We don’t have spirits that leave our bodies, and neither does our Creator have such a Spirit. To us His Spirit comes from afar; but, really it is the Father and His reunion with us within His sphere of influence, a sphere of influence that spans the universe. Thus, within His omnipresent, omnipotent sphere of influence we live and move and have our being. As our Sun is able to keep Pluto in its gravitational grasp, so does the Father of all give life to all of His creatures and hold His universe within the parameters of His will. His Spirit can enter us, abiding in us if we want Him, moving in sync with His will, and our hearts vibrating with His eternal love. His Spirit is the way we can interact with Him. Thus, Ezekiel said that the Spirit took him and brought him to different places of the holy land.
“Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from His place. I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing. So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me. Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at My mouth, and give them warning from Me.… And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and He said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee. Then I arose, and went forth into the plain.” (Eze. 3:12-17,22-27).
We must ask, Did Ezekiel speak to anyone while he was in ancient Telaviv? No, he was shown something there and taught something, but he made no communication with anyone. That is because it was all a vision for his instruction. The same thing happened again a year later.
“And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me. Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of His loins even downward, fire; and from His loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber. And He put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain. Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north.” (Eze. 8:1-5).
See also Ezekiel 9 and 10. If Ezekiel spoke while he was in vision, only the people immediately around him heard what he said. He had no ability to communicate out of thin air to people who he saw in vision, neither in their hearing nor inside their minds. Only the “Father of spirits” (Heb. 12:9) has that power. This is identical to the experiences we read from Ellen White in her visions. What she saw of workers in Europe or leaders back in Battle Creek Jesus revealed to her mind. She never left the places where she was while the dreams or the visions were in progress. All communications to them came later in person or by postage.
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