AE 143 - Repenting

AE 143

. . . no one repents
unless he actually separates himself
from the things of which he has repented;
and he separates himself from them
only when he shuns them
and turns away from them.

 

~ Isaac Sends Jacob to Find a Wife in Paddan Aram ~

Then Rebekah said to Isaac,
"Im disgusted with living because of these Hittite women.
If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land,
from Hittite women like these,
my life will not be worth living."

So Isaac called for Jacob
and blessed him and commanded him:
"Do not marry a Canaanite woman.
Go at once to Paddan Aram,
to the house of your mother's father Bethuel.
Take a wife for yourself there,
from among the daughters of Laban,
your mother's brother.
May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful
and increase your numbers
until you become a community of peoples.
May He give you and your descendants
the blessing given to Abraham,
so that you may take possession of the land
where you now live as an alien,
the land God gave to Abraham."
The Isaac sent Jacob on his way,
and he went to Paddan Aram,
to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean,
the brother of Rebekah,
who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

(Genesis 27:46; 28:1-5)

AE 126 - The Crown of Life; AE 138 - Those Who Are In Temptations

AE 126

And I will give thee the crown of life,
(Revelation 2:10)

signifies wisdom and eternal happiness therefrom.
This is evident from the signification of "crown,"
as being wisdom,
in reference to those who are in the spiritual affection
of the knowledges of truth and good;
and from the signification of "life,"
as being eternal happiness,
which is also called life eternal.
Those who are in the spiritual affection of truth and good,
and who are here treated of,
have eternal happiness,
because heaven with a person
is implanted by means
of the knowledges of truth and good from the Word.
He who believes that heaven is implanted
by other means is much deceived;
for a person is born merely natural,
with the faculty of becoming spiritual,
and he becomes spiritual
by means of truths from the Word
and a life according to them.
Who can ever become spiritual
unless he has some knowledge of the Lord,
of heaven, of the life after death, of faith, and of love,
and of the other things that are means of salvation?
If person had no knowledge of these things
he would remain natural;
and a merely natural person
can have nothing in common
with the angels of heaven, who are spiritual.

AE 138

. . . those are who are in temptations . . .
are among those who are in falsities of every kind;
for a person as to his body
is with people in the natural world,
but as to thoughts and intentions
he is with spirits in the spiritual world.
When he comes into spiritual temptation,
he is among those spirits who are in falsities;
these bind his thoughts and hold them
as it were bound in prison,
and continually pour in
calumnies (false & slanderous statements)
against the truths of faith,
and call forth the evils of his life;
but the Lord continually protects a person
by flowing in from the interior,
and thus holds a person in constancy in resisting;
such are spiritual temptations.

But none except those who acknowledge
the Lord's Divine in His Human
and who are in the spiritual affection of truth
are let into spiritual temptations;
the rest are natural people, who cannot be tempted.

~ Isaac Marries Rebekah and They Have a Family ~

Then Rebekah and her maids got ready
and mounted their camels
and went back with the man.
So the servant took Rebekah and left.

Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi,
for he was living in the Negev.
He went out to the field one evening to meditate,
and as he looked up,
he saw camels approaching.
Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac.
She got down from her camel and asked the servant,
"Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?"

"He is my master," the servant answered.
So she took her veil and covered herself.

Then the servant told Isaac all he had done.
Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah,
and he married Rebekah.
So she became his wife, and he loved her;
and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

. . . Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah
daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram
and sister of Laban the Aramean.

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife,
because she was barren.
The Lord answered his prayer,
and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.
The babies jostled each other within her,
and she said, "Why is this happening to me?"
So she went to inquire of the Lord.

The Lord said to her,

"Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger."

When the time came for her to give birth,
there were twin boys in her womb.
The first to come out was red,
and his whole body was like a hairy garment;
so they named him Esau.
After this, his brother came out,
with his hand grasping Esau's heel;
so he was named Jacob.
Isaac was sixty years old
when Rebekah gave birth to them.

(Genesis 24:61-67; 25:20-26)

AE 116 - Will and Work; AE 117 - The First Step to Wisdom; AE 118 - The Lord Loves to Lead Us to Him

AE 116

. . . it is well known
that when will ceases
work ceases.

AE 117 [2]

Everyone who is in the spiritual affection of truth
is conscious that the things that he knows are few,
and the things that he does not know are infinite.
He is aware, moreover,
that knowing and acknowledging this
is the first step towards wisdom;
and that those who pride themselves
on the things they know,
and believe themselves on account of these
to be most intelligent,
have not reached this first step.

AE 118 [1, 2]

To be spiritually poor, and yet to be rich,
is to acknowledge in heart that one has no knowledge
nor understanding nor wisdom from himself,
but that he knows, understands, and is wise
wholly from the Lord.
In such acknowledgment are all the angels of heaven,
wherefore they are also intelligent and wise,
and this in the same degree in which they are in
the acknowledgment and perception that this is the case.
For they know and perceive
that nothing of the truth that is called the truth of faith,
and nothing of the good that is called the good of love,
is from themselves,
but that these are from the Lord;
they also know and perceive
that all things that they understand
and in which they are wise
have reference to the truth of faith and to the good of love;
and from this again they know
that all their intelligence and wisdom is from the Lord;
and because they know and acknowledge this,
and also wish and love it to be so,
Divine truth from which are all intelligence and wisdom
continually flows in from the Lord,
and this they receive in the measure in which
they are affected by it, that is, love it.

He who is spiritually poor is nevertheless rich,
because he is in the spiritual affection of truth;
for into this affection
intelligence and wisdom from the Lord flow;
for everyone's affection receives and imbibes (absorbs)
things congenial to it, as a sponge does water . . ..
And as the Lord loves to lead everyone to Himself,
and to save him,
and this He can do
only by the knowledges of good and truth from the Word,
so the Lord loves to impart these to a person,
and make them of his life,
for in this way and no other
can He lead a person to Himself and save him.
From this it is clear
that all spiritual affection of truth is from the Lord,
and that no one can be in that affection
unless he acknowledges
the Divine of the Lord in His Human,
for by such acknowledgment there is conjunction,
and according to conjunction there is reception.

~ Abraham Sends His Servant to Find a Wife for Isaac ~

Abraham was now old and well advanced in years,
and the Lord had blessed him in every way.
He said to the chief servant in his household,
the one in charge of all that he had,
"Put your hand under my thigh.
I want you to swear by the Lord,
the God of heaven and the God of earth,
that you will not get a wife for my son
from the daughters of the Canaanites,
among whom I am living,
but will go to my country and my own relatives
and get a wife for my son Isaac."

. . . So the servant put his hand
under the thigh of his master Abraham
and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

Then the servant took ten of his master's camels
and left, taking with him all kinds of good things
from his master.
He set out for Aram Naharaim
and made his way to the town of Nahor.
He had the camels kneel down
near the well outside the town;
it was toward evening,
the time the women go out to draw water.

