The Bible

Daniel 8

¹ In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, even to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first.

² I saw in the vision; now it was so, that when I saw, I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai.

³ Then I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.

⁴ I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; and no animals could stand before him, neither was there any who could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and magnified himself.

⁵ As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west over the surface of the whole earth, and didn't touch the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.

⁶ He came to the ram that had the two horns, which I saw standing before the river, and ran on him in the fury of his power.

⁷ I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with anger against him, and struck the ram, and broke his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him; but he cast him down to the ground, and trampled on him; and there was none who could deliver the ram out of his hand.

⁸ The male goat magnified himself exceedingly: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up four notable [horns] toward the four winds of the sky.

⁹ Out of one of them came forth a little horn, which grew exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious [land].

¹⁰ It grew great, even to the army of the sky; and some of the army and of the stars it cast down to the ground, and trampled on them.

¹¹ Yes, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the army; and it took away from him the continual [burnt offering], and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.

¹² The army was given over [to it] together with the continual [burnt offering] through disobedience; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it did [its pleasure] and prospered.

¹³ Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who spoke, How long shall be the vision [concerning] the continual [burnt offering], and the disobedience that makes desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the army to be trodden under foot?

¹⁴ He said to me, To two thousand and three hundred evenings [and] mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

¹⁵ It happened, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it; and behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.

¹⁶ I heard a man's voice between [the banks of] the Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.

¹⁷ So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was frightened, and fell on my face: but he said to me, Understand, son of man; for the vision belongs to the time of the end.

¹⁸ Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground; but he touched me, and set me upright.

¹⁹ He said, Behold, I will make you know what shall be in the latter time of the indignation; for it belongs to the appointed time of the end.

²⁰ The ram which you saw, that had the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia.

²¹ The rough male goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

²² As for that which was broken, in the place where four stood up, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not with his power.

²³ In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce face, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

²⁴ His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and do [his pleasure]; and he shall destroy the mighty ones and the holy people.

²⁵ Through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and in [their] security shall he destroy many: he shall also stand up against the prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

²⁶ The vision of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true: but seal up the vision; for it belongs to many days [to come].

²⁷ I, Daniel, fainted, and was sick certain days; then I rose up, and did the king's business: and I wondered at the vision, but none understood it.

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