Amos and Amaziah

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel
sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel:
"Amos is raising a conspiracy against you
in the very heart of Israel.
The land cannot bear all his words.
For this is what Amos is saying:

"'Jeroboam will die by the sword,
and Israel will surely go into exile,
away from their native land.'"

Then Amaziah said to Amos,
"Get out, you seer!
Go back to the land of Judah.
Earn your bread there
and do your prophesying there.
Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel,
because this is the king's sanctuary
and the temple of the kingdom."

Amos answered Amaziah,
"I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son,
but I was a shepherd,
and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.
But the Lord took me from tending the flock
and said to me,
'Go prophesy to My people Israel.'

(Amos 7:10-15)

AE 444 - the spiritual affections

AE 444 [1,3, 10]

Charity, itself,
viewed in itself,
is the affection of truth and good,
and where that affection is,
there is a life according to truths and goods . . ..

Love and charity are the spiritual affection of good and truth;
since affection is predicated of love in its continuity,
for affection is the continuation of love.
. . . this affection is the essential of the church,
for where it is 
there the church is,
and where it is not there
the church is not;
for the affection of good and truth
is the very spiritual life of man,
and when man is affected by good and truth
he is in good and truth in respect to his life,
and his thought itself
is nothing but affection in a different form,
for whatever a man thinks
he derives from affection;
no one can think without affection.

The spiritual affection of truth
consists in loving the truth itself,
and esteeming it above every good of the world,
because through it man has eternal life,
and the only means
by which eternal life is implanted in man are truths,
consequently the Word,
for through the Word the Lord teaches truths.
The spiritual affection of truth,
 which is to love truths above every good of the world,
is thus described by the Lord in Matthew:

The kingdom of the heavens
is like unto a man that is a merchant
seeking beautiful pearls;
who, when he had found one pearl of great price,
going away, sold all that he had and bought it;
(Matthew 13:45-46);

"pearl" signifying truth.

Amos Was a Shepherd

The words of Amos,
one of the shepherds of Tekoa -
what he saw concerning Israel
two years before the earthquake,
when Uzziah was king of Judah
and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.

He said:

"The Lord roars from Zion
and thunders from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds dry up,
and the top of Carmel withers."

(Amos 1:1-2)

AE 440 - willing and doing

AE 440

. . . that which a man wills
he does when he can
for doing is nothing but the will acting . . .
and doing goes on as long as there is a will;
that which the will of a regenerated man does
is called the good of life.

 

Prepare!

Sow for yourselves righteousness,
reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;
for it is time to seek the Lord,
until He comes
and showers righteousness on you.

(Hosea 10:12)

AE 439 - temptations

AE 439 [2]

"Wrestlings of God" signify spiritual temptations . . ..

. . . every temptation is a combat
between the spiritual man and the natural;
for the spiritual man loves and wills
the things that are of heaven,
since it is in heaven,
while that natural man loves and wills
the things that are of the world,
since it is in the world,
consequently the desires of the two are opposite,
which gives rise to collision and combat,
and this is called temptation.

Come, Let Us Return to the Lord

"Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to piece
but He will heal us;

He has injured us

but He will bind up our wounds.
After two days He will revive us;
on the third day He will restore us,
that we may live in His presence.
Let us acknowledge the Lord;
let us press on to acknowledge Him.
As surely as the sun rises,
He will appear;
He will come to us like the winter rains, 
like the spring rains that water the earth."

(Hosea 6:1-3)

AE 434 - adulteries

AE 434 [16]

. . . truth is profaned
when it is not conjoined with its own good,
which is the good of charity,
as it is then conjoined
with the love of self and the world,
which is adulteration.
All adulteries
(of which many kinds are enumerated in Leviticus 18:6-23)
correspond to  the adulterations of good and truth.

Hosea Marries

The word of the Lord
that came to Hosea son of Beeri
during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham,
Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah,
and during the reign of
Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel:

When the Lord began to speak through Hosea,
the Lord said to him,
"Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife
and children of unfaithfulness,
because the land is guilty
of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord."
So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim,
and she conceived and bore him a son.

(Hosea 1:1-3)

AE 434 - the light of heaven

AE 434 [6]

It should be known
that all light in which truth is seen
is from the light of heaven
which is from the Lord;
the light of heaven
is from the Divine good of the Lord's Divine love;
the light of heaven is Divine good in form.

