But the natural eyes are able to see natural or material things. They cannot see things spiritual or such as belong to the spiritual world. These can be discerned only with the spiritual eyes. If therefore the Lord's body had been material on the occasion just referred to, it is manifest that the disciples could have seen Him with their natural eyes; and that it was not with these but with their spiritual eyes that they saw Him, is plain from its being said that "their eyes were opened, and they knew him." From what we are taught in the writings ofthe New Church concerning man's spiritual senses, it would appear that his spiritual eyes might be opened in a manner so gently that he would not know it; and thus he might see things in the spiritual world, while he supposed that he was seeing them in the natural world. The opening of his spiritual eyes would cause some thing in the spiritual world to appear before his view; and the closing of them would cause the same thing to disappear. Thus to the beholder it would appear as if something natural presented itself before his natural vision, and then suddenly disappeared.

Now this was the case with the two disciples. Their spiritual eyes were partially opened so that they could discern the Lord before they sat at meat: "But their eyes were holden that they should not know Him.” (v. 16.) At supper their eyes were fully opened, "and they knew Him." Suddenly they were closed again, and, as a necessary consequence, "He vanished out of their sight." And they returned to Jerusalem, and while they discoursed with the other disciples concerning what had happened (the spiritual eyes of them all being opened) "Jesus himself stood in the midst of them." (v. 36.)