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.
Ezekiel 3
1
He said to me, Son of man, eat that which you find. eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.
2
So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the scroll.
3
He said to me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this scroll that I give you. Then I ate it; and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.
4
He said to me, Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.
5
For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;
6
not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.
7
But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me: for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.
8
Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.
9
As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: don't be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
10
Moreover he said to me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.
11
Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
12
Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, [saying], Blessed be the glory of Yahweh from his place.
13
[I heard] the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing.
14
So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and the hand of Yahweh was strong on me.
15
Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv, that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.
16
It happened at the end of seven days, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
17
Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warning from me.
18
When I tell the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.
19
Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn't turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
20
Again, when a righteous man does turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.
21
Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul.
22
The hand of Yahweh was there on me; and he said to me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you.
23
Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and behold, the glory of Yahweh stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.
24
Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me on my feet; and he spoke with me, and said to me, Go, shut yourself inside your house.
25
But you, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands on you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:
26
and I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be mute, and shall not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house.
27
But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: He who hears, let him hear; and he who forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.
