52. vi. Jehovah Himself (that is, the Lord) spoke the Word through the prophets. We read of the prophets that they were in vision, and that Jehovah spoke to them. When they were in vision they were not in the body, but in their spirit, in which state they saw things such as are in heaven. But when Jehovah spoke to them, they were in the body, and heard Him speaking. These two states of the prophets should be carefully distinguished. In their state of vision, the eyes of their spirit were opened, and those of their body shut, and they then seemed to themselves to be carried from place to place, the body remaining in its own place. In this state, at times, were Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel, and John when he wrote the Revelation; and it is then said that they were "in vision," or "in the spirit." Thus Ezekiel says:
The spirit lifted me up, and brought me into Chaldea to the captivity, in the vision of God, in the Spirit of God; thus went up above me the vision which I saw (Ezek. 11:1, 24).
He says too,
That the spirit took him up, and he heard behind him an earthquake, and other things (Ezek. 3:12, 14).
Also that the spirit lifted him up between the earth and the heaven, and brought him in the visions of God to Jerusalem, and he saw abominations (Ezek. 8:3, etc.).
In like manner in the vision of God, or in the spirit, he saw
The four living creatures, which were cherubs (Ezek. 1; 10).
And also the new earth and the new temple, and an angel measuring them (Ezek. 40-48).
That he was then in the visions of God, he says in Ezek. 40:2; and that the spirit took him up, in Ezek. 43:5.
The case was the same with Zechariah, in whom at the time there was an angel,
When he saw a man riding among the myrtle trees (Zech. 1:8, etc.).
When he saw four horns, and afterwards a man who had a measuring line in his hand (Ezek. 1:18; 2:1).
When he saw Joshua the high priest (Zech. 3:1, etc.).
When he saw a lampstand, and two olive trees (Ezek. 4:2-3).
When he saw a flying roll, and an ephah (Ezek. 5:1, 6).
And when he saw four chariots going out between two mountains, and horses (Ezek. 6:1, etc.).
In a similar state was Daniel,
When he saw four beasts coming up out of the sea (Dan. 7:3).
And when he saw the combats of the ram and the he-goat (Dan. 8:1, etc.).
That he saw these things in visions is stated in 7:1-2, 7, 13; 8:2; 10:1, 7-8. That the angel Gabriel was seen by him in vision, and spoke with him, is stated in 9:21-22. The case was the same with John when he wrote the Revelation, who says,
That he was in the spirit on the Lord's day (Rev. 1:10).
That he was carried away in the spirit into the wilderness (Rev. 17:3).
Into a high mountain in the spirit (Rev. 21:10).
That he saw horses in vision (Rev. 9:17).
And elsewhere that he saw the things which he described, thus in spirit, or in vision (Rev. 1:12; 4:1; 5:1; 6:1; and in every other chapter).