Then he prayed, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham,
give me success today,
and show kindness to my master Abraham."

. . . Before he had finished praying,
Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder.
She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah,
who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor.

(Genesis 24:1-4, 9-12, 15)

AE 109 - The Tree of Life; AE 118 - The Key to Thinking About the Lord

AE 109 [2, 3]

"The tree of life" signifies the good of love
and heavenly joy therefrom,
because "trees" signify such things
as are with a person in his interiors,
which are of his mind or disposition;
"boughs" and "leaves" signifying those things
that are of the knowledges of truth and good,
and "fruits" the goods of life themselves.
This signification of trees
draws its origin from the spiritual world;
for in that world trees of every kind are seen,
and the trees that are seen correspond to
the interiors of the angels and spirits
which are of their mind;
the most beautiful and fruitful trees
to the interiors of those
who are in the good of love and thence in wisdom;
trees less beautiful and fruitful
to those who are in the good of faith;
but trees bearing leaves only, and without fruits,
to those who are only in the knowledges of truth;
and horrible trees, with noxious fruits,
to those who are in knowledges and in evil of life.
To those, however, who are not in knowledges,
and who are in evil of life,
no trees appear, but stones and sands instead.
These appearances in the spiritual world,
actually flow from correspondence;
for the interiors of the mind
of the inhabitants of that world
are by such forms actually presented before their eyes.

It is from this that "trees"
are so often mentioned in the Word,
and by them are signified
the things with men that belong to their minds;
and from this it is also
that in the first chapters of Genesis:
two trees are said to have been placed
in the garden of Eden,
one called "the tree of life,"
and the other "the tree of knowledge."
"The tree of life" there
signifies the good of love to the Lord,
and heavenly joy therefrom,
which were with those who were then of the church,
and who are meant by the "man" and his "wife;"
and by "the tree of knowledge" is signified
the delight of knowledges apart from any other use
than to be accounted learned
and to acquire repute for erudition (scholarship)
solely for the sake of honor or gain.
"The tree of life" also signifies heavenly joy,
because the good of love to the Lord,
which is specifically signified by that tree,
has heavenly joy in it.

AE 118 [3]

To acknowledge the Divine of the Lord in His Human
is to think of His Divine when thinking of His Human.

~ Isaac Is Born and Ishmael Leaves ~

Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah
as He had said,
and the Lord did for Sarah
what He had promised.
Sarah became pregnant
and bore a son to Abraham in his old age,
at the very time
God had promised him.
Abraham gave the name Isaac
to the son Sarah bore him.
When his son Isaac was eight days old,
Abraham circumcised him,
as God commanded him.
Abraham was a hundred years old
when his son Isaac was born to him.

Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter,
and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me."
And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham
that Sarah would nurse children?
Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

The child grew and was weaned,
and on the day Isaac was weaned
Abraham held a great feast.
But Sarah saw
that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian
had borne to Abraham was mocking,
and she said to Abraham,
"Get rid of that slave woman and her son,
for that slave woman's son
will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac."

The matter distressed Abraham greatly
because it concerned his son.
But God said to him,
"Do not be so distressed
about the boy and your maidservant.
Listen to whatever Sarah tells you,
because it is through Isaac
that your offspring will be reckoned.
I will make the son of the maidservant
into a nation also,
because he is your offspring."

(Genesis 21:1-13)
 

AE 97 - "Ways" and "Walking; AE 98 - "Works", "Toil", "Endurance"; AE 101 - Being in Knowledges of Truth and Good; AE 102 - The Lord's Name

AE 97

. . . in the Word "ways" signify  truths or falsities,
and "walking" signifies living . . .

AE 98

. . . by "works," in the spiritual sense,
is meant everything that a person wills and loves,
and by "toil" everything a person thinks or believes,
and by  "endurance"
everything a person does from these.

AE 101

. . . those who are in the knowledges
of truth and good . . . defend those truths,
and resist those who are against them . . ..

AE 102

In many passages of the Word it is said,
"for the sake of Jehovah's name,"
"for the sake of the Lord's name,"
"for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ,"
that "the name of God should be sanctified," and the like.
Those whose thoughts do not go
beyond the sense of the letter
suppose that the name alone is meant;
but what is meant is not the name,
but everything whereby the Lord is worshiped;
and all of this has relation to love and faith.
Therefore by "the Lord's name" in the Word
all things of love and of faith
by which He is worshiped are meant;
here the acknowledgment of the Lord
and of the knowledges of truth that have respect to Him,
because this is said to those
who are only zealous about knowledges.

~ Abram and Sarai Become Abraham and Sarah ~

When Abram was ninety-nine years old,
the Lord appeared to him and said,
"I am God Almighty;
walk before me and be blameless.
I will confirm My covenant between Me and you
and will greatly increase your numbers."

Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,
"As for Me, this is My covenant with you:
You will be the father of many nations.
No longer will you be call Abram;
your name will be Abraham,
for I have made you a father of many nations.
I will make you very fruitful;
I will make nations of you,
and kings will come from you.
I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant
between Me and you and your descendants after you
for the generations to come,
to be your God
and the God of your descendants after you.
The whole land of Canaan,
where you are now an alien,
I will give as an everlasting possession to you
and your descendants after you;
and I will be their God."

God also said to Abraham,
"As for Sarai your wife,
you are no longer to call her Sarai;
her name will be Sarah.
I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her.
I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations;
kings of peoples will come from her."

Abraham fell face down;
he laughed and said to himself,
"Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old?
Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"
And Abraham said to God,
"If only Ishmael might live under Your blessing!"

Then God said,
"Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son,
and you will call him Isaac.
I will establish My covenant with him
as an everlasting covenant
for his descendants after him.
And as for Ishmael, I have heard you:
I will surely bless him;
I will make him fruitful
and will greatly increase his numbers.
He will be the father of twelve rulers,
and I will make him into a great nation.
But My covenant I will establish with Isaac,
whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."
When He had finished speaking with Abraham,
God went up from him.

(Genesis 17:1-8, 15-22)

AE 78, 86, 89 - Three Short Quotes

AE 78

Spiritual death is a turning away and removal from the Lord.

AE 86

. . . so far as the Lord is received in faith and in love
so far is He in a person,
and so far as He is in a person
so far He removes evils,
thus the hells and eternal death.
this the Lord alone does . . ..

AE 89

. . . things that appear disconnected
in the sense of the letter,
in the internal sense are continuous.

~ Ishmael Is Born ~

Now Sarai, Abram's wife,
had borne him no children.
But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar;
so she said to Abram,
"The Lord has kept me from having children.
Go, sleep with my maid-servant;
perhaps I can build a family through her."

Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years,
Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar
and gave her to her husband to be his wife.
He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant,
she began to despise her mistress.
Then Sarai said to Abram,
"You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering.
I put my servant in your arms,
and now that she knows she is pregnant,
she despises me.
May the Lord judge between you and me."

"Your servant is in your hands," Abram said.
"Do with her whatever you think best."
Then Sari mistreated Hagar;
so she fled from her.

The angel of the Lord
found Hagar near a spring in the desert;
it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.
And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai,
where have you come from,
and where are you going?"

"I'm running away from my mistress, Sarai,"
she answered.

Then the angel of the Lord told her,
"Go back to your mistress and submit to her."
The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants
that they will be too numerous to count."

The angel for the Lord also said to her:

"You are now with child and you will have a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,
for the Lord has heard of your misery.
He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone's hand against him,
and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers."

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her:
"You are the God who sees me,"
for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me."
That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi;
it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

So Hagar bore Abram a son,
and Abram gave the name Ishmael
to the son she had borne.
Abram was eighty-six years old
when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

(Genesis 16)

AE 71 - The Voice of Many Waters; AE 74 - His Face Shines

AE 71 [1, 4]

And His voice as the voice of many waters,
(Revelation 1:12)

signifies Divine truth in ultimates.
This is evident from the signification of a "voice"
when it is from the Lord, as being Divine truth . . ..

. . . some will wonder why "waters"
are mentioned in the Word,
and not the truths of faith,
since the Word is to teach man about his spiritual life;
and since, if the expression the truths of faith
had been used, instead of "waters,"
man would have known that the waters of baptism
and of washings contribute nothing
to the purifying of man from evils and falsities.
But it is to be known,
that the Word in order to be Divine,
and at the same time useful to heaven and the church,
must be wholly natural in the letter,
for if it were not natural in the letter
there could be no conjunction
of heaven with the church
by means of it;
for it would be like a house without a foundation,
and like a soul without a body,
for ultimates enclose all interiors,
and are a foundation for them.
Man also is in ultimates,
and upon the church in him
heaven has its foundations.
For this reason the style of the Word is such as it is;
and as a consequence,
when man from the natural things
that are in the sense of the letter of the Word
thinks spiritually,
he is conjoined with heaven,
and in no other way could he be conjoined with it.

AE 74

And His face as the sun shines in His power,
(Revelation 1:16)

signifies His Divine love,
from which are all things of heaven,
from which is all good, thus all things of heaven . . .
and the Lord in the Word
in respect to the Divine Human
is called "the face of Jehovah."

~ The Lord Calls Abram ~

The Lord had said to Abram,
"Leave your country,
your people and your father's household
and go to the land I will show you.

"I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

So Abram left, as the Lord had told him;
and Lot went with him.
Abram was seventy-five years old
when he set out from Haran.
He took his wife Sarai,
his nephew Lot,
all the possessions they had accumulated
and the people they had acquired in Haran,
and they set out for the land of Canaan,
and they arrived there.

Abram traveled through the land
as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem.
At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
The Lord appeared to Abram and said,
"To our offspring I will give this land."
So he built an altar there to the Lord,
who had appeared to him.

From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel
and pitched his tent,
with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.
There he built an altar to the Lord
and called on the name of the Lord.
then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

(Genesis 12:1-9)

AE 55 - "Trumpet"; AE 62 - "Lampstand"

AE 55

A "trumpet" or "horn" signifies Divine truth
about to be revealed out of heaven,
because sometimes Divine truth is heard in this way
when it flows down from the Lord
through the heavens with man;
for it is increased in coming down;
and it thus flows in.
But it is thus heard only in the beginning
with those through whom Divine truth
is to be revealed in the ultimate sense,
which is representative of interior things.
But afterwards it is heard as a human voice.

AE 62 [2]

That "lampstand" signifies heaven and the church
is evident from the description of the lampstand
which was in the tabernacle,
for by the tabernacle
the whole heaven in the complex was represented;
and by the lampstand therein,
the spiritual heaven, which is the second heaven.
That this is so is clearly evident from John's seeing
"in the midst of the seven lampstands
one like unto the Son of man;"
"the Son of man" is the Lord
in respect to His Divine Human,
from which is Divine truth,
which is the All in all things of heaven and the church.
In the spiritual heaven also
lampstands appear in much magnificence;
by these that heaven is represented. 

~ The Waters Recede ~

But God remembered Noah
and all the wild animals and the livestock
that were with him in the ark,
and He sent a wind over the earth,
and the waters receded.
Now the springs of the deep
and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed,
and the rain had stopped falling from the sky.
The water receded steadily from the earth.
At the end of the hundred and fifty days
the water had gone down,
and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month
the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
The waters continued to recede until the tenth month,
and on the first day of the tenth month
the tops of the mountains became visible.

(Genesis 8:1-5)

AE 36

. . . "clouds" signify Divine truths in ultimates . . .
for when Divine truth proceeding from the Lord,
which is the very light of heaven,
passes through the angels,
it appears as a cloud,
purer or denser according to their intelligence.
. . . this is why "clouds,"
such as those that appear
before the eyes of men in the world,
signify Divine truth in ultimates;
and as the Word in the letter
is Divine truth in ultimates,
that is what is meant by "clouds."

AE 48 [2, 3]

. . . "kingdom" in the Word
signifies heaven and the church in respect to truths . . ..

. . . "kingdom" in the Lord's prayer:

Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
as in heaven, so also upon the earth.
Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.
(Matthew 6:10, 13)

"Thy kingdom come"
is a prayer that truth may be received;
"Thy will be done,"
that it may be received by those who do God's will;
"Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,"
means Divine truth from God alone;
it is also said "power and glory,"
because Divine truth has all power and glory.
From all this it can be seen what
"the kingdom of God" signifies
in very many passages in the Word,
namely, the church in respect to truths,
and also heaven,
and in the highest sense the Lord
in respect to the Divine Human.
"Kingdom," in the highest sense,
signifies the Lord in respect to the Divine Human,
because from Him all Divine truth proceeds;
and "kingdom" signifies heaven,
because heaven with the angels
is from no other source than from the Divine truth
that proceeds from the Lord's Divine Human.

~ God Gives Noah the Plan and It Rains ~

This is the account of Noah.

Noah was a righteous man,
blameless among the people of his time,
and he walked with God.
Noah had three sons:  Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight
and was full of violence.
God saw how corrupt the earth had become,
for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

So God said to Noah,
"I am going to put an end to all people,
for the earth is filled with violence
because of them.
I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
So make yourself an ark of cypress wood;
make rooms in it
and coat it with pitch inside and out.
This is how you are to build it:
The ark is to be 300 cubits long,
50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high.
Make a roof for it
and finish the ark to within a cubit of the top.
Put a door in the side of the ark
and make lower, middle and upper decks.
I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth
to destroy all life under the heavens,
every creature that has the breath of life in it.
Everything on earth will perish.
But I will establish My covenant with you,
and you will enter the ark --
you and your sons
and your wife and your sons' wives with you.
You are to bring into the ark
two of all living creatures, male and female,
to keep them alive with you.
Two of every kind of bird,
of every kind of animal
and of every kind of creature
that moves along the ground
will come to you to be kept alive.
You are to take every kind of good that is to be eaten
and store it away as food for you and for them."

Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life,
on the seventeenth day of the second month --
on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth,
and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
And rain fell on the earth
forty days and forty nights.

The waters flooded the earth
for a hundred and fifty days.

(Genesis 6:9-22; 7:11-12, 24)

AE 20 - "Seven" and "Three; AE 23 - The Recipients of the Lord; AE 33 - "Glory"

AE 20

. . . "seven" signifies what is full'
but when multitude is treated of, "seven" signifies all.
"Three" also in the Word signifies what is full and all;
But "seven" is used in the Word
where anything holy is treated of,
and "three" in all other cases . . ..

AE 23

For the whole heaven is heaven
not from the angels' proprium
[selfhood, or what is their own],
but from the Divine of the Lord;
nor is the church the church from the proprium of men,
but from the Divine of the Lord;
for all the good of love and the truth of faith
are from the Lord,
and it is the good of love and the truth of faith
that make heaven and the church.
Angels and men are only recipients,
and so far as they receive,
heaven and the church are in them.

AE 33

. . . Divine good has all might and all power
through Divine truth . . ..

 "Glory" is Divine truth in heaven
because Divine truth is the light there;
and the things that have existence
from the light of heaven
are called "glory,"
because they have existence from the Lord
and represent the Divine truth that is from Him,
and declare His glory;
especially the things that are within the angel,
which are of intelligence and wisdom.

~ Cain and Abel Make An Offering ~

Adam lay with his wife Eve,
and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.
She said, "With the help of the Lord
I have brought forth a man."
Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

Now Abel kept flocks,
and Cain worked the soil.
In the course of time
Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil
as an offering to the Lord.
But Abel brought fat portions
from some of the first born of his flock.
The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
but on Cain and his offering
He did not look with favor.
So Cain was very angry,
and his face was downcast.

Then the Lord said to Cain,
"Why are you angry? 
Why is your face downcast?
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?
But if you do not do what is right,
sin is crouching at your door;
it desires to have you,
but you must master it."

(Genesis 4:1-7)
 

AE 10 - "The Testimony of Jesus Christ"; AE 15 - To Will and Do

AE - Apocalypse Explained

AE 10

Who bare witness to the Word of God,
and to the testimony of Jesus Christ
(Revelation 1:2),

signifies to those who in heart acknowledge Divine truth,
and the Divine of the Lord in His Human.
This is evident from the signification of "hearing witness,"
as meaning to acknowledge in heart . . .,
and from the signification of "the Word,"
or speech of God, as meaning Divine truth;
and from the signification of
"[the testimony of] Jesus Christ,"
as meaning the acknowledgment of
the Lord's Divine in His Human.
This is signified by "the testimony of Jesus Christ,"
because "to testify" signifies to acknowledge in heart,
and to acknowledge Jesus Christ in heart
is to acknowledge the Divine in His Human;
for he that acknowledges the Lord,
and does not at the same time
acknowledge the Divine in His Human,
does not acknowledge the Lord;
since His Divine is in His Human,
and not out of it;
for the Divine is in Its Human as the soul is in the body,
consequently to think of the Lord's Human,
and not at the same time of His Divine,
is like thinking of a person abstractly
from his soul or life,
which is not thinking of a person.

That the Lord's Divine is in His Human,
and that together they are one person,
the doctrine received
throughout the Christian world teaches . . ..

AE 15

To do is to will
and to will is to do;
because in deeds
the will is everything.

~ The First Garden ~

. . . the Lord God formed the man
from the dust of the ground
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and the man became a living being.

Now the Lord God had planted a garden
in the east, in Eden;
and there He put the man He had formed.
And the Lord God made all kinds of trees
grow out of the ground --
trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.
In the middle of the garden
were the tree of life
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A river watering the garden flowed from Eden;
from there it was separated into four headwaters.
The name of the first is the Pishon;
it winds through the entire land of Havilah,
where there is gold.
(The gold of that land is good;
aromatic resin and onyx are also there.)
The name of the second river is the Gihon;
it winds through the entire land of Cush.
The name of the third river is the Tigris;
it runs along the east side of Asshur.
And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

The Lord God took the man
and put him in the Garden of Eden
to work it and take care of it.

(Genesis 2:7-15)

TCR 791 - And He Sent Forth the Twelve Disciples

TCR 791

After this work was finished,
the Lord called together His twelve disciples,
who followed Him in the world;
and the next day He sent them forth
into the whole spiritual world
to preach the Gospel
that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns,
whose kingdom shall be for ever and ever,
according to the prediction of Daniel . . .
and in the Revelation . . .

Four great beasts,
each different from the others,
came up out of the sea.
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 7:3, 14)

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet,
and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

"The kingdom of the world
has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ
and He will reign for ever and ever."
(Revelation 11: 15)

and also that

They are blessed who come
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.
(Rev. 19: 9)

This took place on the 19th day of June, in the year 1770.
This is meant by these words of the Lord,

"He shall send His angels . . .
and they shall gather together His elect . . .
from one end of the heavens to the other."
(Matthew 24: 31)

~ The River of Life and the Tree of Life ~

Then the angel showed me
the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal,
flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
down the middle of the great street of the city.
On each side of the river stood the tree of life,
bearing twelve crops of fruit,
yielding its fruit every month.
And the leaves of the tree
are for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be any curse.
The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city,
and His servants will serve Him.
They will see His face,
and His name will be on their foreheads.
There will be no more night.
They will not need the light of a lamp
or the light of the sun,
for the Lord God will give them light.
And they will reign for ever and ever.

The angel said to me,
"These words are trustworthy and true.
The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets,
sent His angels to show His servants
the things that must soon take place."

"Behold, I am coming soon!
Blessed is he who keeps the words
of the prophecy in this book."

Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus
be with God's people.
Amen.

(Revelation 22:1-7, 20.5-21)

TCR 846 - The Word's Correspondences Conjoin

TCR 846

1. In the Word, in the whole and in every part of it,
there is a spiritual sense
corresponding to the natural sense;
by means of that sense
the Word is a means of conjunction
for people of the Church with the Lord,
and of association with angels;
and the holiness of the Word resides in that sense.

 2. The correspondences of which the spiritual sense
consists are now revealed.
. . . it is now revealed by the Lord
in order that there may be effected
conjunction of the people of the Church with Him,
and their association with angels.
This is done by means of the Word,
in which all things, both in general and in particular,
are correspondences.

