** He Who Has an Ear (con't) **

To the Church in Sardis

"He who overcomes will, like them,
be dressed in white.
I will never blot out his name from the book of life,
but will acknowledge his name
before My Father and His angels.
He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To the Church in Philadelphia

"I am coming soon.
Hold on to what you have,
so that no one will take your crown.
Him who overcomes
I will make a pillar in the temple of My God.
Never again will he leave it.
I will write on him the name of My God
and the name of the city of My God,
the New Jerusalem,
which is coming down out of heaven from My God;
and I will also write on him My new name.
He who as an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To the Church in Laodicea

"To him who overcomes,
I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne,
just as I overcame
and sat down with My father on His throne.
He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

(Revelation 3:5-6, 11-13, 21-22)

AC 2215, 2216 - Sarah's Laughter

AC 2215

Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not,
for she was afraid.
(Genesis 18:15)

That this signifies that human rational truth
wished to excuse itself,
because it observed that it was not such
as it ought to be . . ..

AC 2216

. . . the meaning of 'Laughing' or laughter -
that by it is meant
an affection belonging to the rational,
and indeed the affection for truth or for falsity
within the rational,
which affection is the source of all laughter.
So long as there is in the rational
such an affection as displays itself in laughter,
so long there is in it something corporeal or worldly,
and thus merely human.
Celestial good and spiritual good do not laugh,
but express their delight and cheerfulness in the face,
the speech, and the gesture, in another way;
for there are very many things in laughter,
for the most part something of contempt,
which, even if it does not appear,
nevertheless lies concealed;
and laughter is easily distinguished
from cheerfulness of the mind,
which also produces something similar to it.
The state of the human rational with the Lord
is described by Sarah's laughter,
by which is meant the kind of affection
with which the truth belonging to the rational,
at that time separated from good,
regarded what was said,
namely that it was to be cast off and the Divine put on.
Not that the Lord laughed
but that He perceived from the Divine
what the nature still was of the rational with Him
and how much of the human was still present in it,
and which was to be expelled.
This is what is signified in the internal sense
by 'Sarah's laughter'.
 

The Coming of the Son of Man

"No one knows about that day or hour,
not even the angels in heaven,
nor the Son,
but only the Father.
As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

(Matthew 24:36-37)

Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus,
"Are You not going to answer?
What is this testimony
that these men are bringing against You?"
But Jesus remained silent.

The high priest said to Him,
"I charge You under oath by the living God:
Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God."

"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
"But I say to all of you:
In the future you will see the Son of Man
sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One
and coming on the clouds of heaven."

(Matthew 26:62-64)

** He Who Has an Ear **

To the Church of Ephesus

He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To him who overcomes,
I will give the right to eat from the tree of life,
which is in the paradise of God.

To the Church in Smyrna

He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
He who overcomes will not be hurt at all
by the second death.

To the Church in Pergamum

He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To him who overcomes,
I will give some of the hidden manna.
I will also give him a white stone
with a new name written on it,
known only to him who receives it.

To the Church in Thyatira

He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

(Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29)

AC 2196 - What We Suppose

AC 2196 [3-14]

. . . (When) it is stated that man has no life
except what is from the Lord,
the rational supposes from appearances
that in that case man cannot live as of himself;
whereas he for the first time truly lives
when he perceives that he does so from the Lord. 

The rational supposes from appearances
that the good which man does is from himself,
and yet there is nothing of good from self,
but all is from the Lord.

From appearances the rational supposes
that man merits salvation when he does what is good;
whereas of himself man can merit nothing,
but all merit is the Lord's. 

From appearances man supposes
that when he is withheld from evil
and is kept in good by the Lord,
there is nothing with him
but what is good and just, indeed, holy;
whereas there is nothing in man
but what is evil, unjust, and profane. 

From appearances man supposes
that when he does what is good from charity,
he does it from his will;
whereas it is not from his will part,
but from his intellectual part,
in which charity has been implanted. 

From appearances man supposes
that there can be no glory
without the glory of the world;
whereas in the glory of heaven
there is not a particle of the world's glory.

From appearances man supposes
that no one can love his neighbor more than himself,
but that all love begins from self;
when yet in heavenly love
there is nothing of the love of self. 

From appearances man supposes
that there can be no light
but that which is from the light of the world;
whereas in the heavens
there is not one whit of the light of the world,
and yet the light is so great
that it surpasses the world's noon day light
a thousand times. 

From appearances man supposes
that the Lord cannot shine
before the universal heaven as a sun;
when yet all the light of heaven is from Him. 

From appearances man cannot apprehend
that in the other life there are motions forward;
whereas those who are there
appear to themselves to move forward
just as do men on earth --
in their dwellings, courts, and paradises;
and still less can he apprehend
if it is said that these movings forward
are changes of state, which so appear. 

Nor can man from appearances apprehend
that spirits and angels,
who are invisible before our eyes,
can be seen;
nor that they can speak with man;
when yet they appear to the internal sight,
or that of the spirit,
more manifestly than man does to man on earth;
and their voices are heard as distinctly;
besides thousands of thousands of such things,
which man's rational, from its own light,
born from things of sense, and thereby darkened,
cannot possibly believe.
Indeed, the rational is blinded
in natural things themselves,
not being able to apprehend, for instance,
how those who dwell on the opposite side of the globe
can stand on their feet and walk;
and it is the same with very many other things.
How blind then must the rational not be
in spiritual and heavenly things,
which are far above natural things?

As the human rational is of such a character,
it is here said of it that it was separated
when the Lord in Divine perception
was united to the Divine,
which is signified by the standing of Sarah
(who is here such rational truth)
at the door of the tent,
and by this being behind him.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem

"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 23:37-39)

** "I Am The First and the Last." **

On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit,
and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
which said:
"Write on a scroll what you see
and send it to the seven churches:
to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira,
Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."

I turned around to see the voice
that was speaking to me.
And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
and among the lampstands was someone
"like a Son of Man,"
dressed in a robe reaching down to His feet
and with a golden sash around His chest.
His head and hair were white like wool,
as white as snow,
and His eyes were like blazing fire.
His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace,
and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters.
In His right and He held seven stars,
and out of His mouth
came a sharp double-edged sword.
His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

When I saw Him,
I fell at His feet as though dead.
Then He placed His right hand on me and said:
"Do not be afraid.
I am the First and the Last.
I am the Living One;
I was dead,
and behold I am alive for ever and ever!
And I hold the keys of death and Hades."

