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그가 척량하는 장대 곧 그 장대로 동편을 척량하니 오백척이요
True Christian Religion # 157
157. Since a person's spirit means his mind, 'being in the spirit', a phrase which occurs a number of times in the Word, means the state in which the mind is separated from the body. That was the state the Prophets were in when they saw the kind of things which happen in the spiritual world, so it is called 'the vision of God.' They were then in the same state as that of the spirits and angels of that world. In that state a person's spirit, as the visual capacity of his mind, can be transported from place to place while his body remains in one place. This is the state in which I have been for the last twenty-six years, with the difference that I have been simultaneously in the spirit and in the body, and only at times outside the body. Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel and John the writer of Revelation were evident from the following passages.
Ezekiel says: 'A spirit lifted me up, and brought me back to Chaldaea to the captives in a vision, in the spirit of God; so the vision which I had seen went up from me' (Ezekiel 11:1, 24). A spirit lifted him up and he heard behind him an earthquake (Ezekiel 3:12, 14). A spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven, and carried him off to Jerusalem, and he saw abominations (Ezekiel 8:3ff). He saw four creatures, which were Cherubim, and various sights with them (Ezek. chapters 1, 10); also a new earth and a new temple, and an angel measuring them (Ezek. chapters 40-48). He was then in receipt of a vision and in the spirit (Ezekiel 40:2; 13:5).
[2] Similar things happened to Zechariah, when he was with an angel and saw a man riding a horse among myrtles (Zechariah 1:8ff); four horns [Zechariah 1:18] and a man with a measuring line in his hand (Zechariah 2:1, 5ff); Joshua the high priest (Zechariah 3:1ff); four chariots coming out between two mountains, and their horses (Zechariah 6:1ff). Daniel was in the same state when he saw four beasts coming up out of the sea and various other details about them (Daniel 7:1ff); the fights between a ram and a he-goat (Daniel 8:1ff). He saw these things in a vision (Daniel 7:1-2, 7, 13; 8:2; 10:1, 7-8); the angel Gabriel appeared to him in a vision and spoke with him (Daniel 9:21).
[3] It was the same with John when he wrote Revelation. He says that he was in the spirit on the Lord's day (Revelation 1:10); that he was carried in the spirit into the desert (Revelation 17:3); onto a high mountain in the spirit (Revelation 21:10); that he saw [horses] in a vision (Revelation 9:17). Elsewhere he says that he saw what he described, as for instance the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands; a tabernacle, a temple, an ark and an altar in heaven; a book sealed with seven seals, and horses that came out of it; four creatures around the throne; twelve thousand chosen from each tribe; then the Lamb upon Mount Zion; locusts coming up from the abyss; the dragon and his battle with Michael; a woman bearing a son, and fleeing into the desert because of the dragon; two beasts, one coming up from the sea, the other from the earth; a woman sitting on a scarlet beast; the dragon cast out into a lake of fire and brimstone; a white horse and a great banquet; the Holy City of Jerusalem coming down, with a description of its gates, wall and the foundations of the wall; a river of living water, and trees of life which bear fruit in every month; and much else besides. Peter, James and John were in a similar state when they saw Jesus transfigured; and so was Paul when he heard from heaven things past telling.
Ezekiel 1
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Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
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In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,
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The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
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And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
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Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
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And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
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And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.
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And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
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Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
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As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
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Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
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And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.
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As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
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And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
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Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
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The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
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When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.
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As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
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And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
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Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
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When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
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And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
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And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
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And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
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And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
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And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
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And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
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As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
