By: Gen. Jim – 7/4/25
John, on the island, was spoken to by the Lord Jesus (Rev. 1:9). Verse 10 John says, “I was in the Spirit…, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet.” What if John had not been in the Spirit, would he have received the book of Revelation? And what does it mean to be “in Spirit”? Thank God, John was “in Spirit”, thus he HEARD!
To Begin:
We will, in this article/Bible study, study the Greek words “hear” & “hearing”, both the verbs & the noun. But before we get into all these, please notice how many times the phrase, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says,” found in Rev. 2:7 (Ekklesia at Ephesus); vs.11 (Smyrna); vs.17 (Pergamos); vs.29 (Thyatira); 3:6 (Sardis); vs.13 (Philadelphia); vs.22 (Laodicea). This phrase was repeated 7 times, so it must be important. How does one “hear” the Spirit? Obviously, one must have his/her spiritual ears open to the Holy Spirit. Over the years we’ve been not only asked but grilled! on, “Do you hear from the Lord/Spirit?” Usually, this question is asked in a hostile tone as if it is criminal/a sin to “hear” from God. It is not our fault that God’s people don’t hear, hence, it has become CULTish to say, “we or I hear from God.” How do you think the written Word (Bible) has come about? By men (mostly) & women HEARING from God.
John, in chapter one, verse 3, combines both reading the Word & hearing the Word: “I was in the Spirit” (1:10). That is, John received the Spirit of prophecy and was under its influence when the visions were exhibited. John saw & heard – he was under the Divine afflatus; but he did not know what senses, were to be represented. John was about to receive REVELATION of APOCALYPSE. Apocalypticism is always eschatological (last things). It should be noted that while all apocalypticism is eschatological, not all eschatology is apocalyptic. First of all, apocalypses are frequently represented as being visions of things to come, hence the name, for “apocalypse” is but the transliteration of a Greek word meaning “vision” or “revelation”.
“In the Spirit” (1:10)
Ezekiel 3:12 says, “Then the Spirit lifted me up, & I HEARD behind me a great thunderous voice…” Verse 14 also says, “the Spirit lifted me up & took me away…” We find the Spirit taking control/command of God’s people. So, it is not uncommon for a Christian to have such experiences. (I could tell you of many such experiences we (my wife & I) have had over the years).
Isaiah also had visions as did other prophets.
Visions, revelations, trances were common – still are today – for those “in the Spirit”.
“Do you hear voices?”. We’ve been asked this many times by both Christians & non-Christians (the hostile media has assaulted us many times with this question – hoping they could get us admitted to a psych ward! HEARING is not uncommon. Does not people of the world HEAR from demons?
Ezekiel 3:12 (“I heard behind me a great thunderous voice”) is almost what is said of John in 1:10: “His voice as the sound of many waters” (vs.15). Daniel 10:6 = “… and the sound of His Words like the voice of a multitude.” Paul writes “… the sound of the trumpet of God” (1 Thes. 4:16). Going back as far as Exodus we find “… the sound of the trumpet was very loud…” (Ex. 19:16. Sometimes God’s voice is like a trumpet; other times like thunder.
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith…”, repeated 7 times in Rev. 2 & 3.: let every person, every Christian, attend carefully to what the Holy Spirit is saying.
Matthew 11:15 says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (repeated in Luke 8:8 & 14:35). The word is not referring to literal ears but one’s spiritual ears. We are to hear with our spiritual ears, pay the strictest regard to what the Holy Spirit is saying & let His words have a suitable influence on our heart & life.
Pt.2
Hear/Hearing: verbs (Gk.)
(1) Akoū (ἀκούω), the usual word meaning “to hear”, is used intransitively, e.g., Mt. 11:!5; Mk. 4:23; it is used transitively when the object is expressed often in the accusative case, sometimes in the genitive. Acts 9:7, “hearing the voice”, the noun – voice – is in the partitive genitive case [i.e., hearing (something) of], whereas in 22:9, “they heard not the voice,” the construction is with the accusative. Acts 22:9 is a good example where Saul (before becoming Paul) HEARD the VOICE of Christ but those with him did not.
The same holds true for spiritual eyes – one can see in the Spirit when God opens their eyes.
John 5:25,28 speaks of “the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who HEAR will LIVE.” The same is said in vs.28 “… will hear His voice.” The unrighteous too will hear His voice “… those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation,” vs.29. All eventually will HEAR – akouō. This “hearing”, in the genitive case, is used, indicating a sensational perception that the Lord’s voice is sounding; Jn. 3:8 speaks of the sound of the wind, comparing it to the Spirit of God, the accusative is used, stressing the thing perceived.
John 9:31 tells us that God hears the worshipper of God; 1 Jn. 5:14,15 needs to be read with Jn. 9:31.
Sometimes the verb is used with para (from beside), e.g., Jn. 1:40, “one of the two which heard John speak,” lit., “heard from beside John,” suggesting that he stood beside him; in Jn. 8:26,40, indicating the intimate fellowship of the Son with the Father; the same construction is used in Acts 10:22 & 2 Tim. 2:2, in the latter case, of the intimacy between Timothy & the apostle Paul (converted Saul). (see also hearken).
(2) Eisakouō (εἰσακούω), means to listen” (eis, to), has 2 meanings: (1) to hear & obey (1 cor. 14:21); to hear so as to answer, of the Lord’s answer to prayer (Mt. 6:7; Lk. 1:13; Acts 10:31; Heb. 5:7).