(Revelation 1:10-18)

AC 2189, 2190 - It Takes Truth and Good Working Together

AC 2189 [2-3]

With man the primary thing of the rational is truth,
that is, in charity,
that so the man may receive the life of charity.
It is on this account that the affection of truth in man
is predominant in his rational.
For it is the case with the life of charity
(which is the heavenly life itself)
that with those
who are being reformed and regenerated
it is continually being born and growing up
and receiving increments,
and this by means of truths;
therefore the more of truth there is insinuated,
the more is the life of charity perfected;
wherefore
according to the quality and quantity of truth,
so is the charity with a man.

From all this it may in some measure be evident
how the case is with man's rational.
In truth, however, there is no life, but in good.
Truth is only a recipient of life, that is, of good.
Truth is as the clothing or garment of good;
therefore also truths are called in the Word
"clothing," and also "garments."
But when good constitutes the rational,
truth disappears and becomes as if it were good.
Good then shines through the truth,
in the same way as takes place with the angels,
for when they appear clothed,
it is a brightness inducing the appearance of raiment,
as was the case also
when angels appeared before the prophets.

AC 2190

All good is called holy
from the fact that it is of love and charity,
which are solely from the Lord.
But such as are the goods,
such are the holinesses.
Goods are formed, that is,
are born and grow up,
by means of the truths of faith,
and their quality and quantity
are therefore determined
by those of the truth of faith 
implanted in charity,
from which it follows
that goods or the holinesses differ with everyone;
and although in the external form
they may appear to be alike,
yet in the internal forms they are unlike;
and this both with those who are out of the church
and with those who are within the church.
There are more things
in the good of charity with a man
than man can possibly believe.
All the things of his faith are in it,
and consequently
they are in the holiness of his worship.
The quality of the holiness of his worship
appears to the angels as in clear day,
although the man knows nothing
beyond the fact that he is in a certain holy state.
Myriads of myriads of his thoughts
concerning the goods and truths of faith
and of the derivative affections,
are in the holiness of his state.

Jesus at the Temple

Jesus entered the temple area
and drove out all who were 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.'"

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.

(Matthew 21:12-17)

AC 2183 - Conflict, Serenity of Peace

AC  2183  [2-4]

. . .  the majority do not know
that every person possesses
an internal, a rational, and a natural,
and that these three are quite distinct
and separate from one another,
so distinct in fact
that one can be at variance with another.
That is to say, the rational,
which is called the rational man,
can be at variance with the natural,
which is the natural man;
indeed the rational man is able 
to see and perceive evil that is in the natural,
and if it is a genuine rational,
is able to correct it.
Before these two have been joined together
man is unable to be whole
or to experience the serenity of peace,
since the one is in conflict with the other.
For the angels present with a person
govern his rational,
while the evil spirits present with him
govern his natural -
and this gives rise to conflict.

If in this conflict the rational prevails,
the natural is placed in subjection,
and the man is thus endowed with conscience;
but if the natural prevails,
he is not able to receive any conscience at all.
If the rational prevails,
his natural becomes as though it too was rational;
but if the natural prevails,
the rational becomes as though it too was natural.
In addition, if the rational prevails,
angels draw nearer to that person,
implanting within him charity,
a celestial quality
which comes through the angels from the Lord;
and at the same time the evil spirits
move some distance away from him.
But if the natural prevails,
the angels move further away, that is,
more towards his interiors,
and the evil spirits draw nearer to the rational,
constantly attack it,
and fill the lower parts of his mind
with forms of hatred, revenge, deceit, and the like.
If the rational prevails,
the man enters into the serenity of peace,
and in the next life into the peace of heaven;
but if the natural prevails,
though during his lifetime
he seems to experience serenity,
he enters in the next life
into the unrest and torment of hell.

From these considerations one may know
the nature of a person's state so far as his rational
and so far as his natural are concerned.
There is nothing else that can bring him
blessing and happiness
except the conformity of his natural to the rational
when both are joined together.
This is achieved solely by means of charity;
and charity originates wholly in the Lord.

Jesus Explains the Parable of the Weeds

Then He left the crowd and went into the house.
His disciples came to Him and said,
"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

He answered,
"The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.
The field is the world,
and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom.
The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
and the enemy who sows them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the age,
and the harvesters are angels.

"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire,
so it will be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send out His angels,
and they will weed out of His kingdom
everything that causes sin
and all who do evil.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine
like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
He who has ears, let him hear.

(Matthew13:36-43)

 

AC 2170 - Make Ready

AC 2170

And Abraham hastened toward the tent unto Sarah,
and said, Make ready quickly
three measures of meal of fine flour,
knead, and make cakes. "
(Genesis 18:6)

Abraham hastened toward the tent unto Sarah,"
signifies the Lord's
rational good conjoined with His truth;
"Abraham" is here the Lord in that state as to good;
"Sarah," as to truth;
the "tent," as to the holy of love:
"and said," signifies 
the state of perception relatively at that time;
"make ready quickly
three measures of meal of fine flour,
knead, and make cakes,"
signifies the celestial of His love in that state;
"three" denotes what is holy;
"meal of fine flour,"
is the spiritual and the celestial of the rational
which were then with the Lord;
"cakes" denote the same when both are conjoined.
 

Jesus Heals A Paralytic

Jesus stepped into a boat,
crossed over and came to His own town.
Some men brought to Him a paralytic,
lying on a mat.
When Jesus saw their faith,
He said to the paralytic,
"Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."

At this, some of the teachers of the law
said to themselves, "This Fellow is blaspheming!"

Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said,
"Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?
Which is easier:
to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,'
or to say, 'Get up and walk'?
But so that you may know that the Son of Man
has authority on earth to forgive sins . . .."
Then He said to the paralytic,
"Get up, take your mat and go home."
And the man got up and went home.
When the crowd saw this,
they were filled with awe;
and they praised God,
who had given such authority to men.

(Matthew 9:1-8)

AC 2162 - Clean Worship

AC 2162 [12]

. . . external worship is clean
when there is internal worship within it.

Ask, Seek, Knock

"Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives;
he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks,
the door will be opened.