The Lord Saves Daniel

It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps
to rule throughout the kingdom,
with three administrators over them,
one of whom was Daniel.
The satraps were made accountable to them
so that the king might not suffer loss.
Now Daniel so distinguished himself
among the administrators and the satraps
by his exceptional qualities
that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.
At this, the administrators and the satraps
tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel
in his conduct of government affairs,
but they were unable to do so.
They could find no corruption in him,
because he was trustworthy
and neither corrupt nor negligent.
Finally these men said,
"We will never find any basis
for charges against this man Daniel
unless it has something to do with the law of his God."

So the administrators and the satraps
went as a group to the king and said:
"O King Darius, live forever!
The royal administrators, prefects, satraps,
advisers and governors have all agreed
that the king should issue an edict
and enforce the decree
that anyone who prays to any god or man
during the next thirty days,
except to you, O king,
shall be thrown into the lion's den.
Now, O king, issue the decree
and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered -
in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians,
which cannot be repealed."
So King Darius put the decree in writing.

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published,
he went home to his upstairs room
where the windows opened toward Jerusalem.
Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed,
giving thanks to his God,
just as he had done before.
Then these men went as a group
and fond Daniel praying and asking God for help.
So they went to the king
and spoke to him about his royal decree:
"Did you not publish a decree
that during the next thirty days
anyone who prays to any god or man
except to you, O king,
would be thrown into the Lion's den?"

The king answered, "The decree stands -
in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians,
which cannot be repealed."

Then they said to the king,
"Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah,
pays no attention to you, O king,
or to the decree you put in writing.
He still prays three times a day."
When the king heard this,
he was greatly distressed;
he was determined to rescue Daniel
and made every effort until sundown to save him.

Then the men went as a group to the king and said to him:
"Remember, O king,
that according to the law of the Medes and Persians
no law or edict that the king issues can be changed."

So he king gave the order,
and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den.
The king said to Daniel,
"May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!"

A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den,
and the king sealed it with his own signet ring
and with the rings of his nobles,
so that Daniel's situation might not be changed.
Then the king returned to his palace
and spent the night without eating
and without any entertainment being brought to him.
And he could not sleep.

At the first light of dawn,
the king got up and hurried to the lion's den.
When he came near the den,
he called to Daniel in an anguished voice,
"Daniel, servant of the living God,
has our God, whom you serve continually,
been able to rescue you from the lions?"

Daniel answered, "O king, live forever!
My God sent His angel,
and He shut the mouths of the lions.
They have not hurt me,
because I was found innocent in His sight.
Nor have I every done any wrong before you, O king."

The king was overjoyed
and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den.
And when Daniel was lifted from the den,
no wound was found on him,
because he had trusted in his God.

(Daniel 6:1-23)

AE 433 - loving the Lord

AE 433 [7, 13]

. . . those who love to do good
love the Lord;
for the Lord is in such good,
since it is from Him.

. . . the Word and the doctrine of genuine truth therefrom
will remain to eternity
with those who are in love to the Lord.

Daniel Interprets Nebuchadnezzar's Dream of a Tree

Then Daniel (also called Belteshazzar)
was greatly perplexed for a time,
and his thoughts terrified him.
So the king said,
"Belteshazzar, do not let the dream
or its meaning alarm you."

Belteshazzar answered,
"My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies
and its meaning to your adversaries!
The tree you saw,
which grew large and strong,
with its top touching the sky,
visible to the whole earth,
with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit,
providing food for all,
giving shelter to the beasts of the field,
and having nesting places in its branches for the birds of the air -
you, O king, are that tree!
You have become great and strong;
your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky,
and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth.

"You, O king, saw a messenger, a holy one,
coming down from heaven and saying,
'Cut down the tree and destroy it,
but leave the stump,
bound with iron and bronze,
in the grass of the field,
while its roots remain in the ground.
Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven;
let him live like the wild animals,
until seven times pass by for him.'

"This is the interpretation, O king,
and this is the decree the Most High has issued
against my lord the king:
You will be driven away from people
and will live with the wild animals;
you will eat grass like cattle
and be drenched with the dew of heaven.
Seven times will pass by for you
until you acknowledge
that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men
and gives them to anyone He wishes.
The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots
means that your kingdom will be restored to you
when you acknowledge that Heaven rules.
Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice;
Renounce your sins by doing what is right,
and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed.
It may be that then your prosperity will continue."

(Daniel 4:19-27)

AE 431 - the order of the twelve tribes

AE 431 [11]

Here two arcana respecting the twelve tribes shall be mentioned:

(1) Their arrangements represented
the arrangements of the angelic societies in the heavens;
and for this reason
they represented all things of the church,
for heaven and the church act as one.

