AR 42 - "Then I Turned"

AR 42

Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me.
(Revelation 1:12)

This symbolizes a turning around of the state
of those people who possess goodness of life,
in respect to their perception of the truth in the Word,
when they turn to the Lord.

John says that he heard the voice behind him (verse 10),
and now that he turned to see the voice,
and secondly, that having turned
he saw seven lampstands.
From this it is apparent
that he heard the voice in back of him,
and that he turned to see where it was coming from.

Clearly in this lies an arcanum.
The secret to it is that before a person turns to the Lord
and acknowledges Him as God of heaven and earth,
he cannot see the Divine truth in the Word.
That is because God is one
both in person and in essence,
in whom is the Trinity,
that God being the Lord.
People who accept a trinity of persons, therefore,
look primarily to the Father,
and some to the Holy Spirit,
but rarely to the Lord;
and if they do look to the Lord,
they think of His humanity
in the same way that they do an ordinary person.
When a person does this,
he can by no means be enlightened in the Word,
for the Lord embodies the Word,
since it comes from Him and has Him as its subject.
Therefore people who do not turn to the Lord alone
regard Him and His Word as being behind them
and not before them,
or as being in back of them
and not in front of them.

This is the secret that lies concealed in these words,
that John heard the voice behind him,
that he turned to see the voice,
and that having turned
he saw seven golden lampstands,
and in the midst of them the Son of Man.
For the voice that he heard
came from the Son of Man,
who is the Lord.