Job 24
1
Waarom zouden van den Almachtige de tijden niet verborgen zijn, dewijl zij, die Hem kennen, Zijn dagen niet zien?
2
Zij tasten de landpalen aan; de kudden roven zij, en weiden ze.
3
Den ezel der wezen drijven zij weg; den os ener weduwe nemen zij te pand.
4
Zij doen de nooddruftigen wijken van den weg; te zamen versteken zich de ellendigen des lands.
5
Ziet, zij zijn woudezels in de woestijn; zij gaan uit tot hun werk, makende zich vroeg op ten roof; het vlakke veld is hem tot spijs, en den jongeren.
6
Op het veld maaien zij zijn voeder, en den wijnberg des goddelozen lezen zij af.
7
Den naakten laten zij vernachten zonder kleding, die geen deksel heeft tegen de koude.
8
Van den stroom der bergen worden zij nat, en zonder toevlucht zijnde, omhelzen zij de steenrotsen.
9
Zij rukken het weesje van de borst, en dat over den arme is, nemen zij te pand.
10
Den naakte doen zij weggaan zonder kleed, en hongerig, die garven dragen.
11
Tussen hun muren persen zij olie uit, treden de wijnpersen, en zijn dorstig.
12
Uit de stad zuchten de lieden, en de ziel der verwonden schreeuwt uit; nochtans beschikt God niets ongerijmds.
13
Zij zijn onder de wederstrevers des lichts; zij kennen Zijn wegen niet, en zij blijven niet op Zijn paden.
14
Met het licht staat de moorder op, doodt den arme en den nooddruftige; en des nachts is hij als een dief.
15
Ook neemt het oog des overspelers de schemering waar, zeggende: Geen oog zal mij zien; en hij legt een deksel op het aangezicht.
16
In de duisternis doorgraaft hij de huizen, die zij zich des daags afgetekend hadden; zij kennen het licht niet.
17
Want de morgenstond is hun te zamen de schaduw des doods; als men hen kent, zijn zij in de strikken van des doods schaduw.
18
Hij is licht op het vlakke der wateren; vervloekt is hun deel op de aarde; hij wendt zich niet tot den weg der wijngaarden.
19
De droogte mitsgaders de hitte nemen de sneeuwwateren weg; alzo het graf dergenen, die gezondigd hebben.
20
De baarmoeder vergeet hem, het gewormte is hem zoet, zijns wordt niet meer gedacht; en het onrecht wordt gebroken als een hout.
21
De onvruchtbare, die niet baart, teert hij af, en aan de weduwe doet hij niets goeds.
22
Ook trekt hij de machtigen door zijn kracht; staat hij op, zo is men des levens niet zeker.
23
Stelt hem God in gerustigheid, zo steunt hij daarop; nochtans zijn Zijn ogen op hun wegen.
24
Zij zijn een weinig tijds verheven, daarna is er niemand van hen; zij worden nedergedrukt; gelijk alle anderen worden zij besloten; en gelijk de top ener aar worden zij afgesneden.
25
Indien het nu zo niet is, wie zal mij leugenachtig maken, en mijn rede tot niet brengen?
Apocalypse Revealed # 945
945. 22:8 Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. This means that John supposed that the angel sent to him by the Lord to keep him in a state of the spirit was the God who revealed these things, when in fact that was not the case, as the angel only showed him what the Lord presented.
Clearly John supposed that the angel sent to him was the Lord Himself, for we are told that he fell down to worship before the angel's feet. But that it was not as he supposed is apparent from the next verse, in which the angel tells him that he is his fellow servant: "Worship God." That the angel was sent to John by the Lord is apparent from verse 16, which says, "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches."
But behind this lies the following secret: The Lord sent the angel to John in order to keep him in a state of the spirit and to show him in that state the visions he saw. For whatever John saw, he saw not with the eyes of his body, but with the eyes of his spirit, as can be seen from the passages in which he says that he was in the spirit and seeing a vision (Revelation 1:10; 9:17; 17:3; 21:10), thus everywhere that he says "he saw." And a person can enter that state and be kept in it only by angels who are closely attached to the person, who induce their own spiritual state on the interiors of his mind. For this raises the person into the light of heaven, and in that light he sees sights in heaven and not in the world.
[2] Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel, and other prophets were at times in the same state, but not when they spoke the Word. When they spoke the Word they were not in the spirit, but conscious in the body, and the words they wrote they heard from Jehovah Himself, that is, from the Lord.
These two states experienced by the prophets must be properly distinguished. The prophets themselves also properly distinguished them, for they everywhere say when they wrote the Word from Jehovah that Jehovah spoke with them and to them, and most often, "Thus says Jehovah," or "the word of Jehovah." However, when they were in the other state, they say that they were in the spirit or seeing in a vision, as can be seen from the following: (Ezekiel said,) "The spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision... of God into Chaldea, to those in captivity. So the vision that I saw went up upon me." (Ezekiel 11:1, 24)
Ezekiel says that the spirit lifted him up and that he heard behind him an earthquake, among other things (Ezekiel 3:12, 14). Also that the spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven, and brought him in visions of God to Jerusalem, where he saw abominations (Ezekiel 8:3ff.). Therefore he was also seeing in a vision of God or in the spirit when he saw four living creatures, which were cherubim (Ezekiel 1 and 10). And when he saw a new temple and a new land, and an angel measuring them (Ezekiel 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48). He says that he was then seeing in the visions of God (Ezekiel 40:2), and that the spirit lifted him up (Ezekiel 43:5).
[3] It was the same with Zechariah, who had an angel with him at the time when he saw a man riding among the myrtle trees (Zechariah 1:8ff.). When he saw the four horns, and then the 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 the lampstand and two olive trees (Zechariah 4:1ff.). When he saw the flying scroll and the ephah (Zechariah 5:1, 6). And when he saw the four chariots and their horses coming from between two mountains (Zechariah 6:1ff.).
Daniel was in the same state when he saw four beasts coming up from the sea (Daniel 7:1ff.), and when he saw the combat of the ram and the male goat (Daniel 8:1ff.). That he saw these sights in visions is said in Daniel 7:1-2, 7, 13; 8:2; 10:1, 7-8. Moreover, that he saw the angel Gabriel and spoke with him in a vision (Daniel 9:21).
It was the same with John when he saw the sights he described, as when he saw the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands; when he saw the tabernacle, 1 the temple, 2 the ark, 3 and the altar 4 in heaven; the dragon and its combat with Michael; 5 the beasts; 6 the woman sitting on the scarlet beast; 7 the new heaven and new earth, and the holy Jerusalem with its wall, gates, and foundations; 8 and more.
These sights were revealed by the Lord, but shown by an angel.
Poznámky pod čarou:
2. Revelation 11:1-2, 19; 14:15, 17; 15:5-6, 8; 16:1, 17.
