De Domino 17, 49-50 - Concerning the Lord

Concerning the Lord & Concerning the Holy Spirit (De Domino) 
De Domino 17, 49-50

Through temptations man becomes spiritual
and is conjoined to heaven.
But the Lord through temptations
conjoined His Human to the Divine Itself
which was in Him,
and so He became God as to the Human.

He was united to His Divine by successive steps . . .
and He was united [to it]
through temptations and victories.
Full unition was accomplished by the passion of the cross.

So far as He was united,
so far He spoke with Himself;
but so far as He was not yet united,
so far He spoke as with another.
The latter was His state of humiliation,
but the former the state of glorification. 

The New Jerusalem

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
and there was no longer any sea.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"Now the dwelling of God is with men,
and He will live with them.
They will be His people,
and God himself will be with them and be their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order of things has passed away."

(Revelation 21:1-4)

ATH 213 - From Whom Is All Safety

ATH 213

When the church was being established by the Lord,
the primary thing was to acknowledge and to receive Him;
to acknowledge that it was He
of whom the Word of the Old Testament speaks;
and that He was God,
and had power over all things.
Therefore He so often said,
"Believe you that I am able?" 
also, "Because you believe";
and "Let it be done according to your faith,"
that is, according to the faith that the Lord was God
who had power over all things, or was Almighty.
This was the primary,
for without that faith there was no safety,
because all things are from Him.
Through that confession and faith from the heart
is conjunction;
without it there is not conjunction,
and thus there is no safety.
The case is similar at the present day,
when the New Church is being established;
which is called the New Jerusalem,
and when its doctrine is taught;
the primary thing is to know and believe
that the Lord is the only God,
from whom is all safety.
It is for this reason that this now is taught;
this is the occasion of the present work;
for without that faith no one comes into the New Church,
neither does anyone receive anything from its doctrine;
consequently, without this faith
no one henceforth can be saved.
For henceforth it is not allowable to believe
in three equal Gods and say one,
nor to think of the Human of the Lord
as separate from the Divine,
as is done by so many.
 

The Song of the Lamb

I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign:
seven angels with the seven last plagues -
last, because with them God's wrath is completed.

And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire,
and standing beside the sea,
those who had been victorious over the beast
and his image and the number of his name.
They held harps given them by God
and sang the song of Moses the servant of God
and the song of the Lamb:

"Great and marvelous are Your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are Your ways,
King of the ages.
Who will not fear You, O Lord,
and bring glory to Your name?
For You alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship before You,
for Your righteous acts have been revealed."

(Revelation 15:1-4)

ATH 173 - The Comings of the Lord

ATH 173

The Coming of the Lord is revealed,
in the end of the church.
At the end of the Jewish church,
the Lord Himself came into the flesh,
and He then revealed Himself
as being God or Jehovah who was to come,
as told in the Prophets,
and still further,
that He it is who rules heaven with the earth,
and who is the one only God.
This, in the Gospels (Matt. 24), is also called His Coming.

Hitherto, however, He has been almost neglected,
because in thought and in idea
He has been like a common man;
in regard to whom there has been
almost no thought of anything Divine,
for the reason that men have in their idea
placed the Divine outside of Him
and not within Him,
as nevertheless He teaches that it is;
and by the Divine outside of Him,
most have understood the Father,
and thus another person;
so that the Lord has been almost neglected in the world,
at the end.
Consequently His new and second Coming is made.
  
 

Those in White Robes

After this I looked and there before me
was a great multitude that no one could count,
from every nation, tribe, people and language,
standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.
They were wearing white robes
and were holding palm branches in their hands.
And they cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb."

All the angels were standing around the throne
and around the elders and the four living creatures.
They fell down on their faces before the throne
and worshiped God, saying:

"Amen!
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks
and honor and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!"

Then one of the elders asked me,
"These in white robes - who are they,
and where did they come from?"

I answered, "Sir, you know."

And he said,
"These are they who have come out of the great tribulation;
they have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore,

"They are before the throne of God
and serve Him day and night in His temple;
and He who sits on the throne will spread His tent over them.
Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their Shepherd;
He will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

(Revelation 7:9-17)

ATH 98 - He Lived Humbly

ATH 98

The Lord lived in so humble a way
as scarcely to be distinguished from an ordinary man,
and not in splendor as God,
that the Jews might not acknowledge Him
as the Messiah from externals,
but from internals . . ..

When They Give Glory, Honor, and Thanks

Whenever the living creatures
give glory, honor and thanks to Him 
who sits on the throne
and who lives for ever and ever,
the twenty-four elders fall down before Him
who sits on the throne,
and worship Him who lives for ever and ever.
They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for You created all things,
and by Your will they were created and have their being."

(Revelation 4:9-11)

The Thought of God

ATH 58

. . . the thought of God as being one,
and that one the Lord,
is the principal and fundamental
in all things in the doctrine of the church;
without that, no one can be saved.

End of John

Jesus did many other things as well.
If every one of them were written down,
I suppose that even the whole world would not have room
for all the books that would be written.

(John 21:25)

ATH 18, 27 - The Divine Human From the Father

ATH 18, 27

Father and Son is the Lord alone.
He is so called for the reason
that He was in the world in the state of union.


. . . the Divine clothed itself with the Human,
according to Divine Order,
from firsts to lasts:
and therefore in the Divine Human was Divine order;
consequently, that thus it fills all things,
or is omnipresent everywhere.

The True Vine and the Branches

"I am the true vine,
and My Father is the gardener.
He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit,
while every branch that does bear fruit
He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
You are already clean
because of the word I have spoken to you.
Remain in Me,
and I will remain in you.
No branch can bear fruit by itself;
it must remain in the vine.
Neither can you bear fruit
unless you remain in Me.

"I am the vine;
you are the branches.
If a man remains in Me and I in him,
he will bear much fruit;
apart from Me you can do nothing.
If anyone does not remain in Me,
he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers;
such branches are picked up,
thrown into the fire and burned.
If you remain in Me
and My words remain in you,
ask whatever you wish,
and it will be given you.
This is to My Father's glory,
that you bear much fruit,
showing yourselves to be My disciples."