(2) The representation of heaven and of the church
is determined according to the order
in which the tribes are named;
and the first name or the first tribe
is the guide that determines the things that follow,
and accordingly the things of heaven and of the church,
with variations. 

The Gates of the City

"These will be the exits of the city:
Beginning on the north side,
which is 4,500 cubits long,
the gates of the city will be named after the tribes of Israel.
The three gates on the north side will be
the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah and the gate of Levi.

"On the east side,
which is 4,500 cubits long,
there will be three gates:
the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin and the gate of Dan.

"On the south side,
which is 4,500 cubits long,
will be three gates:
the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar and the gate of Zebulun.

"On the west side,
which is 4,500 cubits long,
will be three gates:
the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher and the gate of Naphtali.

"The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits.

"And the name of the city from that time on will be:

THE LORD IS THERE."

(Ezekiel 48:30-35)

AE 430 - twelve

AE 430 [1, 13, 15]

. . . "twelve" signifies all things and all persons,
and is predicated of truths from good . . ..

That Elijah found him plowing with twelve yoke of oxen,
and he among the twelve;
and that he cast his mantle upon him.
(1 Kings 19:19)

This was done and said
because Elijah and Elisha represented the Lord
in respect to the Word,
in which are all truths from good;
consequently when this representation
was transferred from Elijah to Elisha,
which was signified by his casting his mantle upon him,
Elisha was seen
"plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he among the twelve,"
which signifies the formation of the church
by means of truths from good out of the Word.

He who does not know
that "twelve" signifies all things
cannot know the arcanum that is signified by:

The twelve baskets of fragments
that remained from the five loaves and two fishes
with which the Lord fed five thousand men
besides women and children.
(Matt. 14:5-2; Mark 6:37-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:9-13)

Each particular here,
with the numbers themselves,
is significative;
"the five thousand men besides women and children,"
signify all who are of the church that are in truths from good;
the "men" signifying those who are in truths,
and the "women and children" those who are in good;
"loaves" the goods and
"fishes" the truths of the natural man;
"eating" spiritual nourishment from the Lord;
the "twelve baskets of fragments"
the knowledges of truth and good therefrom
in all abundance and fullness.

In Any Dispute

"'In any dispute,
the priests are to serve as judges
and decide it according to My ordinances.
They are to keep My laws and My decrees
for all My appointed feasts,
and they are to keep My Sabbaths holy.'"

(Ezekiel 44:24)

AE 427 - conjunction with the Lord

AE 427 [4, 6]

. . . Truth does not become of faith
until a person wills it and does it;
but so far as a person does this
the Lord conjoins him to Himself and to heaven,
and from love flows into the truths
that a person has acquired from childhood,
and conjoins them to good
and makes them to be truths of faith . . ..

. . . if a person's faith is to remain with him after death
it must be his own faith;
and it becomes his own
when he sees, wills, and does what he believes,
for it then enters into the person
and forms his spirit,
and comes to be of his affection and thought;
for a person's spirit is in its essence
nothing but his affection and thought.

. . . the Lord operates and flows in
through good into truths with a person,
and conjoins these,
and thus makes charity and faith to be one.

"I Will Display My Glory", "I Hid My Face"

"I will display My glory among the nations,
and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict
and the hand I lay upon them.
From that day forward
the house of Israel will know
that I am the Lord their God.
And the nations will know
that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin,
because they were unfaithful to me.
So I hid My face from them
and handed them over to their enemies,
and they all fell by the sword.
I dealt with them
according to their uncleanness and their offenses,
and I hid My face from them."

(Ezekiel 39:21-24)

AE 423, 427 - Divine commands and looking to the Lord

AE 423

Having the seal of the living God,
(Revelation 7:2)
signifies the Divine will.

There are also Divine commands
that are not from the Divine will,
but from sufferance and permission,
many of which were given to the sons of Israel,
as that it was permitted them to take several wives,
and to give bills of divorcement, with other like things.
These commands were from permission,
given because of the hardness of their hearts . . .
but the commands that are immediately from the Divine love
are all of the Divine will;
therefore it is said, "the seal of the living God;"
for the Lord is called "the living God"
from the Divine love,
for love is man's very life,
and the Divine love is the source of the life of all.

