"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day" (Revelation 1:10a).
This can have two possible meanings.
First, it can mean that the revelation came to John on a Sunday. It seems that early in the church Sunday was referred to as the Lord's day, being the eighth day and the first day of the week. Sunday was the day in
which Jesus rose from the dead. It was a day when the church was accustomed to gathering together.
Paul told the Corinthians to bring their offerings when they gathered together on the first day of the week so there would be no collections when he came (I Corinthians 16:1-2). In Acts the Christians gathered
together on the first day of the week to break bread (Acts 20:7).
Early in church history Sunday was called the Lord's day.
It was not a change that was brought about by Constantine, which the Seventh-day Adventists would
have you believe. In fact, Tertullian, who wrote almost two centuries before Constantine, said that Sunday should be the only day on which the church would have communion, because Jesus rose on the first day of the week.
Of course that was his logic and not necessarily true, but it shows that the first day of the week was set apart early in church history as a time for the worship of Christ. John may have been saying that he was in the Spirit or in a spiritual trance on Sunday.
A Time Chamber
With equal authority from the Greek, Revelation 1:10a could be translated, "I was in the Spirit unto the day of the Lord" rather than "on the Lord's day."
This would mean that the Lord put John into a time chamber, so to speak, and transferred him to the end of the age. There John saw all the battles and judgments that are described in the Revelation. The Lord took him out in time to the day of the Lord, and John recorded these events as though he were actually there.
When Jesus took His disciples unto the Mount of Transfiguration, He took them into a kind of time chamber. Prior to this, He had said, "Some of you here are not going to taste of death, until you see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."
Six days later He took Peter, James, and John up to the top of the high mountain. There He was transfigured before them. His raiment was white as the light and His face did shine like the sun. There appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus about things of the kingdom (Matthew 16:28 - 17:4).
What happened? The disciples were taken to a time zone which is yet future to us. They saw the Lord's future glory. He was talking with Moses and Elijah about the kingdom age.
John, possibly, was also taken in a time chamber by the Lord. It would be very easy for God, who is eternal, to put John into that eternal dimension for a moment and take him out to the end of the age where he could see all these things that are going to happen.
God has already seen the things that are transpiring on the earth today. He has omniscience. He knows all things. God knows exactly what the next move will be, how it'll take place, where it's going to transpire. Your life is like a rerun as far as God is concerned.
And so, it was very likely that John saw the future coming of Jesus Christ. I personally believe that this is the intent here.
"I was taken in the Spirit unto the day of the Lord."