(John 15:1-8)

ATH 5, 6 - Thinking About the Lord

ATH 5, 6 (The Athanasian Creed, The Lord)

One who believes in three can in no wise be saved,
but they are saved who believe in one God.

If one thinks of the Divine of the Lord in His Human,
and not of another Divine which they call the Father,
the idea of the thought,
and thence the faith,
does not fall to the left of the Lord,
and thus outside of the Lord,
but in the Lord;
and with the idea is the perception
that no one comes to the Father except through Him,
thus through His Divine Human.
Examine yourselves, you who think of three Persons;
do they not think of another Divine
than that of the Lord Himself,
and thus outside of that when the Father is named? 

Serve and Follow the Light

"Whoever serves Me 
must follow Me;
and where I am,
My  servant also will be.
My Father will honor the one who serves Me."

Then Jesus told them,
"You are going to have the Light just a little while longer.
Walk while you have the Light,
before darkness overtakes you.
The man who walks in the dark
does not know where he is going.
Put your trust in the Light while you have it,
so that you may become sons of light."
When He had finished speaking,
Jesus left and hid himself from them.

(John 12:26, 35-36)

DW 12 [1(1), 4(3)] - Life and Freedom; Anthanasian Creed 99 - The Carpenter's Son

DW 12 [1(1), 4(3)]

What is spiritual can derive its essence from no other source
than the Divine love and the Divine wisdom,
for to love and to be wise is spiritual;
and what is natural can derive its essence
from no other source than pure fire and pure light.

That all things have been created for obedient service to life,
which is the Lord,
follows in its order from this,
that men, and angels who are from them,
have been created to receive life from the Lord,
and are nothing but receptacles,
although in the freedom
in which they are kept by the Lord.
They do not appear to be receptacles;
nevertheless they are so,
both the good and the evil;
for the freedom in which they are kept
is likewise from the Lord.
The life of men and angels is to understand,
and from that to think and speak,
and it is to will and from that to do;
and consequently these belong to life from the Lord,
since they are the effects of life.
All things that have been created in the world
have been created for the use,
for the benefit, and for the delight of men,
some more nearly, some more remotely.
Since, then, these things have been created for man's sake,
it follows that they are for the Lord's service,
who is the life with men.
It may seem as if these things were serviceable for the good,
because they live from the Lord,
and not for the evil;
nevertheless, created things
furnish uses, benefit, and delight,
both to the evil and the good,
for the Lord says that:
 
He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
(Matthew 5:45)
__________________

The Athanasian Creed 99

That He was a carpenter's son,
was because "a worker in wood"
signifies the good of life
from the doctrine of truth.

Jesus Asks "Why Don't You Believe Me?"

Jesus said to them,
"If God were your Father,
you would love Me,
for I came from God and now am here.
I have not come on My own;
but He sent me.
Why is My language not clear to you?
Because you are unable to hear what I say.

. . . Yet because I tell the truth,
you do not believe Me!
Can any of you prove Me guilty of sin?
If I am telling the truth,
why don't you believe Me?
He who belongs to God hears what God says.
The reason you do not hear
is that you do not belong to God."

(John 8:42-43, 45-47)

DW 11 - "How Can I Will and Do?"

DW 11 [3(3)]

If it be asked, "How can I will and do?"
the answer is,
Fight against evils, which are from hell,
and you will both will and do,
not from yourself
but from the Lord,
for when evils are put away
the Lord does all things.

 

The Bread from Heaven

Jesus said to them,
"I tell you the truth,
it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven,
but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God
is He who comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.

(John 6:32-33)

DW 11 - Conjunction With the Lord

DW 11 [1, 2(3)]

. . . to love the Lord
is to love that which is from Him,
which in itself is Divine,
in which the Lord is;
and that this is doing good to the neighbor;
and that this and in no other way
can one be loved by the Lord
and be conjoined to Him through love.

. . . conjunction of the Lord with man is in use;
and the conjunction is such 
and is as great as 
is the love of use,
for the Lord is in use
as He is in the good that is from Him,
and the man who is in the love of use
is in use as if from himself,
and yet he acknowledges
that is not from him,
but is from the Lord.

Jesus and Nicodemus

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus,
a member of the Jewish ruling council.
He came to Jesus at night and said,
"Rabbi, we know You are a teacher who has come from God. 
For no one could perform the miraculous signs You are doing
if God were not with him."

In reply Jesus declared,
"I tell you the truth,
no one can see the kingdom of God
unless he is born again."

"How can a man be born when he is old?"
Nicodemus asked. 
"Surely he cannot enter a second time
into his mother's womb to be born!"

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth,
no one can enter the kingdom of God
unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
Flesh give birth to flesh,
but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
 
. . . Light has come into the world,
but men loved darkness instead of Light
because their deeds were evil.
Everyone who does evil hates the Light,
and will not come into the Light
for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
But whoever lives by the truth
comes into the Light,
so that it may be seen plainly
that what he has done
has been done through God."

(John 3:1-6,19-21)
 

DW 9 - The Divine Love, the Divine Wisdom, Use

DW 9

. . . the Divine love is called the Divine good
from its effect, which is use;
also that the Divine wisdom is called the Divine truth
from its effect, which is use.
For effect is doing and also teaching,
the former having relation to love and the latter to wisdom;
also every effect is a use,
and use is what is called good and truth;
good being the essence of use,
and truth its form.

. . . love is what does and wisdom is what teaches,
and that which love does is good
and that which wisdom teaches is truth . . ..

The Divine wisdom is what is called the Divine providence,
and what is called also Divine order,
and Divine truths are called the laws of the Divine providence,
. . . they are also called the laws of Divine order.
These laws on the one side have regard to the Lord,
and on the other to man,
and on both sides to conjunction.
The Divine love has for its object
to lead and to bring man to itself;
and the Divine wisdom has for its object
to teach man the way in which he must go
that he may come into conjunction with the Lord.
This way the Lord teaches in the Word,
and particularly in the Decalogue;
and on this account the two tables of the Decalogue
were written by the finger of the Lord Himself,
one of which has regard to the Lord and the other to man,
and both to conjunction.