~ The New Holy City ~

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.

I did not see a temple in the city,
because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
are its temple.
The city does not need
the sun or the moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God gives it light,
and the Lamb is its lamp.

(Revelation 21:  1-2, 22-23)

 

TCR 839 - The Interior and Exterior Person

TCR 839

People who perceive things interiorly
are in the light of truth,
which is the light of heaven;
and people who perceive things exteriorly
are in no light of truth,
because they are only in the light of the world;
so that interior people are intelligent and wise,
but exterior people are insane
and their vision is distorted.
Interior people are spiritual,
because they think from the spirit
elevated above the body,
and, therefore, see truths in light;
but external people are sensual natural beings,
because they think from the fallacies of the bodily senses.
Therefore, they see truths as in a cloud,
and when they meditate upon them
they see falsities as truths.
Internal people are like those
who stand on a mountain in a plain,
or on a tower in a city,
or on a watch tower by the sea;
whereas external people are like those
who stand in a valley at the foot of a mountain,
or in a vault under a tower,
or in a, boat at the foot of a watch tower,
who see nothing but what is close to them.

~ Hallelujah! ~

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude,
like the roar of rushing waters
and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

"Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
and give Him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and His bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear."

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)

(Revelation 19:6-8)

 

TCR 822 - Hereditary Evil: TCR 827 - Mary

TCR 822

It is well known that a person has
inherent or hereditary evil from his parents;
but few know where it resides in its fullness.
It has its seat
in the love of possessing the property of all others,
and in the love of dominion.
This latter love is of such a nature
that so far as rein is given to it,
it rushes on till it burns
with the love of domineering over all,
and finally desires to be
invoked and worshipped as God.
This love is the serpent
which deceived Eve and Adam;
for it said to the woman:

"God does know
that in the day you eat of the fruit of that tree,
your eyes shall be opened,
and then you shall be as God."
(Genesis 3: 4, 5)

So far, therefore,
as a person rushes into this love without restraint,
he turns away from God and turns to himself,
and becomes a worshipper of himself . . ..

TCR 827

To the above
I will add a matter especially worthy of note.
Mary, the mother of the Lord,
once passed by;
and she appeared over my head in white raiment.
Pausing for a moment she said
that she was the mother of the Lord,
and that He was indeed born of her;
but that, having become God,
He put off all that was human which He had from her,
and that she, therefore,
now worships Him as her God;
and that she does not desire
that any one should acknowledge Him as her son,
since all in Him is Divine.

~ Babylon Is Fallen! ~

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven.
He had great authority,
and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.
With a mighty voice he shouted:

"Fallen!  Fallen is Babylon the Great!
She has become a home for demons
and a haunt for every evil spirit,
a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.
For all the nations
have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries.
The kings of the earth committed adultery with her,
and the merchants of the earth grew rich
from her excessive luxuries."

Then I heard another voice from heaven say:

"Come out of her, My people,
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
for her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.

(Revelation 18:1-5)

TCR 800 - In the Spiritual World; TCR 801, 805 - Loves

TCR 800

. . . Christians who read the Word,
and who know and acknowledge the Lord,
the Redeemer and Savior,
are in the center of all the nations and peoples
of the whole spiritual world.
For they possess the greatest spiritual light,
and the light proceeding from this
is diffused as from a center
in all directions to the outermost circumference . . ..

. . . quarters in the spiritual world
are not like those in the natural world.
There homes are arranged in quarters
according to the reception of faith and love;
those having their homes in the east
excel in love,
and those having their homes in the south
excel in intelligence.

TCR 801

One's chief love is like the ruler of a kingdom,
or like the master of a house,
the other loves being like subjects or servants.
This chief love, moreover,
resides in the highest and inmost regions of the mind,
while the mediate loves are beneath and apart,
and are subservient to its control.

TCR 805

. . . love truly conjugial is a heavenly love,
into which enters no thought of rule.

 

~ Another Angel and A Sea of Glass Mixed With Fire ~

Then I saw another angel flying in midair,
and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim
to those who live on the earth -
to every nation, tribe, language and people.
He said in a loud voice,
"Fear God and give Him glory,
because the hour of His judgment has come.
Worship Him who made the heavens,
the earth, the sea and the springs of water.
(Revelation 14:6-7)

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 over 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 15:2-4)

TCR 789 - Swedenborg to Calvin on Predestination; TCR 799 - Luther, Melanchton and Calvin

TCR 798 [9]

When I heard this I rejoined in great indignation:
"You speak blasphemy. Begone, wicked spirit!
Do you not know, since you are now in the spiritual world,
that there is a heaven, and that there is a hell?
Predestination, therefore, implies
that some are appointed for heaven and some for hell.
The only idea of God then that you can form
is that of a tyrant,
who admits his favorites into his city,
and consigns the rest to torture.
Shame on you!"

TCR 799

I have conversed with many other spirits,
with followers of these three leaders
as well as with heretics.
It has been granted me to conclude
that such of them as have lived a life of charity,
and especially those
who have loved truth because it is truth,
willingly undergo instruction in the spiritual world
and receive the doctrines of the New Church.
On the other hand,
those who have confirmed themselves
in the falsities of religion,
and also those who have lived an evil life,
refuse to be instructed.
These gradually withdraw from the new heaven
and associate with their like in hell,
where they obstinately confirm themselves
more and more against the worship of the Lord,
till they cannot bear to hear the name of Jesus.
The reverse is the case in heaven;
for there all with one accord
acknowledge the Lord as God of heaven.

~ The Angel Announces ~

Then the angel I had seen
standing on the sea and on the land
raised his right hand to heaven.
And he swore by Him who lives for ever and ever,
who created the heavens and all that is in them,
the earth and all that is in it,
and the sea and all that is in it, and said,
"There will be no more delay!
But in the days when the seventh angel 
is about to sound his trumpet,
the mystery of God will be accomplished,
just as He announced to His servants the prophets."

(Revelation 10:5-7)

 

TCR 784 - A New Heaven Then a New Church on Earth; TCR 787 - Conjunction with a Visible God

TCR 784

It is according to Divine order
that a new heaven should be formed
before a New Church is established on earth.
For the Church is internal and external,
and the internal Church makes one
with the Church in heaven,
and consequently with heaven;
and the internal must be formed before the external,
and afterwards the external by means of the internal.
That this is so
is well known among the clergy in this world.
Just so far as this new heaven,
which constitutes the internal of the Church in a person,
increases, so far the New Jerusalem,
that is, the New Church,
comes down from that heaven.
Now this cannot take place in a moment
but only as the falsities
of the former Church are removed:
for what is new cannot enter
where falsities have previously been implanted,
unless those falsities are first rooted out.

