AC 10293 - the spices

AC 10293
. . . the spices are mentioned in order,
according to the truths with a person,
from most external to inmost;
so it is that by "stacte"
is signified the affection of sensuous truth,
which is truth most external;
by "onycha," the affection of natural truth,
which is interior truth in the natural person;
by "galbanum," an affection of truth still more interior,
which is interior truth in the spiritual or internal person;
and by "frankincense," inmost truth in the internal person,
which is spiritual good -
in like manner as was signified
by the spices from which the oil of anointing was prepared,
which were best myrrh, aromatic cinnamon,
aromatic calamus, and cassia . . ..
But the difference is that those truths
which are signified by the spices of the oil of anointing,
belong to the celestial class,
while these truths
which are signified by the spices of the incense,
belong to the spiritual class.
 

Psalm 97:1,9-12

The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.

For you, O Lord, are the Most High over all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods.

Let those who love the Lord hate evil,
for He guards the lives of His faithful ones
and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Light is shed upon the righteous
and joy on the upright in heart.
Rejoice in the Lord, you  who are righteous,
and praise His holy name.
(Psalm 97:1,9-12)

AC 10284 - the end in view

AC 10284 [2]
Everything that is from the Lord is good and true.
but anything good or true produced by a person
in imitation of it
is neither good nor true.
. . . With person the end in view is himself,
since it constitutes his will and his love;
for what a person loves and wills
he has as his end in view.
All the love in a person that originates in himself
is self-love and a selfish love of the world;
but the love in a person that originates in the Lord
is love towards the neighbor and love to God.
The difference between the two kinds of love
is as great as that between hell and heaven.
Furthermore self-love and a selfish love of the world
reign in hell and constitute hell,
whereas love towards the neighbor and love to the Lord
reign in heaven and constitute heaven.
 

Psalm 96:1-6

Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, praise His name;
proclaim His salvation day after day.
Declare His glory among the nations,
His marvelous deeds among all peoples.

For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before Him;
strength and the glory are in His sanctuary.
(Psalm 96:1-6)

AC 10279 - the Word opens heaven; AC 10283 - "spirit", "flesh"

AC 10276 [9]
. . .  unless the Lord had come into the world
and opened the interior things of the Word,
the communication with the heavens
by means of the Word
would have been broken;
and then the human race on this earth would have perished,
for a person can think no truth and do no good
except from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord;
and the Word is that which opens heaven.


AC 10283 [13]
. . . In the Word, "spirit" is opposed to "flesh,"
because by "spirit" is signified life from the Lord,
and by "flesh" life from man . . ..

Psalm 95:6-7

Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for He is our God
and we are the people of His pasture,
the flock under His care.
(Psalm 95:6-7)

AC 10266 - He who believes

AC 10266
He who believes
that a person can be endowed with the good of love,
without the truths of faith,
and without a live in accordance with these,
is very much mistaken.

Psalm 94:17-19

Unless the Lord had given me help,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.
When I said, "My foot is slipping,"
Your love, O Lord, supported me.
When anxiety was great within me,
Your consolation brought joy to my soul.
(Psalm 94:17-19)

AC 10253, 10258 - when the Lord was in the world

AC 10253 [4]
The Lord . . . spoke from the Divine,
thus by means of significatives
according to correspondences . . ..

AC 10258 [3-4]
     God, thy God, has anointed you,
all thy garments with the oil of gladness,
with myrrh, aloes, and kesia.
(Psalm 45:8, 9)

The subject treated of in this whole Psalm is the Lord,
and indeed the glorification of His Human . . ..
That garments are not meant, is plain,
nor myrrh, aloes, and kesia with which they were anointed;
but Divine truths from Divine good,
which the Lord put on in respect to His Human.
For anointing was nothing else than a representative
of the Divine good in the Lord's Divine Human;
so by "myrrh, aloes, and kesia"
are signified Divine truths in their order
proceeding from the Divine good which was in Him.
So by "garments" is signified His Divine Human;
for whether you say
"the Divine Human of the Lord," or "the Divine truth,"
it is the same,
because when the Lord was in the world
He was the Divine truth itself;
and when He went out of the world,
He made Himself the Divine good,
from which is the Divine truth.
. . . ("garments" signify the truths which clothe good. . .)

Psalm 93:3-4

The seas have lifted up, O Lord,
the seas have lifted up their voice;
the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea -
the Lord on high is mighty.
(Psalm 93:3-4)

AC 10252 - celestial good

AC 10252 [2-3]
In order that celestial good, which is inmost good,
may be born with a person,
which is effected by the Lord through regeneration,
truths must be acquired from the Word,
or from the doctrine of the church which is from the Word.
These truths obtain their first seat
in the memory of the natural or external person;
from this they are called forth by the Lord
into the internal person,
which is done when the person lives according to them;
and the more the person is affected with them, or loves them,
the higher, or the more interiorly,
they are raised by the Lord,
and there become celestial good.

Celestial good
is the good of the love of doing truths from the Word
for the sake of good,
thus for the Lord's sake;
for the Lord is the source of good, thus is good;
and this is the generation of this good.

