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VisionAid to Bible Understanding
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In a prophetic dream and “visions during the night,” Daniel beheld four huge beasts coming out of the sea, indicating that four kings would stand up from the earth. (Dan. 7:1-3, 17) The prophet was also privileged to behold in vision “someone like a son of man” obtaining rulership, dignity and kingdom from the Ancient of Days.—Dan. 7:13, 14.
Visions from God were also received by such Bible writers as Isaiah (Isa. 1:1; 6:1-13), Amos (Amos 7:1-9, 12; 8:1, 2) and Ezekiel. (Ezek. 1:1) Obadiah’s inspired prophetic declaration against Edom opens with the words: “The vision of Obadiah.” (Obad. 1) “The vision of Nahum” contains a pronouncement against Nineveh.—Nah. 1:1.
The book of Revelation contains a vision seen by the aged apostle John. The book’s Greek name, A·po·kaʹly·psis, meaning ‘an uncovering’ or ‘an unveiling,’ is apropos, for Revelation does uncover matters, disclosing many events of the distant future, far beyond the time of its composition.
FALSE VISIONS
Prior to Jerusalem’s destruction in 607 B.C.E., that city’s false prophets spoke “the vision of their own heart,” their messages not originating with Jehovah. (Jer. 23:16) Having no vision from Jehovah, what they visioned was worthless. (Lam. 2:9, 14) Because they spoke untruth and “visioned a lie,” Jehovah was against them.—Ezek. chap. 13.
SOME FORETOLD TO SEE VISIONS
In contrast with false visions and in addition to the God-given visions already discussed, Joel was divinely inspired to foretell that, under the influence of God’s spirit, young men would “see visions.” (Joel 2:28) Peter showed that there was a fulfillment of this prophecy on the day of Pentecost in 33 C.E., when the holy spirit was bestowed upon followers of Jesus Christ and they miraculousy declared in many languages “the magnificent things of God.”—Acts 2:1-4, 11, 15-17.
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VisionaryAid to Bible Understanding
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VISIONARY
As used in the Bible, this term denotes a man who had or claimed to have visions from God regarding concealed or future matters. The Hebrew word for “visionary” is hho·zehʹ, from hha·zahʹ, meaning “to gaze.” Hha·zahʹ and its derivatives are employed with reference to seeing visions.—Num. 24:4; Isa. 1:1; 21:2; 22:1; Ezek. 13:7; Dan. 8:1.
Some visionaries were false and were opposed by God. (Isa. 29:10; Mic. 3:7) Others were sent by Jehovah and spoke in his name. (2 Ki. 17:13; 2 Chron. 33:18) The term “visionary” is applied to several men, namely, Heman, Iddo, Hanani, Gad, Asaph, Jeduthun and Amos. (1 Chron. 25:5; 2 Chron. 12:15; 19:2; 29:25, 30; 35:15; Amos 7:12) Some, such as Gad and Iddo, recorded their visions or wrote other accounts. (1 Chron. 29:29; 2 Chron. 9:29; 33:19) Not all of Jehovah’s prophets were visionaries. However, Gad was called both a “prophet” and “David’s visionary,” apparently because at least some of the messages he received from God came by means of visions containing divine instruction or counsel for King David.—2 Sam. 24:11; 1 Chron. 21:9; see SEER.
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VoiceAid to Bible Understanding
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VOICE
The sounds uttered by persons in speaking or singing, and the like, and those made by animals, are denoted in Scripture by the Hebrew word qohl, its Aramaic equivalent qal and the Greek word pho·neʹ. (Gen. 3:8, 10; 21:17; Job 4:10; Dan. 4:31; Matt. 27:46) Besides “voice,” qohl can also denote “thunder,” “sound,” and so forth. (Gen. 45:16; Ex. 20:18; 28:35) Similarly, pho·neʹ can have such meanings as “sound” and “speech sound” as well as “voice.”—John 3:8; 1 Cor. 14:10, 11; Heb. 12:26.
SPIRIT PERSONS
The apostle Paul speaks of “the tongues of men and of angels,” indicating that spirit persons have language and speech. (1 Cor. 13:1) Angels, and Jehovah God himself, have been heard to speak in voice sounds and languages audible and understandable by men. But it is not to be supposed that such would be the voice with which they communicate with one another in the heavens, for atmosphere of the proper constituency, such as exists around the earth, is necessary for propagating the sound waves of voice audible and understandable to the human ear.
The instances in which God, or angels, spoke in a voice in the hearing of men would therefore be a manifestation of their speech as transformed into sound waves, just as appearances of angels to the vision of man required either a materialization or a transmitting to the human mind of a pictorial image. Today even human scientists can take the sound-wave pattern of an individual’s voice and convert it into electrical impulses so that it can come from an amplifier and speaker in the form of an audible voice that very closely resembles that of the person.
Jehovah’s “voice”
In three instances in the Bible record, Jehovah is reported as speaking audibly to humans. These were: (1) At the time of Jesus’ baptism (29 C.E.), Jehovah saying: “This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.” Both Jesus and John the Baptist undoubtedly heard this voice. (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22) (2) At Jesus’ transfiguration (32 C.E.), with the apostles Peter, James and John present, virtually the same words being uttered. (Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:36) (3) In 33 C.E., shortly before Jesus’ last Passover, when, responding to Jesus’ request that God glorify his name, a voice from heaven said: “I both glorified it and will glorify it again.” The crowd thought that it thundered, or that an angel had spoken to Jesus.—John 12:28, 29.
On those occasions Jehovah God himself made himself manifest by means of audible sounds of speech understandable to his servants. Evidently in the last-named instance the crowd did not hear the voice distinctly, since some compared it to thunder. Jehovah undoubtedly was the speaker on those occasions, because Jesus, in connection with whom the statements were made, was no less than God’s own Son, closer to the Father than any other.—Matt. 11:27.
Speaking to a group of unbelieving Jews, about the time of the Passover of 31 C.E., Jesus told them: “Also, the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his figure; and you do not have his word remaining in you, because the very one whom he dispatched you do not believe.” (John 5:37, 38) This unbelieving crowd had never heard God’s voice, nor even obeyed his word or the obvious witness they received through God’s support of Jesus’ works. For that matter, apparently only Jesus and John the Baptist had heard the audible voice of Jehovah, for the two last-named instances of Jehovah speaking had not yet occurred at this point.
Biblical mention of Jehovah’s “voice” sometimes refers to the authoritativeness of his command as “the voice of God Almighty.”—Ezek. 10:5, RS.
Angelic voices
On other occasions wherein God is said to speak, angels were used as his representatives to provide the vocal manifestation. Angels represented God in speaking to Moses in Mount Horeb and to Israel, assembled near the foot of the mountain. (Ex. 34:4-7; 20:1-17; Gal. 3:19) These angels sometimes did not present any visible appearance of a form, as when the voice came from the quaking, smoking mountain. (Ex. 20:18, 19; Deut. 4:11, 12; Heb. 12:18, 19) At times they made visionary appearances (Dan. 8:1, 15, 16; Rev. 14:15-18) and on several occasions materialized in human form to bring spoken messages to men.—Gen. 18:1-3, 20; 19:1; Josh. 5:13-15.
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