The Bible

 

以西结书 10

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1 我观,见基路伯上的穹苍之中,显出蓝宝的形状,彷佛宝座的形像。

2 主对那穿细麻衣的:你进去,在旋转的轮内基路伯,从基路伯中间将炭取满两手,撒在城上。我就见他进去。

3 进去的时候,基路伯站在殿的右边,彩充满了内院。

4 耶和华的荣耀从基路伯那里上升,停在门槛以上;殿内满了彩,院宇也被耶和华荣耀的光辉充满。

5 基路伯翅膀的响声听到外院,好像全能神说话声音

6 他吩咐那穿细麻衣的说:要从旋转的基路伯中间取。那就进去站在一个子旁边。

7 有一个基路伯基路伯中伸基路伯中间的那里,取些放在那穿细麻衣的人两中,那人就拿出去了。

8 基路伯翅膀,显出有人的样式。

9 我又观,见基路伯旁边有子。这基路伯旁有子,那基路伯旁有子,每基路伯都是如此;子的颜色(原文是形状)彷佛水苍玉。

10 至於的形状,都是个样式,彷佛中套

11 轮行走的时候,向方都能直行,并不掉向何方,他们也随向何方,行走的时候并不掉

12 他们全身,连背带翅膀,并周围都满了眼睛。这个基路伯的子都是如此。

13 至於这些子,我耳中见说是旋转的。

14 基路伯各有脸:第基路伯的脸,第二是人的脸,第三狮子的脸,第四鹰的脸。

15 基路伯升上去了;这是我在迦巴鲁边所见的活物。

16 基路伯行走,也在旁边行走。基路伯展开翅膀,离上升,也不离他们旁边。

17 那些站住,这些也站住;那些上升,这些也一同上升,因为活物的灵在轮中。

18 耶和华的荣耀从殿的门槛那里出去,停在基路伯以上。

19 基路伯出去的时候,就展开翅膀,在我眼前离上升。也在他们的旁边,都停在耶和华殿的东门口。在他们以上有以色列的荣耀。

20 这是我在迦巴鲁边所见、以色列荣耀以的活物,我就知道他们是基路伯

21 各有个脸面,翅膀翅膀有人的样式。

22 至於他们脸的模样,并身体的形像,是我从前在迦巴鲁边所见的。他们俱各直往前行。

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

The Lord #52

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52. 6. Jehovah himself - that is, the Lord - spoke the Word through prophets.

We read of the prophets that they had visions and that Jehovah talked with them. When they had visions, they were not focused on their bodies but on the spirit, in which state they saw things of a heavenly nature. When Jehovah talked with them, though, they were conscious of their bodies and heard Jehovah speaking.

We need to draw a clear distinction between these two states. In a visionary state, the eyes of their spirit were open and the eyes of their body were closed; and at such times they seemed to themselves to be taken from place to place while their bodies stayed where they were. Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel were in this state at times, and so was John when he wrote the Book of Revelation. They were then said to be in a vision or in the spirit. In fact, Ezekiel says,

The spirit lifted me up and brought me back into Chaldea, to the captivity, in a vision from God, in the spirit of God. In this way the vision that I saw came over me. (Ezekiel 11:1, 24)

He says that the spirit lifted him up and that he heard an earthquake and other things behind him (Ezekiel 3:12, 14). He also said that the spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven and took him off into Jerusalem in visions from God, and he saw abominations (Ezekiel 8:3 and following).

That is why (again in a vision of God or in the spirit) Ezekiel saw the four beasts that were angel guardians (chapters 1; 10), and he saw a new earth and a new temple with the angel measuring them, as we are told in chapters 40-48. He says in chapter 40:2, that he was then in visions from God; and in chapter 43:5, he says that the spirit lifted him up at that time.

The same thing happened with Zechariah. There was an angel inwardly present with him when he saw a man riding among myrtle trees (Zechariah 1:8 and following); when he saw four horns and then a man with a measuring line in his hand (Zechariah 1:18; 2:1); when he saw Joshua the high priest (Zechariah 3:1 and following); when he saw a lampstand and two olive trees (Zechariah 4:1 and following); when he saw a flying scroll and a measuring basket (Zechariah 5:1, 6); and when he saw four chariots coming from between two mountains, along with horses (Zechariah 6:1 and following).

Daniel was in the same kind of state when he saw four beasts come up from the sea (Daniel 7:3) and when he saw battles between a ram and a goat (Daniel 8:1 and following).

We read in Daniel 7:1-2, 7, 13; 8:2; 10:1, 7-8 that he saw these things in visions. We read in Daniel 9:21 that he saw the angel Gabriel in a vision and talked with him.

Much the same happened with John when he wrote the Book of Revelation. He 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 (17:3), to a high mountain in the spirit (21:10), that he saw horses in a vision (9:17), and elsewhere that he saw what he described, being therefore in the spirit or in a vision (1:2; 4:1; 5:1; 6:1; and in the particular chapters that follow).

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

Commentary

 

Jehovah

  

The Lord, in the simplest terms, is love itself expressed as wisdom itself. In philosophic terms, love is the Lord's substance and wisdom is His form. Of course, we feel the Lord's love and hear His wisdom in many different ways, depending on our state in life and how receptive we are. That's why the Lord has so many different names in the Bible, and is referred to in so many different ways.