"Which if you, if his son asks for bread,
will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish,
will give him a snake?
If you, then, though you are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven
give good gifts to those who ask Him!
So in everything,
do to others what you would have them do to you,
for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

(Matthew 7:7-12)

AC 2148 - "Eyes"

AC 2148

He lifted up his eyes.
(Genesis 18:2)

That this signifies that the Lord saw within Himself,
is evident from the signification of
"lifting up the eyes."
By "eyes" in the Word is signified the interior sight,
or the understanding . . ..
Therefore to "lift up the eyes"
means to see and perceive things
which are above self.
Things that are interior are expressed in the Word
by those which are higher, as
"looking upward,"
"lifting up the eyes to heaven,"
"thinking high things,"
the reason of which is
that man supposes heaven to be on high,
or above himself;
when yet it is not on high,
but is in things internal --
as when a man is in the celestial things of love,
his heaven is then within him.
From this it follows that to "lift up the eyes"
signifies to see within oneself.

Jesus Heals the Sick

Jesus went throughout Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues,
preaching the good news of the kingdom,
and healing every disease
and sickness among the people.
News about Him spread all over Syria,
and people brought to Him
all who were ill with various diseases,
those suffering severe pain,
the demon-possessed,
those having seizures,
and the paralyzed,
and He healed them.
Large crowds from Galilee, 
the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea 
and the region across the Jordan
followed Him.

(Matthew 4:23-25)

AC 2134 - "Cloud" and "Glory"

AC 2134 [2]

. . . a "cloud" signifies the Word in its letter,
and "glory" the Word in its life.

"I Will Do These Things," says the Lord

"Surely the day is coming;
it will burn like a furnace.
All the arrogant and every evil doer will be stubble,
and that day that is coming will set them on fire,"
says the Lord Almighty.
"Not a root or a branch will be left to them.
But for you who revere My name,
the sun of righteousness will rise
with healing in its wings.
And you will go out
and leap like calves released from the stall.
Then you will trample down the wicked;
they will be ashes under the soles of your feet
on the day when I do these things,"
says the Lord Almighty.

(Malachi 4:1-3)

AC 2129 - Two Conversations

AC 2129 [3-4]

The matters which they reasoned about were chiefly these:
whether it is to be understood according to the letter
that the twelve apostles are to sit upon twelve thrones
and judge the twelve tribes of Israel;
also, whether any others are to be admitted into heaven
than those who have suffered persecutions and miseries.
Each one reasoned according to his fantasy,
which he had caught in the life of the body.
But some of them
who had been brought back into communion and order,
were afterwards instructed
that the statement concerning the apostles
is to be understood in an entirely different manner;
namely, by the "apostles" are not meant apostles,
nor by "thrones," thrones,
nor by "tribes," tribes,
nor in fact by "twelve," twelve;
but by all these terms --
"apostles," "thrones," "tribes," and also by "twelve,"
are signified the primary things of faith;
and it is from these and according to them
that judgment is effected upon everyone.
It was further shown
that the apostles cannot judge even one man,
but that all judgment is of the Lord alone. 

As regards the second point which they reasoned about,
neither is this to be understood as meaning
that those only are to come into heaven
who have suffered persecutions and miseries;
but that the rich will enter heaven just as much as the poor,
those posted in dignity
just as much as those in low condition;
and that the Lord has mercy on all,
especially on those who have been in
spiritual miseries and temptations,
which are persecutions by the evil --
thus on those who acknowledge
that of themselves they are wretched,
and who believe that it is solely of the Lord's mercy
that they are saved.

The Lord Will Bless Jerusalem

This is what the Lord says:
"I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem.
Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth,
and the mountain of the Lord Almighty
will be called the Holy Mountain."

This is what the Lord Almighty says:
"Once again men and women of ripe old age
will sit in the streets of Jerusalem,
each with cane in hand because of his age.
The city streets will be filled
with boys and girls playing there."

This is what the Lord Almighty says:
"It may seem marvelous
to the remnant of this people at this time,
but will it seem marvelous to Me?"
declares the Lord Almighty.

(Zechariah 8:3-6)

AC 2116 - How We Live

AC 2116 [2-3]

. . . those who have meditated and practiced
acts of hatred, of revenge, of cruelty, and of adultery,
and who thereby have lived in no charity,
the life they have acquired in doing so
awaits them after death,
indeed, so do all things of that life
both in general and in particular,
which return in succession;
and from this comes their torment in hell.

But with those who have lived
in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor,
their evils of life also all remain,
but they are tempered by the goods
which during their life in the world
they have received from the Lord
by means of a life of charity;
and thereby they are uplifted into heaven,
indeed, are withheld from the evils
which they have with them,
so that these do not appear.
Those who in the other life
doubt their having evils with them,
because the evils do not appear,
are let into them until they know
that the case is really so,
and then are again uplifted into heaven. 

This then is what is meant by being justified;
for in this way men come to acknowledge
not their own righteousness,
but that of the Lord.
As to its being said that those are saved who have faith --
this is true;
but in the Word by "faith"
nothing else is meant than love to the Lord
and charity toward the neighbor,
and thus a life from these loves.

Zechariah's Visions

**  The Man Among the Myrtle Trees **

During the night I had a vision --
and there before me was a man riding a red horse!
He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine.
Behind him were red, brown and white horses.

I asked, "What are these, my lord?"

The angel who was talking with me answered,
"I will show you what they are."

Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained,
"They are the ones the Lord has sent
to go throughout the earth."

(Zechariah 1:7-10)

**  Four Horns and Four Craftsmen  **

Then I looked up --
and there before me were four horns!
I asked the angel who was speaking to me,
"What are these?"

He answered me,
"These are the horns that scattered Judah,
Israel, and Jerusalem."

Then the Lord showed four craftsmen.
I asked, "What are these coming to do?"

(Zechariah 1:18-20)

**  A Man With a Measuring Line  **

Then I looked up --
and there before me was a man
with a measuring line in his hand!
I asked, "Where are you going?"

He answered me, "To measure Jerusalem,
to find out how wide and how long it is."

(Zechariah 2:1-2)

**  Clean Garments for the High Priest **

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest
standing before the angel of the Lord,
and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.
The Lord said to Satan,
"The Lord rebuke you, Satan!
The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you!
Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"

Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes
as he stood before the angel.
The angel said to those who were standing before him,
"Take off his filthy clothes."

Then he said to Joshua,
"See I have taken away your sin,
and I will put rich garments on you."

Then I said,
"Put a clean turban on his head."
So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him,
while the angel of the Lord stood by.

The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua:
"This is what the Lord Almighty says:
'If you will walk in My ways
and keep My requirements,
then you will govern My house
and have charge of My courts,
and I will give you a place among these standing here."

(Zechariah 3:1-7)

**  The Gold Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees **

Then the angel who talked with me
returned and wakened me,
as a man is wakened from his sleep.
He asked me, "What do you see?"

