945. [verse 8] 'And it was I, John, seeing and hearing these things, and when I heard and saw I fell down to adore before the feet of the angel who was showing me these things' signifies that John supposed that the angel, who was sent by the Lord to him that he might be kept in a state of the spirit, was God Who revealed those things, when yet it was not so, for the angel was only showing what the Lord made manifest. That John supposed that the angel who was sent to him was God Himself is plain, for it is said that he fell down to adore at his feet; but that this was not the case is plain from the verse following, where the angel says that he was a fellow-servant of his, 'Adore God'. That that angel had been sent to him by God is plain from verse i6, where are these words:-
I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify unto you these things in the Churches.
But the arcanum that lies hidden in them is this: an angel was sent by the Lord to John that he might be kept in a state of the spirit, and that in that state he might show him the things that he saw; for whatever John saw he did not see with the eyes of the body but with the eyes of the spirit, as can be established from the places where he declares himself to have been 'in the spirit' and 'in a vision' (chap. i 10; ix 17; xvii 3; xxi 10), thus everywhere that he declares himself to have 'seen And no one can come into that state and be kept in it except by means of the angels who are closely adjoined to a man, who induce their own spiritual state on the interiors of his mind, for this is how a man is raised up into the light of heaven, and in that light sees the things that are in heaven and does not see those that are in the world. [2] At one time or another Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel and others of the prophets have been in a similar state; but not when they spoke the Word. Then they were not in the spirit but in the body, and from Jehovah Himself, that is, the Lord, they heard the words that they wrote. Those two states of the prophets are to be carefully distinguished. The prophets themselves make a careful distinction, for everywhere when they have written the Word from Jehovah. they say that Jehovah spoke with them and to them, and very often, 'Jehovah said', 'the saying of Jehovah'. But when they were in the other state they say that they have been 'in the spirit' or 'in a vision', as can be established from these statements. EZEKIEL said:-
The spirit lifted me up, and brought me back into Chaldea to the captivity in a vision of God. So the vision that I saw went up upon me Ezek. xi 1, 24.
He says that:-
The spirit lifted him up, and he heard behind him an earthquake, and other things Ezek. iii 12, 14.
Also that:-
The spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven and led him away into Jerusalem in the visions of God, and he saw abominations Ezek. viii 3 seq.;
and therefore in like manner 'in a vision of God' or 'in the spirit':-
He saw four animals, which were cherubs Ezek. i and x.
Also a new temple and a new land, and an angel measuring them; which is treated of in chaps. xl-xlviii. That he was then 'in the visions of God' is stated (chap. xl 2), also that 'the spirit lifted him up' (chap. xliii 5). Much the same took place with ZECHARIAH:-
In whom there was an angel when he saw the man riding among the myrtle trees Zech. i 8 seq.
When he saw four horns, and then a man in whose hand was a measuring line Zech. i 18; ii 1 seq. [H.B. ii 1, 5 seq.].
When he saw Joshua the high priest Zech. iii 1 seq.
When he saw a lampstand and two olive trees Zech. iv 1 seq.
When he saw a flying roll and an ephah Zech. v 1, 6.
And when he saw four chariots coming out between two mountains, also horses Zech. vi 1 seq.
DANIEL was in a similar state:-
When he saw four beasts coming up out of the sea And when he saw a fight of a ram and a he-goat Dan. vii seq. Dan. viii seq.
That he saw these things 'in visions' we read in chap. vii 1, 2, 7, 13; viii 2; x 1, 7, 8; and that:-
The angel Gabriel was seen by him in a vision, and he spoke with him Dan. ix 21.
A similar thing happened with JOHN when he saw the things that he has described, as when he saw:-
The Son of Man in the midst of seven lampstands;
The tabernacle, the temple, the ark, and the altar, in heaven;
The dragon and his fight with Michael;
The beasts;
The woman sitting upon the scarlet beast;
The new heaven and the new land, and the holy city with its wall, foundations and gates, and more.
These things were revealed by the Lord, but shown by means of an angel.