As man is a recipient
both of the Divine love and of the Divine wisdom,
a will has been given him,
and an understanding has been given him,
a will in which he may receive the Divine love,
and an understanding
in which he may receive the Divine wisdom,
the Divine love in the will through life,
and the Divine wisdom in the understanding through doctrine.
 

Nathanael

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching,
He said of him,
"Here is a true Israelite,
in whom there is nothing false."

"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered,
"I saw you while you were still under the fig tree
before Philip called you."

Then Nathanael declared,
"Rabbi, You are the Son of God;
You are the King of Israel."

Jesus said, "You believe
because I told you I saw you under the fig tree.
You shall see greater things than that."
He then added,
"I tell you the truth,
you shall see heaven open,
and the angels of God ascending and descending
on the Son of Man."

(John 1:47-51)

DW 8 - "The First and the Last"

DW 8 [3]

. . . all Divine influx is from first things into ultimates,
and through a connection with ultimates into intermediates,
and thus the Lord binds together all things of creation,
and for this reason He is called "the First and the Last."

For the same reason He came into the world
and put on a human body and therein glorified Himself,
that from firsts and also from ultimates
He might govern the universe,
both heaven and the world.
The same is true of every Divine operation.
This is so because in ultimates all things co-exist,
for all things that are in successive order
are in ultimates in simultaneous order;
consequently all things that are in simultaneous order
are in a continuous connection
with all things in successive order.
This makes clear
that the Divine in the ultimate is in its fullness.

. . . all creation has been effected in ultimates,
and that every Divine operation passes through to ultimates
and there creates and operates.
That the angelic mind is formed in man
is evident from man's formation in the womb,
also from his formation after birth,
also from the law of Divine order
that all things should return from ultimates
to the first from which they are,
and man to the Creator from whom he is.

The Widow's Offering

As He looked up,
Jesus saw the rich
putting their gifts into the temple treasury.
He also saw a poor widow
put in two very small copper coins.

"I tell you the truth," He said,
"this poor widow has put in more than all the others.
All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth;
but she out of her poverty
put in all she had to live on."

(Luke 21: 1-3)

DW 5 - The Receptacle of Love and the Receptacle of Wisdom

DW 5

WITH MAN AFTER BIRTH
THE WILL BECOMES THE RECEPTACLE OF LOVE
AND THE UNDERSTANDING
THE RECEPTACLE OF WISDOM.

It is known that there are two faculties of life in man,
the will and the understanding,
for man can will and he can understand;
he can even understand what he does not will;
from which it is clear
that the will and the understanding
are two distinct things in man,
and that the will is the receptacle of love
and the understanding the receptacle of wisdom.
This also makes clear that love is of the will,
for what a man loves that he also wills,
and that wisdom is of the understanding,
for that in which in a man is wise,
or which he knows,
he sees with the understanding;
the sight of the understanding is thought.
So long as man remains in the womb
he does not have these two faculties;
as . . . nothing whatever of will or of understanding
belongs to the fetus in its formation.

From this it follows
that the Lord has prepared two receptacles,
one for the will of the future man,
and the other for his understanding,
the receptacle called the will for the reception of love,
and the receptacle called the understanding
for the reception of wisdom;
also that He has prepared these
by means of His love and His wisdom;
but these two do not pass into the man
until he has been fully formed for birth.
Moreover, the Lord has provided means
for the more and more full reception in these
of love and wisdom from Himself
as man matures and grows old.

The will and understanding are called receptacles
because the will is not an abstract spiritual thing,
but is a subject substantialized and formed
for the reception of love from the Lord;
and the understanding is not an abstract spiritual thing,
but is a subject substantialized and formed
for the reception of wisdom from the Lord;
for these actually exist;
and although hidden from the sight
they are interiorly in the substances
that constitute the cortex of the brain,
and also here and there i
n the medullary substance of the brain,
especially in the striated bodies,
also interiorly in the medullary substance of the cerebellum,
and in the spinal marrow,
of which they constitute the nucleus.
Thus there are not merely two but innumerable receptacles,
each one doubled and of three degrees,
as has been said above.

That these are receptacles
and that they are there
is clearly evident from this,
that they are the beginnings and heads of all the fibers
out of which the whole body is woven,
and that all the organs of sense and motion
are formed out of fibers that extend from these,
for these are their beginnings and ends.
The sensory organs feel and the motor organs
are moved solely by reason
of their being extensions and continuations
of these dwelling-places of the will and the understanding.
With infants these receptacles are small and tender;
afterwards they receive increase and are perfected
according to knowledges and affections for knowledges;
they are perfected
according to intelligence and the love of uses;
they are made soft according to innocence
and love to the Lord;
and they grow solid and hard from the opposites of these.
Their changes of state are affections;
their variations of form are thoughts;
memory is the existence and permanence of both of these;
and recollection is their reproduction.
The two taken together are the human mind.

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

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)

DW 3 - When You Read This

DW 3

I foresee that when you read this,
some doubts may occur to your mind;
but read to the end,
and afterwards recollect,
and the doubts will disappear.

A Crippled Woman Healed on the Sabbath

On a Sabbath 
Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,
and a woman was there
who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years.
She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.
When Jesus saw her,
He called her forward and said to her,
"Woman you are set free from your infirmity."
Then He put His hands on her,
and immediately she straighten up and praised God.

Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath,
the synagogue ruler said to the people,
"There are six days for work.
So come and be healed on those days,
and not on the Sabbath."

The Lord answered him,
"You hypocrites!
Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath
untie his ox or donkey from the stall
and lead it out to give it water?
Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham,
whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years,
be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?"

When He said this,
all His opponents were humiliated
but the people were delighted
with all the wonderful things He was doing.

(Luke 13:10-17)

DW 1 - "I Am the Light of the World"

Divine Wisdom (DW) 1

IN THE HEAVENS
THE DIVINE WISDOM APPEARS
BEFORE THE EYES OF THE ANGELS AS LIGHT.