Psalm 92:1-8

It is good to praise the Lord
and make music in Your name, O Most High,
to proclaim Your love in the morning
and Your faithfulness at night,
to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
and the melody of the harp.

For you make me glad by Your deeds, O Lord;
I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.
How great are Your works, O Lord,
how profound Your thoughts!
The senseless man does not know,
fools do not understand,
that though the wicked spring up like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be forever destroyed.

But You, O Lord, are exalted forever.
(Psalm 92:1-8)

AC 10238 - water; AC 10239 - washing, baptism

AC 10238
. . . "waters" signify the truths of faith . . .

 AC 10239
. . . the signification "washing," as being purification . . .

. . . "baptism," signifies regeneration . . .

[2] .  . .  regeneration differs from purification
in that regeneration precedes, and purification follows;
for no one can be purified from evils and falsities
except the person who is being regenerated,
and after he has been regenerated;
for he who has not been regenerated
is indeed withdrawn from evils insofar as he allows;
but he is not purified from them, for he is always impure.
It is otherwise with the regenerate person,
who is being purified from day to day,

Psalm 91:1-2

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord,
"He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."
(Psalm 91:1-2)

AC 10237 - washing

AC 10237
. . . by "washing" is signified purification;
by "waters" are signified the truths of faith;
and by the "laver" containing the water is signified the natural,
because all spiritual purification is effected in the natural.
A person has an external and an internal;
the external is called the natural,
and also the natural person;
and the internal is called the spiritual,
and also the spiritual person,
for the reason that the internal of a person
is in the spiritual world where spirits and angels are,
and his external is in the natural world where men are.
Both the internal and the external person are purified,
the internal in heaven,
and the external while the person lives in the world,
thus in the natural which is in the world.

[2] The reason why purification goes on in the natural . . .,
is that the truths of faith come to clear perception in the natural;
for there they are among the memory-knowledges,
or things of the memory,
which are clearly perceived when they are thought of.
But this is not the case
with the things that are thought of in the internal person;
these do not come to clear perception
while the person is in the world,
because the ideas in the internal person are spiritual.
Consequently, it is that purification is effected in the natural.
That it is effected by means of the truths of faith
can be seen from the fact
that those who are being purified
must not only know what evil and falsity are, 
but must also acknowledge them,
and then hold them in aversion and shun them.
When this is done,
then for the first time is the person purified from them . . ..

Psalm 90:1-2;17

Lord, You have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born
or You brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting
You are God.

May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us -
yes, establish the work of our hands.
(Psalm 90:1-2.17)

AC 10227 - being wise

AC 10227 [2-3]
All have the capacity to understand and to be wise;
but the reason one person is wiser than another
is that they do not in like manner ascribe to the Lord
all things of intelligence and wisdom,
which are all things of truth and good.
They who ascribe all to the Lord are wiser than the rest,
because all things of truth and good,
which constitute wisdom,
flow in from heaven, that is, from the Lord there.
The ascription of all things to the Lord
opens the interiors of a person toward heaven,
for thus it is acknowledged
that nothing of truth and good is from himself;
and in proportion as this is acknowledged,
the love of self departs,
and with the love of self
the thick darkness from falsities and evils.
In the same proportion also
the person comes into innocence,
and into love and faith to the Lord,
from which comes conjunction with the Divine . . .
and enlightenment.

By the capacity to be wise
is not meant the capacity to reason
about truths and goods from memory-knowledges,
nor the capacity to confirm whatever one pleases;
but the capacity to discern what is true and good,
to choose what is suitable,
and to apply it to the uses of life.
They who ascribe all things to the Lord
do thus discern, choose, and apply;
while those who do not ascribe to the Lord,
but to themselves,
know merely how to reason about truths and goods;
nor do they see anything except what is from others;
and this not from reason,
but from the activity of the memory.
As they cannot look into truths themselves,
they stand outside, and confirm whatever they receive,
whether it be true or false.
They who can do this
in a learned way from memory-knowledges
are believed by the world to be wiser than others;
but the more they attribute all things to themselves,
thus the more they love what they think from themselves,
the more insane they are;
for they confirm falsities rather than truths,
and evils rather than goods,
and this because they have light from no other source
than the fallacies and appearances of the world,
and consequently from their own light,
which is called natural light,
separated from the light of heaven;
and which light when thus separated
is mere thick darkness
in respect to the truths and goods of heaven.

Mark 16:14

Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating;
He rebuked them for their lack of faith
and their stubborn refusal to believe
those who had seen Him after He had risen.
(Mark 16:14)

AC 10214, 10218, 10219 - numbering

AC 10214
. . . numbering involves survey,
and that which is surveyed by the Lord
is also set in order and disposed.

AC 10218 [2]
It was forbidden to number the sons of Israel
because by "numbering"
was signified to set in order and dispose,
and by the "sons of Israel"
and by the "tribes" into which they were divided,
were signified all the truths and goods
of faith and love in the complex;
and as the setting in order and the disposing of these
was of the Lord alone and not of man,
therefore to number them was a trespass,
such as is made by those who claim for themselves
the truths which are of faith and the goods which are of love,
and the setting in order and disposing of these . . ..
For they are such as justify themselves
by claiming for themselves as merit
all things of faith and love,
and consequently believe themselves
to have of themselves
merited heaven by virtue of their faith and works.
This evil was involved in the numbering of the people by David . . ..

