included for him in persecution, in hardship and in care, Paul turns to another subject connected with his apostleship: that of visions and revelations of the Lord.
“I knew a man in Christ” (it is an inaccurate rendering, and should read, “I know a man in Christ”) “above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I can not tell; or whether out of the body I can not tell; God knoweth”).
Paul was himself the man of whom he wrote: the man in Christ. “In Christ” left no room for human boasting.
Turn back with me to the fifth chapter, and read again verses 14 to 18, including,
“Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature” (or, it is a new creation).
“Of such an one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory,” the apostle says, in the fifth verse.
This event in his life, of which Paul is telling: when did it occur? It appears, from as reliable chronology as can be found, to have been when he was at Antioch, or not long before that, during his stay at Tarsus (see Acts 11, verses 25-26); soon after this, came the apostle’s first journey with the gospel under the call of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:1-4).
“Such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man, (whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth); how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words” (or things said) “which it is not lawful for a man” (not allowed to man) “to utter.”
How great was the favor shown to Paul, thus to be caught up to scenes of divine glory! Must it not have been, in part, to prepare him for the path of suffering that was to be his as the apostle to the Gentiles?
The expression, “the third heaven”, found here only, was a Jewish term for heaven itself as beyond the atmosphere, beyond the stars. In the fourth verse it is “paradise,” twice mentioned elsewhere in the Scriptures.
To the dying thief in Luke 23:43 the dying Saviour said, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”
And in Revelation 2:7, in the letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus:
“To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”
Another has referred to these passages as relating to heaven, “the capital of God’s dominion where He has the garden of His delights.”
It was there where blessedness is that Paul heard things he could not utter.
The Scriptures in many passages very preciously bring heaven before the children of God. It is the place, first of all, where God dwells (Psa. 2:4, 11:4, 103:19 and 123:1); from which He looks down upon the earth (Psa. 33:13), there His blessed Son was from eternity—in the beginning with God (John 1:1-2), and laying aside His glory (Phil. 2) He came down from heaven (John 6:38) to endure the death of the cross. In resurrection, and in the act of blessing those He had drawn to Himself, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven (Luke 24:50-51).
We, believers, await the nearing moment when the Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:16-17). Meanwhile if we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, but it is better far to be absent from the body, present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6-8), the present portion of believers who die. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, the first man, we shall bear the image of the heavenly One, the Lord Himself (1 Cor. 15:42-50).
And, if not in heaven yet, though we shall soon be, we rejoice that our names are written there (Luke 10:20); through the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven (1 Peter 1:12) we have received the gospel of our salvation, and are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Who is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession (Eph. 1:13-14).
We are not promised many earthly blessings, as Israel was, but we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (or, in the heavenlies) in Christ (Eph. 1:3).
The angels of God are in heaven (Matt. 22:30), but as ministering spirits, they are sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation (Heb. 1:14; and see Acts 27:23-24; 8:26; 12:6-11).
By nature the children of wrath even as others, we have learned from God’s Word (Eph. 2:3-7) that He, rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace we are saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Paul in our chapter mentioned only one revelation; in Ephesians 3:1-7; 1 Thessalonians 4:15, and 1 Corinthians 11:23 others are referred to, and the turning event of his life is related in Acts 9:3-8, 22:6-11 and 26:12-18. But the circumstances of what he relates in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 were altogether different, in that, the apostle was caught up to scenes of glory, and heard what he could not pass on to others.
Paul would boast of the man in Christ; to be near God in the glory, as out of the body, does not puff up, as another has said. All is Christ, and Christ is all; self is forgotten. Of Paul, the man, he would not boast, unless in his weaknesses (verse 5),
“For if I shall desire to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth; but I forbear, lest any one should think as to me above what he sees me (to be), or whatever he may hear of me” (verse 6, JND).
“And that I might not be exalted by the exceeding greatness of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn for the flesh, a messenger of Satan, that he might buffet me, that I might not be exalted. For this I thrice besought the Lord that it might depart from me. And He said to me, My grace suffices, for (My) power is perfected in weakness” (verses 7-9, JND).
The “flesh”, the old nature, is the same in an apostle, as in the weakest believer. In the language of another, “Nothing amends the flesh. Once come back into the consciousness of his human existence on earth, the apostle’s flesh would have taken advantage of the favor he had enjoyed to exalt him in his own eyes, to say, ‘None have been in the third heaven but thou, Paul’.
“But God is watchful; in His grace, He provided for the danger of His poor servant. To have taken him up to a fourth heaven—so to speak—would only have increased the danger. There is no way of amending the flesh; the presence of God silences it. It will boast of it as soon as it is no longer there. To walk safely, it must be held in check, such as it is. We have to reckon it dead; but it often requires to be bridled, that the heart be not drawn away from God by its means, and that it may neither impede our walk, nor spoil our testimony.
“Finally, observe, that the humiliation needed to reduce the rebellious flesh to its nothingness, is used by Christ to display His power in it. Thus humbled, we learn our dependence. All that is of us, all that constitutes self, is a hindrance; the infirmity is that in which it is put down, laid low, in which weakness is realized. The power of Christ is perfected in it.
“Paul needed to have the flesh reduced to weakness, in order that there might not be in it the motion of sin which was natural to it. When the flesh was reduced to its true nothingness, as far as good is concerned, and in a manifest way, then Christ could display His strength in it.” (Synopsis of the Books of the Bible; 2 Corinthians. J. N. Darby).
What was the “thorn” given to Paul? Scripture does not say.