The Bible

 

Daniel 10

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1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing is true, but the appointed time of trial is long; and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.

2 In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks:

3 I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine into my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three full weeks were fulfilled.

4 And on the four-and-twentieth day of the first month, I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel:

5 and I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, and his loins were girded with pure gold of Uphaz;

6 and his body was like a chrysolite, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as torches of fire, and his arms and his feet as the look of burnished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.

7 And I Daniel alone saw the vision; and the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell on them, and they fled to hide themselves.

8 And I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me; and my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.

9 And I heard the voice of his words; and when I heard the voice of his words, I fell into a deep stupor on my face, and my face to the ground.

10 And behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and the palms of my hands.

11 And he said unto me, O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words which I speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto thee am I now sent. And as he spoke this word unto me, I stood trembling.

12 And he said unto me, Fear not, Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand, and to humble thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come because of thy words.

13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

14 And I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people at the end of the days: for the vision is yet for [many] days.

15 And as he was speaking with me according to these words, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb.

16 And behold, one after the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips; and I opened my mouth and spoke, and said unto him that stood before me, My lord, by reason of the vision my pains are turned upon me, and I retain no strength.

17 And how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remaineth no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me.

18 Then there touched me again one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me;

19 and he said, Fear not, man greatly beloved; peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And as he was speaking with me I was strengthened, and I said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.

20 And he said, Knowest thou wherefore I am come unto thee? And now I return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I go forth, behold, the prince of Greece shall come.

21 However, I will declare unto thee that which is set down in the scripture of truth; and there is not one that sheweth himself strong with me against these, but Michael your prince.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #945

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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:

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

Ezekiel 43

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1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east.

2 Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shined with his glory.

3 It was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.

4 The glory of Yahweh came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.

5 The Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house.

6 I heard one speaking to me out of the house; and a man stood by me.

7 He said to me, Son of man, [this is] the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their prostitution, and by the dead bodies of their kings [in] their high places;

8 in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their doorpost beside my doorpost, and there was [but] the wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed: therefore I have consumed them in my anger.

9 Now let them put away their prostitution, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from me; and I will dwell in the midst of them forever.

10 You, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern.

11 If they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its exits, and its entrances, and all its forms, and all its ordinances, and all its forms, and all its laws; and write it in their sight; that they may keep the whole form of it, and all its ordinances, and do them.

12 This is the law of the house: on the top of the mountain the whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

13 These are the measures of the altar by cubits (the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth): the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and its border around its edge a span; and this shall be the base of the altar.

14 From the bottom on the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the breadth a cubit.

15 The upper altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth and upward there shall be four horns.

16 The altar hearth shall be twelve [cubits] long by twelve broad, square in the four sides of it.

17 The ledge shall be fourteen [cubits] long by fourteen broad in the four sides of it; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and its bottom shall be a cubit around; and its steps shall look toward the east.

18 He said to me, Son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh: These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.

19 You shall give to the priests the Levites who are of the seed of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me, says the Lord Yahweh, a young bull for a sin offering.

20 You shall take of its blood, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around: thus you shall cleanse it and make atonement for it.

21 You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burnt in the appointed place of the house, outside of the sanctuary.

22 On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bull.

23 When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.

24 You shall bring them near to Yahweh, and the priests shall cast salt on them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering to Yahweh.

25 Seven days you shall prepare every day a goat for a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bull, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish.

26 Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it; so shall they consecrate it.

27 When they have accomplished the days, it shall be that on the eighth day, and forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings on the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, says the Lord Yahweh.