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Ezekiel 1

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1 And it cometh to pass, in the thirtieth year, in the fourth [month], in the fifth of the month, and I [am] in the midst of the Removed by the river Chebar, the heavens have been opened, and I see visions of God.

2 In the fifth of the month -- it is the fifth year of the removal of the king Jehoiachin --

3 hath the word of Jehovah certainly been unto Ezekiel son of Buzi the priest, in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chebar, and there is on him there a hand of Jehovah.

4 And I look, and lo, a tempestuous wind is coming from the north, a great cloud, and fire catching itself, and brightness to it round about, and out of its midst as the colour of copper, out of the midst of the fire.

5 And out of its midst [is] a likeness of four living creatures, and this [is] their appearance; a likeness of man [is] to them,

6 and four faces [are] to each, and four wings [are] to each of them,

7 and their feet [are] straight feet, and the sole of their feet [is] as a sole of a calf's foot, and they are sparkling as the colour of bright brass;

8 and hands of man under their wings -- on their four sides, and their faces and their wings -- [are] to them four;

9 joining one unto another [are] their wings, they turn not round in their going, each straight forward they go.

10 As to the likeness of their faces, the face of a man, and the face of a lion, toward the right [are] to them four, and the face of an ox on the left [are] to them four, and the face of an eagle [are] to them four.

11 And their faces and their wings are separate from above, to each [are] two joining together, and two are covering their bodies.

12 And each straight forward they go, whither the spirit is to go, they go, they turn not round in their going.

13 As to the likeness of the living creatures, their appearances [are] as coals of fire -- burning as the appearance of lamps; it is going up and down between the living creatures, and brightness [is] to the fire, and out of the fire is going forth lightning.

14 And the living creatures are running, and turning back, as the appearance of the flash.

15 And I see the living creatures, and lo, one wheel [is] in the earth, near the living creatures, at its four faces.

16 The appearance of the wheels and their works [is] as the colour of beryl, and one likeness [is] to them four, and their appearances and their works [are] as it were the wheel in the midst of the wheel.

17 On their four sides, in their going they go, they turn not round in their going.

18 As to their rings, they are both high and fearful, and their rings [are] full of eyes round about them four.

19 And in the going of the living creatures, the wheels go beside them, and in the living creatures being lifted up from off the earth, lifted up are the wheels.

20 Whither the spirit is to go, they go, thither the spirit [is] to go, and the wheels are lifted up over-against them, for a living spirit [is] in the wheels.

21 In their going, they go; and in their standing, they stand; and in their being lifted up from off the earth, lifted up are the wheels over-against them; for a living spirit [is] in the wheels.

22 And a likeness [is] over the heads of the living creatures of an expanse, as the colour of the fearful ice, stretched out over their heads from above.

23 And under the expanse their wings [are] straight, one toward the other, to each are two covering on this side, and to each are two covering on that side -- their bodies.

24 And I hear the noise of their wings, as the noise of many waters, as the noise of the Mighty One, in their going -- the noise of tumult, as the noise of a camp, in their standing they let fall their wings.

25 And there is a voice from above the expanse, that [is] above their head: in their standing they let fall their wings.

26 And above the expanse that [is] over their head, as an appearance of a sapphire stone, [is] the likeness of a throne, and on the likeness of the throne a likeness, as the appearance of man upon it from above.

27 And I see as the colour of copper, as the appearance of fire within it round about, from the appearance of his loins and upward, and from the appearance of his loins and downward, I have seen as the appearance of fire, and brightness [is] to it round about.

28 As the appearance of the bow that is in a cloud in a day of rain, so [is] the appearance of the brightness round about.

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One

  

A company might have executives setting policy and strategy, engineers designing products, managers handling personnel and others handling various functions. They all do different things -- but if they're doing them with a shared underlying purpose, the company -- and the individuals in it -- will likely be successful. The Lord wants all human society to function in a similar way. We have different skills and individual loves, but if we all share a mutual love -- a love of serving others -- then society will function as one, will be a reflection of heaven and will be a good receptacle for the Lord's love. This can also happen within each of us, as we unify our talents and ideas around a central love. And in an abstract sense, it illustrates how a wide collection of varying ideas can be unified around a shared good intention. That is the kind of love pictured when “one” is used in the Bible, either as a specific number or in the sense of several people or objects “being one.” In more casual references -- when used to identify a specific person or object -- the meaning is relatively literal, and is connected to that person or object.

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Apocalypse Explained # 931

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931. Verse 2 (Revelation 15:2). And I saw as it were a glassy sea mingled with fire, signifies the generals of truth in the Word, transparent from spiritual truths, which are from the good of love. This is evident from the signification of "a glassy sea," as being generals of truth transparent from spiritual truths (See above, n. 275); also from the signification of "fire," as being the good of love (See n. 68, 496, 504, 916). It shall be told here briefly why "a glassy sea" signifies the generals of truth in the Word transparent from spiritual truths. The "sea" signifies truths in general, because "waters, fountains, and rivers," signify truths from which intelligence is derived, and the sea is their general receptacle. Truths in general, or the generals of truth, are such truths as are in the sense of the letter of the Word, and the sense of the letter of the Word is natural, and everything natural is a general receptacle of spiritual things. For nothing in the nature of the world, or nothing natural, is possible that does not exist from the spiritual; for the natural is formed from the spiritual, as an effect out of its effecting cause. And as thousands of things that are spiritual effect and form one natural thing, so this one, as it is the containant of the thousands, is a general thing.

[2] Such also is the Word in the sense of the letter in its relation to the Word in the spiritual sense; and as the spiritual sense of the Word is in the natural sense, and in it shines through before the angels, so the Word as to the generals of truth transparent from spiritual truths is signified by "the glassy sea." "Glassy sea" has the same signification elsewhere in Revelation:

And in sight of the throne a glassy sea like crystal (Revelation 4:6).

Also:

The city New Jerusalem, as well as the street of the city, appeared like pure gold, similar to transparent glass (Revelation 21:18, 21).

For that "city" signifies the doctrine of the church, and "street" the truth of that doctrine; and the truths of that doctrine, because they are genuine truths, derive their light and their transparency from spiritual truths. It is this transparency that is signified by "glass" and by "crystal":

Also over the heads of the cherubim a firmament was seen like the appearance of a wonderful crystal (Ezekiel 1:22).

This signifies the spiritual Divine in heaven. That "the glassy sea" signifies the Word in the sense of the letter transparent from its spiritual sense can be seen also from the fact that near it were seen "them that had the victory over the beast;" and these signify those who have not falsified the Word, and have not extinguished thereby the light of the spiritual sense.

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