Gathering at the Tent of Meeting

The Lord said to Moses,
"Bring Aaron and his sons, their garments,
the anointing oil,
the bull for the sin offering,
the two rams
and the basket containing bread made without yeast,
and gather the entire assembly
at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting."
Moses did as the Lord commanded him,
and the assembly gathered
at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
(Leviticus 8:1-4)

HH 397, 399, 403 - heavenly joy & happiness

HH 397
. . . the Divine good that flows forth from the Lord's Divine love
is what makes heaven in general and in particular
with everyone there,
and the Divine love is a longing for the salvation of all
and the happiness of all from inmosts and in fullness.

HH 399
Love to the Lord is such
because the Lord's love
is a love of sharing everything it has with all,
since it wills the happiness of all.
There is a like love in everyone of those who love the Lord,
because the Lord is in them;
and from this comes
the mutual sharing of the delights of angels with one another.
. . . It is otherwise with the loves of self and of the world.
The love of self takes away from others
and robs others of all delight,
and directs it to itself,
for it wishes well to itself alone;
while the love of the world
wishes to have as its own
what belongs to the neighbor.
Therefore these loves are destructive of the delights of others;
or if there is any disposition to share,
it is for the sake of themselves and not for the sake of others.

HH 403
There were some spirits who believed
from an opinion adopted in the world
that heavenly happiness consists in an idle life
in which they would be served by others;
but they were told
that happiness never consists in abstaining from work
and getting satisfaction therefrom.
. . . Such a life would be an idle not an active life,
and would stupefy all the powers of life;
and everyone ought to know that without activity of life
there can be no happiness of life,
and that rest from this activity
should be only for the sake of recreation,
that one may return with more vigor
to the activity of his life.
. . . angelic life 
consists in performing the good works of charity,
which are uses,
and that the angels find all their happiness in use,
from use, and in accordance with use.

The Grain Offering

"'When someone brings a grain offering to the Lord,
his offering is to be of fine flour.
He is to pour oil on it, put incense on it
and take it to Aaron's sons the priests.
The priest shall take a handful of the fine flour and oil,
together with all the incense,
and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar,
an offering made by fire,
and aroma pleasing to the Lord.
The rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons;
it is a most holy part of the offerings made to the Lord by fire.'"
(Leviticus 2:1-3)

HH 391 - employments in heaven

HH 391
Some societies are employed in taking care of little children;
others in teaching and training them as they grow up;
others in teaching and training in like manner
the boys and girls that have acquired a good disposition
from their education in the world,
and in consequence have come into heaven.
There are other societies
that teach the simple good from the Christian world,
and lead them into the way to heaven;
there are others that in like manner
teach and lead the various heathen nations.
There are some societies
that defend from infestations by evil spirits
the newly arrived spirits that have just come from the world;
there are some
that attend upon the spirits that are in the lower earth;
also some that attend upon spirits that are in the hells,
and restrain them from tormenting each other
beyond prescribed limits;
and there are some that attend upon those
who are being raised from the dead.
In general, angels from each society are sent to men
to watch over them and to lead them
away from evil affections and consequent thoughts,
and to inspire them with good affections
so far as they will receive them in freedom;
and by means of these
they also direct the deeds or works of men
by removing as far as possible evil intentions.
When angels are with men
they dwell as it were in their affections;
and they are near to man
just in the degree in which he is in good from truths,
and are distant from him
just in the degree in which his life is distant from good.
But all these employments of angels
are employments of the Lord through the angels,
for the angels perform them from the Lord
and not from themselves.
For this reason, in the Word in its internal sense
"angels" mean, not angels, but something belonging to the Lord;
and for the same reason angels are called "gods" in the Word.

The Tabernacle and the Glory of the Lord

The Israelites had done all the work
just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Moses inspected the work
and saw that they had done it
just as the Lord had commanded.
So Moses blessed them.
(Exodus 39:42)

Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting,
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting
because the cloud had settled upon it,
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

In all the travels of the Israelites,
whenever the cloud lifted from the tabernacle,
they would set out;
but if the cloud did not lift,
they did not set out - until the day it lifted.
So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day,
and fire was in the cloud by night,
in the sight of all the house of Israel
during all their travels.
(Exodus 40:34-37)

HH 369 - union, HH 380 - dominion

HH 369
Everyone, whether man or woman,
possesses understanding and will;
but with the man the understanding predominates,
and with the woman the will predominates,
and the character is determined by that which predominates.
Yet in heavenly marriages there is no predominance;
for the will of the wife is also the husband's will,
and the understanding of the husband
is also the wife's understanding,
since each loves to will and to think like the other,
that is mutually and reciprocally.
Thus are they conjoined into one.
This conjunction is actual conjunction,
for the will of the wife
enters into the understanding of the husband,
and the understanding of the husband 
into the will of the wife,
and this especially when they look into one another's faces;
for, as has been repeatedly said above, 
there is in the heavens a sharing of thoughts and affections,
more especially with husband and wife,
because they reciprocally love each other.

HH 380 [2]
When one wills or loves what the other wills or loves
each has freedom, since all freedom is from love;
but where there is dominion no one has freedom;
one is a servant,
and the other who rules is also a servant,
for he is led as a servant by the lust of ruling.
But all this is wholly beyond the comprehension
of one who does not know what the freedom of heavenly love is.
Nevertheless from what has been said above
about the origin and essence of marriage love
it can be seen that so far as dominion enters,
minds are not united but divided.
Dominion subjugates,
and a subjugated mind has either no will or an opposing will.
If it has no will it has also no love;
and if it has an opposing will there is hatred in place of love.

Moses and the Testimony

When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai,
He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony,
the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
(Exodus 31:18)

When the people saw that Moses was so long
in coming down from the mountain,
they gathered around Aaron and said,
"Come, make us gods who will go before us.
As for this fellow Moses
who brought up up out of Egypt,
we don't know what has happened to him."

Moses turned and went down the mountain
with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands.
They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.
The tablets were the work of God;
the writing was the writing of God,
engraved on the tablets.

When Moses approached the camp
and saw the calf and the dancing,
his anger burned
and he threw the tablets out of his hands,
breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.
And he took the calf they had made
and burned it in the fire;
then he ground it to powder,
scattered it on the water
and made the Israelites drink it.

And the Lord struck the people with a plague
because of what they did with the calf 
that Aaron had made.
(Exodus 32:1,15-16,19-20,35)

The Lord said to Moses,
"Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones,
and I will write on them the words
that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
Be ready in the morning,
and then come up on Mount Sinai."

Moses was there with the Lord
forty days and forty nights
without eating bread or drinking water.
And he wrote on the tablets
the words of the covenant - the Ten Commandments.
(Exodus 34:1-2; 27-28)

HH 357-358 - Who are the rich and poor in heaven?

HH 357-358
. . . the rich enter heaven just as easily as the poor,
and that no person
is shut out of heaven on account of his wealth,
or received into heaven on account of his poverty.
Both the rich and the poor are in heaven,
and many of the rich in greater glory and happiness
than the poor.

