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Hesekiel 8

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1 Ja kuuendal aastal, kuuenda kuu viiendal päeval sündis, et ma istusin oma kojas ja Juuda vanemad istusid mu ees; siis langes seal Issanda Jumala käsi mu peale.

2 Ja ma vaatasin, ja ennäe, see oli mingi tule sarnane ilmutis: allpool sellest, mis paistis olevat ta niuded, oli tuli, ja ta niudeist ülalpool paistis nagu sära, otsekui mingi metalli hiilgus.

3 Ja ta sirutas midagi käe sarnast ning võttis kinni mu juuksetukast; ja Vaim tõstis mu maa ja taeva vahele ning viis mu Jumala nägemustes Jeruusalemma, sisemise värava suhu, mis on põhja pool, sinna, kus oli selle kuju asukoht, mis põhjustas Issanda püha viha.

4 Ja vaata, seal oli Iisraeli Jumala auhiilgus selle nägemuse sarnaselt, mida ma orus olin näinud.

5 Ja ta ütles mulle: 'Inimesepoeg, tõsta nüüd oma silmad üles põhja poole!' Siis ma tõstsin oma silmad põhja poole, ja vaata, põhja pool, altari väravas, sissekäigu juures oli see püha viha põhjustav kuju.

6 Ja ta ütles mulle: 'Inimesepoeg, kas sa näed, mis nad teevad, neid suuri häbitegusid, mis Iisraeli sugu siin teeb, et ma peaksin minema kaugele oma pühamust? Aga sa saad näha veel suuremaid jäledusi.'

7 Siis ta viis mind õueukse juurde; ja ma vaatasin, ja ennäe, seinas oli auk.

8 Ja ta ütles mulle: 'Inimesepoeg, murra nüüd läbi seina!' Ja ma murdsin seinast läbi, ja vaata, seal oli uks.

9 Ja ta ütles mulle: 'Mine sisse ja vaata neid nurjatuid häbitegusid, mida nad siin teevad!'

10 Siis ma läksin sisse ja vaatasin, ja ennäe, kõiksugu pilte jäledaist roomajaist ja loomadest ning kõiksugu Iisraeli soo ebajumalaid oli joonistatud seina peale ümberringi.

11 Ja nende piltide ees seisis seitsekümmend meest Iisraeli soo vanemaist, ja Jaasanja, Saafani poeg, seisis nende keskel; igaühel oli käes oma suitsutuspann ja lõhnav suitsupilv tõusis üles.

12 Siis ta ütles mulle: 'Kas sa näed, inimesepoeg, mida Iisraeli soo vanemad pimedas teevad, igaüks oma kuju kambris? Sest nad ütlevad: Issand ei näe meid, Issand on maa maha jätnud.'

13 Ja ta ütles mulle: 'Sa saad näha veelgi suuremaid häbitegusid, mida nad teevad.'

14 Siis ta viis mind Issanda koja värava suhu, mis on põhja pool, ja vaata, seal istusid naised, nuttes taga Tammust.

15 Ja ta ütles mulle: 'Kas sa näed, inimesepoeg? Sa saad näha veelgi suuremaid häbitegusid kui need.'

16 Siis ta viis mind Issanda koja sisemisse õue, ja vaata, Issanda templi ukse juures, eeskoja ja altari vahel, oli umbes kakskümmend viis meest; neil olid seljad Issanda templi poole ja näod ida poole, ja nad kummardasid päikest ida pool.

17 Ja ta ütles mulle: 'Kas sa näed, inimesepoeg? Kas on Juuda sool veel vähe neid häbitegusid, mida nad siin on teinud, et nad täidavad maa vägivallaga ja ärritavad mind veel rohkem? Ja vaata, nad pistavad viinapuuvääte endale ninasse!

18 Seepärast talitan minagi tulises vihas: mu silm ei kurvasta ja ma ei anna armu; ja kuigi nad hüüavad mu kõrvu suure häälega, ei kuule ma neid.'

   

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.

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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.