The Book of Revelation was written on the island of Patmos, where John was isolated, avoiding Christian persecution by the Romans. Chapter 4 of the book serves as a brief but critical transition, setting up the stage for the rest of Revelation. Up to Chapter 4, he describes things that have or are happening, but going forward, things that are yet to happen are discussed; it takes on a prophetic form. Chapter 4 opens up with a voice that John describes sounds like a trumpet, which was mentioned previously in the first chapter and is later identified as Jesus Christ. The voice tells John to enter “up here” to the heavens. “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this”.
Even though John is not dead, he is given the privilege to come up to the heavens in order to be shown the future and other relevant events, which are later described in Revelation. Therefore, “in the Spirit” indicates being present in the Kingdom of Heaven through the Holy Spirit with its omnipotent powers. Although John already used the phrase “in the spirit” in Revelation 1:10, this experience was vastly different as John entered a heavenly perspective. It is unknown whether John was present in the Heavens in the body or just in spirit. There is a significant amount of symbolism in this chapter, beginning with the trumpet-like voice of Jesus. He also saw a heavenly throne and potentially the Father figure briefly but describes everything vaguely, more focusing on the heavenly aura of what he is seeing.