I answered, "I see a solid gold lampstand
with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it,
with seven channels to the lights.
Also there are two olive trees by it,
one on the right of the bowl and the other on the left."

(Zechariah 4:1-3)

**  The Flying Scroll   **

I looked again --
and there before me was a flying scroll!

He asked me, "What do you see?"

I answered, "I see a flying scroll,
thirty feet long, and fifteen feet wide."

(Zechariah 5:1-2)

**  The Woman in a Basket  **

Then the angel who was speaking to me
came forward and said to me,
"Look up and see what this is that is appearing."

I asked, "What is it?"

He replied, "It is a measuring basket"
And he added,
"This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land."

Then the cover of lead was raised,
and there in the basket sat a woman!
He said, "This is wickedness,"
and he pushed her back into the basket
and pushed the lead cover down over its mouth.

Then I looked up --
and there before me were two women
with the wind in their wings.
They had wings like those of a stork,
and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.

"Where are they taking the basket?"
I asked the angel who was speaking to me.

He replied,  "To the country of Babylonia
to build a house for it.
When it is ready,
the basket will be set there in its place."

(Zechariah 5:5-11)

**  Four Chariots  **

I looked up again --
and there before me were four chariots
coming out from between two mountains --
mountains of bronze!

The first chariot had red horses,
the second black,
the third white,
and the fourth dappled --
all of them powerful.
I asked the angel who was speaking to me,
"What are these, my lord?"

The angel answered me,
"These are the four spirits of heaven,
going out from standing in the presence of the Lord
of the whole world.
The one with the black horses
is going toward the north country,
the one with the white horses toward the west,
and the one with the dappled horses toward the south."

When the powerful horses went out,
they were straining to go throughout the earth.
And he said,
"Go throughout the earth!"
So they went throughout the earth.

(Zechariah 6:1-7)

AC 2102 - The Beautiful Nature of the Word

AC 2102 [2]

This whole chapter (Genesis 17) has treated of the union
of the Lord's Divine Essence with His Human Essence;
and concerning the conjunction of the Lord with man
by means of His Human Essence made Divine;
and also concerning circumcision,
that is, purification from the filthy things in man.
All these things are in one series,
and follow one from another;
for the union
of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence in the Lord
was effected to the end
that the Divine might be conjoined with man;
and the conjunction of the Divine with man
cannot be effected
unless man is purified from those loves;
but as soon as he is being purified from them,
the Lord's Divine Human flows in,
and thus conjoins man with itself.
This shows the nature of the Word,
namely, that when
what is signified in the internal sense is understood,
the Word is all connected together
in a becoming and beautiful series.

The Lord Is Mighty to Save

"On that day you will not be put to shame
for all the wrongs you have done to Me,
because I will remove from this city
those who rejoice in their pride.
Never again will you be haughty on My holy hill.
But I will leave within you
the meek and the humble,
who trust in the name of the Lord.

"The Lord your God is with you,
He is Mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing."

(Zephaniah 3:11-12, 17)

AC 2077 - The Lord's Amazing Love

AC 2077 [2]

Love such as the Lord had
transcends all human understanding,
and is in the highest degree incredible
to those who do not know
what the heavenly love is
in which the angels are.
To save a soul from hell,
the angels would regard death as nothing,
indeed, if it were possible
they would undergo hell for that soul.
Consequently their inmost joy
is to transport into heaven
someone rising from the dead.
They confess however that that love
does not originate one little bit in themselves
but that every single aspect of it
does so in the Lord alone.
Indeed they are incensed
if anyone thinks anything different.

I Will Rejoice and Be Joyful

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
He enables me to go on the heights.

(Habakkuk 3:17-19)

AC 2063 - Abraham and Sarah

AC 2063 [2-3]

The Divine Good, which is Love,
and which in relation to the whole human race is Mercy,
was the Lord's Internal, that is, Jehovah, who is Itself:
this is represented by Abraham.
The truth that was to be conjoined with the Divine Good
was represented by Sarai;
and this truth
when also made Divine
is represented by Sarah;
for the Lord advanced to union with Jehovah successively,
as already said.
The truth not yet Divine represented by Sarai,
was such when it was not yet
so united to good as to be truth from good.
But when it was so united to good
as to proceed from good,
it was then Divine;
and the truth itself was then also good,
because it was the truth of good.
The truth which tends to good
in order that it may be united to good,
is one thing;
and that which is so united to good
as to proceed wholly from good,
is another.
The truth which is tending to good
still derives something from the human;
but that which is wholly united to good
has put off all that is human,
and has put on the Divine. 

This may be illustrated as before,
by what is similar with man.
When a man is being regenerated,
that is, when he is to be conjoined with the Lord,
he proceeds to the conjunction by means of truth,
that is, by means of the truths of faith;
for no one can be regenerated
except by means of the knowledges of faith,
which are the truths
by means of which
he proceeds to conjunction.
The Lord goes to meet these by means of good,
that is, by means of charity,
and adjusts and fits this in to the knowledges of faith,
that is, to its truths;
for all truths are recipient vessels of good,
and therefore the more genuine the truths are,
and the more they are multiplied,
the more abundantly can good
accept them as vessels,
reduce them to order,
and finally manifest itself;
so that at last the truths do not appear,
except insofar as good shines through them.
In this way truth becomes the celestial spiritual. 
As the Lord is present solely
in the good which is of charity,
the man is in this way conjoined with the Lord,
and by means of good,
that is, by means of charity,
is gifted with conscience,
from which he afterwards thinks what is true
and does what is right;
but this conscience is in accordance
with the truths and right things
into which the good or charity is adjusted and fitted.

He Has Showed You, O Man

With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body
for the sin of my soul?

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly,
and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.

(Micah 6:6-8)
 

AC 2057 - The Happiness and Communication of Mutual Love

AC 2057 [2]

Mutual love in heaven consists in the fact
that they love the neighbor more than themselves,
the effect of which is
that the whole heaven represents as it were one man;
for by means of mutual love
all are associated together by the Lord,
and so it is that the happinesses of all
are communicated to each one,
and those of each one to all.
. . . And because those who are in that love
perceive the highest happiness
in being able to communicate to others
that which flows into them,
and this from the heart,
the communication becomes perpetual and eternal;
and on this account,
as the Lord's kingdom increases,
so the happiness of each angel increases. 

 

The Mountain of the Lord

In the last days
the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and peoples will stream to it.

Many nations will come and say,

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us His ways,
so that we may walk in His paths."
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He will judge between many peoples
and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Every man will sit under his own vine
and under his own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
for the Lord Almighty has spoken.
All the nations may walk in the name of their gods;
we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
for ever and ever.

