The “Perfect Man,” seen by John, was “clothed with a garment down to the Foot:” no elemental part of him was unclothed; but each had on his wedding garment, clean, and white, so that in this glorious Son of Man no nakedness could be discerned.
While Daniel informs us that the Spirit-Man he beheld, was “clothed with linen,” John states simply, that he was “clothed to the feet.” Now, this clothing is significant of the character and office of the per¬sons represented by the symbol. The holy garments of Aaron and his sons were of linen, “to cover their nakedness,” that when they ministered in the holy places, “they bear not iniquity, and die”—Exod. 28 : 42.
SON OF MAN is a title bestowed upon “the Perfect Man” to indi¬cate his origin. Son expresses the idea of emanation; hence, that seen in the midst of the lightstands, as their stem or shaft, as it were, was an emanation from the race of Adam— Son of Man.
“Having turned,” says John, “I saw seven golden lighstands;” and in the last verse of the chapter, he records the signification of them as communicated to him by the Spirit, saying, “the seven lightstands which thou seest are Seven Ecclesias.”
Having ascertained what the apostle meant by “being in spirit,” the next consideration is, Where was he conveyed to? and then, What did he behold there?
While conditioned thus, he tells us that he came to be “in spirit"— egenomen en pneumati. By reference to Ezekiel we find that when he was about simply to deliver a prophetic discourse, he introduced it by saying, “the Word of Yahweh came unto me, saying;” but when he was about to relate a prophetic vision he had seen, he prefaces his description by informing us that “there was upon me the hand of Yahweh, and he carried me out in spirit of Yahweh.” When “in spirit, ” then, he both sees visions, and hears, and then proceeds to nar¬rate. This was the case with John.
SYMBOLIC VISION OF THE SPIRIT-NAME.
“1 am the Alpha and the Omega, beginning and ending, saith the Lord, the Who is, and Who was,
and Who is coming, the Omnipotent” APOC. 1 . 8.
These words announce to us that He who is coming is “The Al¬mighty;” also that this almighty one pertains to the past, the present, and the future; that he has a “beginning” and also “an ending,” as symbolized by the first letter of the Greek alphabet “TO A,” and by the last, or “ TO 8 ”—“the Alpha and the Omega.”
The personage to be seen, is indicated in the next sentence as he who was “pierced.” Every eye shall see him whom they pierced; as saith the Spirit in Zech.
Thirdly, eis aera, rendered “in the air,” is devoid of “the” in the Greek. It may be rendered in various ways, according to the prepo¬sition used, and with or without an indefinite article. I prefer that which may be found in harmony with Paul’s use of the word else¬where, when speaking of the administration of the existing order, com¬monly styled “world.” Thus in Eph.