It should be said to begin
with that a person may acquire riches and accumulate wealth
as far as opportunity is given,
if it is not done by craft or fraud;
that he may enjoy the delicacies of food and drink
if he does not place his life therein;
that he may have a palatial dwelling in accord with his condition,
have interaction with others in like condition,
frequent places of amusement,
talk about the affairs of the world,
and need not go about like a devotee
with a sad and sorrowful countenance and drooping head,
but may be joyful and cheerful;
nor need he give his goods to the poor
except so far as affection leads him;
in a word,
he may live outwardly precisely like a person of the world;
and all this will be no obstacle to his entering heaven,
provided that inwardly in himself he thinks about God as he ought,
and acts sincerely and justly in respect to his neighbor.
For a person is such as his affection and thought are,
or such as his love and faith are,
and from these all his outward acts derive their life;
since acting is willing, and speaking is thinking,
acting being from the will, and speaking from the thought.
So where it is said in the Word
that person will be judged according to his deeds,
and will be rewarded according to his works,
it is meant that he will be judged and rewarded
in accordance with his thought and affection,
which are the source of his deeds, or which are in his deeds;
for deeds are nothing apart from these,
and are precisely such as these are.
All this shows that the person's external accomplishes nothing,
but only his internal, which is the source of the external.

The Breast Piece

"Fashion a breast piece for making decisions -
the work of a skilled craftsman.
Make it like the ephod:
of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn,
and of finely twisted linen.
Then mount four rows of precious stones on it.
In the first row there shall be a ruby, a topaz and a beryl;
in the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald;
in the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst;
in the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper.
Mount them in gold filigree settings.
There are to be twelve stones,
one for each of the names of the sons of Israel,
each engraved like a seal
with the name of one of the twelve tribes."
(Exodus 28:15-20)

HH 350 - willing and doing

HH 350
To love truth and good for the sake of truth and good
is to will and do them;
for those love who will and do,
while those who do not will and do
do not love.
Such also love the Lord and are loved by the Lord,
because good and truth are from the Lord.
And inasmuch as good and truth are from the Lord
the Lord is in good and truth;
and He is in those 
who receive good and truth in their life by willing and doing.
. . . a person is loved by the Lord just to the extent
that his will is formed from good
and his understanding from truth.
Also to be loved by the Lord 
is to love the Lord,
since love is reciprocal;
for upon him who is loved
the Lord bestows ability to love.
 

God's Angel to Prepare the Way

"See, I am sending an angel ahead of you
to guard you along the way
and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
Pay attention to him and listen to what he says.
Do not rebel against him;
he will not forgive your rebellion,
since My Name is in him.
If you listen carefully to what he says
and do all that I say,
I will be an enemy to your enemies
and will oppose those who oppose you.
My angel will go ahead of you
and bring you into the land
of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites,
Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites,
and I will wipe them out."

. . . "But I will not drive them out in a single year,
because the land would become desolate
and the wild animals too numerous for you.
Little by little I will drive them out before you,
until you have increased enough
to take possession of the land."
(Exodus 23:20-22; 29-30)

HH 329 - little children in heaven; HH 341 - genuine innocence

HH 329
It is a belief of some
that only such children as are born within the church
go to heaven,
and that those born out of the church do not,
and for the reason
that the children within the church are baptized
and by baptism are initiated into faith of the church.
Such are not aware
that no one receives heaven or faith through baptism;
for baptism is merely for a sign and memorial
that a person should be regenerated,
and that those born within the church
can be regenerated because the Word is there,
and in the Word are the Divine truths
by means of which regeneration is effected,
and there the Lord who regenerates is known.
Let them know therefore
that every child, wherever he is born,
whether within the church or outside of it,
whether of pious parents or impious,
is received when he dies by the Lord
and trained up in heaven,
and taught in accordance with Divine order,
and imbued with affections for what is good,
and through these with knowledges of what is true;
and afterwards
as he is perfected in intelligence and wisdom
is introduced into heaven and becomes an angel.
Everyone who thinks from reason can be sure 
that all are born for heaven and no one for hell,
and if a person comes into hell he himself is culpable;
but little children cannot be held culpable.

HH 341
Genuine innocence is wisdom,
since so far as any one is wise
he loves to be led by the Lord;
or what is the same,
so far as any one is led by the Lord
he is wise.

At Mount Sinai

The Lord said to Moses,
"I am going to come to you in a dense cloud,
so that the people will hear Me speaking with you
and will always put their trust in you."
(Exodus 19:9)

When the people saw the thunder and lightning
and heard the trumpet
and saw the mountain in smoke,
they trembled with fear.
They stayed at a distance and said to Moses,
"Speak to us yourself and we will listen.
But do not have God speak to us or we will die."

Moses said to the people,
"Do not be afraid.
God has come to test you,
so that the fear of God will be with you
to keep you from sinning."
The people remained at a distance,
while Moses approached the thick darkness
where God was.
(Exodus 20:18-21)

HH 318, 319 - heathens and a moral life

HH 318
There is a general opinion
that those born outside of the church,
who are called the nations, or heathen,
cannot be saved,
because not having the Word
they know nothing about the Lord,
and apart from the Lord there is no salvation.
But that these also are saved
this alone makes certain,
that the mercy of the Lord is universal,
that is, extends to every individual;
that these equally with those within the church,
who are few in comparison, are born men,
and that their ignorance of the Lord is not their fault.
Any one who thinks from any enlightened reason
can see that no man is born for hell,
for the Lord is love itself
and His love is to will the salvation of all.
Therefore He has provided a religion for everyone,
and by it acknowledgment of the Divine and interior life;
for to live in accordance with one's religion
is to live interiorly,
since one then looks to the Divine,
and so far as he looks to the Divine
he does not look to the world
but separates himself from the world,
that is, from the life of the world, which is exterior life.

HH 319
Everyone knows that the heathen as well as Christians
live a moral life,
and many of them a better life than Christians.
Moral life may be lived
 either out of regard to the Divine
or out of regard to men in the world;
and a moral life that is lived out of regard to the Divine
is a spiritual life.
In outward form the two appear alike,
but in inward form they are wholly different;
the one saves man, the other does not.
For he who lives a moral life out of regard
to the Divine
is led by the Divine;
while he who leads a moral life out of regard
to men in the world
is led by himself.

Be Still - Then Move - Be Grateful & Rest

Moses answered the people,
"Do not be afraid. 
Stand firm and you will see the deliverance
the Lord will bring you today.
The Egyptians you see today
you will never see again.
The Lord will fight for you;
you need only to be still."

Then the Lord said to Moses,
"Why are you crying out to me?
Tell the Israelites to move on."

. . . Then the angel of God,
who had been traveling in front of Israel's army,
withdrew and went behind them.
The pillar of cloud also moved from in front
and stood behind them,
coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel.
Throughout the night
the cloud brought darkness to the one side
and light to the other side;
so neither went near the other all night long.
(Exodus 14:13-14,19-20)

Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day
to gather it (the manna), but they found none.
Then the Lord said to Moses,
"How long will you (plural) refuse
to keep My commands and My instructions?
Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath;
that is why on the sixth day He gave you bread for two days.
Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day;
no one is to go out."
So the people rested on the seventh day.
(Exodus 16:27-30)

HH 312 - darkness

HH 312
. . . when matters relating to the body and the world are loved,
as they are at the present day,
nothing but darkness flows into the mind . . .