AE 427

It is from correspondence that "forehead"
means the good of love;
for all things pertaining to man in the whole body,
whether within or without,
correspond to heaven,
for the universal heaven in the sight of the Lord is as one Man,
so arranged as to correspond to each and all the things in man.
The whole face, where the organs
of sight, smell, hearing, and taste, are situated,
corresponds to the affections
and the thoughts therefrom in general,
the eyes corresponding to the understanding,
the nose to perception,
the ears to hearkening and obedience,
and the taste to the desire to know and be wise;
but the forehead corresponds to the good of love,
from which all these are,
for it forms the highest part of the face,
and directly encloses the front and primary part of the brain,
which is the seat of man's intellect.
This is why the Lord looks upon angels in the forehead,
and the angels look to the Lord through the eyes;
this is so because the forehead corresponds to the love,
from which the Lord looks upon them,
and the eyes correspond to the understanding
from which they look to the Lord;
for the Lord grants Himself to be seen
through the influx of love
into their understanding.

The Valley of Dry Bones

The hand of the Lord was upon me,
and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord
and set me in the middle of a valley;
it was full of bones.
He led me back and forth among them,
and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley,
bones that were very dry.
He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

I said, "O Sovereign Lord, You alone know."

Then he said to me,
"Prophesy to these bones and say to them,
'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!
This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones:
I will make breath enter you,
and you will come to life.
I will attach tendons to you
and make flesh come upon you
and cover you with skin;
I will put breath in you,
and you will come to life.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.'"

So I prophesied as I was commanded.
And as I was prophesying, there was a noise,
a rattling sound,
and the bones came together, bone to bone.
I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them
and skin covered them,
but there was no breath in them.

Then He said to me,
"Prophesy to the breath;
prophesy, son of man, and say to it,
'This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
Come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe into these slain,
that they may live.'"
So I prophesied as He commanded me,
and breath entered them;
they came to life and stood up on their feet - a vast army.

(Ezekiel 37:1-10)

AE 422 - after rain

AE 422 [12]
The spirit of Jehovah spoke in me,
the God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me,
'As the light of the morning when the sun rises,
a morning without clouds;
from the brightness after rain comes grass out of the earth.
(II Samuel 23:2-4)

"The God of Israel" and "the Rock of Israel" mean the Lord,
and because He is the sun of the angelic heaven,
and because all Divine truth which illustrates angels and men,
and gives intelligence and works reformation,
proceeds from Him as a sun and flows in,
so it is said
"as the light in the morning when the sun rises,
a morning without clouds;
from the brightness after rain comes grass out of the earth;"
"the light in the morning when the sun rises"
signifying Divine truth from the Lord as a sun;
"a morning without clouds"
signifying the purity of that truth;
"rain" its influx,
and "grass out of the earth"
the consequent intelligence and reformation;
for these are signified by "grass"
because grass springs out of the earth
by the action of the sun of the world after rain,
and intelligence is from the Lord
as a sun through the influx of Divine truth. 

In the Tenth Year, In the Tenth Month

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

(Ezekiel 29:1-3)

AE 419 - He Rebuked the Wind

AE 419 [24]

There arose a great storm of wind,
and the waves beat into the boat,
so that it was now filling.
But Jesus was in the stern,
slumbering on a pillow;
and they awake Him, and said to Him,
"Teacher, don't You care if we drown?"
And He awoke, and rebuked the wind,
and said unto the sea,
"Be still, be dumb."
And the wind ceased,
and there was a great calm.
(Mark 4:37-39

This miracle of the Lord, like all the rest,
involves arcana of heaven and interior things of the church.
The difference between Divine miracles and those not Divine
is that Divine miracles also signify Divine things,
because the Divine is in them,
while miracles not Divine signify nothing,
because there is nothing of the Divine within them;
and moreover,
in the description of the Divine miracles in the Word,
and in every particular thereof, there is a spiritual sense.
This miracle involves spiritual temptations;
"a great storm of wind,
so that the waves beat into the boat,
and it was filling,"
signifies such temptations;
and that when they were in extreme fear,
"Jesus awoke, and rebuked the wind,
and said to the sea, 'Be still, be dumb';
and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm,"
signifies deliverance from temptations.
Moreover, every single word here contains a spiritual sense;
but this is not the place to unfold it particularly,
but only to note that the "storm" and "tempest of wind"
signify temptations,
for these are irruptions (a bursting in) of falsities,
or inundations of the mind by falsities.
This, too, is plain from the rebuke of the wind and the waves,
and from the words of the Lord to the sea,
"Be still, be dumb,"
as if He were speaking to those things
or those persons that induce temptations.

