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Ezekiel 40

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1 In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was smitten, in the same day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and brought me thither.

2 In the visions of God he brought me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south.

3 And he brought me thither, and behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.

4 And the man said to me, Son of man, behold with thy eyes, and hear with thy ears, and set thy heart upon all that I shall show thee; for, to the intent that I might show them to thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.

5 And behold a wall on the outside of the house around, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits long by the cubit and a hand-breadth: so he measured the breadth of the building, one reed: and the hight, one reed.

6 Then he came to the gate which looketh towards the east, and ascended its stairs, and measured the threshhold of the gate, which was one reed broad; and the other threshhold of the gate, which was one reed broad.

7 And every little chamber was one reed long, and one reed broad; and between the little chambers were five cubits; and the threshhold of the gate by the porch of the gate within was one reed.

8 He measured also the porch of the gate within, one reed.

9 Then he measured the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and its posts, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was inward.

10 And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.

11 And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.

12 The space also before the little chambers was one cubit on this side, and the space was one cubit on that side: and the little chambers were six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side.

13 He measured then the gate from the roof of one little chamber to the roof of another: the breadth was five and twenty cubits, door against door.

14 He made also posts of sixty cubits; even to the post of the court around the gate.

15 And from the face of the gate of the entrance to the face of the porch of the inner gate were fifty cubits.

16 And there were narrow windows to the little chambers, and to their posts within the gate around, and likewise to the arches: and windows were around inward: and upon each post were palm-trees.

17 Then he brought me into the outward court, and lo, there were chambers, and a pavement made for the court around: thirty chambers were upon the pavement.

18 And the pavement by the side of the gates over against the length of the gates was the lower pavement.

19 Then he measured the breadth from the front of the lower gate to the front of the inner court without, a hundred cubits eastward and northward.

20 And the gate of the outward court that looked towards the north, he measured its length, and its breadth.

21 And the little chambers of it were three on this side and three on that side; and its posts and its arches were after the measure of the first gate; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth five and twenty cubits.

22 And their windows, and their arches, and their palm-trees, were after the measure of the gate that looketh towards the east; and they went up to it by seven steps; and its arches were before them.

23 And the gate of the inner court was over against the gate towards the north, and towards the east; and he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits.

24 After that he brought me towards the south, and behold a gate towards the south: and he measured its posts and its arches according to these measures.

25 And there were windows in it and in its arches around, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.

26 And there were seven steps to go up to it, and its arches were before them: and it had palm-trees, one on this side, and another on that side, upon its posts.

27 And there was a gate in the inner court towards the south: and he measured from gate to gate towards the south a hundred cubits.

28 And he brought me to the inner court by the south gate; and he measured the south gate according to these measures;

29 And its little chambers, and its posts, and its arches, according to these measures; and there were windows in it and in its arches around: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.

30 And the arches around were five and twenty cubits long, and five cubits broad.

31 And its arches were towards the outer court; and palm-trees were upon its posts: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

32 And he brought me into the inner court towards the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures.

33 And its little chambers, and its posts, and its arches, were according to these measures; and there were windows in it and in its arches around: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.

34 And its arches were towards the outward court; and palm-trees were upon its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

35 And he brought me to the north gate, and measured it according to these measures;

36 Its little chambers, its posts, and its arches, and the windows to it around: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.

37 And its posts were towards the outer court; and palm-trees were upon its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

38 And the chambers and its entries were by the posts of the gates, where they washed the burnt-offering.

39 And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slay upon it the burnt-offering and the sin-offering and the trespass-offering.

40 And at the side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side, which was at the porch of the gate, were two tables.

41 Four tables were on this side, and Four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, upon which they slew their sacrifices.

42 And the four tables were of hewn stone for the burnt-offering, of a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high: upon which also they laid the instruments with which they slew the burnt-offering and the sacrifice.

43 And within were hooks, a hand broad, fastened around: and upon the tables was the flesh of the offering.

44 And without the inner gate were the chambers of the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was towards the south: one at the side of the east gate having the prospect towards the north.

45 And he said to me, This chamber, whose prospect is towards the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house.

46 And the chamber whose prospect is towards the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, who come near to the LORD to minister to him.

47 So he measured the court, a hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar that was before the house.

48 And he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side.

49 The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps by which they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

   

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Divine Providence # 134

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134a. 2. No one is reformed by visions or by conversations with the dead, because they compel. There are two kinds of visions, divine and demonic. Divine visions are given by means of portrayals in heaven, while demonic visions are effected though magical events in hell. There are imaginary visions as well, visions that are the illusions of a mind that has lost its bearings.