Leaving Egypt

All the Israelites did
just what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
And on that very day
the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt
by their divisions.
(Genesis 12:50-51)

When Pharaoh let the people go,
God did not lead them
on the road through the Philistine country,
though that was shorter.
For God said, "If they face war,
they might change their minds and return to Egypt."
So God led the people
around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.
The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.

After leaving Succoth
they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.
By day the Lord went ahead of them
in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way
and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light,
so that they could travel by day or night.
Neither the pillar of cloud by day
nor the pillar of fire by night
left its place in front of the people.
(Genesis 13:17-18, 20-22)

HH 303, HH 310 - man (homo), angels, correspondences

HH 303
. . . there is a connection
of the natural world with the spiritual world,
and that in consequence
there is a correspondence of all things
in the natural world with all things in the spiritual;
also that there is a connection
and consequently a correspondence
of all things of man with all things of heaven.

HH 310
. . . the Word . . . is despised by some
on account of its simple style;
and that nothing whatever is known about its internal sense,
and for this reason it is not believed
that so much wisdom lies hid in it.
The angels said
that although the style of the Word seems simple
in the sense of the letter,
it is such that nothing can ever be compared to it in excellence,
since Divine wisdom lies concealed
not only in the meaning as a whole but also in each word;
and that in heaven this wisdom shines forth.
. . . this wisdom is the light of heaven,
because it is Divine truth,
for that which shines in heaven is the Divine truth.
. . . without such a Word
there would be no light of heaven with the men of our earth,
nor would there be any conjunction of heaven with them;
for there is conjunction only so far
as the light of heaven is present with man,
and that light is present only so far
as Divine truth is revealed to man by means of the Word.
This conjunction by means of the correspondence
of the spiritual sense of the Word with its natural sense
is unknown to man,
because the man of this earth knows nothing
about the spiritual thought and speech of angels,
and how it differs from the natural thought and speech of men;
and until this is known
it cannot in the least be known what the internal sense is,
. . . if this sense were known to man,
and if man in reading the Word were to think
in accordance with some knowledge of it,
he would come into interior wisdom,
and would be still more conjoined with heaven,
since by this means
he would enter into ideas like the ideas of the angels.

The Lord Sends Moses to Pharaoh

Then the Lord said to Moses,
"Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh:
Because of My mighty hand he will let them go;
because of My mighty hand
he will drive them out of his country."

God also said to Moses,
"I am the Lord.
I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob
as God Almighty (El-Shaddai),
but by name the Lord (I AM)
I did not make myself known to them.
I also established My covenant with them
to give them the land of Canaan,
where they lived as aliens.
Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites,
whom the Egyptians are enslaving,
and I have remembered My covenant.

"Therefore, say to the Israelites:
'I am the Lord,
and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
I will free you from being slaves to them,
and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm
and with mighty acts of judgment.
I will take you as My own people,
and I will be your God.
Then you will know that
I am the Lord your God,
Who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand
to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.
I will give it to you as a possession.
I am the Lord.'"
(Genesis 6:1-8)

HH 291, 302 - all good is from the Lord and all evil is from hell

HH 291
It is well known in the church that all good is from God,
and that nothing of good is from man,
consequently that no one ought to ascribe (attribute)
any good to himself as his own.

HH 302
If a person only believed, as is really true,
that all good is from the Lord and all evil from hell,
he would neither make the good in him a matter of merit
nor would evil be imputed to him;
for he would then look to the Lord
in all the good he thinks and does,
and all the evil that flows in
would be cast down to hell from which it comes.
But because person does not believe
that anything flows into him either from heaven or from hell,
and therefore supposes that all things
that he thinks and wills are in himself
and therefore from himself,
he appropriates the evil to himself,
and the good that flows in he defiles with merit.

Moses Returns to Egypt

Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law
and said to him,
"Let me go back to my own people in Egypt
to see if any of them are still alive."

Jethro said, "Go, and I wish you well."

Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian,
"Go back to Egypt,
for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead."
So Moses took his wife and sons,
put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt.
And he took the staff of God in his hand.
(Genesis 4:18-20)

HH 286 - Divine peace

HH 286
Divine peace is in the Lord;
it springs from the union
of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human in Him.
The Divine of peace in heaven
is from the Lord,
springing from His conjunction with the angels of heaven,
and in particular
from the conjunction of the good and truth in each angel.
These are the origins of peace.

The Burial of Jacob

So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them:
They carried him to the land of Canaan
and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah,
near Mamre, which Abraham had bought
as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite,
along with the field.
After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt,
together with his brothers and all the others
who had gone with him to bury his father.
(Genesis 50:12-14)

HH 278 - the innocence of wisdom

HH 278
The innocence of wisdom is genuine innocence,
because it is internal, for it belongs to the mind itself,
that is, to the will itself and from that to the understanding.
And when there is innocence in these there is also wisdom,
for wisdom belongs to the will and understanding.
This is why it is said in heaven
that innocence has its abode in wisdom,
and that an angel has just so much of innocence
as he has of wisdom.
This is confirmed by the fact
that those who are in a state of innocence
attribute nothing of good to themselves,
but regard all things as received
and ascribe them to the Lord;
that they wish to be led by Him and not by themselves;
that they love everything that is good
and find delight in everything that is true,
because they know and perceive that loving what is good,
that is, willing and doing it,
is loving the Lord,
and loving truth is loving the neighbor;
that they live contented with their own,
whether it be little or much,
because they know
that they receive just as much as is good for them
- those receiving little for whom a little is useful,
and those receiving much for whom much is useful;
also that they do not themselves know what is good for them,
the Lord alone knowing this,
who looks in all things that He provides to what is eternal.

[2] Neither are they anxious about the future;
anxiety about the future they call care for the morrow,
which they define as grief
on account of losing or not receiving things
that are not necessary for the uses of life.
With companions
they never act from an evil end
but from what is good, just, and sincere.
Acting from an evil end they call cunning,
which they shun as the poison of a serpent,
since it is wholly antagonistic to innocence.
As they love nothing so much as to be led of the Lord,
attributing all things they receive to Him,
they are kept apart from what is their own [proprium];
and to the extent that they are kept apart from what is their
own the Lord flows into them;
and in consequence of this
whatever they hear from the Lord,
whether through the Word or by means of preaching,
they do not store up in the memory, but instantly obey it,
that is, will it and do it,
their will being itself their memory.
These for the most part outwardly appear simple,
but inwardly they are wise and prudent.
These are meant by the Lord in the words,

Be ye prudent as serpents and simple as doves.
(Matthew 10:16).

Such is the innocence that is called the innocence of wisdom.

[3]  . . . This is why in the Word,
"a little child" signifies one who is innocent,
and "an old man" signifies one who is wise
in whom is innocence.

Joseph Sees His Brothers

Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me."
When they had done so, he said,
"I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt!
And now, do not be distressed
and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here,
because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.
For two years now there has been famine in the land,
and for the next five years
there will not be plowing and reaping.
But God sent me ahead of you
to preserve for you a remnant on earth
and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

"So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God."