Tyre

As they wail and mourn over you
they will take up a lament concerning you:
"Who was ever silenced like Tyre,
surrounded by the sea?"
When your merchandise went on the seas,
you satisfied many nations,
with your great wealth and your wares
you enriched the kings of the earth.
Now you are shattered by the sea
in the depth of the waters;
your wares and all your company
have gone down with you.
All who live in the coastlands are appalled at you;
their kings shudder with horror
and their faces are distorted with fear.
The merchants among the nations hiss at you;
you have come to a horrible end
and will be no more."

(Ezekiel 27:32-36)

AE 419 - The Source of Spiritual Life

AE 419 [1, 5]

. . . when the Divine from the Lord flows in moderately
there is everywhere tranquillity and serenity,
wherein all appear such as they are
in respect to the state of their good,
for all then stand forth in light;
consequently those who are in good from a spiritual origin
are then separated from those
who are in good merely from a natural origin . . ..

Jesus said to the disciples,
Peace be unto you;
as the Father hath sent Me,
even so send I you.
 And when He had said this
He breathed on them, and said unto them,
Receive ye the Holy Spirit.
(John 20:21, 22)

The Lord "breathed on them, and said to them,
Receive ye the Holy Spirit,"
signifies the like,
as Jehovah "breathed into Adam's nostrils the soul of lives"
namely, spiritual life;
for the Holy Spirit signifies Divine truth
proceeding from the Lord,
from which is spiritual life.
That they should teach Divine truth from the Lord
is signified by
"as the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you;"
for the Lord when He was in the world
was Divine truth itself,
which He taught from His Divine good
which was in Him from conception.
This Divine is what the Lord
here and in other places calls "the Father;"
and because when He went out of the world
He united Divine truth to Divine good
that in Him they might be one,
and because thenceforth Divine truth proceeds from Him
He said, "as the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you."

Word of the Lord to Ezekiel

Again the word of the Lord came to me:
"Son of man, say to the land, 'You are a land
that has had no rain or showers in the day of wrath.'

There is a conspiracy of her princes within her
like a roaring lion tearing its prey;
they devour people,
take treasures and precious things
and make many widows within her.

Her priests do violence to My law
and profane My holy things;
they do not distinguish
between the holy and the common;
they teach that there is no difference
between the unclean and the clean;
and they shut their eyes
to the keeping of My Sabbaths,
so that I am profaned among them.

Her officials within her
are like wolves tearing their prey;
they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain.

Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them
by false visions and lying divinations.
They say,
'This is what the Sovereign Lord says' --
when the Lord has not spoken.
The people of the land
practice extortion and commit robbery;
they oppress the poor and needy
and mistreat the alien,
denying them justice.

"I looked for a man among them
who would build up the wall
and stand before Me in the gap on behalf of the land
so I would not have to destroy it,
but I found none.
So I will pour out My wrath on them
and consume them with My fiery anger,
bringing down on their own heads
all they have done,
declares the Sovereign Lord."

(Ezekiel 22:23-31)

AE 418 - holding the four winds

AE 418 

Holding the four winds of the earth,
(Revelation 7:1)

signifies the moderation of its influx.
This is evident from the signification
of "the four winds of the earth"
as being everything Divine in heaven;
also from the signification of "holding them,"
as being to moderate its influx.
. . . Without revelation,
who would not think that "winds" here
mean winds held back by angels,
since it also follows
"that the wind should not blow upon the earth,
nor upon the sea, nor upon any tree."
But "the winds of the earth,"
here as elsewhere in the Word
signify everything Divine that is from the Lord in heaven,
in particular, Divine truth,
and because Divine truth flows from the Lord as a sun
into the whole heaven,
and from that into the whole earth,
so "holding the winds" signifies to moderate influx. 

The Lord's Pleasure

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?
declares the Sovereign Lord.
Rather, am I not pleased
when they turn from their ways and live?

(Ezekiel 18:23)

AE 416 - "I saw"

AE 416

And after these things I saw,
(Revelation 7:1)

signifies a new perception
as to the state of heaven before the Last Judgment.
This is evident from what follows in this chapter,
which treats of the separation of the good from the evil;
for before the Last Judgment occurs
the good are separated from the evil by the Lord,
and are led away;
and because this is involved in the things that were seen,
so all this is here signified by "after these things I saw." 

Judgment

The word of the Lord came to me:
"Son of man, if a country sins against Me by being unfaithful
and I stretch out My hand against it
to cut off its food supply
and send famine upon it
and kill its men and their animals,
even if these three men - Noah, Daniel, and Job - were in it,
they could save only themselves by their righteousness,
declares the Sovereign Lord.

