Breath or Wind?
There are several places in Revelation where the word usually used for God’s ‘spirit’ (or ‘breath’) could just as easily be translated as the ‘breeze’ or the ‘wind’. It may, in fact, be a play on words to evoke both ideas.
A voice in the wind, or the spirit?
Revelation 1:10-11 says:
‘Now, on the Lord’s day, I came to be in pneumati [to wind, to breath, to spirit]… And I heard a voice from behind me that was as loud as a trumpet!
‘And it was saying: […]‘
Some may think it’s obvious that it must mean the author was overwhelmed by God’s holy spirit (or holy breath), as he is about to see visions! However, this is not certain because the word for ‘spirit’ and ‘breath’ and ‘wind’ is the same word.
After all, God’s voice coming out of the wind is an established concept in the Bible:
- At Exodus 19, God’s voice is thunder coming out of a stormcloud.
- Job heard God’s voice coming out of the wind in Job 38:1.
- Ezekiel sees a whirlwind coming out of the north in Ezekiel 1:4, which later has the voice of the Almighty within it.
So 1:10-11 could easily be referring to the voice he hears coming out of the wind. It’s not necessarily meaning that the author was caught up in God’s spirit, or breath, although that is possible too, so it could be a bit of both. Indeed, it could be using the double meaning to suggest both ideas.
We don’t know.
What the spirit says, or the voice in the wind?
Later in Revelation 2 and 3, it repeatedly says that anyone with ears should listen to what the breath says to the congregations. Again, it could mean that people should listen to the voice that was coming out of the wind.
Taken away by the spirit or the wind?
Then in Revelation 4:2, the author says he sees a door opened up in the sky, and he becomes ‘in breath’ and, presumably, swept up into ‘heaven’ where he sees God’s throne. Again, this could mean that the wind suddenly swept him up into the sky and into heaven, or it could mean God’s spirit swept him up into the sky and into heaven. Or both!