Doctrine of the Lord # 52
52. Jehovah Himself, that is, the Lord, spoke the Word through the prophets. Regarding the prophets, we read that they were in a state of vision, and that Jehovah spoke with them.
When they were in a state of vision, they were not present in their body, but in their spirit, and in that state they saw things of the kind found in heaven. But when Jehovah spoke with them, they were then present in their body and heard Jehovah speaking.
These two states experienced by the prophets must be clearly distinguished. In a state of vision the eyes of their spirit were open and the eyes of their body closed; and they then seemed to themselves to be conveyed from place to place, their body not moving from where it was.
Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel were at times in this state, and so was John when he was writing the book of Revelation. We are also told then that they were in a state of vision or in the spirit. Ezekiel, indeed, says:
The spirit took me up and returned me in a vision (of God) by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to those in captivity. (So) the vision that I had seen went up from me. (Ezekiel 11:24, cf. 11:1)
He says that the spirit lifted him up, and that he heard behind him an earthquake, and other things (Ezekiel 3:12, 14). Also that the spirit lifted him up between the earth and heaven, and brought him in the visions of God to Jerusalem, where he saw abominations (Ezekiel 8:3ff.).
It was in a vision of God, or in the spirit, therefore, that he saw four living creatures, which were cherubim (Ezekiel 1,10). And also a new earth and a new temple, and an angel measuring them (as described in chapters 40-48). He says that he was then in the visions of God (Ezekiel 40:2), and that the spirit then lifted him up (Ezekiel 43:5).
The same experience befell Zechariah when he saw a man riding among the myrtle trees (Zechariah 1:8ff.); when he saw four horns, and then a man with a measuring line in his hand (Zechariah 1:18, 2:1ff.); when he saw Joshua the high priest (Zechariah 3:1ff.); when he saw a lampstand and two olive trees (Zechariah 4:1ff.); when he saw a flying scroll and an ephah (Zechariah 5:1, 6); and when he saw four chariots coming from between two mountains, and the horses (Zechariah 6:1ff.).
Daniel was in the same state when he saw four beasts coming up from the sea (Daniel 7:3), and when he saw battles of the ram and the male goat (Daniel 8:1ff.). We read that he saw these things in a state of vision (Daniel 7:1-2, 7, 13, 8:2, 10:1, 7-8); and that the angel Gabriel appeared to him in a vision and spoke with him (Daniel 9:21-22).
The same experience befell John when he was writing the book of Revelation, who says that he was in the spirit on the Lord’s day (Revelation 1:10); that he was carried away in the spirit into the wilderness (Revelation 17:3), and in the spirit onto a high mountain (Revelation 21:10); that in a vision he saw horses (Revelation 9:17). And elsewhere that he saw the things he described, thus seeing them in the spirit or in a vision (Revelation 1:12, 4:1, 5:1, 6:1, and so on in each of the following chapters).
Published by the General Church of the New Jerusalem, 1100 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U.S.A. A translation of Doctrina Novae Hierosolymae de Domino, by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772. Translated from the Original Latin by N. Bruce Rogers. ISBN 9780945003687, Library of Congress Control Number: 2013954074.
以西結書 45
1
你們拈鬮分地為業,要獻上一分給耶和華為聖供地,長二萬五千肘,寬一萬肘。這分以內,四圍都為聖地。
2
其中有作為聖所之地,長五百肘,寬五百肘,四面見方。四圍再有五十肘為郊野之地。
3
要以肘為度量地,長二萬五千肘,寬一萬肘。其中有聖所,是至聖的。
4
這是全地的一分聖地,要歸與供聖所職事的祭司,就是親近事奉耶和華的,作為他們房屋之地與聖所之聖地。
5
又有一分,長二萬五千肘,寬一萬肘,要歸與在殿中供職的利未人,作為二十間房屋之業。
6
也要分定屬城的地業,寬五千肘,長二萬五千肘,挨著那分聖供地,要歸以色列全家。
7
歸王之地要在聖供地和屬城之地的兩旁,就是聖供地和屬城之地的旁邊,西至西頭,東至東頭,從西到東,其長與每支派的分一樣。
8
這地在以色列中必歸王為業。我所立的王必不再欺壓我的民,卻要按支派將地分給以色列家。
9
主耶和華如此說:以色列的王啊,你們應當知足,要除掉強暴和搶奪的事,施行公平和公義,不再勒索我的民。這是主耶和華說的。
11
伊法與罷特大小要一樣。罷特可盛賀梅珥十分之一,伊法也可盛賀梅珥十分之一,都以賀梅珥的大小為準。
12
舍客勒是二十季拉;二十舍客勒,二十五舍客勒,十五舍客勒,為你們的彌那。
13
你們當獻的供物乃是這樣:一賀梅珥麥子要獻伊法六分之一;一賀梅珥大麥要獻伊法六分之一。
14
你們獻所分定的油,按油的罷特,一柯珥油要獻罷特十分之一(原來十罷特就是一賀梅珥)。
15
從以色列滋潤的草場上每二百羊中,要獻一隻羊羔。這都可作素祭、燔祭、平安祭,為民贖罪。這是主耶和華說的。
17
王的本分是在節期、月朔、安息日,就是以色列家一切的節期,奉上燔祭、素祭、奠祭。他要預備贖罪祭、素祭、燔祭,和平安祭,為以色列家贖罪。
18
主耶和華如此說:正月初一日,你要取無殘疾的公牛犢,潔淨聖所。
19
祭司要取些贖罪祭牲的血,抹在殿的門柱上和壇磴臺的四角上,並內院的門框上。
20
本月初七日(七十士譯本是七月初一日)也要為誤犯罪的和愚蒙犯罪的如此行,為殿贖罪。
23
這節的七日,每日他要為耶和華預備無殘疾的公牛七隻、公綿羊七隻為燔祭。每日又要預備公山羊一隻為贖罪祭。