Then he sent his brothers away,
and as they were leaving he said to them,
"Don't quarrel on the way!"
(Genesis 45:4-5,24)

HH 265 - those who love

HH 265
. . . those who love the things
pertaining to Divine and heavenly wisdom
light shines forth from heaven and gives enlightenment.

Dreams

Then Joseph said to them,
"Do not interpretations belong to God?
Tell me your dreams."
(Genesis 40:8)

HH 252 - after the Golden Age

HH 252
Because this race (those of the Golden Age)
acknowledged the Divine under a human form, that is, the Lord,
they talked with the angels of heaven as with their friends,
and angels of heaven talked with them as with their friends;
and in them heaven and the world made one.
But after those times
man gradually separated himself from heaven
by loving himself more than the Lord
and the world more than heaven,
and in consequence
began to feel the delights of the love of self and the world
as separate from the delights of heaven,
and finally to such an extent
as to be ignorant of any other delight.
Then his interiors
that had been open into heaven were closed up,
while his exteriors were open to the world;
and when this takes place
man is in light in regard to all things of the world,
but in thick darkness in regard to all things of heaven.

Joseph in Prison

Joseph's master took him and put him in prison,
the place where the king's prisoners were confined.
But while Joseph was there in prison,
the Lord was with him;
he showed him kindness and granted him favor
in the eyes of the prison warden.
So the warden put Joseph in charge
of all those held in the prison,
and he was made responsible for all that was done there.
The warden paid no attention
to anything under Joseph's care,
because the Lord was with Joseph
and gave him success in whatever he did.
(Genesis 39:20-23)

HH 232 - the power of good and truth

HH 232
. . . the Divine truth that goes forth from the Lord has all power,
and that angels have power to the extent
that they are receptions of Divine truth from the Lord.
But angels are so far receptions of Divine truth
as they are receptions of Divine good,
for truths have all their power from good,
and none apart from good.
So, too, good has all its power through truths,
and none apart from truths.
Power springs from the conjunction of these two.
The same is true of faith and love;
for it is the same whether you say truth or faith,
since everything of faith is truth;
also it is the same whether you say good or love,
since everything of love is good.

Jacob Seeing God and Establishing Altars

Jacob also went on his way,
and the angels of God met him.
When Jacob saw them, he said,
"This is the camp of God!"
So he named that place Mahanaim.

Then the man said,
Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,
because you have struggled with God and men
and have overcome."
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying,
"It is because I saw God face to face,
and yet my life was spared."
(Genesis 32:1, 28.30)

After Jacob came from Paddan Aram,
he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan
and camped within sight of the city.
For a hundred pieces of silver,
he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem,
the plot of ground where he pitched his tent.
There he set up an altar
and called it El Elohe Israel.
(Genesis 33:18-20)

Jacob and all the people with him
came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.
There he built an altar,
and he called the place El Bethel,
because it was there that God revealed Himself to him
when he was fleeing from his brother.

After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram,
God appeared to him again and blessed him.
"God said to him,
"Your name is Jacob,
but you will no longer be called Jacob;
your name will be Israel."
So He named him Israel.

Jacob set up a stone pillar
at the place where God had talked with him,
and he poured out a drink offering on it;
he also poured oil on it.
Jacob called the place
where God had talked with him Bethel.
(Genesis 35:7,9-10,14)

HH 201, 202 - the form or order of heaven

HH 201, 202
It makes no difference whether you say
in the form of heaven, or in the order of heaven,
since the form of any thing is from its order
and in accordance with its order.

The Word contains all the laws of Divine order,
for its precepts are the laws of Divine order;
therefore to the extent that a person knows these
and lives in accordance with them
his internal is opened
and the order or image of heaven is there formed anew.
This makes clear what is meant by
being in the form of heaven, namely,
that it is to live in accordance
with those things that are in the Word.

Jacob's Dream

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.
When he reached a certain place,
he stopped for the night because the sun had set.
Taking one of the stones there,
he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
He had a dream in which he saw
a stairway resting on the earth,
with its top reaching to heaven,
and the angels of God
were ascending and descending on it.
There above it stood the Lord,
and He said:
"I am the Lord,
the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.
I will give you and your descendants
the land on which you are lying.
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth,
and you will spread out to the west and to the east,
to the north and to the south.
All peoples on earth will be blessed
through you and your offspring.
I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go,
and I will bring you back to this land.
I will not leave you
until I have done what I have promised you."

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought,
"Surely the Lord is in this place,
and I was not aware of it."
He was afraid and said,
"How awesome is this place! 
This is none other than the house of God;
this is the gate of heaven."

Early the next morning
Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head
and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
He called that place Bethel,
though the city used to be called Luz.
(Genesis 28:10-19)

HH 185-187 - homes in heaven

HH 185 - 187
I have seen palaces in heaven
of such magnificence as cannot be described.
Above they glittered as if made of pure gold,
and below as if made of precious stones,
some more splendid than others.
It was the same within.
Both words and knowledge are inadequate
to describe the decorations that adorned the rooms.
On the side looking to the south
there were parks, where, too, everything shone,
in some places the leaves glistening as if made of silver,
and fruit as if made of gold;
while the flowers in their beds formed rainbows with their colors.
Beyond the borders, where the view terminated,
were seen other palaces.
Such is the architecture of heaven
that you would say that art there is in its art;
and no wonder, because the art itself is from heaven.
The angels said that such things
and innumerable others still more perfect
are presented before their eyes by the Lord;
and yet these things are more pleasing
to their minds than to their eyes,
because in everyone of them they see a correspondence,
and through the correspondences what is Divine.

As to these correspondences
I have also been told that not only the palaces and houses,
but all things and each thing,
both inside and outside of them,
correspond to the interior things
which they have from the Lord,
the house itself in general corresponding to their good,
the particular things inside of a house
 to the various things of which their good consists,
and the things outside to truths derived from good,
and also to their perceptions and knowledges
and as these things correspond
to the goods and truths they have from the Lord
they correspond to their love, and to their wisdom
and intelligence from love, since love belongs to good,
wisdom to good and truth together,
and intelligence to truth from good.
These are what the angels perceive
when they behold what is around them,
and thus their minds
are more delighted and moved by them than their eyes.

This makes clear why the Lord called Himself
the temple at Jerusalem (John 2:19, 21),
namely, because the temple represented His Divine Human;
also why the New Jerusalem was seen to be of pure gold,
its gates of pearls,
and its foundations of precious stones (Revelation 21),
namely, because the New Jerusalem
signifies the church which was afterwards to be established,
the twelve gates its truths leading to good,
and the foundations the truths on which the church is founded.

Isaac and the Wells

Isaac planted crops in that land
and the same year reaped a hundredfold,
because the Lord blessed him.
The man became rich,
and his wealth continued to grow
until he became very wealthy.
He had so many flocks and herds and servants
that the Philistines envied him.
So all the wells
that his father's servants had dug
in the time of his father Abraham,
the Philistines stopped up,
filling them with earth.

Then Abimelech said to Isaac,
"Move away from us;
you have become too powerful for us."

