The Bible

 

Ezequiel 3

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1 Y me dijo: Hijo de hombre, come lo que hallares; come este rollo, y ve y habla a la Casa de Israel.

2 Y abrí mi boca, y me hizo comer aquel rollo.

3 Y me dijo: Hijo de hombre, haz a tu vientre que coma, y llena tus entrañas de este rollo que yo te doy. Y lo comí, y fue en mi boca dulce como miel.

4 Me dijo luego: Hijo de hombre, ve y entra a la casa de Israel, y habla a ellos con mis palabras.

5 Porque no eres enviado a pueblo de habla profunda ni de lengua difícil, sino a la casa de Israel.

6 No a muchos pueblos de profunda habla ni de lengua difícil, cuyas palabras no entiendas; y si a ellos te enviara, ellos te oirían.

7 Mas los de la Casa de Israel no te querrán oír, porque no me quieren oír a mí; porque toda la Casa de Israel son fuertes de frente, y duros de corazón.

8 He aquí he hecho yo tu rostro fuerte contra los rostros de ellos, y tu frente fuerte contra su frente.

9 Como diamante, más fuerte que pedernal he hecho tu frente; no les temas, ni tengas miedo delante de ellos, porque es casa rebelde.

10 Y me dijo: Hijo de hombre, toma en tu corazón todas mis palabras que yo te hablaré, y oye con tus oídos.

11 Y ve, y entra a los cautivos, a los hijos de tu pueblo, y les hablarás y les dirás: Así dijo el Señor DIOS; no oirán, ni cesarán.

12 Y el Espíritu me levantó, y oí detrás de mí una voz de gran estruendo de la bendita gloria del SEÑOR que se iba de su lugar,

13 y el sonido de las alas de los animales que se juntaban la una con la otra, y el sonido de las ruedas delante de ellos, y sonido de gran estruendo.

14 Y el Espíritu me levantó, y me tomó; y fui en amargura, en la indignación de mi espíritu, pero la mano del SEÑOR era fuerte sobre mí.

15 Y vine a los cautivos en Tel-abib, que moraban junto al río de Quebar, y me senté donde ellos estaban sentados, y allí permanecí siete días desconsolado entre ellos.

16 Y aconteció que al cabo de los siete días vino a mí palabra del SEÑOR, diciendo:

17 Hijo de hombre, yo te he puesto por atalaya a la Casa de Israel. Oirás, pues, tú la palabra de mi boca, y los amonestarás de mi parte.

18 Cuando yo dijere al impío: De cierto morirás, y tú no le amonestares, ni le hablares, para que el impío sea amonestado de su mal camino, para que viva, el impío morirá por su maldad, mas su sangre demandaré de tu mano.

19 Y si tú amonestares al impío, y él no se convirtiere de su impiedad, y de su mal camino, él morirá por su maldad, y tú habrás librado tu alma.

20 Y cuando el justo se apartare de su justicia, e hiciere maldad, y yo pusiere tropiezo delante de él, él morirá, porque tú no le amonestaste; en su pecado morirá, ni sus justicias que hizo vendrán en memoria; mas su sangre demandaré de tu mano.

21 Y si al justo amonestares para que el justo no peque, y no pecare, de cierto vivirá, porque fue amonestado; y tú habrás librado tu alma.

22 Vino allí la mano del SEÑOR sobre mí, y me dijo: Levántate, y sal al campo, y allí hablaré contigo.

23 Y me levanté, y salí al campo; y he aquí que allí estaba la gloria del SEÑOR, como la gloria que había visto junto al río de Quebar; y caí sobre mi rostro.

24 Entonces entró espíritu en mí, y me afirmó sobre mis pies, y me habló, y me dijo: Entra, y enciérrate dentro de tu casa.

25 Y tú, oh hijo de hombre, he aquí que pondrán sobre ti cuerdas, y con ellas te ligarán, y no saldrás entre ellos.

26 Y haré que se pegue tu lengua a tu paladar, y estarás mudo, y para que no los reprendas, porque son casa rebelde.

27 Mas cuando yo te hubiere hablado, abriré tu boca, y les dirás: Así dijo el Señor DIOS: El que oye, oiga; y el que cesa, cese; porque casa rebelde son.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #36

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36. I became in the spirit on the Lord's day. (1:10) This symbolizes a spiritual state then owing to Divine influx.