(Micah 4:1-5)

AC 2041, 2045, 2049 - The Loves of Self and the World

AC 2041 [2, 3]

There are two so-called loves and their desires
that obstruct the influx of heavenly love from the Lord;
for when these loves reign
in the interior and in the external man,
and take possession there,
they either reject or suffocate,
and also pervert and contaminate,
the inflowing heavenly love;
for they are utterly contrary to heavenly love . . ..
But insofar as these loves are removed,
so far the heavenly love flowing in from the Lord
begins to appear, even to give light in the interior man;
and so far he begins to see that he is in evil and falsity;
next that he is actually in uncleanness and filthiness;
and finally that this has been his proprium.
Those who are becoming regenerate
are those with whom these loves are being removed. 

Be it known that heavenly love is continually
inflowing into a person from the Lord,
and that nothing else obstructs and impedes it,
and causes its reception by the person impossible,
except the desires of these loves
and the falsities derived from them.

AC 2045 [2]

The love of self is the source of all the evils
that destroy civic society.
From it, as from an unclean pit,
spring all hatreds, all revenges, all cruelties,
even all adulteries;
for he who loves himself,
despises, vituperates, or hates,
all others who do not serve him,
or do him honor, or favor him;
and when he hates,
he breathes nothing but revenges and cruelties,
and this in proportion
to the degree in which he loves himself,
so that this love is destructive of society
and of the human race.

AC 2049 [2]

Those are purified when they reject filthy loves,
and live with one another in charity;
for then they live in truths,
since all truths are of charity . . ..
Those who live in these truths
readily imbibe the truths of faith,
if not in the life of the body,
yet in the other life,
because the truths of faith
are the interior truths of charity,
and they then love nothing more
than to be admitted into the interior truths of charity.
The interior truths of charity
are those in which the Lord's kingdom consists. 

"The Days Are Coming"

"The days are coming,"
declares the Sovereign Lord,
"when I will send a famine through the land --
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
Men will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it."

(Amos 8:11-12)

AC 2033 - Thou shalt keep My covenant

AC 2033

Thou shalt keep My covenant.
Genesis 17:9)

That this signifies still closer union,
is evident from the signification of a "covenant,"
as being union and conjunction
The repeated mention here of "covenant,"
so frequently mentioned before,
denotes a closer union.
In the historical sense, which relates to Abraham,
nothing else can be said
than that he is to keep the covenant;
but in the internal sense,
in which the Lord is treated of,
what is historical vanishes,
and the things that can be predicated of Him
succeed in its place,
which relate to a closer union.
The union of the Lord's Human Essence
with His Divine Essence was not effected all at once,
but through the whole course of His life,
from infancy to the last of His life in the world.
Thus He ascended continuously to glorification,
that is, to union;
according to what is said in John:

Jesus said, Father glorify Thy name;
there came a voice from heaven:
I have both glorified and will glorify it again.
(John 12:28)

Seek Good, Not Evil

Seek good, not evil, that you may live.
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say He is.

Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the Lord God Almighty
will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

(Amos 5:14-15)
 

AC 2027 - True Charity

AC 2027 [4]

. . . true charity loves all truth.

Return to the Lord Your God

"Even now," declares the Lord,
"return to Me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."

Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for He is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and He relents from sending calamity.

(Joel 2:12-13)

AC 2023 - Loving the Lord

AC 2023

The Divine with those
who have faith in the Lord
is love and charity.
By Love is meant love to the Lord;
by Charity, love toward the neighbor.
Love to the Lord cannot possibly be separated
from love toward the neighbor;
for the Lord's love 
is toward the universal human race,
which He wills to save eternally
and to adjoin wholly to Himself,
so that not one of them may perish.
He therefore who has love to the Lord,
has the Lord's love,
and thereby can do no otherwise 
than love his neighbor. 

I Am God

For I am God, and not man --
the Holy One among you.
I will not come in wrath.

But you must return to your God;
maintain love and justice,
and wait for your God always.

(Hosea 11:9; 12:6)

AC 2015 - Kings and Priests

AC 2015 [1, 10]

From the signification of "nations" as being goods,
and from the signification of "kings" as being truths,
we can see the nature of the internal sense of the Word,
and also how remote it is from the sense of the letter.
He who reads the Word,
especially the historical portion,
has no other belief
than that the nations there are nations,
and the kings kings,
and thus that nations and kings are treated of
in the very Word itself.
But the idea of nations, as well as that of kings,
altogether perishes when it is received by the angels,
and in their place there succeed good and truth.
This cannot but appear as strange
and indeed as a paradox,
but still it is really so . . .
there is nothing in the Word that is not Divine,
and therefore celestial and spiritual. 

. . .  in the Lord . . . 
Kings represented His Divine truth,
and priests His Divine good.
All the laws of order
by which the Lord governs the universe as King, are truths;
but all the laws by which He governs the universe
and by which also He rules truths themselves, are goods;
for government from truths alone
would condemn everyone to hell;
but government from goods
lifts everyone out thence and uplifts him into heaven. 

Hosea Issues the Lord's Charge Against Israel

Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites,
because the Lord has a charge to bring against you
who live in the land:

"There is no faithfulness, no love,
no acknowledgment of God in the land.
There is only cursing, lying and murder,
stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Because of this the land mourns,
and all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field
and the birds of the air
and the fish of the sea are dying.

"But let no man bring a charge,
let no man accuse another,
for your people are like those
who bring charges against a priest.
You stumble day and night,
and the prophets stumble with you.
. . . My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.

"I will not punish your daughters
when they turn to prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery,
because the men themselves consort with harlots
and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes --
A people without understanding will come to ruin!"

(Hosea 4:1-5, 14)

AC 2010, 2011 - Names and Quality

AC 2010

Since therefore the "name" signifies the quality
and to know what the quality is,
we can see what is signified by the words in this verse,
"thy name shall no more be called Abram,
and thy name shall be Abraham;"
(Genesis 17:5)
to wit, that he was not to be such in quality as in the past,
but such as he was about to be.
That Abram served other gods,
and worshiped the god Shaddai,
was shown above (n. 1992);
but because he was to represent the Lord,
and in fact His internal man,
and thus the Celestial of His Love,
his former quality was to be blotted out,
that is, the name "Abram"
was to be so changed in character
that the Lord could be represented by it.
Therefore the letter H
was taken from the name of Jehovah --
which letter is the only one in the name "Jehovah"
that involves the Divine,
and which signifies I AM or BEING (Esse) --
and was inserted in his name,
and he was called "Abraham."
The case is similar with "Sarai," spoken of in what follows;
to whose name the same letter was also added,
and she was called "Sarah."
From this also we can see
that in the internal sense of the Word
Abraham represents Jehovah or the Lord.