AC 10219 [3]
But so long as a person believes
that he does all things of himself,
both goods and evils,
so long goods do not affect him,
and evils adhere to him;
but the moment that he acknowledges and believes
that goods flow in from the Lord, and not from himself,
and that evils are from hell,
then goods affect him and evils do not adhere to him;
and, moreover, insofar as goods affect him,
so far evils are removed,
thus he is purified and liberated from them.
But so long as the state of a person is such
that he cannot perceive and be sensible of
the influx of goods from the Lord,
so long he does goods as from himself,
and yet ought to acknowledge and believe
that they are from the Lord.
When this is the case,
he also is liberated from evils;
but in order that he may be liberated from evils
this acknowledgment must be
the confession of the heart itself,
and not of the lips only.

Luke 24:13-16, 30-32

Now that same day
two of them were going to a village called Emmaus,
about sixty stadia (7 miles, 11 kilometers) from Jerusalem.
They were talking with each other
about everything that had happened.
As they talked and discussed these things with each other,
Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;
but they were kept from recognizing Him.

When He was at the table with them,
He took bread, gave thanks,
broke and began to give it to them.
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him,
and He disappeared from their sight.
They asked each other,
"Were not our hearts burning within us
while He talked with us on the road
and opened the Scriptures to us?"
(Luke 24:13-16, 30-32)

AC 10215 - enlightenment; AC 10216 - perception

AC 10215
. . . enlightenment is influx, perception, and instruction
by the Lord
when the Word is being read.

AC 10216
Perception flows in from the Lord,
who is the Word;
for everything of intelligence and wisdom
is from the Lord,
and without Him
there is none at all.

Easter - John 20:1-18

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw
that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple,
the one Jesus loved, and said,
"They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,
and we don't know where they have put him!"
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.
Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter
and reached the tomb first.
He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there
but did not go in.  Then Simon Peter,
who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb.
He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth
that had been around Jesus' head. 
The cloth was folded up by itself,
separate from the linen.
Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first,
also went inside.  He saw and believed.
(They still did not understand from Scripture
that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Then the disciples went back to their homes,
but Mary stood outside the tomb crying.
As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb
and saw two angels in white,
seated where Jesus' body had been,
one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, "Woman why are you crying?"
They have taken my Lord away," she said,
"and I don't know where they have put Him."
At this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,
but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
"Woman," He said, "Why are you crying?
Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking she was the gardener, she said,
"Sir, if you have carried Him away,
tell me where you have put Him,
and I will get Him."
Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic,
"Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to Me,
for I have not yet returned to the Father.
Go instead to My brothers and tell them,
"I am returning to My Father and your Father,
to My God and your God."
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news:
"I have seen the Lord!"
And she told them that He had said these things to her.
(John 20:1-18)

AC 10200 - "morning by morning" (Exodus 30:7)

AC 10200
Morning by morning.
(Exodus 30:7)
That is signifies when the state of love is in clearness . . .

AC 10206 - worship

AC 10206
Regeneration is one thing, and worship another;
for regeneration is first,
and the worship is according to the quality
of the person's regeneration;
for his worship is accepted and is pleasing
in the proportion that he has been purified
from evils and the consequent falsities,
and accordingly in the proportion
that the truths and goods of faith and of love
have been implanted.
For by worship is meant everything
that proceeds from love and faith with a person,
and is uplifted to the Lord by the Lord.
As this is the full completion,
the altar of incense, by which worship was represented,
is described last;
for all things follow in order according to the series
in which they are described.
First is described the Testimony,
by which is meant the Lord;
next the ark in which was the Testimony,
by which is signified the inmost heaven where the Lord is;
afterward the table on which were the breads,
by which is signified the good of love therefrom;
and also the lampstand with the lamps,
by which is signified the Divine truth
that proceeds from the Lord's Divine good;
then the Tent itself,
by which is signified heaven and the church
which are from these;
at length the altar of burnt-offering,
by which is signified regeneration
by means of truths from good;
and lastly the altar of incense,
by which is signified worship from all these
in heaven and in the church.
 

Matthew 28:62-66

The next day, the one after Preparation Day,
the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.
"Sir," they said,
"we remember that while He was alive
that the deceiver said,
'After three days I will rise again.'
So give the order for the tomb to be made secure
until the third day.
Otherwise, His disciples may come and steal the body
and tell the people
that He has been raised from the dead.
This last deception will be worse than the first."
"Take a guard," Pilate answered.
"Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how."
So they went and made the tomb secure
by putting a seal on the stone
and posting the guard.
(Matthew 28:62-66)

AC 10199 - odors & the senses

AC 10199
It is from their odor that spices denote what is grateful,
for "odor" signifies perception;
consequently a sweet odor signifies a grateful perception,
and an offensive odor an ungrateful perception.
For all things which are perceived by a person
through the organs of sense
signify spiritual things,
which bear relation to the good of love
and to the truths of faith,
as do smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch;
consequently "smell" signifies
the perception of interior truth
from the good of love;
"taste" signifies
the perception and affection
of knowing and of being wise;
"sight," the understanding of the truths of faith;
"hearing," perception
from the good of faith, and from obedience;
and "touch" in general,
communication, transfer, and reception.