(3) Diakoū (διακούω), to hear through, hear fully (dia, through), is used technically, of hearing judicially, in Acts 23:35, of Felix in regard to the charges against Paul. In the O.T. Greek see Dt. 1:16; Job 9:33.
(4) Epakouō (ἐπακούω), to listen to, hear with favor, at or upon an occasion (epi, upon), is used in 2 Cor. 6:2, in the R.V., “hearken”.
(5) Epakroamai (επακροάμαι), to listen attentively to (epi, used intensively, & a verb akin to Akouō), is used in Acts 16:25. The R.V. expressive of rapt attention.
(6) Proakouō (προακούω) primarily signifies to overhear, hear amiss or imperfectly (para, beside, amiss); then in the N.T., to hear without taking heed, to neglect to hear, see Mt. 18:17; in Mk. 5:36 the best manuscripts (mss.) have this verb, which the R.V. renders “not heeding” (marg., “overhearing”); some mss. have Akouō (A.V.).
Noun:
Akoē (ἀκοή), akin to Akouō, intransitively, which denotes the sense of hearing (1 Cor. 12:17; 2 Pet. 2:8); a combination of verb & noun is used in phrases which have been termed Hebraic as they express somewhat literally an O.T. phraseology, e.g., “By hearing ye shall hear”, (Mt. 13:14; Acts 28:26, R.V., a mode of expression conveying emphasis; the organ of hearing, “ears”, (Mark 7:35) where Jesus healed the deaf and had an impediment in speech; In Luke we read, “Now when He (Jesus) concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum” (A.V.). (see also Acts 17:20; 2 Tim. 4:3,4; Heb. 5:11. In Heb. 5:11 we find the words “dull of hearing” (A.V./, literally, “dull as to the ears”;
So, the noun expresses a thing heard, a message or teaching (see Jn. 12:38 (some mss. use “report”, see Rom. 10:16 (A.V.) “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘LORD, who has believed our report?’” Vs.17 follows with, “So then faith comes by hearing, & hearing by the Word of God.” (see also 1 Thes. 2:13 = “the word of the message”, (as some versions read), the NKJV reads, “received the Word of God”. Other versions read, “the Word preached”. Heb. 4:2 reads, “… the Word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it,” NKJV. (see also Mt. 4:24; 14:1; Mk. 1:28; Mt. 24:6; Mk. 13:7 et al.)
In Romans 10:7 we read: “So then faith comes by hearing, & hearing by the Word of God.” Verse 18 continues, “But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed.”
In Gal. 3:2,5, the words “hearing of faith” are found.
Mt. 13:15 describes (by Jesus) those “people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing…”, lit., “dull of hearing”.
Hearer:
Akroatēs (ἀκροατής), from akroaomai, to listen, is used in Rom. 2:13: “For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law…”;
James 1:22,23 tells us, “Be doers of the Word, & not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word & not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.” Vs.25 uses the words “forgetful hearer” (NKJV).
In Eph. 4:29 & 2 Tim. 2:14, the verb akouō, “to hear”, is rendered “hearers” in the A.V./KJV; in the R.V., “them that hear”.
We could go into the 4 Greek words, Hearken, but I’ll cite them only: 1) Akouō; 2) Epakouō; 3) Enōtizomai; 4) Peitharcheō. You can research these yourself.
Back to Revelation
“He who has an ear, let him hear” – Rev. 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13,22:
Knox has, “Listen, you who have ears, to the message which the Spirit has for the churches.” (The N.T. in the Translation of Monsignor Ronald Knox);
Beck reads, “You have ears; then listen to what…” (The N.T. in the Language of Today by William F. Beck);
Moffatt has, “Let anyone who has an ear listen to…” (The N.T.: A New Translation by James Moffatt);
ICNT reads, “To him who conquers…” (by The Twentieth Century N.T.);
J.B. Phillips has, “To the victorious” (The N.T. in Modern English);
R.F. Weymouth reads, “To the victor I will give the privilege of eating…” (The N.T. in Modern Speech by Richard F. Weymouth). One can look up more translations on Rev., “He that hath an ear…”
Early Church Fathers on Hearing from God:
Ignatius (A.D. 35-107): “I received no report from any man. Rather, the Spirit proclaimed these words: ‘Do nothing without the bishop. Keep your bodies as the temples of God. Love unity. Avoid divisions. Be the followers of Jesus Christ, even as He is of His Father.” (105 A.D., 1:83,84);
Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 150-215): “To those who ask questions, there is given from Scriptures the gift of the God-given knowledge.” (195 A.D., 2:558);
Cyprian (A.D. 258): “Be constant in both prayer & reading. Now speak with God; then let God speak with you. Let Him instruct you in His teachings, let Him direct you.” (250 A.D., 5:279,280); Cyprian continues: “By the kindness of the Lord instructing me, I am very often instigated & warned.” (250 A.D., 5:347. (Note: this great man of God was finally captured & executed by the cruel Romans);
Dionysius of Alexandria (died in A.D. 264): “After the lapse of four days, God gave me instructions to leave. And He opened the way for Me.” (262 A.D., 6:104).
(one can look up Prophecy, dreams, & visions – ways the Spirit can & does speak to us).