So Isaac moved away from there
and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there.
Isaac reopened the wells
that had be dug in the time of his father Abraham,
which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died,
and he gave them the same names
his father had given them.
(Genesis 26:12-18)

HH 176 - spiritual light, natural light

HH 176
That there are such things in heaven
is known also on the earth,
but only to those who are in good,
and who have not extinguished in themselves
the light of heaven
by means of natural light and its fallacies.

On the Mountain of the Lord

Abraham looked up
and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns.
He went over and took the ram 
and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
So Abraham called that place
The Lord Will Provide.
And to this day it is said,
"On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided."
(Genesis 22:13-14)

HH 158, 160 - why there are changes of state in heaven

HH 158, 160
The angels said that there are many reasons -
first, the delight of life and of heaven,
which they have from love and wisdom from the Lord,
would gradually lose its value if they were in it continually,
as happens with those
that are in allurements and pleasures without variety.
A second reason is that angels, as well as men,
have what is their own [proprium],
which is loving self;
and all that are in heaven
are withheld from what is their own,
and so far as they are withheld from it by the Lord
are in love and wisdom;
but so far as they are not withheld
they are in the love of self;
and because everyone loves what is his own
and is drawn by it
they have changes of state or successive alternations.
A third reason is that they are in this way perfected,
for they thus become accustomed
to being held in love to the Lord
and withheld from love of self;
also that by alternations between delight and lack of delight
the perception and sense of good becomes more exquisite.
The angels added
that their changes of state are not caused by the Lord,
since the Lord as a sun
is unceasingly flowing in with heat and light,
that is, with love and wisdom;
but the cause is in themselves,
in that they love what is their own,
and this continually leads them away.

When angels are in the last of these states,
which is when they are in what is their own,
they begin to be sad.
. . . they said that
they hoped to return soon to their former state,
and thus into heaven again, as it were;
for to them
it is heaven to be withheld from what is their own.

Abraham's Three Visitors

The Lord appeared to Abraham
near the great trees of Mamre
while he was sitting
at the entrance to his tent
in the heat of the day.
Abraham looked up
and saw three men standing nearby.
When he saw them,
he hurried from the entrance of his tent
to meet them
and bowed low to the ground.

When the men got up to leave,
they looked down toward Sodom,
and Abraham walked along with them
to see them on their way.
Then the Lord said,
"Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?"
(Genesis 18:1-2,16-17)

HH 126-128, HH 133 - the light & heat of heaven

HH 126, 127, 128
The brightness and splendor of the light of heaven
are such as cannot be described . . ..
. . . because it is from the Lord as a sun . . .
This being the source of light in heaven
the light is varied there
in accordance with the reception
of Divine truth from the Lord;
or what is the same,
in accordance with the intelligence and wisdom
in which the angels are . . ..

HH 133
There are two things that go forth from the Lord as a sun,
Divine truth and Divine good;
Divine truth is manifested in the heavens as light,
and Divine good as heat;
and yet Divine truth and Divine good are so united
that they are not two, but one.
Nevertheless, with angels they are separate,
for there are angels
that receive more of Divine good than of Divine truth,
and there are those
that receive more of Divine truth than of Divine good.
. . .Those that receive both in a like degree
are the most perfect angels. 

Abram Builds Altars

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 your 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.
(Genesis12:6-8)

So Abram moved his tents
and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron,
where he built an altar to the Lord.
(Genesis 13:18)

HH 116, 117, 121 - the Sun, the Lord

HH 116, 117
In heaven neither the sun of the world,
nor anything from that sun, is seen,
because it is wholly natural.
For nature has its beginning from that sun,
and whatever is produced by means of it is called natural.
But the spiritual, to which heaven belongs,
is above nature and wholly distinct from what is natural;
and there is no communication between the two
except by correspondences.

The sun of heaven is the Lord;
the light there is the Divine truth
and the heat the Divine good 
that go forth from the Lord as a sun.
From this origin are all things
that spring forth and are seen in the heavens.

HH 121
When, however, the Lord appears in heaven,
which often occurs,
He does not appear encompassed with a sun,
but in the form of an angel,
yet distinguished from angels
by the Divine shining through from His face,
since He is not there in person,
for in person the Lord is constantly encompassed by the sun,
but He is present by look.
For it is a common occurrence in heaven
for persons to appear to be present in a place
where their look is fixed or is terminated,
even when this place is far away from where they really are.
This presence is called the presence of internal sight . . ..

Genesis 6:5-8

The Lord saw
how great man's wickedness on the earth had become,
and that every inclination 
of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil all the time.
The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth,
and His heart was filled with pain.
So the Lord said,
"I will wipe mankind, whom I have created,
from the face of the earth -
men and animals,
and creatures that move along the ground,
and birds of the air -
for I am grieved that I have made them."
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
(Genesis 6:5-8)

HH 108, 111, 112 - order, correspondences & uses

HH 108
Man . . ., whose thought is from the spiritual world,
having perverted what is in him from that world
by a life contrary to order,
which his rational faculty has favored,
must needs be born into mere ignorance
and afterwards be led back by Divine means
into the order of heaven.

HH 111
In general, a garden corresponds
to the intelligence and wisdom of heaven;
and for this reason heaven is called
the Garden of God, and Paradise . . ...
Trees, according to their species,
correspond to the perceptions
and knowledges of good and truth
which are the source of intelligence and wisdom.
For this reason the ancient people,
who were acquainted with correspondences,
held their sacred worship in groves;
and for the same reason
trees are so often mentioned in the Word,
and heaven, the church, and man are compared to them;
as the vine, the olive, the cedar, and others,
and the good works done by men are compared to fruits.

HH 112
. . . all things that exist in accordance with order
are forms of uses, or effects formed from use for use,
and this is why the things in nature are correspondences.
But in the case of man,
so far as he is in accordance with Divine order,
that is, so far as he is in love to the Lord
and in charity towards the neighbor,
are his acts uses in form, and correspondences,
and through these he is conjoined to heaven.
To love the Lord and the neighbor
means in general to perform uses.

Genesis 2:8-9,15

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.

The Lord God took the man
and put him in the Garden of Eden
to work it and take care of it.
(Genesis 2:8-9,15)

TCR 791 - the nineteenth day of June

TCR 791. NOTE
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 all forth
throughout the whole spiritual world
to preach the Gospel that
THE LORD GOD JESUS CHRIST reigns,
whose kingdom shall be for ages and ages,
according to the prediction in Daniel (7:13, 14),
and in Revelation (11:15).

"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 7:13-14)

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)

Also that blessed are those
that come to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
(Revelation 19:9)

This took place on the nineteenth day of June, 1770.
This is what is meant by these words of the Lord:

He shall send His angels with a loud trumpet
and they shall gather together His elect,
from one of the heavens to the other.
(Matthew 24:31)

Revelation 22 - The River of Life & Jesus Is Coming

The River 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 angel to show His servants
the things that must soon take place
(Revelation 22:1-6)

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

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.
And when I had heard and seen them,
I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel
who had been showing them to me.
But he said to me,
"Do not do it!
I am a fellow servant with you
and with your brothers the prophets
and of all who keep the words of this book.
Worship God!"