John 18:28, Luke 23:20-21, Mark 15:6-20, Matthew 27:50-51,54

Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas
to the palace of the Roman governor.
By now it was early morning,
and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness
the Jews did not enter the palace;
they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.
(John 18:28)

Wanting to release Jesus,
Pilate appealed to them again.
But they kept shouting,
"Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!
(Luke 23:20-21)

The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace
(that is, the Praetorium)
and called together the whole company of soldiers.
They put a purple robe on Him,
then twisted together a crown of thorns
and set it on Him.
And they began to call out to Him,
"Hail, king of the Jews!"
Again and again they struck Him
on the head with a staff
and spit on Him.
Falling on their knees,
they paid homage to Him.
And when they had mocked Him,
they took off the purple robe
and put His own clothes on Him.
Then they led Him out to crucify Him.
(Mark 15:6-20)

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice,
He gave up His spirit.
At that moment
the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
The earth shook and the rocks split.
When the centurion
and those with him who were guarding Jesus
saw the earthquake and all that had happened,
they were terrified, and exclaimed,
"Surely He was the Son of God!"
(Matthew 27:50-51,54)

AC 10185 - leaves

AC 10185 [2]
That all things in nature bear relation to the human form,
is also evident from all the things in the vegetable kingdom,
in which kingdom all things are clothed with leaves,
bearing flowers before they bring forth fruits . . ..
For the leaves in that kingdom bear relation to the lungs,
and are as it were in the place of the respiration,
because by their means the sap is drawn up,
and therefore a tree stripped of its leaves bears no fruit.
From this also it is that "leaves" in the Word signify the truths of faith,
for in like manner by their means
is drawn up the living power whereby good is formed.

Mark 14:12-16; John 13:33-35

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb,
Jesus' disciples asked Him,
"Where do You want us to go
and make preparations for You to eat the Passover?"
So He sent two of His disciples, telling them,
"Go into the city,
and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.
Follow him.
Say to the owner of the house he enters,
'The Teacher asks:
Where is My guest room,
where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"
He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready.
Make preparations for us there."
The disciples left, went into the city
and found things just as Jesus had told them.
So they prepared the Passover.
(Mark 14:12-16)

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"My children, I will be with you only a little longer.
You will look for Me,
and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now:
Where I am going, you cannot come.
"A new command I give you:
Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this all men will know that you are My disciples,
if you love one another."
(John 13:33-35)

AC 10178 - His Divine love

AC 10178
. . . when the Lord was in the world,
He from Divine love
fought against all the hells and subjugated them,
and thereby saved the human race,
and as a result,
He alone had merit and was made righteousness.
Therefore the good of the Lord's merit is His Divine love.

Luke 21:17-19; Matthew 26:1-5

"All men will hate you because of Me.
But not a hair of your head will perish.
By standing firm you will gain life."
(Luke 21:17-19)

When Jesus had finished saying all these things,
He said to His disciples,
"As you know, the Passover is two days away -
and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."
Then the chief priests and elders of the people
assembled in the palace of the high priest,
whose name was Caiaphas,
and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill Him.
"But not during the Feast," they said,
"or there may be a riot among the people."
(Matthew 26:1-5)

AC 10169, 10173 - love truly conjugial and freedom

AC 10169
. . . love truly conjugial is the union of two persons
in respect to their interiors,
which belong to the thought and the will,
thus to truth and good;
for truth belongs to the thought, and good to the will.
For one who is in love truly conjugial
loves what the other thinks and what the other wills;
thus he also loves to think as the other does,
and he loves to will as the other does;
consequently to be united to the other,
and to become as one person.
This is what is meant by the Lord's words in Matthew:

"And they twain shall be one flesh,
therefore they are no more twain,
but one flesh."
(Matthew 19:4-6; Genesis 2:24).


AC10173
That which is done from love truly conjugial
is done from freedom on both sides,
because all freedom is from love,
and both have freedom
when one loves that which the other thinks
and that which the other wills.
From this it is that the wish to command in marriages
destroys genuine love,
for it takes away its freedom,
thus also its delight.
The delight of commanding,
which follows in its place,
brings forth disagreements,
and sets the minds at enmity,
and causes evils to take root
according to the nature of the domination on the one side,
and the nature of the servitude on the other.

Matthew 23:23-24

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,
you hypocrites!
You give a tenth of your spices -
mint, dill and cummin.
But you have neglected the more important matters of the law -
justice, mercy and faithfulness.
You should have practiced the later,
without neglecting the former.
You blind guides!
You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel."
(Matthew 23:23-24)

AC 10156 - caring solely for the world

AC 10156 [4]
. . . when a person cares solely for the world,
heaven is closed with him;
whereas when he suffers himself to be raised by the Lord,
then heaven is opened with him,
and the world is subjected to him.
And when this is the case,
hell is separated and removed from him;
and then for the first time
the person knows what good is and what evil is;
but not before.