[2] Be it known however that in representations
it matters not what a man's quality is,
for in them no attention is paid to the person,
but to the thing which he represents.
Therefore in the internal sense
the signification of these words is
that the Lord will put off the human,
and will put on the Divine . . ..


AC 2011

. . .  the Infinite Divine can be spoken of in no other way
than as being Good itself and Truth itself,
and therefore the human mind is in no fallacy
when it thinks that the Lord is Good itself and Truth itself. 

The Man Beside the Great River, the Tigris

On the twenty-fourth day of the first month,
as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris,
I looked up and there before me
was a Man dressed in linen,
with a belt of the finest gold around his waist.
His body was like chrysolite,
His face like lightning,
His eyes like flaming torches,
His arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze,
and His voice like the sound of a multitude.

I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision;
the men with me did not see it,
but such terror overwhelmed them
that they fled and hid themselves.

. . . the One who looked like a man touched me
and gave me strength.
"Do not be afraid, O man highly esteemed," He said.
"Peace!  Be strong now; be strong."

(Daniel 10;4-7,18)

AC 2005 - Souls and Bodies

AC 2005

Every man's internal is from his father,
and his external from his mother;
or what is the same thing,
the soul itself is from the father,
and the body with which the soul is clothed
is from the mother.
The soul together with the body,
although two, make a one;
for the soul is the body's,
and the body is the soul's;
and therefore they are inseparable.
The Lord's internal was from the Father,
and therefore was the Father Himself,
and hence it is that the Lord says
that "the Father is in Him;"
also, "I am in the Father and the Father in Me;"
also, "He that sees Me sees the Father;
I and the Father are one;"
as may be seen in the passages cited above.
In the Word of the Old Testament also
the Lord is called "the Father," as in Isaiah:

Unto us a Child is born,
unto us a Son is given
and the government shall be upon His shoulder;
and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
God, Hero, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace.
(Isaiah. 9:6)

It is evident to everyone
that the "Child" born to us
and the "Son" given to us
is the Lord, who is called the "Father of Eternity."
Again in Isaiah:

Thou art our Father, for Abraham knows us not,
and Israel does not acknowledge us.
Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father,
our Redeemer, from eternity is Thy name.
(Isaiah 63:16);

where also it is the Lord
who is called "Jehovah our Father,"
for there is no other "Redeemer."
In Malachi:

Have we not all one Father?
Has not one God created us?
(Malachi 2:10).


To "create" denotes to regenerate.
Besides that
everywhere in the Word of the Old Testament,
by "Jehovah" is meant the Lord,
because all the rites of the church represented Him;
and in the internal sense
all things in the Word regard Him.

Daniel Sees the Ancient of Days

"As I looked,
"thrones were set in place,
and the Ancient of Days took His seat.
His clothing was a white as snow;
the hair of His head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire,
and its wheels were all ablaze.
A river of fire was flowing,
coming out from before Him.
Thousands upon thousands attended Him;
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
The court was seated,
and the books were opened."

. . . "In my vision at night I looked,
and there before me was one like a Son of Man,
coming with the clouds of heaven.
He approached the Ancient of Days
and was led into His presence.
He was given authority, glory and sovereign power;
all peoples, nations and men of every language
worshiped Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that will not pass away,
and His kingdom is one
that will never be destroyed."

(Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14)

AC 1999 - The Lord's Internal

AC 1999 [4-5]

[The] internals of men have no life in themselves,
but are forms recipient of the Lord's life.
Insofar therefore as a man is in evil,
whether actual or hereditary,
so far has he been, as it were, 
separated from this internal
which is the Lord's and with the Lord,
and thereby so far has he been separated from the Lord;
for although this internal has been adjoined to man,
and is inseparable from him,
nevertheless insofar as he recedes from the Lord,
so far he as it were separates himself from it.
But the separation is not an absolute sundering from it,
for then the man could no longer live after death;
but it is a dissent and disagreement
on the part of those faculties of his which are below,
that is, of his rational and of his external man.
Insofar as there is dissent and disagreement,
there is disjunction from the Lord;
but insofar as there is not dissent and disagreement,
the man is conjoined with the Lord through the internal,
which takes place insofar as the man is in love and charity,
for love and charity conjoin.
Such is the case with man. 

But the Lord's internal was Jehovah Himself,
because He was conceived from Jehovah,
who cannot be divided and become another's,
as is the case with a son
who is conceived from a human father;
for the Divine is not divisible, like the human,
but is and remains one and the same.
To this internal the Lord united the Human Essence;
and because the Lord's internal was Jehovah,
it was not a form recipient of life,
like the internal of man,
but was life itself.
His Human Essence also in like manner
was made life by the unition,
on which account the Lord so often said
that He is Life, as in John:

As the Father has life in Himself,
so has He given to the Son
to have life in Himself.
(John 5:26);

besides other passages in the same gospel
(John 1:4; 5:21; 6:33, 35, 48; 11:25).
Insofar therefore as the Lord was in the human
which He received by inheritance from the mother,
so far did He appear distinct from Jehovah
and adore Jehovah as one different from Himself.
But insofar as the Lord put off this human,
He was not distinct from Jehovah,
but was one with Him.
The former state, as before said,
was the Lord's state of humiliation;
but the latter was His state of glorification.

Daniel Praises His God

"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are His.
He changes times and seasons;
He sets up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
He knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with Him.
I thank and praise You,
O God of my fathers:
You have given me wisdom and power,
You have made known to me what we asked of You,
You have made known to us
the dream of the king."

(Daniel 20-23)

AC 1988 - "Ninety-nine"; AC 1992 - Bending, "Shaddai", "Jehovah", "Wings"

AC 1988 [3]

. . . we may see what is signified by "ninety-nine,"
for this number, because it precedes a hundred,
signifies the time before the Lord had fully conjoined
the internal man with the rational.
In the Lord's case,
the first rational was represented by Ishmael;  . . .
by Isaac is represented the Lord's Divine rational . . ..
From Abram's staying so long in the land of Canaan
(now twenty-four years, that is,
ten years before Ishmael was born,
and thirteen years after that)
without his as yet having a son by his wife Sarai,
and from the promise of a son being first given
when he was ninety-nine years old,
everyone can see that some arcanum is involved.
The arcanum was,
that he might thereby represent the union
of the Lord's Divine Essence with His Human Essence;
and in fact the union of His internal man,
which is Jehovah,
with His rational.