In the Lord there is love and there is wisdom.
Love in Him is being (esse),
and wisdom in Him is existence (existere);
nevertheless, these are not two in Him but one;
for wisdom is of love and love is of wisdom;
and from this union,
which is reciprocal,
they become one,
and that one is the Divine love,
which appears in the heavens before the angels as a Sun.
The reciprocal union
of the Divine wisdom and the Divine love 
is meant by these words of the Lord:
 
Philip, do you not believe
that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?
Believe Me, that I am in the Father
and the Father in Me.
(John 14:10, 11)

and by these words:

I and the Father are one.
(John 10:30)

These two, which are one in the Lord,
do, indeed, proceed from Him as a Sun
as two distinct things,
wisdom as light and love as heat;
but they proceed as distinct in appearance,
for in themselves they are not distinct,
for the light is of the heat and the heat is of the light,
and in every least point they are a one,
as is true of our sun;
for whatever proceeds from the sun
is the sun in the least parts,
and thus universally in all.
It is said, every point and least part,
but this does not mean a point or least part of space,
for that does not pertain to the Divine,
for the Divine is spiritual and not natural.

Since wisdom and love proceed from the Lord as a sun
in appearance as two distinct things,
wisdom under the form of light,
and love under the perception of heat,
therefore they are received by the angels as two distinct things,
some receiving more of the heat which is love,
and some more of the light which is wisdom . . ..

The Divine wisdom that appears in the heavens as light
is not light in its essence,
but it clothes itself with light
that it may appear before the sight of the angels.
In its essence wisdom is the Divine truth,
and the light is its appearance and correspondence.
It is the same with the light of wisdom as with the heat of love,
that has been spoken of above.
As light corresponds to wisdom,
and the Lord is the Divine wisdom,
so in the Word, in many passages,
the Lord is called "the light," as in the following:

He was the true light,
that lights every man coming into the world.
(John 1:9)

Jesus said, I am the light of the world,
he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life.
(John 8:12)

Jesus said, Yet a little while is the Light with you;
walk while you have the Light,
lest the darkness seize you.
While you have the Light
believe on the Light,
that you may be the sons of the Light.
I have come a Light into the world,
that whosoever believes on Me
may not abide in darkness.
(John 12:35, 36, 46)

(And in many other passages.)

His Divine wisdom was also represented
by His garments when He was transfigured, that:
 
They appeared as light, glistening and white as snow,
so as no fuller on earth can whiten them.
(Mark 9:3; Matthew 17:2)

"Garments" signify in the Word the truths of wisdom;
and in consequence all angels in the heavens
appear clothed in accordance
with the truths of their knowledge, intelligence and wisdom.

Martha and Mary

As Jesus and His disciples were on their way,
He came to a village
where a woman named Martha
opened her home to Him.
She had a sister called Mary,
who sat at the Lord's feet
listening to what He said.
But Martha was distracted
by all the preparations that had to be made.
She came to Him and asked,
"Lord, don't You care
that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?
Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered,
"you are worried and upset about many things,
but only one thing is needed.
Mary has chosen what is better,
and it will not be taken away from her."

(Luke 10:38-42)

DL 19 - In the Word to Love Means to Perform Uses

DL 19

In the Word to love means to perform uses,
because love is will,
and to will is to do.

. . . to love is to do because it is to will;
for whatever a man loves that he wills;
and what he wills that he does if it is possible;
and if he does not do it because it is not possible,
it still comes into interior act,
which is not made manifest.
For no endeavor or volition can exist in man
unless it comes into ultimates;
and when it is in ultimates it is in interior act,
although this act is not perceived by anyone,
not even by the man himself,
because it exists in his spirit.
From this it is that volition and act are a one,
and that the volition is counted as the act.
This does not apply to the natural world,
because in that world
the interior act of the will does not appear,
but it applies to the spiritual world,
for there it is seen.
For all in the spiritual world act according to their loves;
those who are in heavenly love act sanely;
those who are in infernal love act insanely;
and if because of any fear they do not act,
their will is interiorly active,
but is restrained by them from breaking forth;
nor does this action cease until the volition ceases.

Since, then, the will and the act are a one,
and will is the endeavor of love,
it follows that in the Word "to love"
has no other meaning than to do;
thus that "to love the Lord and to love the neighbor"
means to perform uses to the neighbor from love
which is from the Lord.
That this is so the Lord Himself teaches in John:

He that has My commandments and does them,
he it is that loves Me;
but he that loves Me not
keeps not My words.
(John 14:21, 24)

In the same:

Abide in My love.
If you have kept My commandments
you shall abide in My love.
(John 15:9, 10)
 

Light and Practice

"No one lights a lamp
and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed.
Instead, he puts it on a stand,
so that those who come in can see the light.
For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed,
and nothing concealed that will not be known
or brought out into the open.
Therefore consider carefully how you listen.
Whoever has will be given more;
whoever does not have,
even what he thinks he has
will be taken away."


Now Jesus' mother and brother came to see Him,
but they were not able to get near Him
because of the crowd.
Someone told Him,
"Your mother and brothers
are standing outside,
wanting to see You."

He replied,
"My mother and brothers are those
who hear God's word and put it into practice."

(Luke 8:16-21)

DL 13, 17 - Loving the Lord & the Neighbor and Uses

DL 13 [1, 3]

To love the Lord
means to do uses from Him and for His sake.
To love the neighbor
means to do uses to the church, to one's country,
to human society, and to the fellow-citizen.
To be in the Lord
means to be a use.
And to be a man
means to perform uses to the neighbor
from the Lord for the Lord's sake.
To love the Lord
means to do uses from Him and for His sake,
for the reason that all the good uses
that man does are from the Lord;
good uses are goods,
and it is well known that these are from the Lord.
Loving these is doing them,
for what a man loves he does.
No one can love the Lord in any other way;
for uses, which are goods,
are from the Lord,
and consequently are Divine;
yea they are the Lord Himself with man.

That every least thing in man
from its use
is a man,
does not fall into the natural idea
as it does into the spiritual;
in the spiritual idea
man is not a person, but a use;
for the spiritual idea is apart from an idea of person,
as it is apart from an idea of matter, space, and time;
therefore when one sees another in heaven,
he sees him indeed as a man,
but he thinks of him as a use.