Matthew 21:12-13; 22:34-40

Jesus entered the temple area
and drove out all who where buying and selling there.
He overturned the tables of the money changers
and the benches of those selling doves.
"It is written," He said to them,
"'My house will be called a house of prayer,'
but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'"
(Matthew 21:12-13)

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
the Pharisees got together.
One of them, an expert in the law,
tested Him with this question:
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied:
"'Love the Lord your God
with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your mind,'
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it:
'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
All the Law and the Prophets
hang on these two commandments.
(Matthew 22:34-40)

AC 10151 - angels and the church

AC 10151 [2,3,4]
. . . the Divine that proceeds from the Lord,
when received by the angels,
makes heaven.
. . .That this is so can be seen from the fact
that each one of them there
acknowledges, believes, and also perceives,
that there is nothing of good from himself,
but only from the Lord;
and that whatever is from himself is not good;
thus wholly according to the doctrine of the church,
that all good comes from above.

So it is with the church.
In respect to what is their own
the people of the church do not make the church,
but in respect to what is Divine
which they receive from the Lord;
for everyone in the church
who does not acknowledge and believe
that all the good of love and the truth of faith
are from God,
is not of the church;
for he wishes to love God from himself,
and to believe in God from himself,
which, however, no one can do.

The Spirit of truth shall abide with you,
and shall be in you,
and you shall know
that I am in My Father,
and you in Me,
and I in you.
(John 14:17, 20).

Abide in Me, and I in you;
as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine;
so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me;
He that abides in Me, and I in him,
the same bears much fruit;
for without Me
you can do nothing.
(John 15:4, 5)

AC 10146 - the Lord's presence & the turning of the world

AC 10146
The Lord is indeed present with every person,
but He is present with the good in one way,
and with the evil in another;
with the good He is present in every particular they think
from the truths of faith,
and which they will from the good of love;
and He is so present that He Himself is faith,
and He Himself is love with them;
consequently He is as if dwelling in them,
according to the words of the Lord Himself in John:

The Spirit of truth shall abide with you,
and shall be in you,
and you shall know that I am in My Father,
and you in Me, and I in you.
He that has My commandments and does them,
he it is that loves Me;
and We will come unto him,
and make Our abode with him.
(John 14:17, 18, 20, 21, 23)

But with the evil the Lord is not present in every particular,
because they have no faith or charity;
but He is present in general,
by which presence they have the faculty of thinking and willing,
and also of receiving faith and charity;
but only insofar as they desist from evils.
Insofar as they do not desist from evils He appears absent;
and the degrees of His absence are according to
the absence of the truth and good of faith and of love.
Thus they who are in heaven are in the presence of the Lord,
but they who are in hell are in His absence. 

Nevertheless the fact is
that the Lord is not absent from a person,
but a person is absent from the Lord . . . .
This closely resembles the presence of the sun of this world
in respect to its light and heat;
the sun is equally present at all times;
but when the earth turns itself from the sun,
the light perishes, and shade comes on;
first the shade of evening,
and then the shade of night.
And when the earth does not look directly to the sun,
but obliquely, as in the time of winter,
the heat perishes, and cold comes on,
in consequence of which
all things of the earth become torpid and die.
This is also called the absence of the sun,
when nevertheless it is the absence of the earth from the sun -
not as to space, but as to the state of light and heat.

Palm Sunday - Matthew 21:1-11

As they approached Jerusalem
and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives,
Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,
"Go to the village ahead of you,
and at once you will find a donkey tied there,
with her colt by her.
Untie them and bring them to me.
If anyone says anything to you,
tell him that the Lord needs them,
and he will send them right away."
This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
"Say to the Daughter of Zion,
'See, your King comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'" (Isaiah 62:11)
The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.
The brought the donkey and the colt,
placed their cloaks on them,
and Jesus sat on them.
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
while others cut branches from the trees
and spread them on the road.
The crowds that went ahead of Him
and those that followed shouted,
"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!"
When Jesus entered Jerusalem,
the whole cit was stirred and asked,
"Who is this?"
The crowds answered,
"This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."
(Matthew 21:1-11) NIV

 
 This is a charming video using the verses from Mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=sqenkYE4nas

AC 10137 - the Word is for our salvation

AC 10137 [2]
He who believes
that the Word is Divine and spiritual throughout,
must necessarily believe
that some secret of heaven
lies hidden in every detail of it.
But the reason why no one up to now
has known just where this secret lies,
is that it has not been known
that there is an internal sense
which is spiritual and Divine
in every detail of the Word;
and that there are angels with every person,
who perceive his thoughts,
and who understand the Word spiritually
while he is reading it,
and that through them
what is holy then flows in from the Lord,
and then that through them
there is conjunction of heaven with a person,
consequently conjunction of the Lord
through the heavens with him.
This is the reason
that a Word of this nature was given to mankind,
by means of which, and not in any other way,
his salvation can be provided for by the Lord.