Then he told me,
"Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book,
because the time is near.
Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong;
let him who is vile continue to be vile;
let him who does right continue to do right;
and let him who is holy continue to be holy."

"Behold, I am coming soon!
My reward is with me,
and I will give to everyone
according to what he has done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End.

"Blessed are those who wash their robes,
that they may have the right to the tree of life
and may go through the gates into the city.
Outside are the dogs,
those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral,
the murderers, the idolater,
and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

"I, Jesus, have sent my angel
to give you this testimony for the churches.
I am he Root and the Offspring of David,
and the bright Morning Star."

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!"
And let him who hears say, "Come!"
Whoever is thirsty, let him come;
and whoever wishes,
let him take the free gift of the water of life.

I warn everyone who hears
the words of the prophecy of this book:
If anyone adds anything to them,
God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
And if anyone takes away for this book of prophecy,
God will take away from him
his share in the tree of life and in the holy city,
which are described in this book.

He who testifies to these things says,
"Yes, I am coming soon."

Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with God's people.
Amen.
(Revelation 22:7-21)

AR 932 THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

That church is still described
as to intelligence from Divine truths from the Lord (verses 1-5).
That Revelation was manifested by the Lord,
and that it is to be revealed in its own time (verses 6-10).
Concerning the coming of the Lord,
and His conjunction with those who believe in Him,
and live according to His commandments (verses 11-17).
That the things which are revealed
are by all means to be kept (verses 18-19).
The Betrothal (verses 17, 20-21).

HH 87 - Why did we lose correspondences? HH 90 - What are they?

HH 87
What correspondence is is not known at the present day,
for several reasons, the chief of which is
that man has withdrawn himself from heaven
by the love of self and love of the world.
For he that loves self and the world above all things
gives heed only to worldly things,
 since these appeal to the external senses
and gratify the natural longings;
and he does not give heed to spiritual things,
since these appeal to the internal senses and gratify the mind,
therefore he casts them aside,
saying that they are too high for his comprehension.
This was not so with the ancient people.
To them the knowledge of correspondences
was the chief of knowledges.
By means of it they acquired intelligence and wisdom;
and by means of it those who were of the church
had communication with heaven;
for the knowledge of correspondences is angelic knowledge.
The most ancient people, who were celestial men,
thought from correspondence itself, as the angels do.
And therefore they talked with angels,
and the Lord frequently appeared to them,
and they were taught by Him.
But at this day that knowledge has been so completely lost
that no one knows what correspondence is.

HH 90
Since a person is both a heaven and a world in least form
. . . there is in him both a spiritual and a natural world.
The interior things that belong to his mind,
and that have relation to understanding and will,
constitute his spiritual world;
while the exterior things that belong to his body,
and that have relation to its senses and activities,
constitute his natural world.
Consequently, everything in his natural world
(that is, in his body and its senses and activities),
that has its existence from his spiritual world
(that is, from his mind and its understanding and will)
is called a correspondent.

Revelation 21 - The New Jerusalem

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

He was was seated on the throne said,
"I am making everything new!"
The He said,
"Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

He said to me:
"It is done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the Beginning and the End.
To him who is thirsty
I will give to drink without cost
from the spring of the water of life.
He who overcomes will inherit all this,
and I will be his God and he will be my son.
But the cowardly, the unbelieving,
the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral,
those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars -
their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
This is the second death."

One of the seven angels
who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues
came and said to me,
"Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
And he carried me away in the Spirit
to a mountain great and high,
and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God.
It shone with the glory of God,
and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel,
like a jasper, clear as crystal.
It had a great, high wall with twelve gates,
and with twelve angels at the gates.
On the gates were written
the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
There were three gates on the east,
three on the north,
three on the south
and three on the west.
The wall of the city had twelve foundations,
and on them
were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

The angel who talked with me
had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city,
its gates and its walls.
The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide.
He measured the city with the rod
and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length,
and as wide and high as it is long.
He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick,
by mans measurement, which the angel was using.
The wall was made of jasper,
and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.
The foundations of the city walls
were decorated with every kind of precious stone.
The first foundation was jasper,
the second sapphire,
the third chalcedony,
the fourth emerald,
the fifth sardonyx,
the sixth carnelian,
the seventh chrysolite,
the eighth beryl,
the ninth topaz,
the tenth chrysoprase,
the eleventh jacinth,
and the twelfth amethyst.
The twelve gates were twelve pearls,
each gate made of a single pearl.
The great street of the city was of pure gold,
like transparent glass.

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.
The nations will walk by its light,
and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
On no day will its gates ever be shut,
for there will be no night there.
The glory and the honor of the nations will be brought into it.
Nothing impure will ever enter it,
nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful,
but only those
whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

AR 876
THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

In this chapter it treats of the state of heaven and the church
after the Last Judgment;
that after this, through the New Heaven,
the New Church will exist on the earth,
which will worship the Lord alone (verses 1-8).
Its conjunction with the Lord (verses 9, 10).
The description of it as to intelligence from the Word (verse 11);
as to doctrine from there (verses 12-21);
and as to all its quality (verses 22-26).

HH 79 - all in heaven

HH 79
. . . all in heaven acknowledge the Lord,
because only in Him
does the Divine Human exist.

Revelation 20 - three visions

The Thousand Years
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven,
having the key to the Abyss
and holding in his hand a great chain.
He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent,
who is the devil, or Satan,
and bound him for a thousand years.
He threw him into the Abyss,
and locked and sealed it over him,
to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore
until the thousand years were ended.
After that, he must be set free for a short time.

I saw thrones on which were seated those
who had been given authority to judge.
And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
because of their testimony for Jesus
and because of the word of God.
They had not worshiped the beast or his image
and had not received his mark
on their foreheads or their hands.
They came to life and reigned with Christ
a thousand years.
(The rest of the dead did not come to life
until the thousand years were ended.)
This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy are those
who have part in the first resurrection.
The second death has no power over them,
but they will be priests of God and of Christ
and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
(Revelation 20:1-6)

Satan's Doom
When the thousand years are over,
Satan will be released from his prison
and will go out to deceive the nations
in the four corners of the earth - Gog and Magog -
to gather them for battle.
In number they are like the sand on the seashore.
They marched across the breadth of the earth
and surrounded the camp of God's people,
the city He loves.
But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
And the devil, who deceived them,
was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur,
where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.
They will be tormented day and night
for ever and ever.
Revelation 20:7-10)

The Dead Are Judged
Then I saw a great white throne
and Him who was seated on it.
Earth and sky fled from His presence,
and there was no place for them.
And I saw the dead, great and small,
standing before the throne,
and books were opened.
Another book was opened, which is the book of life.
The dead were judged
according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
The sea gave up the dead that were in it,
and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them,
and each person was judged
according to what he had done.
Then the death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
The lake of fire is the second death.
If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life,
he was thrown into the lake of fire.
(Revelation 20:11-15)

AR 840 THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

Contents of the Whole Chapter

Concerning the removal of those
who are meant by "the dragon,"' (verses 1-3),
and then concerning the ascent of those from the lower earth,
who worshiped the Lord
and shunned evils as sins (verses 4-6).
The judgment upon those in whose worship
there was nothing of religion (verses 7-9).
The damnation of the dragon (verse 10).
The universal judgment upon the rest (verses 11-15).