AC 1992 [4, 6]

The reason why the Lord was willing
to be first represented before them by the name "Shaddai"
is that the Lord by no means desires to destroy suddenly
(still less in a single moment)
the worship that has been inplantted in anyone
from his infancy;
for this would be to tear up the root,
and thereby destroy the holy state
of adoration and of worship that has been deeply implanted,
and which the Lord never breaks, but bends.
The holy state of worship,
that has been rooted in from infancy
is of such a nature that it cannot endure violence,
but only a gentle and kindly bending.
The case is the same with those Gentiles
who in their bodily life had worshiped idols,
and yet had lived in mutual charity.
As the holy state of their worship
has been inrooted from their infancy,
in the other life it is not taken away in a moment,
but successively;
for in those who have lived in mutual charity,
the goods and truths of faith can be easily implanted,
and they receive them afterwards with joy;
for charity is the very soil.
And such also was the case
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
in that the Lord suffered them
to retain the name "God Shaddai,"
insomuch that He said He was God Shaddai;
and this from the meaning of the name.

. . . as Shaddai was thus esteemed as the god of truth --
for vastation, temptation, chastening, and rebuking,
are not of good, but of truth --
and because the Lord was represented by him
before Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
the name was retained even in the Prophets;
but in them by "Shaddai" is meant truth.

I heard the voice of the wings of the cherubim,
like the voice of many waters,
like the voice of Shaddai,
when they went;
the voice of tumult,
like the voice of a camp.
(Ezekial 1:24)

The court was filled
with the brightness of the glory of Jehovah;
and the voice of the wings of the cherubim
was heard even to the outer court,
as the voice of God Shaddai when He speaks.
(Ezekial 10:4-5)

where "Jehovah" denotes good,
and "Shaddai" truth.
In the internal sense of the Word "wings"
in like manner signify things that belong to truth. 

Daniel, Hananiaha, Mishael and Azariah

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
And the Lord delivered
Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand,
along with some of the articles from the temple of God.
These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia
and put in the treasure house of his god.

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz,
chief of his court officials,
to bring in some of the Israelites
from the royal family and the nobility --
young men without any physical defect,
handsome, showing aptitude for every king of learning,
well informed, quick to understand,
and qualified to serve in the king's palace.
He was to teach them the language
and literature of the Babylonians.
The king assigned them
a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table.
They were to be trained for three years,
and after that they were to enter the king's service.

Among these were some from Judah:
Daniel, Hananiaha, Mishael and Azariah.
The chief official gave them new names:
to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar;
to Hananiah, Shadrach;
to Mishael, Meshach;
and to Azariah, Abednego.

To these four young men
God gave knowledge and understanding
of all kinds of literature and learning.
And Daniel could understand
visions and dreams of all kinds.

And Daniel remained there
until the first year of King Cyrus.

(Daniel 1: 1-6, 17, 21)

AC 1976, 1983 - Dreams, Sleep

AC 1976

There are three kinds of dreams.
The first kind come from the Lord
mediately through heaven;
such were the prophetic dreams
that are treated of in the Word.
The second kind come through angelic spirits,
especially those who are in front above at the right,
where there are paradisal scenes;
from this source the men of the Most Ancient Church
had their dreams, which were instructive.
The third kind come through the spirits
who are near when man is sleeping,
which are likewise significative.
But fantastic dreams come from a different source.

AC 1983

Evil spirits most vehemently desire and burn
to infest and attack man when he is sleeping,
but man is then especially guarded by the Lord,
for love does not sleep.
The spirits who infest are miserably punished.

The Glory Returns to the Temple

Then the man brought me to the gate facing east,
and I saw the glory of the God of Israel
coming from the east.
His voice was like the roar of rushing waters,
and the land was radiant with His glory.
The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen
when He came to destroy the city
and the like visions I had seen by the Kebar River,
and I fell facedown.
The glory of the Lord entered the temple
through the gate facing east.
Then the Spirit lifted me up
and brought me into the inner court,
and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

(Ezekiel 43:1-5)

AC 1950 - The Genuine Rational and the Ishmael Rational

AC 1950 [2-3]

The whole of the genuine rational consists of good and truth,
that is, of the celestial and the spiritual.
Good, or the celestial, is its very soul or life;
truth, or the spiritual, is what receives its life from this.
Without life from celestial good,
the rational is such as is here described,
that is, it fights against all,
and all fight against it.
Rational good never fights,
however it is assailed;
because it is mild and gentle, patient and yielding;
for its character is that of love and mercy.
Yet although it does not fight,
it conquers all,
nor does it ever think about combat,
or glory on account of victory;
and this because it is Divine,
and is safe of itself.
For no evil can attack good;
it cannot even continue to exist in the sphere where good is,
for when this merely approaches,
evil withdraws and falls back of itself;
for evil is infernal, and good is heavenly.
Very similar is the case with the celestial spiritual,
that is, with truth from a celestial origin,
or with truth which is from good,
for this truth is truth that is formed by good,
so that it may be called the form of good. 

But truth separated from good,
which is here represented by Ishmael
and is described in this verse,
is altogether different,
being like a wild-ass,
and fighting against all, and all against it;
in fact it thinks of and breathes
scarcely anything but combats;
its general delectation, or reigning affection, is to conquer,
and when it conquers it glories in the victory;
on which account it is described as
an "onager," or mule of the wilderness, that is, the wild-ass,
which cannot be with others.
Such a life is a life of truth without good,
yea, a life of faith without charity,
and therefore when a man is being regenerated,
this is indeed effected by means of the truth of faith,
but still at the same time
by means of a life of charity,
which the Lord insinuates
in accordance with the increments of the truth of faith.

Prelude to the Vision of the New Temple

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile,
at the beginning of the year,
on the tenth of the month,
in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city --
on that very day the hand of the Lord was upon me
and He took me there.
In visions of God
He took me to the land of Israel
and set me on a very high mountain,
on whose south side were some buildings
that looked like a city.
He took me there,
and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze;
he was standing in the gateway
with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand.
The man said to me,
"Son of man,
look with your eyes and hear with your ears
and pay attention to everything I am going to show you,
for that is why you have been brought here.
Tell the house of Israel everything you see."