DL 17 [5]

But the spiritual affection of use
is both internal and external,
and it is external or natural
to the same extent that it is spiritual;
for what is spiritual flows into what is natural,
and arranges it in correspondence,
thus into an image of itself.
But as there is in the world at the present day
no knowledge of what the spiritual affection of use is,
and what distinguishes it from the natural affection,
since in outward appearance they are alike,
it shall be told how spiritual affection is acquired.
It is not acquired by faith alone,
which is faith separated from charity,
for such faith is merely a thought-faith,
with nothing actual in it;
and as it is separated from charity
it is also separated from affection,
which is the man himself;
and for this reason it is dissipated after death
like something aerial.
But spiritual affection is acquired
by shunning evils because they are sins;
which is done by means of combat against them.
The evils that man must shun
are all set forth written in the Decalogue.
So far as man fights against them because they are sins
he becomes a spiritual affection,
and thus he performs uses from spiritual life.
By means of combat against evils
those things that possess one's interiors are dispersed;
and these, as has been said above,
with some appear fiery, with some dusky, and with some livid.
In this way one's spiritual mind is opened,
through which the Lord enters into his natural mind
and arranges it for performing spiritual uses
which appear like natural uses.
To these and to no others
is it granted by the Lord
to love Him above all things 
and the neighbor as oneself.
If a man by means of combat against evils as sins
has acquired anything spiritual in the world,
be it ever so small,
he is saved,
and afterwards his uses grow
like a grain of mustard seed into a tree
(according to the Lord's words,
Matt. 13:31, 32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18, 19).

The Lord Asks, Who Will Love Him More?

Now one of the Pharisees
invited Jesus to have dinner with him,
so He went to the Pharisee's house
and reclined at the table.
When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town
learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house,
she brought an alabaster jar of perfume,
and as she stood behind Him at His feet weeping,
she began to wet His feet with her tears.
Then she wiped them with her hair,
kissed them and poured perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this,
he said to himself,
"If this man were a prophet,
He would know who is touching Him
and what kind of woman she is --
that she is a sinner."

Jesus answered him,
"Simon, I have something to tell you."

"Tell me, Teacher," he said.

"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender.
One owed him five hundred denarii,
and the other fifty.
Neither of them had the money to pay him back,
so he canceled the debts of both.
Now which of them will love him more?"

Simon replied,
"I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."

"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon,
"Do you see this woman?
I came into your house.
You did not give Me any water for My feet,
but she wet My feet with her tears
and wiped them with her hair.
You did not give me a kiss,
but this woman, for the time I entered,
has not stopped kissing My feet.
You did not put oil on My head,
but she has poured perfume on My feet.
Therefore, I tell you,
her many sins have been forgiven --
for she loved much.
But he who has been forgiven little loves little."

The Jesus said to her,
"Your sins are forgiven."

The other guests began to say among themselves,
"Who is this who even forgives sins?"

Jesus said to the woman,
Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

(Luke 7:36-50)
 

DL 6 - In the Lord's View

DL 6

In the Lord's view,
the whole human race is as one man;
all in a kingdom are also as one man;
likewise, all in a province, all in a city, and all in a house.
It is not the men themselves that are thus seen together,
but the uses with them.
They that are good uses,
that is, that perform uses from the Lord,
when viewed together,
are seen as a man perfect in form and beautiful;
these are such as perform uses for the sake of the uses;
that is, that love uses because they are uses
of the house, of the city, province,
kingdom, or of the whole world.
But they that perform uses,
not for the sake of uses,
but for the sake of themselves alone, or the world alone,
likewise appear before the Lord as one man,
but as an imperfect and deformed man. 

 

The Birth of the Lord and The Angels Appear to the Shepherds

And it came to pass in those days,
that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be taxed.
(And this taxing was first made
when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee,
out of the city of Nazareth,
into Judaea, unto the city of David,
which is called Bethlehem;
(because he was of the house and lineage of David.)

To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife,
being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there,
the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son,
and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes,
and laid Him in a manger;
because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them,
and the glory of the Lord shone round about them:
and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them,
"Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you;
Ye shall find the Babe
wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace,
good will toward men."

And it came to pass,
as the angels were gone away from them into heaven,
the shepherds said one to another,
Let us now go even unto Bethlehem,
and see this thing which is come to pass,
which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found
Mary, and Joseph,
and the Babe lying in a manger.

And when they had seen it,
they made known abroad the saying
which was told them concerning this child.
And all they that heard it wondered at those things
which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things,
and pondered them in her heart.
And the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for all the things
that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

(Luke 2:1-20)

DL 1 - What Is Love?

Divine Love (DL)  1

IN THE WORLD
IT IS LITTLE C0MPREHENDED WHAT LOVE IS;
AND YET IT IS MAN'S VERY LIFE.

. . . what a man thinks,
that he has knowledge of.

. . . although the understanding,
by means of the thought,
presents itself to be seen,
love does not.
And yet love is the very soul or life of thought,
and if love be taken away
thought grows cold and dies,
like a flower deprived of heat;
for love enkindles, vivifies, and animates thought.

. . . love is the life of the understanding
and of thought therefrom;
and what is the life of the understanding
and of thought therefrom
is also the life of the whole man . . ..

Mary's Song

And Mary said,

My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden:
for, behold, from henceforth
all generations shall call me blessed.
For He that is mighty hath done to me great things;
and holy is His name.

And His mercy is on them that fear Him
from generation to generation.
He hath showed strength with His arm;
He hath scattered the proud
in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seats,
and exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He hath sent empty away.

He hath helped His servant Israel,
in remembrance of His mercy;
as He spake to our fathers,
to Abraham, and to His seed for ever.

(Luke 1:46-55)

AE 1231 - "Adore God"

AE 1231

Adore God
(Revelation 19:10)

signifies that the Lord
is to be acknowledged and worshiped from the heart.
This is evident from the signification of "God,"
as being the Lord,
since no other is the God of heaven and earth;
also from the signification of "to adore"
as being to acknowledge, confess, and worship
from the heart. 

Jesus on Trial Before the Sanhedrin

They took Jesus to the high priest,
and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law
came together.

The chief priest and the whole Sanhedrin
were looking for evidence against Jesus
so that they could put Him to death,
but they did not find any.
Many testified falsely against Him,
but their statements did not agree.