Revelation 19 - Hallelujah! and The Rider on the White Horse

Hallelujah!
After this I heard what sounded
like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:

"Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
for true and just are His judgments.
He has condemned the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants."

And again they shouted:

"Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever."

The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures
fell down and worshiped God,
who was seated on the throne.
And they cried:

"Amen, Hallelujah!"

Then a voice came from the throne, saying:

"Praise our God, all you His servants,
you who fear Him, both small and great!"

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.)

Then the angel said to me,
"Write: 'Blessed are those
who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!"
And he added,
"These are the true words of God."
At this I fell at his feet to worship him.
But he said to me,
"Do not do it!  I am a fellow servant
with you and with your brothers
who hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Worship God!
For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
(Revelation 19:1-10)

The Rider on the White Horse
I saw heaven standing open
and there before me was a white horse,
whose ride is called Faithful and True.
With justice He judges and makes war.
His eyes are like blazing fire,
and on His head are many crowns.
He has a name written on Him that no one knows
but He himself.
He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood,
and His name is the Word of God.
The armies of heaven were following Him,
riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen,
white and clean.
Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword
with which to strike down the nations.
"He will rule them with an iron scepter."
He treads the wine press
of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
On His robe and on His thigh He has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

And I saw an angel standing in the sun,
who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair,
"Come, gather together for the great supper of God,
so that you may eat the flesh of Kings,
generals, and mighty men,
of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people,
free and slave, small and great."

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth
and their armies gathered together to make war
against the Rider on the horse and His army.
But the beast was captured,
and with him the false prophet
who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf.
With these signs
he had deluded those who had received
the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.
The two of them were thrown alive
into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
The rest of them were killed with the sword
that came out of the mouth of the Rider on the horse,
and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
(Revelation 19:11-21)

AR 803 THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter 

The glorification of the Lord by the angels of heaven,
because the Roman Catholic religious persuasion
is removed in the spiritual world,
whereby they have come into the light
and into their happiness (verses 1-5).

Annunciation concerning the Lord's coming,
and concerning the New Church from Him (verses 6-10).

The opening of the Word as to the spiritual sense
for that church (verses 11-16).

The calling of all to it (verses 17-18).

Resistance by those
 who are in faith separated from charity (verse 19).

Their removal and damnation (verses 20-21).

HH 64 - performing use; HH 68 - hypocrites

HH 64[2]
To perform use is to will well to others
for the sake of the common good;
but to will well to others
not for the sake of the common good
but for the sake of self is not to perform use.
These latter are such as love themselves supremely,
while the former are such as love the Lord supremely.
So it is that those who are in heaven act as a one;
and this they do from the Lord,
not from themselves,
for they look to Him as the Only One,
the source of all things,
and they regard His kingdom as the general,
the good of which is to be sought.
This is what is meant by the Lord's words,

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all things shall be added unto you.
(Matthew 6:33)

"To seek His righteousness" means to seek His good.

HH 68
Hypocrites are such as talk well and also do well,
but have regard to themselves in everything.
They talk as angels do about the Lord,
heaven, love, and heavenly life, and also act rightly,
so that they may appear to be what they profess to be.
But their thinking is different;
they believe nothing;
and they wish good to none but themselves.
Their doing good is for the sake of self,
or if for the sake of others it is only for the appearance,
and thus still for the sake of self.

HH 55-56 - heaven is where the Lord is

HH 55 - 56
As everyone receives the heaven that is outside of him 
in accordance with the quality of the heaven that is within him,
so in like manner does everyone receive the Lord,
since it is the Divine of the Lord that makes heaven.
So it comes about
that when the Lord shows Himself as present in any society,
His appearance there is in accord
with the quality of the good in which the society is,
thus not the same in one society as in another.
This diversity is not in the Lord;
it is in the angels who behold Him from their own good,
and thus in accordance with their good.
And they are affected by His appearance
in accordance with the quality of their love,
those who love Him inmostly being inmostly affected,
and those who love Him less being less affected;
while the evil who are outside of heaven
are tortured by His presence.
When the Lord is seen in any society 
He is seen as an angel,
but is distinguished from others
by the Divine that shines through.

Again, heaven is where the Lord is acknowledged,
believed in, and loved.

Revelation 18 - The Fall of Babylon

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.
Give back to her as she has given;
pay her back double for what she has done.
Mix her a double portion from her own cup.
Give her as much torture and grief
as the glory and luxury she gave herself.
In her heart she boasts,
'I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never morn.'
Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:
death, mourning and famine.
She will be consumed by fire,
for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

"When the kings of the earth
who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury
see the smoke of her burning,
they will weep and mourn over her.
Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry:

"'Woe!  Woe, O great city,
O Babylon, city of power!
In one hour your doom has come!"

"The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her
because no one buys their cargoes any more -
cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls;
fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth;
every sort of citron wood,
and articles of every king made of ivory,
costly wood, bronze, iron and marble;
cargoes of cinnamon and spice,
of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil,
of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep;
horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.
"They will say,
'The fruit you longed for is gone from you.
All your riches and splendor have vanished,
never to be recovered.'
The merchants who sold these things
and gained their wealth from her will stand far off,
terrified at her torment.
They will weep and mourn and cry out:

"'Woe!  Woe, O great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet,
and glittering with gold,
precious stones and pearls!
In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!'

"Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship,
the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea,
will stand far off.
When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim,
'Was there ever a city like this great city?'
They will throw dust on their heads,
and with weeping mourning cry out:

"'Woe!  Woe, O great city,
where all who had ships on the sea
became rich through her wealth!
In one hour she has been brought to ruin!
Rejoice over her, O heaven!
Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets!
God has judged her for the way she treated you.'"

Then a mighty angel picked up
a boulder the size of a large millstone
and threw it into the sea, and said:

"With such violence
the great city of Babylon will be thrown down,
never to be found again.
The music of harpists and musicians,
flute players and trumpeters,
will never be heard in you again.
No workman of any trade
will ever be found in you again.
The sound of a millstone
will never be heard in you again.
The light of a lamp will never shine in you again.
The voice of bridegroom and bride
will never be heard in you again.
Your merchants were the world's great men.
By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.
In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints,
and of all who have been killed on the earth.
(Revelation 18)

HH 15 - the two loves of heaven

HH 15
There are two distinct loves in heaven,
love to the Lord
and love towards the neighbor.
In the inmost or third heaven
is love to the Lord
and in the second or middle heaven
is love towards the neighbor.
Each proceeds from the Lord and each makes heaven.
What the distinction is between these two loves
and how they are conjoined
appears in heaven in clear light,
but in the world only obscurely.
In heaven, by loving the Lord
is not meant loving Him in respect of His person
but loving the good which is from Him,
and loving good is willing good and doing it from love;
and loving the neighbor
does not mean loving a companion in respect of his person
but loving the truth which is from the Word,
and loving truth is willing and doing it.
From this it is clear
that there is a distinction between these two loves
as there is between good and truth
and that they are conjoined 
as good is conjoined with truth.