(Ezekiel 40:1-4)

AC 1947 - Freedom and Compulsion

AC 1947

. . . in compelling oneself there is freedom,
that is, what is spontaneous and voluntary,
by which compelling oneself
is distinguished from being compelled.
It was also shown that without this freedom,
that is, spontaneity or willingness,
man cannot possibly be reformed
and receive any heavenly proprium;
and further that there is more of freedom in temptations
than out of them,
although the contrary appears to be the case,
for the freedom is then stronger
in proportion to the assaults of evils and falsities,
and is strengthened by the Lord
in order that a heavenly proprium
may be conferred upon the man;
and for this reason the Lord is more present with us
while we are in temptations.
. . . the Lord never compels anyone;
for he who is compelled
to think what is true and do what is good
is not reformed, 
but thinks falsity and wills evil all the more.
All compulsion has this effect,
as we may see from the records and examples of life,
for from them we know these two things:
that consciences do not suffer themselves to be compelled,
and that we strive after what is forbidden. 

"I Will Judge Each"

"Yet your country men say,
'The way of the Lord is not just.'
But it is their way that is not just.
If a righteous man turns from his righteousness
and does evil,
he will die for it.
And if a wicked man turns away from his wickedness
and does what is just and right,
he will live by doing so.
Yet, O house of Israel, you say,
'The way of the Lord is not just.'
But I will judge each of you
according to his ways."

(Ezekiel 33:17-20)

AC 1940 - Multiplying Seed

AC 1940 [1, 3]

In multiplying I will multiply thy seed.
(Genesis 16:10)

. . . this signifies the fruitfulness of the rational man
when it submits itself
to the sovereign control of the interior man
when this is adjoined to good . . ..
But as the Lord is here treated of,
"multiplying" signifies becoming fruitful,
because all the truth in His rational was made good,
and thereby Divine . . ..
It is otherwise in man,
whose rational is formed by the Lord
from truth or the affection of truth.
This affection is his good,
from which he acts. 

Now unless the rational submits itself
to the Lord's goods and truths,
it either suffocates, or rejects, or perverts 
the things that flow in;
and this is still more the case
when they flow into
the sensuous knowledges of the memory.
This is what is meant by seed falling on a highway,
or upon a rocky place, or among thorns,
as the Lord teaches (Matt. 13:3-7; Mark 4:3-7; Luke 8:5-7).
But when the rational submits itself
and believes the Lord, that is, His Word,
the rational is then like good ground or earth,
into which the seed falls and bears much fruit.

A Prophecy Against Egypt

In the tenth year,
in the tenth month on the twelfth day,
the word of the Lord came to me:
"Son of man,
set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt
and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.
Speak to him and say:
'This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

"'I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
you great monster lying among your streams.
You say, "The Nile is mine; I made if for myself."

"'Because you said,
"The Nile is mine; I made it,"
therefore I am against you
and against your streams,
and I will make the land of Egypt
a ruin and a desolate waste
from Migdol to Aswan,
as far as the border of Cush.'"

(Ezekiel 29:1-3, 9.5-10)

AC 1935 - More on Those Who Have Conscience

AC 1935

The Lord's interior thought
was from the affection of intellectual truth,
and this affection was from the Divine good itself.
Such thought, as before said, never exists in any man,
nor can do so.
In man also there is interior thought
that flows in from the Lord
through his internal man into the interior rational,
with those who have conscience,
as may be seen from the fact
that they can observe
the evil and falsity in their external man
that is in conflict
with the good and truth in the interior man.
This thought is much lower
and is not in any way to be compared to that of the Lord,
which was from the affection of intellectual truth
and was proper and peculiar to Him.
But those who have not conscience
cannot have interior thought,
and therefore there is no conflict,
the reason of which is
that their rational acts as one and the same
with the corporeal sensual;
and though there is in them also
a continual influx of good and truth from the Lord,
yet they have no perception of it,
because they forthwith extinguish and suffocate it,
and this is why they do not believe any truth of faith. 

The Cooking Pot

In the ninth year,
in the tenth month on the tenth day,
the word of the Lord came to me:
"Son of man, record this date, this very date,
because the king of Babylon
has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day.
Tell this rebellious house a parable
and say to them:
'This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

"'Put on the cooking pot;
put it on and pour water into it.
Put into it the pieces of meat,
all the choice pieces -- the leg and the shoulder.
Fill it with the best of these bones;
take the pick of the flock.
Pile wood beneath it for the bones;
bring it to a boil and cook the bones in it.'"

(Ezekiel 24:1-5)
 

AC 1919 - Those Who Have Conscience

AC 1919 [2]

. . . those who have conscience
think and speak according to it . . ..
So it is that those who have conscience
are kept by the Lord
in good thoughts respecting the neighbor,
and are withheld from thinking evil,
and therefore conscience can have no place
except with those who love their neighbor as themselves,
and think well concerning the truths of faith.

A Warning to Jerusalem

"Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
'Because you people have brought to mind
your guilt by your open rebellion,
revealing your sins in all that you do --
because you have done this,
you will be taken captive."

(Ezekiel 21:24)

AC 1909 - What Kind of Life Do We Have?

AC 1909 [2]

Everyone may see what kind of life he has,
if he will only search out what his end is;
not what all his ends are --
for he has numberless ones,
as many as intentions,
and almost as many
as judgments and conclusions of thoughts,
which are only intermediate ends,
variously derived from the principal one,
or tending to it --
but let him search out the end he prefers to all the rest,
and in respect to which all others are as nothing.
If he has for his end himself and the world,
let him know that his life is infernal;
but if he has for his end the good of his neighbor,
the common good,
the Lord's kingdom,
and especially the Lord Himself,
let him know that his life is heavenly.

A Righteous Man

Suppose there is a righteous man
who does what is just and right.

He follows My decrees
and faithfully keeps My laws.
That man is righteous;
he will surely live,
declares the Sovereign Lord.

(Ezekiel 18:5, 9)

AC 1907 - A Law of Divine Order

AC 1907

. . . it is according to a law of Divine order
that it is not marriage
unless it is that of one man and one wife.
Conjugial love can never be divided.

AC 1904 - When A Person Is Being Regenerated

AC 1904

When a person is being regenerated
the affection of truth has the lead,
for he is affected with truth for the sake of good;
but when he has been regenerated
the affection of good has the lead,
and from good he is affected with truth.

"I Will Give Them"

I will give them an undivided heart
and put a new spirit in them;
I will remove from them their heart of stone
and give them a heart of flesh.
Then they will follow My decrees
and be careful to keep My laws.
They will be My people,
and I will be their God."

(Ezekiel 11:19-20)