Again the high priest asked Him,
"Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"

"I am," said Jesus.
"And you will see the Son of Man
sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One
and coming on the clouds of heaven."

The high priest tore his clothes.
"Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked.
"You have heard the blasphemy.
What do you think?"

They all condemned Him as worthy of death.
Then some began to spit at Him;
they blindfolded Him,
struck Him with their fists, and said, "Prophesy!"
And the guards took Him and beat Him.

(Mark 14:53, 55-56, 61-65)

AE 1226 - Loving the Lord, the Neighbor, and Being Useful

AE 1226 [7]

. . . no one can be kept by the Lord in love to the neighbor
unless he is in some love for the public good;
and no one can be in that love
unless he is in the love of use for the sake of use,
or in the love of use from use,
thus from the Lord.

Believe and Forgive

In the morning, as they went along,
they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.
Peter remembered and said to Jesus,
"Rabbi, look!  The fig tree You cursed has withered!"

"Have faith in God," Jesus answered.
"I tell you the truth,
if anyone says to this mountain,
'Go, throw yourself into the sea,'
and does not doubt in his heart
but believes that what he says will happen,
it will be done for him.
Therefore I tell you,
whatever you ask for in prayer,
believe that you have received it,
and it will be yours.
And when you stand praying,
if you hold anything against anyone,
forgive him,
so that your Father in heaven
may forgive you your sins."

(Mark 11:20-26)

AE 1217 - For the Lord God, the Almighty Reigns

AE 1217

Saying, Alleluia for the Lord God, the Almighty reigns,
(Revelation 19:6)

signifies joy and gladness
that the Lord has now a kingdom on the earth
as in the heavens.
This is evident from the signification of "Alleluia,"
as being an expression of glorification of the Lord
from joy of heart.
The two expressions, joy and gladness are used
because in the Word "joy" is predicated of good,
and "gladness" of truth,
and here both the angels that were in truths
and those that were in goods said "Alleluia."
It is evident also from the signification of
"the Lord God, the Almighty, reigns"
as being that His kingdom is on the earth as in the heavens,
which means that when the good
have been separated from the evil,
and the evil have been cast into hell,
all the good came into a better state
for receiving truth and good from the Lord,
a state in which they had not been before.
For so long as they were held in connection with the evil,
if they had received goods and truths
they would have defiled and perverted them.
For the same reason
interior truths were not revealed on the earth
until that separation had been effected
by means of the Last Judgment. 

And All Who Touched Him

When they had crossed over,
they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there.
As soon as they got out of the boat,
people recognized Jesus.
They ran throughout that whole region
and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was.
And wherever He went --
into villages, towns or countryside --
they placed the sick in the marketplaces.
They begged Him
to let them touch even the edges of His cloak,
and all who touched Him were healed.

(Mark 6:53-56)

AE 1210

Saying, Praise God, all ye His servants,
(Revelation 19:5)
signifies worship of the Lord by those who are in truths.

"To praise God" signifies confession and worship,
because the Lord has no wish to be praised and glorified
from any love of Himself,
but only from His love for man,
for man must needs praise and glorify the Lord,
that is, give praise and glory to Him,
when he acknowledges in heart
that there is nothing of good in himself,
and that he can do nothing of himself,
and on the other hand,
that all good is from the Lord,
and that the Lord can do all things.
When man is in this acknowledgment
he puts aside what is his own [proprium],
which belongs to the love of self,
and opens all things of his mind,
and thus gives room for the Divine to flow in
with good and with power.
This is why it is necessary
for man to be in humiliation before the Lord,
and why humiliation can be from no other source
than self-acknowledgment
and acknowledgment of the Lord . . ..

Dinner at Levi's House

Once again Jesus went out beside the Lake.
A large crowd came to Him,
and He began to teach them.
As He walked along,
He saw Levi son of Alphaeus
sitting at the tax collector's booth.
"Follow Me," Jesus told him,
and Levi got up and followed Him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house,
many tax collectors and "sinners"
were eating with Him and His disciples,
for there were many who followed Him.
When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees
saw Him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors,
they asked His disciples:
"Why does He eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

On hearing this, Jesus said to them,
"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

(Mark 2:13-17)

AE 1206 - "To Fall Down"

AE 1206

And the twenty-four elders and the four animals fell down
(Revelation 19:4)

signifies humiliation of heart of the higher heavens.
. . . "To fall down" means humiliation of heart,
because falling down upon the knees and upon the face
is a gesture corresponding to inmost humiliation,
which is called humiliation of heart;
for by creation there are gestures
corresponding to every affection,
and a man falls into them spontaneously
when he comes into the affection,
provided he has not learned
to counterfeit affections that are foreign to him;
while one who has learned to do so
takes on gestures from himself
by which he depicts affections of the heart,
although they do not belong at all to his heart.
Such can fall down before God,
but it is a purely counterfeit act.

This has been said to make known
that "falling down before God"
means to act from inmost affection,
which is called humiliation of heart;
this precedes worship,
which is an act of the lips. 

John the Baptist Fulfills Isaiah's Prophecy

The beginning of the gospel
about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

It is written in Isaiah the prophet:

"I will send My messenger ahead of You,
who will prepare Your way" --
" voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for Him.'"

And so John came,
baptizing in the desert region
and preaching a baptism
of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
The whole Judean countryside
and all the people of Jerusalem
went out to him.
Confessing their sins,
they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
John wore clothing made of camel's hair,
with a leather belt around his waist,
and he ate locusts and wild honey.
And this was his message:

"After me will come One more powerful than I,
the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy
to stoop down and untie.
I baptize you with water,
but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

(Mark 1:1-8 from Isaiah 40:3)

AE 1197 - Alleluia

AE 1197

Saying, Alleluia,
(Revelation 19:1)

signifies the glorification of the Lord,
as is evident from the signification of "Alleluia,"
as being the glorification of the Lord;
for in the original language
"Alleluia" means, Praise ye God,
and thus, Glorify ye the Lord.

