53. (Verse 10) I was in the spirit. That this signifies, a spiritual state in which there is revelation, is evident from the signification of being in the spirit, as being to be brought into the state in which spirits and angels are, which is a spiritual state. Man is brought into this state when he comes into the state of his spirit; for every man is a spirit as to his interiors (as may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 432-444). When a man is in this state, the things which exist in the spiritual world are seen by him as clearly as objects in the natural world; but because the objects then seen by him are from a spiritual origin, they are in themselves spiritual, and such things as pertain to heavenly wisdom are set before him in a natural image as it were. In this way Divine things are presented in visible forms before the eyes of spirits and angels; hence it is that all the things seen in heaven, are representative and significative, as also the things seen by John, which are treated of in the Apocalypse. (Moreover the nature of such things may be known from what is said and shown concerning representatives and appearances in heaven, in the work, Heaven and Hell 170-176.)

[2] While a man is in the body he does not see the things that are in heaven, unless the sight of his spirit is opened; but when this is opened, then he sees them. In this way John saw the things described in the Apocalypse. The prophets saw them also in the same way; they are therefore called "Seers," and are said to have had their "eyes opened"; angels also were seen in ancient times in the same way, and so also the Lord was seen by the disciples after His resurrection. This sight is that of the spiritual man; and because in such circumstances all things appear representatively, therefore this sight was opened in John.

He who knows nothing of this sight believes that, when angels were seen by men, they assumed a human form, and that when they vanished out of sight, they laid it down; this, however, was not the case, but angels then appeared in their own form, which is the human form, not before the sight of their bodily eyes, but before the sight of their spirit, this sight being then opened. This is plainly evident from the Lord being seen by the disciples after His resurrection, when He Himself showed them that He was a man in a perfect form (Luke 24:39; John 20:20-28); and nevertheless He became invisible; for when they saw Him, the eyes of their spirit were opened; but when He became invisible those eyes were closed. That man has a sight of this kind, is evident to me from much experience; for all the things that I have seen in the heavens were seen by means of that sight; and then I was in a state of wakefulness similar to that in which I was when they were not seen. But this sight is seldom opened to any one by the Lord at this day, and that for many reasons.