Divine visions (which as just noted are given by means of portrayals in heaven) are the kind that happened to the prophets. When they were having these visions they were not in the body but in the spirit, because visions cannot happen to us while we are physically awake. So when the prophets saw visions, it says that they were in the spirit, as the following passages show.

Ezekiel said, "The spirit lifted me up and took me back to Chaldea to the captivity in a vision of God, in the spirit of God; so the vision that I saw came over me" (Ezekiel 11:1, 24). Then too, spirits held him up between earth and heaven and brought him to Jerusalem in visions of God (Ezekiel 8:3 and following). The same thing happened in a vision of God or in the spirit when he saw the four animals that were cherubim (Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10) and when he saw the new temple, the new earth, and the angel measuring them (Ezekiel chapters 40-48). It says in chapter Ezekiel 40:2, 26 that he was in visions of God at the time, and in chapter Ezekiel 43:5 that he was in the spirit.

[2] Zechariah was in the same kind of state when he saw the man on horseback among the myrtle trees (Zechariah 1:8 and following), when he saw the four horns and the man with a measuring line in his hand (Zechariah 1:18, 20, 21; Zechariah 2:1 and following), when he saw the lampstand and the two olive trees (Zechariah 4:1 and following), when he saw the flying scroll and the ephah (Zechariah 5:1, 6), and when he saw the four chariots coming out from the four mountains, and the horses (Zechariah 6:1 and following).

Daniel was in the same kind of state when he saw the four beasts rising from the sea (Daniel 6:1 [7:1] and following), and when he saw the battles of the ram and the goat (Daniel 8:1 and following). It says in Daniel 7:1-2, 7, and 13; in Daniel 8:2; and in Daniel 10:1, 7, and 8 that he saw these things in the vision of his spirit, and it says in Daniel 9:21 that he saw the angel Gabriel in a vision.

[3] John was in the vision of the spirit when he saw the things he describes in the Book of Revelation--for example, when he saw the seven lampstands with the Human-born One in their midst (Revelation 1:12-16), when he saw the throne in heaven with someone sitting on it, surrounded by the four animals that were cherubim (Revelation 4), when he saw the book of life taken by the Lamb (Revelation 5), when he saw the horses come out of the book (Revelation 6), when he saw the seven angels with their trumpets (Revelation 8), when he saw the pit of the abyss opened with the locusts coming out of it (Revelation 9), when he saw the dragon and its battle with Michael (Revelation 12), when he saw the two beasts rise up, one from the sea and one from the land (Revelation 13), when he saw the woman sitting on the scarlet beast (Revelation 17) and the destruction of Babylon (Revelation 18), when he saw the white horse with someone riding it (Revelation 18 [19]), when he saw the new heaven and the new earth and the holy Jerusalem coming down from heaven (Revelation 21), and when he saw the river of water of life (Revelation 22). It says that he saw these things in the vision of his spirit in Revelation 1:11 [1:10]; Revelation 4:2; Revelation 5:1; Revelation 6:1; and Revelation 21:12 [21:10].

These were the kinds of visions that were visible from heaven to the sight of their spirits and not to their physical sight.

Things like this do not happen nowadays, because if they did they would not be understood, since they happen by means of images whose details are pointing to inner features of the church and secrets of heaven. It was foretold in Daniel 9:24 that they would stop when the Lord came into the world.

However, demonic visions have sometimes occurred. They are brought about by spirits who inspire deceptive passions and visions and who call themselves the Holy Spirit because of a mental confusion that engulfs them. Now, however, these spirits have been gathered in by the Lord and consigned to a hell separate from the other hells.

We can see from all this that no one can be reformed by any visions except the ones that are in the Word. There are imaginary visions as well, but these are nothing but the illusions of a mind that has lost its bearings.

134b. The story that the Lord told about the rich man in hell and Lazarus in Abraham's lap shows that no one is reformed by conversations with the dead. The rich man said, "Father Abraham, I beg you to send Lazarus to my father's house where I have five brothers, to bear witness to them so that they do not come to this place of torment." Abraham said to him, "They have Moses and the prophets: let them heed them." But he said, "No, father Abraham, but if someone came to them from the dead, they would repent." He answered him, "If they do not heed Moses and the prophets, they would not be convinced if someone rose from the dead" (Luke 16:27-31).

Conversations with the dead may lead to the same results as miracles that I have just described. That is, we may be convinced and be constrained to worship for a short while. However, since this deprives us of rational functioning at the same time that it hems in our evils, as already noted [130-131, 133], this spell or inner restraint is released and the pent-up evils erupt in blasphemy and profanation. Still, this happens only when spirits have imposed some religious dogma. No good spirit--let alone any angel of heaven--would ever do this.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.