TCR 787

The New Church is the crown of all the Churches
which have hitherto been on the earth,
because it will worship one visible God,
in whom is the invisible God,
as the soul is in the body.
. . . conjunction with a visible God
is like seeing a man in the air or on the water,
stretching forth his hands
and inviting all to his arms.

~ Those Who Repented and Those Who Did Not ~

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 7:13-17)

The first woe is past;
two other woes are yet to come.
. . . A third of mankind was killed by
the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur . . ..
The rest of mankind
that were not killed by these plagues
still did not repent of the work of their hands;
they did not stop worshiping demons,
and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood --
idols that cannot see or hear or walk.
Nor did they repent of their murders,
their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
(Revelation 9:20-21)

TCR 772-773 - The Second Coming and Its Purpose; TCR 776-777 - The Clouds of Heaven

TCR 772-773

That the Last Judgment took place in the spiritual world
in the year 1757,
was shown in a little work on The Last Judgment,
published in London in the year 1758;
and also in The Continuation of the Last Judgment,
published in Amsterdam in the year 1763.
This I solemnly attest,
because I saw it with my own eyes,
in a state of full wakefulness.

The Coming of the Lord
is for the purpose of forming a new heaven
from those who have believed on Him,
and of establishing a New Church
from those who hereafter believe on Him,
for these are the two objects of His Coming.
The end itself of the creation of the universe
was that an angelic heaven might be formed from men,
where all who believe on God
might live in eternal blessedness;
for the Divine Love which is in God,
and which essentially is God,
can intend nothing else,
and the Divine Wisdom,
which also is in God and which is God,
can effect nothing else.
Since the creation of the universe had for its end
an angelic heaven formed from the human race,
and at the same time a Church on earth,
by which man shall pass to heaven;
and since the salvation of men, that is,
of men who should be born in the world,
is thus a continuation of creation;
therefore, the term "create" meaning to "form for heaven"
is frequently used in the Word, as in these passages:

"Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a firm spirit within me."
(Psalm 2: 10)

"You opened Your hand,
they are filled with good . . ..
You send forth Your spirit,
they are created."
(Psalm 104: 28, 30)

TCR 776, 777

This Second Coming of the Lord
is not in Person,
but in the Word,
which is from Him, and is Himself.

. . . by the clouds of heaven
is meant the Word in the natural sense,
by glory the Word in the spiritual sense,
and by power the influence of the Lord
by means of the Word.

It is vain, therefore,
to suppose that the Lord will appear
in the clouds of heaven in Person:
He will appear in the Word,
which is from Him,
and is thus Himself.

~ The Voice of Many Angels ~

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels,
numbering thousands upon thousands,
and ten thousand times ten thousand.
They encircled the throne
and the living creatures and elders.
In a loud voice they sang:

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth
and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"

Then I heard every creature
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth and on the sea,
and all that is in them, singing:

"To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!"

The four living creatures said, "Amen,"
and the elders fell down and worshiped.

(Revelation 8:11-14)

TCR 764, 766 - The Morning

TCR 764 [2]

. . . the last phase of the Church
is meant by evening and night,
and its first phase by morning.
The Lord Himself also is called Morning
in the following passages:

"The God of Israel said,
the Rock of Israel spake to me . . .
He shall be as the light of the morning . . .
even a morning without clouds."
(II Samuel 23: 3, 4)

"I am the root and offspring of David,
the bright and morning star."
(Revelation 22: 16)

These passages have reference to the Lord;
for He is the Morning.
For this reason also
He arose from the sepulcher early in the morning,
for He was about to begin a new Church (Mark xvi. 2, 9).

TCR 766

The Lord is present with every person,
urgent and pressing to be received;
and when a person receives Him,
by acknowledging Him
as his Creator, Redeemer and Savior,
then is His first Coming, which is called the dawn.
From this time the person,
as to his understanding,
begins to be enlightened in spiritual things,
and to advance to a more interior degree of wisdom.
As he receives this wisdom from the Lord,
so he progresses through morning into day,
and this day continues with him to old age,
even till death;
and after death he comes into heaven
to the Lord Himself.
There, although he may have died an old man,
he returns to the morning of his life,
and continues to develop to eternity
the wisdom whose beginnings were first implanted
during his life in the natural world.

~ The Voice Like A Trumpet Speaks Again ~

After this I looked, and there before me
was a door standing open in heaven.
And the voice I had first heard
speaking to me like a trumpet said,
"Come up here,
and I will show you what must take place after this."
At once I was in the Spirit,
and there before me was a throne in heaven
with Someone sitting on it.
And the One who sat there
had the appearance of jasper and carnelian.
A rainbow, resembling an emerald,
encircled the throne.
Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones,
and seated on them were twenty-four elders.
They were dressed in white
and had crowns of gold on their heads.
From the throne came flashes of lightning,
rumblings and peals of thunder.
Before the throne,
seven lamps were blazing.
These are the seven spirits of God.
Also before the throne there was what looked like
a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

(Revelation 4:1-6)

 

TCR 753, 755 - The Consummation (End) of the Age

TCR 753

There have been several Churches on this earth,
all of which in process of time have been consummated,
and after their consummation new ones have arisen;
and this has been the case right up to the present time.
The consummation of the Church takes place
when there remains no Divine Truth
but what is either falsified or rejected.
And where there is no genuine truth
there can be no genuine good,
because the whole quality of good is formed by truths;
for good is the essence of truth,
and truth is the form of good,
and quality cannot exist without form.
Good and truth can no more be separated
than will and understanding;
or, what is the same thing,
than the affection of love and thought arising from it.
Therefore,
when truth is consummated (ended) in the Church,
good in it is consummated (ended) also;
and when that takes place,
the Church is at an end, that is,
then is its consummation.

TCR 755

It should be known
that vastation, desolation and decision
signify the same as consummation;
but desolation signifies the consummation of truth,
vastation the consummation of good,
and decision the full consummation of both;
and the fullness of time,
in which the Lord came into the world,
and in which He is to come,
is also a consummation.

~ A Voice Like a Trumpet ~

On the Lord's Day I (John) 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 eye ware blazing like fire.
His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace,
and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters.
In His right hand 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.

"Write, therefore, what you have seen,
what is now and what will take place later.
They mystery of the seven stars
that you saw in My right hand
and of the seven golden lampstands is this:
The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches,
and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

(Revelation 1:10-20)

TCR 746 - Degrees of Wisdom and Their Uses

TCR 746 [1-3]

"When man was first created,
he was initiated into wisdom and its love,
not for his own sake
but that he might impart it to others from himself.
Hence it is inscribed on the wisdom of the wise,
that no one should be wise and live for himself alone,
but for others at the same time.
This is the foundation of society,
which could not otherwise exist.
To live for others is to perform uses:
uses are the bonds of society,
and these are as many as there are good uses,
and their number is infinite.
There are spiritual uses,
which are those of love to God
and love towards the neighbor;
there are moral and civil uses,
pertaining to the love of the society and country
in which a man lives,
and of his fellow-citizens among whom he dwells;
there are natural uses
pertaining to the love of the world and its necessities;
and there are corporeal uses,
pertaining to the love of self-preservation
for the sake of higher uses.