Luke 19:1-10

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.
A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus;
he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
He wanted to see who Jesus was,
but being a short man
he could not, because of the crowd.
So he ran ahead
and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see Him,
since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot,
He looked up and said to him,
'Zacchaeus, come down immediately.
I must stay at your house today."
So he came down at once and welcomed Him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter,
"He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.'"
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord,
"Look, Lord!  Here and now
I give half of my possessions to the poor,
and if I have cheated anybody out of anything,
I will pay back four times the amount."
Jesus said to him,
"Today salvation has come to this house,
because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
For the Son of Man came
to seek and to save what was lost."
(Luke 19:1-10)

AC 10132 - innocence; AC 10133 - worship

AC 10132 [3,5,8]
. . . the good of love to the Lord,
which is called celestial good,
is the good of innocence . . .

. . . when the Lord was in the world
He was innocence itself in respect to His Human . . .

By "the feast of the passover"
was signified the liberation from damnation of those
who receive the Lord in love and faith;
thus who are in the good of innocence,
for the good of innocence is the inmost of love and faith,
and is their soul . . .

AC 10133
. . . all worship must be from the good of love
and from the truths of faith,
in order that it may be worship.

Mark 10:32-34

They were on their way up to Jerusalem,
with Jesus leading the way,
and the disciples were astonished,
while those who followed were afraid.
Again He took the Twelve aside
and told them what was going to happen to Him.
"We are going up to Jerusalem," He said,
"and the Son of Man will be betrayed
to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.
They will condemn Him to death
and will hand Him over to the Gentiles,
who will mock Him and spit on Him,
flog Him and kill Him.
Three days later He will rise."
(Mark 10:32-34)

AC 10127 - it is one or the other

AC 10127 [4]
. . .so far as a person is purified from evils and falsities,
so far good and truth are implanted and conjoined by the Lord.

. . . for the Lord is present with every person
with the good of love, because He loves all,
and from love wills to conjoin them with Himself,
which is effected through
the good of love and the truth of faith;
but the evils and their falsities
which a person appropriates to himself by a life of evil,
stand in the way, and hinder the influx.

Matthew 19:16-19

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked,
"Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied.
"There is only One who is good.
If you want to enter life,
obey the commandments."
"Which ones?"
the man inquired.
Jesus replied, "'Do not murder,
do not commit adultery,
do not steal,
do not give false testimony,
honor your father and mother,'
and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"
(Matthew 19:16-19)

AC 10125 - the Soul of the Lord

AC 10125 [2-4]
The Divine Itself which is the Being of all things
was in the Lord alone,
for He was conceived of Jehovah;
and every person has from his father
the being of his life, which is called his soul.
From this it is evident
that the Divine good of the Divine love
was in the Human of the Lord
as the soul of a father is in a son.
And as with person nothing lives but his soul,
for the body without the soul does not live,
and because everything of the body
is produced from the soul, thus after its image,
in order that the soul may be in a state
that is adapted and accommodated to its functions
in the ultimates of order, which are in the world;
it consequently follows
that the Being itself in the Human of the Lord
was Jehovah, which is the Divine good of the Divine love.
And that which is the Being of life
makes everything that comes forth from It
after Its own likeness;
and so the Lord,
from the Divine Itself which was in Him,
thus which was His,
made also His Human the Divine good of the Divine love.

Moreover, it is said in the Athanasian Creed,
which contains the faith received throughout the Christian world,
"As the body and the soul is one man,
so the Divine and the Human in the Lord is one Christ."
He therefore who is acquainted with
the union of the soul in the body,
and the image of the former in the latter,
may in some measure know
the union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord,
and the image of the one in the other;
and from this he might know
that the Divine which is called the Father,
and the Human which is called the Son,
were one,
and the one in the other,
that is, the Father in Him and He in the Father;
according to the Lord's words in John 10:30; 14:10, 11.
But as at this day it is not known what the soul is,
and scarcely that it is from the father,
and that the body is its image,
and that the two are one as are the prior and the posterior,
or as being and that which comes forth from it,
therefore man has separated
the Divine from the Human in the Lord,
and has distinguished them into two natures,
and from this has conceived no other idea
of the Human of the Lord than as of the human of a man;
when yet the soul of a man is finite from his father,
and has evil in it by inheritance;
whereas the soul of the Lord, being from Jehovah,
was infinite,
and was nothing else than the Divine good of the Divine love,
and consequently after glorification His Human
was not like the human of a man.

For this reason
the Lord took up into heaven all His Human glorified,
that is, made Divine from Himself,
and left nothing of it in the sepulchre,
otherwise than is the case with man.
That the Lord glorified His very body even to its ultimates
which are the bones and the flesh,
the Lord also manifested to His disciples, saying,
"Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself.
Feel Me and see,
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have" (Luke 24:39);
and yet He entered through doors that were shut,
and after He had manifested Himself
became invisible (John 20:19; Luke 24:31).

