36. [verse 10] 'I came to be in the spirit on the Lord's day' signifies the spiritual state then as a result of Divine influx. 'I came to be in the spirit' signifies the spiritual state in which he was while in the visions, concerning which state [something] follows. 'On the Lord's day' signifies influx from the Lord then, for on that day there is the presence of the Lord, because the day is holy. It is plain from these [considerations] that 'I came to be in the spirit on the Lord's day' signifies the spiritual state then as a result of Divine influx. Of the prophets we read that they were 'in the spirit' or 'in a vision', also that the Word was delivered to them by Jehovah. When they were in the spirit or a vision they were not in the body but in their spirit, in which state they saw such things as are in heaven. But when the Word was delivered to them, then they were in the body and heard Jehovah speaking. These two states of the prophets are to be properly distinguished. In the state of vision the eyes of their spirit were opened and the eyes of their body closed, and they then heard things that angels spoke, or that Jehovah spoke through angels, and they also saw the things that were represented to them in heaven; and then sometimes they seemed to be carried from place to place, the body remaining in its own position. [2] John was in this state when he wrote the Apocalypse; and sometimes also Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel [were in it]; and then it is said that they were 'in a vision' or 'in the spirit'; for Ezekiel says:-
The spirit took me up, and brought me back into Chaldea to the captivity, in a vision of God, in the spirit of God: so the vision that I had seen went up over me Ezek. xi 1, 24.
He also says that the spirit took him up, and he heard an earthquake behind him, and other things (Ezek. iii 12, 24); also, that the spirit took him up between earth and heaven, brought him into Jerusalem in the visions of God, and he saw abominations (viii 3 seq.). He was in like manner in a vision of God or in the spirit, when he saw the four animals that were cherubs (chaps. i and x), as also when he saw the new land and the new temple, and an angel measuring them (xl-xlviii) . He says that he was in the visions of God (xl 2), and that the spirit took him up (xliii 5). [3] A similar thing was effected in the case of Zechariah, in whom there was an angel at the time, when he saw the man riding among the myrtle trees (Zech. i 8 seq.); when he saw four horns, and afterwards a man in whose hand was a measuring line (i 18, ii 1 seq. [H.B. ii, 5 seq.]); when he saw Joshua the high priest (iii 1 seq.); when he saw the lampstand and the two olive trees (iv 1 seq.); when he saw the flying roll and the ephah (v 1, 6); and when he saw the four chariots coming out from between the two mountains, and the horses (vi 1 seq.). Daniel was in a similar state when he saw the four beasts coming up out of the sea (Dan. vii 1 seq.); and when he saw the battle of the ram and the he-goat (viii 1 seq.). He himself says that he saw these things in visions (vii I, 2, 7, 13; viii 2; x 1, 7, 8), and that the angel Gabriel appeared to him in a vision (ix 25). [4] A similar thing was effected in the case of John, as when he saw the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands (Rev. i); when he saw the throne in heaven, and one sitting thereon, and four animals round about the throne (iv); when he saw the Book sealed with seven seals (v); when he saw the four horses going forth out of the opened Book (vi); when he saw the four angels standing on the four corners of the land (vii); when he saw the locusts going forth out of the pit of the deep (ix); when be saw the angel in whose hand was the little book, which he gave him to eat (x); when he heard the seven angels sounding with the trumpets ([viii, ix] xi); when he saw the dragon and the woman whom the dragon persecuted, and the battle of that dragon with Michael (xii); and afterwards, the two beasts coming up, the one out of the sea, and the other out of the land (xiii); when he saw the seven angels having the seven last plagues (xv, xvi); when he saw the harlot sitting upon the scarlet coloured beast (xvii, xviii); and afterwards a white horse and One sitting upon it (xix); and at last, the new heaven and the new land, and the New Jerusalem coming down then out of heaven (xxi, xxii). That John saw these things in' the spirit' and in' vision', he himself says (i 50, iv 2, ix 17, xxi 10). This is also understood by [the expression] 'I saw' wherever [it occurs] in his writings. [5] It is quite plain from these things that to be 'in the spirit' is to be 'in vision', and this is effected by means of an opening of the sight of a man's spirit. When this is opened, the things that are in the spiritual world appear just as clearly as do those that are before the sight of the body in the natural world. I can testify that it is so from many years experience. The disciples were in this state when they saw the Lord after the resurrection, and it is therefore said that 'their eyes were opened' (Luke xxiv 30, 31). Abraham was in a similar state when he saw the three angels and spoke with them. Likewise Hagar, Gideon, Joshua and others when they saw angels of Jehovah. In like manner when Elisha's young man saw the mountain full of chariots and horses of fire round about Elisha, for:-
Elisha prayed, and said, Jehovah, I pray Thee open his eyes that he may see, and Jehovah opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw 2 Kings vi 17.
As concerns the Word, however, this was not revealed in the state of 'the spirit' or 'in vision', but it was dictated by the Lord to the prophets with a living voice. On account of this it is not anywhere said that they spoke the Word out of the Holy Spirit, but out of Jehovah. See THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE LORD (n. 53).
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