A Prophecy Through Zechariah To Be Fulfilled

Then Jesus told them,
"This very night you will all fall away in account of Me,
for it is written:

"'I will strike the Shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'

But after I have risen,
I will go ahead of you unto Galilee."

(Matthew 26:31-32 from Zechariah 13:7)

AE 1193, 1194 - Uses and the Neighbor

AE 1193 [2,3,4], 1194

To love uses is nothing else than to love the neighbor,
for use in the spiritual sense is the neighbor.

Use is the neighbor,
because every man is valued and loved
not for his will and understanding alone,
but for the uses he performs
or is able to perform from these.

When man loves uses by doing them in the first place,
and loves the world and self in the second place,
the former constitutes his spiritual and the latter his natural;
and the spiritual rules,
and the natural serves.
. . . This is the meaning of the Lord's words in Matthew:

Seek ye first the kingdom of the heavens and its justice,
and all things shall be added unto you.
(Matthew 6:33)

"The kingdom of the heavens"
means the Lord and His church,
and "justice" means spiritual, moral, and civil good;
and every good that is done from the love of these is a use.
Then "all things shall be added,"
because when use is in the first place,
the Lord, from whom is all good,
is in the first place and rules,
and gives whatever contributes to eternal life and happiness;
for, as has been said,
all things of the Lord's Divine providence pertaining to man
look to what is eternal.
"All things that shall be added"
refer to food and raiment,
because food means everything internal
that nourishes the soul,
and raiment everything external
that like the body clothes it.
Everything internal has reference to love and wisdom,
and everything external to wealth and eminence.

As man was created to perform uses,
and this is to love the neighbor,
so all who come into heaven,
however many there are,
must do uses.
All the delight and blessedness of these
is according to uses and to the love of uses.
Heavenly joy is from no other source.
He who believes that such joy is possible in idleness
is much deceived.
. . . No idle person is tolerated even in hell. 
The difference is
that in hell uses are done from fear,
but in heaven from love;
and fear does not give joy,
but love does. 

 

The Children

The blind and the lame came to Him at the temple,
and He healed them.
But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law
saw the wonderful things He did
and the children shouting in the temple area,
"Hosanna to the Son of David,"
they were indignant.

"Do you hear what these children are saying?"
they asked Him.

"Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read,
"'From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise'?"

And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany,
where He spent the night.
__________

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,
how often I have longed to gather your children together,
as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,
but you were not willing.
Look, your house is left to you desolate.
For I tell you,
you will not see Me again until you say,
'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

(Matthew 21:14-17; 23:37-38)

AE 1190 - To Love Wisdom Is To Love Uses

AE 1190 [2]

To love wisdom is to love uses that are true uses,
and to love knowledge is to love
the cognitions of good and truth for the sake of such uses.
When uses are loved more than self and the world,
and the cognitions of good and truth
are loved for the sake of uses,
uses have the first place
and eminence and wealth the second place;
and this is the case with all
who are eminent and rich in the heavens.
They look upon the eminence they have from wisdom,
and the wealth they have from knowledge,
just as a man looks upon his garments.
 

The Temple Tax

After Jesus and His disciples arrived in Capernaum,
the Collectors of the two-drachma tax
came to Peter and asked,
"Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?"

"Yes, He does," he replied.

When Peter came into the house,
Jesus was the first to speak.
"What do you think, Simon?" He asked.
"From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes --
from their own sons or from others?"

"From others," Peter answered.

"Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him.
"But so that we may not offend them,
go to the lake and throw out your line.
Take the first fish you catch;
open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin.
Take it and give it to them for My tax and yours."

(Matthew 17:24-27)

AE 1179 - The Lord Provides That Everyone Can Be Saved

AE 1179 [2-4]

The Lord flows in continually
with an abundance of the good of love,
but He cannot be conjoined to man
in the fullness of the truth of faith,
but only in that which is with man,
and this varies;
it can be given in greater fullness
with those who are where the Word is,
and in less fullness with those
who are where there is no Word;
and yet the fullness varies in both
in proportion to their knowledge
and their life according to it,
and consequently it may be greater
with those who have not the Word
than with those who have it.

The conjunction of God with man
and of man with God
is taught in the two tables
that were written with the finger of God,
and called "the tables of the covenant,"
"of the testimony," and "of the law."
In one table is God, in the other man.
All nations that have any religion have these tables;
from the first table
they know that God must be acknowledged,
regarded as holy, and worshiped;
from the other table
they know that they must not steal,
either openly or secretly by crafty devices;
that they must not commit adultery;
that they must not kill either by the hand or by hatred;
that they must not bear false witness
in a court of justice or before the world;
and also that they must not will these things.
From his table
man knows the evils that must be shunned,
and just so far as he knows them
and shuns them as if from himself,
God conjoins the man to Himself
and enables him from His table
to acknowledge Him,
to regard Him as holy,
and to worship Him,
and also enables him not to will evils,
and so far as he does not will evils
to know truths in abundance.
Thus these two tables are conjoined with man,
and God's table is placed above man's table,
and they are put as one table into the ark,
over which is the mercy-seat,
which is the Lord,
and over the mercy-seat the two cherubim
which are the Word and what is from the Word,
in which the Lord speaks with man
as he spoke with Moses and Aaron between the cherubim.

Since, then, there is conjunction of the Lord with man
and of man with the Lord by these means,
evidently everyone who knows them
and lives according to them,
not merely from the civil and moral law,
but also from the Divine law,
will be saved;
thus everyone in his own religion,
whether Christian or Mohammedan or Gentile.
And what is more,
a man who from religion lives these truths,
even if in the world he knows nothing about the Lord,
nor anything else from the Word,
yet he is in such a state as to his spirit
that he wishes to become wise;
consequently after death he is instructed by the angels
and acknowledges the Lord
and receives truths according to his affection
and becomes an angel.
Every such person is like a man who dies an infant,
for he is led by the Lord and is educated by the angels.
Those who from ignorance
and from having been born in such a place
have known nothing of worship,
are after death instructed like little children,
and according to their civil and moral life
receive the means of salvation.
I have seen such, and at first they did not appear like men;
but afterwards I saw them as men,
and heard them speaking sanely
from the commandments of the Decalogue.
To instruct such is the inmost angelic joy.
From all this it is now clear
that the Lord provides that every man can be saved.