Luke 18:9-14

To some who were confident of their own righteousness
and looked down on everybody else,
Jesus told this parable:
"Two men went up to the temple to pray,
one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself:
'God, I thank you that I am not like other men -
robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
"But the tax collector stood at a distance.
He would not even look up to heaven,
but beat his breast and said,
'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
"I tell you that this man, rather than the other,
went home justified before God.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
(Luke 18:9-14)

AC 10122, 10123 - the Lord is the source of good and truth

AC 10122 [2]
. . . all things with a person which are from the Lord
bear relation to good and truth,
but all things which are from a person himself
bear relation to evil and falsity.

AC 10123
. . . it is the Divine of the Lord
which makes heaven and the church,
because the Lord dwells there in His own,
and not in a person's own.

Luke 17:11-19

Now on His way to Jerusalem,
Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.
As He was going into a village,
ten men who had leprosy met Him.
They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice,
"Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"
When He saw them, He said,
"Go, show yourselves to the priests."
And as they went, they were cleansed.
One of them, when he was healed,
came back, praising God in a loud voice.
He threw himself at Jesus' feed and thanked Him -
and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed?
Where are the other nine?
Was no on found to return and give praise to God
except this foreigner?"
Then He said to him,
"Rise and go; your faith has made you well."
(Luke 17:11-19)

AC 10109 - the communication of good; AC 10110 - what is good?

AC 10109 [2]
. . . so long as a person is in evils
and in the falsities derived from them,
it is impossible for any good to be appropriated to him,
for evil ascends from hell,
and good descends from heaven;
and were hell is, there heaven cannot be,
because they are diametrically opposite.
. . . that which is of the will belongs to the person's love,
and from this to his life,
because that which a person wills he loves and also calls good,
and moreover when it is done,
he feels it as good.
 . . . the appropriation of good with a person is meant only
the capability to receive good from the Lord,
which capability he is endowed with by regeneration;
consequently the good with a person is not the person's,
but is the Lord's with him,
and the person is held in it
so far as he suffers himself to be withheld from evils.

AC 10110 [4]
When we speak of good,
charity toward the neighbor is meant, and love to the Lord,
for all that which is of love and charity is good.

appropriation - communication

"The time came when the beggar died
and the angels carried him to Abraham's side.
The rich man also died and was buried.
In hell, where he was in torment,
he looked up and saw Abraham far away,
with Lazarus by his side.
So he called tom,
'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus
to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,
because I am in agony in this fire.''
"But Abraham replied,
'Son, remember that in your lifetime
you received your good things,
while Lazarus received bad things,
but now he is comforted here
and you are in agony.
And besides all this,
between us and you a great chasm has been fixed,
so that those who want to go from here to you cannot,
nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'"
(Luke 16:22-26)

AC 10105 - truths from the Word

AC 10105 [2,3]
. . . truths from the Word
are to be fitted together into doctrine so as to serve for use,
which is done by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord;
and those who are in enlightenment when they read the Word,
are in the affection of truth for the sake of truth,
and for the sake of the good of life,
and not those who seek it
for the sake of self-glory, reputation, or profit, as ends.

. . .  "to boil in water" denotes to reduce truths into doctrine,
and thus prepare them for the use of life . . .

"'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me,
and everything I have is yours.
But we had to celebrate and be glad,
because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again;
he was lost and is found.
(Luke 31-32)

AC 10083 - the first of all

AC 10083 [5-6]
Since the "waving upon the palms of Aaron"
is signified endowment of life
through the acknowledgment of the Lord,
and that all things are from Him . . ..
It was often said by the Lord, when the sick were healed,
that they should "have faith,"
and that it would be done to them "according to their faith".
The reason was that
the first of all is to acknowledge
that the Lord is the Savior of the world,
for without this acknowledgment
no one can receive anything of truth and good from heaven,
consequently no faith;
and because this is the first and most essential of all,
therefore in order that the Lord might be acknowledged
when He came into the world,
in healing the sick He questioned them concerning their faith,
and those who had faith were healed.
The faith was that He was the Son of God
who was to come into the world,
and that He had power to heal and to save.
Moreover, all the healings of diseases by the Lord,
when He was in the world,
signified healings of the spiritual life,
consequently the things that belong to salvation.

Because the acknowledgment of the Lord
is the first of all things of spiritual life,
and the most essential thing of the church,
and because without it
no one can receive from heaven anything
of the truth of faith and the good of love,
therefore the Lord often says
that he who "believes in Him has eternal life,"
that he who "does not believe has not life";
but He also teaches at the same time
that those have faith in Him
who "live according to His commandments,"
so that the consequent life may enter into the faith.

Luke 14:1-6

One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat
in the house of a prominent Pharisee,
He was being carefully watched.
There in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy.
Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law,
"Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?"
But they remained silent.
So taking hold of the man,
He healed him and sent him away.
Then He asked them,
"If one of you has a son or an ox
that falls into a well on the Sabbath day,
will you not immediately pull him out?"
And they had nothing to say.
(Luke 14:1-6)

AC 10076 - forms

AC 10076 [2]
. . . good or evil forms the will,
and truth or falsity forms the understanding.

