The Bible

Ezekijel 10

¹ Pogledah, i gle: na svodu nad glavama kreubinÄa pojavi se nešto kao kamen safir, kao nekakvo prijestolje.

² I prozbori čovjeku odjevenom u lan: "Uđi među točkove pod kerubinima, uzmi pune pregršti žeravice između kerubina i prospi je nad gradom!" - I on na moje oči uđe među kerubine.

³ A kerubini stajahu s desne strane Doma kad čovjek uđe među njih. I oblak ispuni sve unutrašnje predvorje,

⁴ a Slava Jahvina vinu se s kerubinÄa prema pragu Doma. Dom se ispuni oblakom, a predvorje napuni svjetlost Slave Jahvine.

⁵ Huka kerubinskih krila razliježe se do vanjskoga predvorja, kao kad zagrmi glas Svevišnjega.

⁶ A kad on zapovjedi čovjeku odjevenom u lan: "Uzmi ognja između točkova što su pod kerubinima", čovjek uđe i stade kraj točkova.

⁷ Jedan kerubin pruži ruku prema ognju što bijaše među kerubinima, uze ga i stavi u ruke čovjeku odjevenom u lan. On ga primi i iziđe.

⁸ A ispod kerubinskih krila ukaza se nešto kao ruka čovječja.

⁹ Pogledah, i gle: uz kerubine četiri točka, po jedan uza svakoga. A točkovi bijahu nalik na kamen krizolit;

¹⁰ sva četiri istog oblika i kao da je jedan točak u drugome.

¹¹ U kretanju mogahu ići u sva četiri smjera, sve bez zakretanja. Kamo bi se glava usmjerila, onamo bi krenuli, a da se, krećući se, nisu morali okretati.

¹² Cijelo tijelo u kerubinÄa - leđa, ruke, krila i sva četiri točka njihova - sve im bijaše posvud naokolo puno očiju.

¹³ A točkovi, koliko sam čuo, zvahu se "Kovitlac".

¹⁴ Svaki imaše po četiri lica: lice prvoga kerubinsko, lice drugoga čovječje, a u trećega lice lavlje, u četvrtoga orlovsko.

¹⁵ Tada se kerubini podigoše u visine. Bijahu to ista bića što ih vidjeh na rijeci Kebaru.

¹⁶ Kad bi kerubini krenuli, krenuli bi i točkovi uz njih, kad bi kerubini krilima mahnuli da se od zemlje podignu, točkovi se ne bi od njih odmicali.

¹⁷ Kad bi se zaustavili, i točkovi bi stali; a kad bi se sa zemlje podigli, i točkovi se podizahu, jer duh bića bijaše u njima.

¹⁸ Uto se Slava Jahvina vinu s praga Doma i stade nad kerubinima.

¹⁹ Tada kerubini raširiše krila i podigoše se sa zemlje pred mojim očima. A kad oni krenuše, i točkovi za njima krenuše. I zaustaviše se nad istočnim vratima Doma Jahvina, a Slava Boga Izraelova bijaše nad njima.

²⁰ Bijahu to ista bića što ih vidjeh pred Bogom Izraelovim na rijeci Kebaru. I tako spoznah da ono bijahu kerubini.

²¹ U svakoga po četiri lica i po četiri krila, a pod krilima nešto kao ruka čovječja.

²² Lica im ista kao ona što ih vidjeh na rijeci Kebaru. I svako se naprijed kretaše.

From Swedenborg's Works

Apocalypse Revealed #945

Study this Passage

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.

Footnotes:

1. Revelation 15:5.

2. Revelation 11:1-2, 19; 14:15, 17; 15:5-6, 8; 16:1, 17.

3. Revelation 11:19.

4. Revelation 6:9; 8:3, 5; 9:13; 11:1; 14:18; 16:7.

5. Revelation 12:7.

6. Revelation 13.

7. Revelation 17:3-6.

8. Revelation 21,22