A Prophecy From Psalms Fulfilled

Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables;
He did not say anything to them without using a parable.
So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

"I will open My mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world."

(Matthew 13:34-35 from Psalm 78:2)

AE 1174 - The Lord Gently, Quietly Leads As If By the Hand

AE 1174 [2-3]

The affections of man,
from which are his thoughts,
have extension
into societies in the spiritual world on every side,
into more or fewer of them
according to the amount and quality of the affection.
Man as to his spirit is within these societies,
and to them he is attached as it were with extended cords,
which determine the space where he can walk.
As he passes from one affection into another,
so he passes from one society into another,
and the society he is in,
and the place where he is in the society,
is the center from which the affection and its thought
extends to other societies as circumferences,
and these are thus in unbroken connection
with the affection at the center,
and from that affection man then thinks and speaks.

Man acquires this sphere,
which is the sphere of his affections and thoughts therefrom,
while he is in the world;
from hell if he is evil,
from heaven if he is good.
Of this man is ignorant,
because he does not know that such things exist.
Through these societies man, that is, man's mind,
although bound walks free;
but he is led by the Lord,
and he takes no step into which and from which
the Lord does not lead;
and yet the Lord grants continually
that man shall have no other thought
than that he goes of himself in full liberty;
and he is permitted to persuade himself of this
because it is according to a law of the Divine providence
that man shall go whithersoever his affection wills.
If his affection is evil
he is conveyed through infernal societies;
and if he does not look to the Lord
he is carried into these societies more interiorly and deeply.
And yet the Lord leads him as if by the hand,
permitting and withholding
as far as man is willing to follow in freedom.
But if man looks to the Lord
he is led forth from these societies gradually,
according to the order and connection in which they stand,
which order and connection no one knows
but the Lord only,
and thus he is brought by continual steps
out of hell up towards heaven and into heaven.


The Lord does this without the man's knowing it,
because if man knew it
he would disturb the continuity of that process
by leading himself.
It is enough for man to learn truths from the Word,
and by means of truths to know what good is,
and from truths and goods what evils and falsities are,
in order that he may be affected by truths and goods,
and not be affected by falsities and evils.
Before he knows goods and truths
he may have a knowledge of evils and falsities,
but he is not able to see them and perceive them.
In this and in no other way
can man be led from one affection into another
in freedom and as if of himself.
This is done
by leading according to the affection of truth and good
when man acknowledges
the Lord's Divine providence in every particular;
and it is done by permission
according to an affection for evil and falsity
when man does not acknowledge such a providence.
So, too, man becomes capable of receiving intelligence
corresponding to affection;
and this he receives so far as from truths
he fights against evils as if of himself.
This must be revealed,
because it is not known
that the Divine providence is continual,
and enters into the most minute things of man's life,
and because it is not known how this can be.

A Prophecy Through Isaiah Fulfilled

But the Pharisees went out
and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

Aware of this,
Jesus withdrew from that place.
Many followed Him,
and He healed all their sick,
warning them not to tell who He was.
This was to fulfill what was spoken
through the prophet Isaiah:

"Here is My servant whom I have chosen,
the One I love, in whom I delight;
I will put My Spirit on Him,
and He will proclaim justice to the nations.
He will not quarrel or cry out;
no one will hear His voice in the streets.
A bruised reed He will not break,
and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out,
till He leads justice to victory.
In His name the nations will put their hope."

(Matthew 12:14-21 from Isaiah 42:14)

AE 1171 - The Love of the Will

AE 1171 (continuation #4)

The love of the will
gives intelligence according to its quality.
Natural love from spiritual love
gives intelligence in civil and moral matters;
but spiritual love in natural love
gives intelligence in spiritual matters;
but merely natural love
and the conceit that comes from it
does not give intelligence in spiritual matters,
but gives the ability to confirm whatever it pleases,
and after confirmation so infatuates the understanding
that it sees falsity as truth, and evil as good. 

I Have Come

"Do not think that I have come
to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them
but to fulfill them.
I tell you the truth,
until heaven and earth disappear,
not the smallest letter,
not the least stroke of a pen,
will by any means disappear from the Law
until everything is accomplished."

(Matthew 5:17-18)

AE 1162, 1163, 1166 - Turning

AE 1162 [2], 1163, 1166

The eighth law of the Divine providence is
that the Lord is continually withdrawing man from evils
so far as man is willing from freedom to be withdrawn;
that so far as man can be withdrawn from evils
the Lord leads him to good and thus to heaven;
but so far as man cannot be withdrawn from evils
the Lord cannot lead him to good and thus to heaven;
for so far as man has been withdrawn from evils
so far he does good from the Lord,
and that good is good in itself;
but so far as he has not been withdrawn from evils,
so far he does good from himself,
and that good has evil within it.


. . . the interiors of all things of the human mind,
and with them the interiors of all things of the spirit,
are capable of being turned
either downwards or upwards.
They are turned downwards
when man loves himself above all things;
and they are turned upwards
when he loves the Lord above all things.
This is an actual turning.
Man from himself turns them downwards,
while the Lord from Himself turns them upwards.
The ruling love is what turns.
Thoughts do not turn the interiors of the mind
except so far as they are derived from the will.
That all this is true man does not know;
and yet he ought to know it
in order that he may understand
how he is led out of hell and led into heaven by the Lord.


The Lord alone resists the evils with man by Himself
and not through any angels of heaven,
because to resist evils with man
is a work of Divine omnipotence,
Divine omniscience,
and Divine providence.

An Angel Appears to Joseph

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about:
His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph,
but before they came together,
she was found to be with Child through the Holy Spirit.
Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man
and did not want to expose her to public disgrace,
he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
"Joseph son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife,
because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a Son,
and you are to give Him the name Jesus,
because He will save His people from their sins."

All this took place
to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
"The virgin will be with Child
and will give birth to a Son,
and they will call Him Immanuel" --
which means "God with us."

When Joseph woke up,
he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took Mary home as his wife.
But he had no union with her
until she gave birth to a Son.
And he gave Him the name Jesus.

(Matthew 2:18-25)