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.

Notes de bas de page:

5469. 'Assuredly we are guilty concerning our brother' means that they were blameworthy because they had alienated the internal by their non-acceptance of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'being guilty' as being blameworthy and subject to the imputation [of sin] because good and truth have been cast aside, dealt with in 3400; and from the representation of Joseph, 'their brother' concerning whom they were guilty, as the internal which they had cast aside or alienated. For Joseph and Benjamin represent the internal aspect of the Church, while the remaining ten sons of Jacob represent its external aspect - 'Rachel', from whom Joseph and Benjamin were born, being the affection for interior truth, and 'Leah' the affection for exterior truth, 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819.

[2] In this chapter 'Joseph' represents the celestial of the spiritual or truth from the Divine, which is the internal; 'Benjamin' represents the spiritual of the celestial, which is the intermediary going forth from the internal; and the remaining 'ten sons of Jacob' represent the truths known to the external Church and so truths that are present in the natural, as stated many times above. This chapter also deals with the joining of the internal aspect of the Church to its external aspect, corporately and in every specific part; for each person individually must be a Church if he is to form part of the Church as a corporate whole. But in the highest sense the chapter deals with the way in which the Lord united the Internal to the External within His Human so as to make this Divine.