Visions and Out Of Body Experiences

We are discussing the question of visions and dreams. Can we expect them? Does God still speak to His people through them?

The Apostle Paul writes about his visions and out-of-body experience (OBE) with these words:

I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows-- and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. - 2Co 12:1-4 ESV

I've written about this experience in several earlier blogs. You can use the search button on the right to find others. Examples:

• Christ's Power in my Weakness
• After Death, Paradise
• Some Heavenly Questions
• What And Where Is Heaven?

You may also wish to search for my earlier discussions of visions and dreams. 

In this blog I want to discuss the question of visions and revelations of the LORD a bit further. Paul's word for visions is optasia in common NT Greek. The same word is used to describe the experience of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist.  Luke says that the angel Gabriel came to him with the message that Elizabeth, his wife, was to bear a child and the child's name was to be John. He would go to the people in the spirit and power of Elijah to make them ready for the coming Messiah. The people saw that Zechariah couldn't speak when he emerged from the Holy Place. They assumed that he had received a vision (Luke 1:22).

Paul used the same word, optasia, when describing his experience to King Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great. Paul called it the ouranios optasia, heavenly vision. Heavenly is the adjective frequently used to describe God the Father, e.g. "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." - Mat 5:48 ESV. In those instances heavenly does not describe a place, but rather a condition or way of life. The heavenly Father is complete, in need of nothing. And He loves everyone. We, in turn, are like Him when we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

The heavenly Father dwells above and beyond our mortal existence. This is why the Bible speaks Him being in the third heaven, that inaccessible dimension beyond us. To enter it is to come directly into the presence of God Himself. As I wrote earlier:

The third heaven is that place to which Paul was caught up, the place beyond, the dwelling-place of God, the heaven of heavens (Deut 10:14; Psalms 115:16; 148:4) 

Paul says he was caught up to that heaven. He also calls it paradise, being in the intimate and personal presence of the heavenly Father.

Paul does not know whether or not he left his body when he was caught up. Only God knows that. So we are left to assume that Paul believed in the possibility of an out-of-the-body experience. He couldn't say whether such a thing like that really happened to him, but it was possible. Only God knows.

Modern day Jews have the same beliefs. Rabbi Elyahu Kin lectures on You Tube about NDE (near death experience) or OBE (out of body experience). He emphasizes that men have souls, that part of our being known in Hebrew as the shem, the soul. The soul, he says,  continues after the body dies. Like Paul he also accepts the fact that the shem, the soul, can leave the body.

Paul couldn't speak about his optasia. He was forbidden, but his experience was real. It was what confirmed for him his call to be the apostle to the Gentiles.

And so what about us? Shall we expect visions and OBE's ? Not necessarily. Paul, for one, did not seek out such. They were given at God's choosing, never at Paul's demanding. This, then, must be our position.

1. Yes, we have a soul that will survive after our body dies. 
2. It is possible for the soul to leave the body and be caught up in a heavenly experience and then return to the body—what is called in our day an OBE.  
3. And yes, if God chooses, we may receive a vision. 
4. But such a vision will be completely in harmony with all that God has previously revealed through His prophets and apostles.