"I became in the spirit" means, symbolically, a spiritual state, the state in which John was while he was experiencing the visions, and which we will take up in the following exposition. "On the Lord's day" symbolizes influx from the Lord then, for that day brings the Lord's presence, as it is a holy day.

Concerning the prophets we read that they were in the spirit or in vision, and that the Word came to them from Jehovah.

When they were in the spirit or in vision, they were not in the body, but in their spirit, a state in which they saw phenomena such as are found in heaven. But when the Word came to them, they were then in the body and heard Jehovah speaking.

These two states of the prophets must be properly distinguished. In the state of vision the eyes of their spirit were open and the eyes of their body closed; and they heard then what angels said, and what Jehovah said through angels, and also saw representations produced for them in heaven. Moreover, they sometimes seemed to themselves to be taken then from place to place, their body remaining where it was.

[2] This was the state in which John was when he wrote the book of Revelation, and the state sometimes experienced by Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel. They also said that they were then in vision or in the spirit. For Ezekiel says,

The Spirit lifted me up... and brought me back into Chaldea, to those in captivity, in a vision (of God), in the spirit of God. (Thus) went up from me the vision that I had seen. (Ezekiel 11:1, 24)

He also says that the Spirit lifted him up, and he heard behind him an earthquake, and more (Ezekiel 3:12, 24). So, too, that the Spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven, that it brought him in visions of God to Jerusalem, and that he saw abominations (Ezekiel 8:3f.). He was likewise in a vision of God or in the spirit when he saw the four living creatures, which were cherubim (Ezekiel 1; 10), as also when he saw a new earth and a new temple, and an angel measuring them (Ezekiel 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48). That he was then in the visions of God, he himself says (Ezekiel 40:2), and that the spirit lifted him up (Ezekiel 43:5).

[3] The same was the case with Zechariah, who had an angel with him at the time, when he saw a man riding a horse among the myrtle trees (Zechariah 1:8ff.); when he saw the four horns, and then a 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); when he saw the four chariots coming from between two mountains, and the horses (Zechariah 6:1ff.).

Daniel was in a like state when he saw the four beasts coming up from the sea (Daniel 7:1ff.), and when he saw the combat between the ram and the male goat (Daniel 8:1ff.). He himself says that he saw these things in visions (Daniel 7:1-2, 7, 13; 8:2; 10:1, 7-8), and that the angel Gabriel appeared to him in a vision (Daniel 9:21).

[4] The same was the case with John, as when he saw the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands (Revelation 1), and finally, the new heaven and the new earth, and then the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven (Revelation 21, 22. John himself says that he saw these things in the spirit and in vision (1:10; 4:2; 9:17; 21:10). This, too, is meant by the statement, "I saw," everywhere it occurs in this book.

[5] It is clearly apparent from this that to be in the spirit is to be in a state of vision, which is brought about by an opening of the sight of a person's spirit; and when this is opened, phenomena found in the spiritual world are as clearly visible as those in the natural world are to the sight of the body.

The reality of this is something I can attest to from many years' experience.

The disciples were in this state when they saw the Lord after His resurrection, which is why are told that their eyes were opened (Luke 24:30-31).

Abraham was in a like state when he saw the three angels and spoke with them. 1

So, too, Hagar, Gideon, Joshua and others, when they saw angels of Jehovah. Likewise when Elisha's lad saw the mountain full of fiery chariots and horses all around Elisha, for Elisha prayed and said,

"Jehovah, open, I pray, his eyes that he may see." And Jehovah opened the eyes of the lad, and he saw. (2 Kings 6:17)

As regards the Word, however, it was not revealed in a state of the spirit or of vision, but the Lord dictated it to the prophets in an audible voice. Consequently we are nowhere told that the prophets spoke it from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah. See The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, no. 53.

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.