Spiritual Meaning of REVELATION 22:8
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AR 945. Verse 8. And I John saw these things and heard them. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to adore before the feet of the angel who showed me these things, signifies that John thought that the angel who was sent to him by the Lord, to keep him in a state of the spirit, was God who revealed these things, when nevertheless it was not so; for the angel only showed what the Lord made manifest. That John thought that the angel who was sent to him, was God Himself, is evident; for it is said, that he fell down to adore him at his feet; but that this was not the case, appears from the next verse, where the angel says that he was his fellow-servant, "adore God;" that the angel was sent to him by the Lord, appears from (verse 16), where are these words, "I, Jesus, have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches." But the arcanum that lies hid in these words is this: an angel was sent by the Lord to John, that he might be kept in a state of the spirit, and in that state he might show him the things which he saw. For what John saw, he did not see with the eyes of his body, but with the eyes of his spirit, as may appear from the passages where he says he was "in the spirit" and "in vision" (Apoc. 1:10; 9:17; 17:3; 21:10); thus everywhere when he says "he saw"; and no one can come into that state, and be kept in it, but by angels, who are closely adjoined to man, and who induce their spiritual state on the interiors of his mind, for thus man is elevated into the light of heaven, and in that light he sees the things which are in heaven, and not those which are in the world. In a similar state at times were Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel, and others of the prophets; but not when they spake the Word; for then they were not in the spirit but in the body, and heard the words which they wrote from Jehovah Himself, that is, from the Lord. These two states of the prophets ought carefully to be distinguished. The prophets themselves carefully distinguished them; for they say everywhere when they wrote the Word from Jehovah, that Jehovah spake 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 were in the spirit" or "in vision," as may appear from the following passages: It is said in Ezekiel:--

The spirit lifted me up, and brought me in a vision of God, into Chaldea to the captivity; so the vision that I saw went up upon me (Ezekiel 11:1, 24).

He says, that:--

The spirit lifted him up, and he heard behind him an earthquake, and other things (Ezekiel 3:12, 14).

Also that:--

The spirit lifted him up between heaven and earth, and brought him in the visions of God to Jerusalem, and he saw abominations (Ezekiel 8:3).

Wherefore in like manner in a vision of God or in the spirit:--He saw four animals which were cherubs (Ezekiel 1 and 10). Also a new temple and a new earth, and an angel measuring them (Ezekiel chapter 40-48). That he was then in "the visions of God," he says in (Ezekiel 40:2); and that the spirit lifted him up (Ezekiel 43). It was the same with Zechariah:--

With whom there was an angel, when he saw a man riding among the myrtle trees (Zech. 1:8).

When he saw the four horns, and then a man in whose land was a measuring line (Zech. 1:18; 2:1).

When he saw Joshua the High Priest (Zech. 3:1).

When he saw the lampstand and the two olive-trees (Zech. 4:1).

When he saw the flying roll and ephah (Zech. 5:1, 6).

And when he saw the four chariots going out from between two mountains, and horses (Zech. 6:1)

In a similar state was Daniel:--

When he saw four beasts going up out of the sea (Dan. 7:1).

And when be saw the battle of the ram and the he-goat (Daniel 8:1).

That he saw these things "in visions," we read in (Daniel. 7:1, 2, 7, 13; 8:2; 10:1, 7, 8); and that:--

The angel Gabriel was seen by him in a vision, and spake with him (Daniel 9:21).

It was the same with John when he saw the things which he has described, as when he saw the Son of man in the midst of the seven lampstands; the tabernacle, the temple, ark, and altar in heaven; the dragon and his combat with Michael, the beasts, the woman sitting on the scarlet beast; the New Heaven and the New Earth, and the holy Jerusalem with its wall, gates, and foundations, and more. These things were revealed by the Lord, but were shown by the angel.

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Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772). Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002. www.BibleMeanings.info