Revelation 17 - The Woman on the Beast

The Woman on the Beast
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls
came and said to me,
"Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute,
who sits on many waters.
With her the kings of the earth committed adultery
and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated
with the wine of her adulteries."

Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert.
There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast
that was covered with blasphemous names
and had seven heads and ten horns.
The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet,
and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls.
She held a golden cup in her hand,
filled with abominable things
and the filth of her adulteries.
This title was written on her forehead:

MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATION
OF THE EARTH.

I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints,
the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.
Then the angel said to me;
"Why are you astonished?
I will explain to you the mystery of the woman
and of the beast she rides,
which has the seven head and ten horns.
The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not,
and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction.
The inhabitants of the earth
whose names have not been written in the book of life
from the creation of the world
will be astonished when they see the beast,
because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.

"This calls for a mind with wisdom.
The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits.
They are also seven kings.
Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come;
but when he does come,
he must remain for a little while.
The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king.
He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.

"The ten horns you saw are ten kings
who have not yet received a kingdom,
but who for one hour
will receive authority as kings
along with the beast.
They have one purpose
and will give their power and authority to the beast.
They will make war against the Lamb,
but the Lamb will overcome them
because He is Lord of lords
and King of kings -
and with Him will be His called,
chosen and faithful followers."

Then the angel said to me,
"The waters you saw,
where the prostitute sits, are peoples,
multitudes, nations and languages.
The beast and the ten horns you saw
will hate the prostitute.
They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked;
they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
For God has put it into their hearts
to accomplish His purpose
by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule,
until God's words are fulfilled.
The woman you saw is the great city
that rules over the kings of the earth."
(Revelation 17)

HH 1 - What does He mean?

HH 1
The Lord, speaking in the presence of His disciples . . .:
 
Immediately after the tribulation of those days
the sun shall be darkened,
and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from heaven,
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven;
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn;
and they shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And He shall send forth His angels
with a trumpet and a great sound;
and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds,
from the end to end of the heavens.
(Matthew 24:29-31).

Those who understood these words
according to the sense of the letter
have no other belief than that during that latest period,
which is called the final judgment,
all these things are to come to pass
just as they are described in the literal sense . . ..
But those who so believe
are ignorant of the arcana that lie hidden
in every particular of the Word.
For in every particular of the Word
there is an internal sense
which treats of things spiritual and heavenly,
not of things natural and worldly,
such as are treated of in the sense of the letter.
 . . . For the Word is written solely by correspondences
to the end that there may be an internal sense
in every least particular of it.

The "sun" there that is to be darkened
signifies the Lord in respect to love;
the "moon" the Lord in respect to faith;
"stars" knowledges of good and truth, or of love and faith;
"the sign of the Son of man in heaven"
the manifestation of Divine truth;
"the tribes of the earth" that shall mourn,
all things relating to truth and good or to faith and love;
"the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven
with power and glory"
His presence in the Word, and revelation,
"clouds" signifying the sense of the letter of the Word,
and "glory" the internal sense of the Word;
" the angels with a trumpet and great voice"
signify heaven as a source of Divine truth.

Revelation 16 - The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath

The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple
saying to the seven angels,
"Go, pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth."

The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land,
and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people
who had the mark of the beast and worshiped the image.

The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea,
and it turned into blood like that of a dead man,
and every living thing in the sea died.

The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers
and springs of water,
and they became blood.
Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:

"You are just in these judgments,
You who are and who were, the Holy One,
because You have so judged;
for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve."

And I heard the altar respond:

"Yes, Lord God Almighty,
true and just are Your judgments."

The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun,
and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire.
They were seared by the intense heat
and they cursed the name of God,
who had control over these plagues,
but they refused to repent and glorify Him.

The fifth angel poured out his bowl
on the throne of the beast,
and his kingdom was plunged into darkness.
Men gnawed their tongues in agony
and cured the God of heaven
because of their pains and their sores,
but they refused to repent of what they had done.

The sixth angel poured out his bowl
on the great river Euphrates,
and its water was dried up
to prepare the way for the kings from the East.
Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs;
they came out of the mouth of the dragon,
out of the mouth of the beast
and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs,
and they go out to the kings of the whole world,
to gather them for the battle
on the great day of God Almighty.

"Behold, I come like a thief!
Blessed is he who stays awake
and keeps his clothes with him,
so that he may not go naked
and be shamefully exposed."

Then they gathered the kings together
to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air,
and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne,
saying, "It is done!"
Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings,
peals of thunder and a severe earthquake.
No earthquake like it has ever occurred
since man has been on earth,
so tremendous was the quake.
The great city split into three parts,
and the cities of the nations collapsed.
God remembered Babylon the Great
and gave her the cup
filled with the wine of the fury of His wrath.
Every island fled away
and the mountains could not be found.
From the sky huge hailstones
of about a hundred pounds each
fell upon man.
And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail,
because the plague was so terrible.
(Revelation 16)

AC 10826 - the Human of the Lord

AC 10826
Those who make the Human of the Lord
like the human of any other man,
do not think about His conception from the Divine Itself,
nor about His resurrection with the whole body,
nor about Him as seen when He was transfigured,
in that His face shone as the sun.
Neither do they know and apprehend
that the body of everyone is a likeness or effigy of his soul,
nor that the Lord is omnipresent
even in respect to the Human,
for from this
is the belief in His omnipresence in the Holy Supper.
Omnipresence is Divine:

"And surely I am with you always,
even to the end of the age."
(Matthew 28:20).

Revelation 15 - Seven Angels With Seven Plagues

I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign:
seven angels with the seven last plagues -
last, because with them God's wrath is completed.
And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and,
standing beside the sea,
those who had been victorious over
the beast and his his image
and over the number of his name.
They held harps given them by God
and sang the son 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,
and for Your righteous acts have been revealed."

After this I looked and in heaven the temple,
that is, the tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened.
Out of the temple came
the seven angels with the seven plagues.
They were dressed in clean, shining linen
and wore golden sashes around their chests.
Then one of the four living creatures
 gave to the seven angels
seven golden bowls willed with the wrath of God,
who lives for ever and ever.
And the temple was filled with smoke
from the glory of God,
and from His power,
and no one could enter the temple
until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
(Revelation 15)

AC 10814 - a Father's love

AC 10814
 . . . there are two kinds of rule;
one of love toward the neighbor,
and the other of the love of self;
and that the rule of love toward the neighbor
prevails among those who dwell
separated into houses, families, and nations;
but the rule of the love of self
among those who dwell together in a society.
Among those who live separated
into houses, families, and nations,
it is the father of the nation,
and under him the fathers of families,
and under these the fathers of each household,
who rule.
. . . But all these rule from love
like that of a father toward his children,
who teaches them how they ought to live,
bestows benefits upon them,
and as far as he is able
gives them of his own.
Nor does it ever enter into his mind
to subject them under himself as subjects or as servants;
but he loves that they should obey him
as sons obey their father.
And as this love grows as it descends . . .
the father of the nation
acts from a more interior love
than the immediate father of the sons himself.
Such also is the rule in the heavens,
because such rule is of the Lord;
for His rule is from His Divine love
toward the whole human race.