"All these uses are inscribed upon man,
and they follow in order one after another,
and when they exist together,
then one is within another.
Those who are in the first or spiritual uses
are also in the uses that follow, and they are wise.
Those who are not in spiritual uses,
but yet are in moral and civil uses,
and consequently in those that follow,
are not on that account wise,
but only appear to be so
because of their external morality
and observance of civil duty.
Those who are not in spiritual and moral uses,
but in natural and corporeal uses,
are not at all wise;
for they are satans, loving only
the world and themselves because of the world.
Those, however, who are only in corporeal uses
are the least wise of all;
for they are devils,
living for themselves alone,
and regarding themselves alone
in whatever they do for others.

"Moreover, every love has its delight,
for by delight love is kept alive;
and the delight of the love of uses is a heavenly one,
which enters successively
into the delights which follow,
and in their order
exalts them and makes them eternal."
After this, they spoke of
heavenly delights proceeding from the love of use,
and said that there are myriads and myriads of them,
and that all who go to heaven enter into those delights.

~ The Last Few Verses in the Last Two Chapters of John ~

Jesus did many other miraculous signs
in the presence of His disciples,
which are not recorded in this book.
But these are written that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that by believing
you may have life in His name.
(John 20:30-31)

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 the books that would be written.
(John 21:25)

TCR 745 - Opposites

TCR 745 [5]

. . . nothing that is honorable and good in any virtue
passes by successive stages
into what is dishonorable and evil:
it diminishes till nothing of it remains,
and then its opposite begins to make its appearance.
Therefore, heaven,
where all things are honorable and good,
has nothing in common with hell,
where all things are dishonorable and evil.

~ His Kingdom, His Truth ~

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world.
If it were, My servants would fight to prevent
My arrest by the Jews.
But now My kingdom is from another place."

"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.

Jesus answered,
"You are right in saying I am a King.
In fact, for this reason I was born,
and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me."

(John 18:36-37)
 

TCR 737-739 - The Soul's Delight

TCR 737 [5]

The soul's delight is derived from
love and wisdom proceeding from the Lord;
and as love produces effects,
and does so through wisdom,
they both reside in the effect;
and the effect is use.
This delight flows into the soul from the Lord,
descending through
the higher and lower regions of the mind
into all the bodily senses,
and in them attains its fullness.
From the presence of this delight
joy becomes real joy,
becoming also eternal from its Eternal Source.
. . . If, then, a person is in this union,
he is in a heavenly paradise,
and therefore is in heaven.

TCR 739 [7-8]

. . . the joys of heaven and eternal happiness
do not depend upon place,
but upon the state of person's life;
and that the state of heavenly life
is from love and wisdom.
As use contains love and wisdom,
the state of heavenly life arises from
the union of love and wisdom in use.
It is the same if we speak of
charity, faith and good works;
for charity is love,
faith is truth from which is wisdom,
and good works are uses.
Moreover, in our spiritual world there are places,
as in the natural world;
otherwise there would be
no habitations and separate abodes.
Nevertheless place with us
is only an appearance of place
according to the state of love and wisdom,
that is, of charity and faith.

Every one who becomes an angel
bears within himself his own heaven,
because he bears the love of his own heaven . . ..

~ Then Jesus Prays ~

"You believe at last!"  Jesus answered.
"But a time is coming, and has come,
when you will be scattered,
each to his own home.
You will leave Me all alone.
Yet I am not alone,
for My Father is with Me.

"I have told you these things,
so that in Me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart!
I have overcome the world."

After Jesus said this,
He looked toward heaven and prayed:

"Father, the time has come.
Glorify Your Son,
that Your Son may glorify You.
For You granted Him authority over all people
that He might give eternal life
to all those you You have given Him.
Now this is eternal life:
that they may know You, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.
I have brought You glory on earth
by completing the work You gave Me to do.
And now, Father,
glorify Me in Your presence
with the glory I had with You
before the world began.

(John 16:31-33; 17:1-5)

TCR 734, 735, 736 - What Is Heavenly Joy?

TCR 734 [3]

It is the delight of doing something useful
to oneself and to others;
and the delight of use derives its essence
from love and its existence from wisdom.
The delight of use,
arising from love through wisdom,
is the life and soul of all heavenly joys.
There is in heaven most delightful association,
which exhilarates the minds of angels,
cheers their spirits,
gladdens their hearts and refreshes their bodies.
These pleasures, however, the angels feel
only after they have performed the uses
pertaining to their office and employment.
From these uses are derived the life and soul
of all their pleasures and delights;
but if you take away that life or soul
the subsidiary joys gradually lose their charm;
first they become unattractive,
then as it were of little account,
and finally they bring that feeling
of oppression and anxious care.

TCR 735 [5]

. . . happiness comes to every one
from the use he performs in his own vocation.

TCR 736 [3]

The Lord loves all,
and so wills good to all,
and good is the same thing as use.
As the Lord does good, or performs uses,
through the instrumentality of angels,
and, in the world, of men,
therefore, to those who faithfully perform uses
He communicates the love of use,
together with its reward, internal blessedness;
and this is eternal happiness.

~ Don't You Know Me? ~

Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father
and that will be enough for us."

Jesus answered:  "Don't you know Me, Philip,
even after I have been among you such a long time?
Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.
How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
Don't you believe that I am in the Father,
and that the Father is in Me?
The words I say to you are not just My own.
Rather, it is the Father, living in Me,
who is doing His work.
Believe Me when I say
that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me;
or at least believe on the evidence
of the miracles themselves.
I tell you the truth,
anyone who has faith in Me
will do what I have been doing.

(John 14:8-12)

TCR 722, 725, 727 - Conjunction With the Lord

TCR 722

Every Christian who studies the Word
knows, acknowledges and perceives
that God, charity and faith
are the three universals of the Church,
because they are the universal means of salvation.
Reason itself, if there is anything spiritual in it,
teaches that God must be acknowledged
in order that a person may have religion
and anything of the Church in him.

TCR 725

. . . those worthily approach the Holy Supper
who are in faith in the Lord
and in charity towards the neighbor;
that the truths of faith cause the Lord's presence;
and that the goods of charity,
together with faith,
bring about conjunction.
It follows, therefore,
that those who worthily approach the Holy Supper
are conjoined with the Lord;
and those who are conjoined with the Lord
are in Him, and He in them.
That this takes place
with those who approach worthily,
 the Lord Himself declares in John, in these words:

"He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood,
dwells in Me, and I in him."
(John 6: 56)

That this is conjunction with the Lord,
He also teaches elsewhere in the same Gospel:

"Abide in me, and I in you.
He that abides in me, and I in him,
the same brings forth much fruit."
(John 15: 4, 5; and Revelation 3: 20)

Being in conjunction with the Lord
is the same as being among those who are in His body;
and those constitute His body
who believe in Him,
and do His will.
His will is the exercise of charity
according to the truths of faith.