Luke 13:22-27

Then Jesus went through the towns and villages,
teaching as He made His way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked Him,
"Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?"
He said to them,
"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door,
because many, I tell you,
will try to enter and will not be able to.
Once the owner of the house
gets up and closes the door,
you will stand out side knocking and pleading,
'Sir, open the door for us.'
"But he will answer,
'I don't know you or where you come from.'
"Then you will say,
'We ate and drank with You,
and You taught in our streets.'
"But He will reply,
'I don't know you or where you come from.
Away from Me, all you evildoers!'
(Luke 13:22-27)

AC 10067 - choosing

AC 10067 [9-10]
Man takes in truths from hearing,
through the sense of hearing;
and from reading through the sight;
and stores them up in his memory.
These truths relate either to the civil state,
or to the moral state,
and are called memory-knowledges.
The love of a person
which is of his will through the understanding
looks into these things in the memory,
and from it chooses those
which are in agreement with the love;
and those which it chooses,
it summons to itself,
and conjoins with itself,
and by means of them strengthens itself from day to day.
Truths thus vivified by love make the person's understanding,
and the goods themselves which are of the love make his will.
The goods of love are also like fires there,
and truths in the circumferences round about,
vivified by the love,
are like the light from this fire.
By degrees, as the truths are kindled by this fire,
there is kindled in them a desire to conjoin themselves reciprocally.
From this comes a reciprocal conjunction, which is permanent.

From all this it is evident
that the good of love is really that which conjoins,
and not the truth of faith,
except insofar as this has the good of love within it.

John 11:7-15

Then He said to His disciples,
"Let us go back to Judea."
"But Rabbi," they said,
"a short while ago the Jews tried to stone You,
and yet You are going back there?"
Jesus answered,
"Are there not twelve hours of daylight?
A man who walks by day will not stumble,
for he sees by this world's light.
It is when he walks by night,
that he stumbles, for he has no light."
After He had said this, He went on to tell them,
"Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep;
but I am going there to wake him up."
His disciples replied,
"Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better"
Jesus had been speaking of His death,
but His disciples thought He meant natural sleep.
So then He told them plainly,
"Lazarus is dead,
and for your sake I am glad I was not there,
so that you may believe.
But let us go to him."
(John 11:7-15)

John 10:37-42

"Do not believe Me unless I do what My Father does.
But if I do it, even though you do not believe Me,
believe the miracles,
that you may know and understand
that the Father is in Me,
and I in the Father."
Again they tried to seize Him,
but He escaped their grasp.
Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place
where John had been baptizing in the early days.
Here He stayed and many people came to Him.
They said,
"Though John never performed a miraculous sign,
all that John said about this Man was true."
And in that place many believed in Jesus.
(John 10:37-42)

AC 10057 - the circle

AC 10057 [2-5]
There is an influx from the spiritual world into the natural,
thus through the internal person into his external,
but not the reverse;
for the internal person is in heaven,
but the external in the world. 

As this circle is the circle of a person's life,
therefore during a person's regeneration . . ..
Therefore during a person's regeneration
the truths which are to be of faith
are insinuated through the hearing and sight,
and these truths
are implanted in the memory of his natural person.
From this memory they are withdrawn into the thought
that belongs to the understanding,
and those which are loved become of the will;
and insofar as they become of the will,
they become of the life,
for the will of a person is his very life;
and insofar as they become of the life,
they become of his affection,
thus of charity in the will
and of faith in the understanding.
Afterward the person speaks and acts from this life,
which is the life of charity and of faith;
from charity which is of the will
goes forth the speech of the mouth
and also the act of the body,
both by way of the understanding,
thus by the way of faith.
From all this it is evident
that the circle of the regeneration of a person
is like the circle of his life in general;
and that it is in like manner instituted in the will
by means of an influx out of heaven from the Lord.

Consequently, it is also plain that there are two states
in the person who is being regenerated,
the first when the truths of faith
are being implanted and conjoined 
with the good of charity,
the second when he speaks from the good of charity
by means of the truths of faith,
and acts according to these;
thus that the first state is from the world
through the natural person into the spiritual,
thus into heaven;
and the second is from heaven
through the spiritual person into the natural,
thus into the world.
As said above, the spiritual or internal person is in heaven,
and the natural or external person is in the world.
This circle is the circle of the regeneration of a person,
and consequently is the circle of his spiritual life.

From what has been said, some idea may be formed
of the glorification of the Lord's Human;
for as the Lord glorified His Human,
so He regenerates a person,
and therefore, as already often said,
the regeneration of a person
is an image of the glorification of the Lord.
From this it is evident that the first state of His glorification
was to make His Human Divine truth,
and to unite it with the Divine good that was in Him;
and that the second state was to act
from Divine good through Divine truth.
For heaven and the church are founded
through the Divine truth
that proceeds from the Lord's Divine good;
and through this
all are regenerated who are in the church.

John 9:1-3

As He went along, He saw a man blind from birth.
His disciples asked Him,
"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?"
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus,
"but this happened
so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."
(John 9:1-3)