TCR 727 [3]

All conjunction, moreover, is effected by love,
and love is not love without trust.

~ After the Raising of Lazarus ~

. . . many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary,
and had seen what Jesus did,
put their faith in Him.
But some of them went to the Pharisees
and told them what Jesus had done.
Then the chief priests and the Pharisees
called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

"What are we accomplishing?" they asked.
"Here is this Man performing many miraculous signs.
If we let Him go on like this,
everyone will believe in Him,
and then the Romans will came
and take away both our temple and our nation."

(John 11:45-18)

TCR 711-712, 716 - The Holy Supper, Why It Is a Spiritual Repast

TCR 711-712

. . . the Lord Himself is in the Holy Supper,
that the flesh and bread
are the Lord as to the Divine Good of Love,
and that the blood and wine are the Lord
as to the Divine Truth of Wisdom.
Thus the Holy Supper involves the three universals,
namely, the Lord, His Divine Good and His Divine Truth.
Since then the Holy Supper
includes and contains these three,
it follows that it also includes and contains
the universals of heaven and of the Church.
Because all particulars depend on universals,
just as contents depend on containants,
it follows also
that the Holy Supper includes and contains
all the particulars of heaven and of the Church.
As the Divine Good and the Divine Truth,
both from the Lord and both being the Lord,
are meant by His flesh and blood
and also by the bread and wine,
it is evident as a primary consequence
that the Holy Supper contains,
both as to universals and as to particulars,
all things of heaven and of the Church.

It is also known
that there are three essentials of the Church, namely,
God, charity and faith,
and that all things of the Church
have reference to these three, as to their universals.
These three are the same as those just mentioned,
for God in the Holy Supper is the Lord,
charity is Divine Good,
and faith is Divine Truth.
What is charity
but the good that a man does from the Lord?
and what is faith
but the truth which a man believes from the Lord?
Hence it is that in man, as to his internal,
there are three essentials, namely,
the soul or mind, the will and the understanding.
These three are the receptacles
of the universals just mentioned;
the soul itself or mind is the receptacle of the Lord,
for it lives from Him;
the will is the receptacle of love or good,
and the understanding is the receptacle of wisdom or truth.
Therefore, all things, in general and in particular,
in the soul or mind
not only have reference to those three universals
of heaven and the Church,
but they also proceed from them.

TCR 716

His Divine can no more be separated from His Human
than the soul from the body.
Therefore, when it is said
that the Lord as to His Human
is wholly present in the Holy Supper,
it follows that His Divine,
from which His Human proceeded,
is also present at the same time.
Now, since the Lord's flesh signifies
the Divine Good of His Love,
and His blood the Divine Truth of His Wisdom,
it is evident that the Lord,
both as to the Divine and as to the glorified Human,
is wholly omnipresent in the Holy Supper;
and consequently it is a spiritual repast.

~ His Sheep ~

"I tell you the truth,
the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate,
but climbs in by some other way,
is a thief and a robber.
The man who enters by the gate
is the shepherd of his sheep.
The watchman opens the gate for him,
and the sheep listen to his voice.
He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has brought out all his own,
he goes on ahead of them,
and his sheep follow him
because they know his voice.
But they will never follow a stranger;
in fact, they will run away from him
because they do not recognize a stranger's voice"
Jesus used this figure of speech,
but they did not understand what He was telling them.

Therefore Jesus said again,
"I tell you the truth,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who ever came before Me were thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate;
whoever enters through Me will be saved.
He will come in and go out,
and find pasture.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I have come that they may have life,
and have it to the full."

"My sheep listen to My voice;
I know them, and they follow Me.
I give them eternal life,
and they shall never perish;
no one can snatch them out of My hand.
My Father who has given them to Me,
is greater than all;
no one can snatch them out of My Father's hand.
I and the Father are one."

(John 10:1-10. 27-30)

TCR 702 - The Bread and Wine

TCR 702

From a knowledge of correspondences
it may be known what is meant by
the flesh and blood of the Lord,
and that the same is meant by the bread and wine;
namely, that by the flesh of the Lord,
and by the bread,
is meant the Divine Good of His love,
and also all the good of charity;
and that by the blood of the Lord,
and by wine,
is meant the Divine Truth of His wisdom,
and also all the truth of faith;
and that by eating is meant
making them our own.

~ He Who Belongs to God ~

"He who belongs to God
hears what God says.
The reason you do not hear
is that you do not belong to God."

(John 8:47)

 

TCR 698, 700 - Correspondences - Seeing With the Eyes of Our Spirit

TCR 698

. . . by correspondences the natural sense of the Word
is changed into the spiritual sense in heaven.
So it is that those two sense correspond to each other . . ..

TCR 701

. . . for the first time
Christianity itself is beginning to dawn,
and a New Church,
which is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation,
is now being established by the Lord,
in which God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
are acknowledged as one,
because they are in one Person.
It has, therefore, pleased the Lord
to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word,
in order that this Church may
enter into the use and benefit itself of
the two sacraments, Baptism and the Holy Supper.
This follows
when people see with the eyes of their spirit,
that is, with the understanding,
the holiness concealed therein,
and apply it to themselves
by the means which the Lord has taught in His Word.

~ The Spirit Gives Life ~

Aware that His disciples were grumbling . . .
Jesus said to them,
"Does this offend you?
What if you see the Son of Man ascend
to where He was before!
The Spirit gives life;
the flesh counts for nothing.
The words I have spoken to you are spirit
and they are life.

(John 6:61-63)

TCR 697 - God's Dwelling Place

TCR 697 [11]

. . . the soul is the person himself;
for it is the inmost person,
and therefore its form
is fully and perfectly the human form.
Nevertheless, it is not life,
but the receptacle of life from God nearest to Him,
and thus God's dwelling place.

. . . the Lord God
formed the man from the dust of the ground
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living soul.
(Genesis 2:7)

~ "It Is I; Don't Be Afraid." ~

When evening came,
His disciples went down to the lake,
where they got into a boat
and set off across the lake for Capernaum.
By now it was dark,
and Jesus had not yet joined them.
A strong wind was blowing
and the waters grew rough.
When they had rowed three or three and a half miles,
(twenty-five or thirty stadia in the Greek)
they saw Jesus approaching the boat,
walking on the water;
and they were terrified.
But He said to them,
"It is I; don't be afraid."
Then they were willing to take Him into the boat,
and immediately the boat reached the shore
where they were heading.

(John 6:16-21)