(Ezekiel 14:12-14)

AE 412 - more on faces

AE 412 [27]

Evil affections, which are lusts,
are (also) expressed by the same term, "faces,"
because they appear in the face,
for the face is the external or natural form of the interiors,
which are of the disposition and mind;
and in the spiritual world these make one,
for there it is not permitted to put on other faces
than those that are from the affections,
thus that correspond to the interiors which are of their mind.
This is why the angels of heaven
are radiant and lovely in face,
while infernal spirits are dusky and misshapen in face. 

The Lord's Promise

"Therefore say:
'This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
Although I sent them far away among the nations
and scattered them among the countries,
yet for a little while
I have been a sanctuary for them
in the countries where they have gone.'

"Therefore say:
'This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
I will gather you from the nations
and bring you back
from the countries where you have been scattered,
and I will give you back the land of Israel again.

"They will return to it
and remove all its vile images and detestable idols.
I will give them an undivided heart
and put a new spirit in them;
I will remove from them their heart of stone
and give them a heart of flesh.
Then they will follow My decrees
and be careful to keep My laws.
They will be My people,
and I will be their God.
But as for those whose hearts
are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols,
I will bring down on their own heads what they have done,
declares the Sovereign Lord."

Then the cherubim,
with the wheels beside them,
spread their wings,
and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
The glory of the Lord went up from within the city
and stopped above the mountain east of it.
The Spirit lifted me up
and brought me to the exiles in Babylonia
in the vision given by the Spirit of God.

Then the vision I had seen went up from me,
and I told the exiles everything the Lord had shown me.

(Ezekiel 11:16-25)

AE 412 - the Lord's Face, our face

AE 412 [16, 19-20]

. . . it should be known that no man,
nor even any angel,
can see the Lord's face,
since it is Divine love,
and no one can sustain the Divine love
such as it is in itself;
for to see the Lord's face
would be like letting the eye into the very fire of the sun,
whence it would instantly perish.
Such also is the Lord's Divine love viewed in itself;
therefore to those in the interior heavens
the Lord appears as a sun,
and that sun is encompassed by many radiant circles,
which are envelopments one after another,
in order that the Divine love may proceed
to the angels in heaven tempered and moderated,
and thus the angels may sustain it;
the Lord therefore appears as a sun
to the angels of the higher heavens only,
while to the angels of the lower heavens
He appears merely as light,
and to the rest as a moon.
Nevertheless, in heaven the Lord appears to the angels,
but under an angelic form;
for He fills an angel with His aspect . . .
but everywhere in accommodation
to the good of love and of faith with those to whom He appears.

. . . it is said that Jehovah, that is, the Lord,
conceals and hides His faces on account of iniquities and sins,
and He is entreated not to conceal or hide them,
and yet He never conceals or hides,
that is, His Divine good and His Divine truth;
for the Lord is Divine love itself and mercy itself,
and desires the salvation of all;
therefore He is present with all and with each one,
even with those who are in iniquities and sins,
and by this presence
He gives them the freedom to receive Him,
that is, truth and good from Him,
consequently they also do receive
if from freedom they desire to.
Reception must be from freedom,
in order that goods and truths may abide with man,
and be with him as his own;
for what a man does from freedom
he does from affection,
for all freedom is of affection,
and affection is man's will;
therefore what is received in freedom,
or from man's affection,
enters his will and endures.
It then endures
because the will is the man himself
and in the will his life primarily resides,
but secondarily in the thought or the understanding.
This therefore is why man ought to receive
Divine good and Divine truth,
with which the Lord is always present.

This is what is meant by:

Behold I stand at the door and knock;
if any man hear My voice and open the door,
I will come in to him and will sup with him.
(Rev. 3:20)

But when man from freedom chooses evil
he shuts the door to himself,
and thus does not let in
the good and truth that are from the Lord;
consequently the Lord then appears to be absent.
It is from this appearance
that it is said that Jehovah conceals and hides His faces,
although He does not conceal and hide.
Moreover man as to his spirit
then turns away from the Lord,
and consequently
does not perceive the good or see the truth,
which are from the Lord;
this is why it appears as if the Lord did not see him;
and yet the Lord sees each and every thing pertaining to man.

A Warning to Israel

At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me:

"Son of man,
I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel;
so hear the word I speak and give them warning from Me.
When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,'
and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him
from his evil ways in order to save his life,
that wicked man will die for his sin,
and I will hold you accountable for his blood.
But if you do warn the wicked man
and he does not turn
from his wickedness or from his evil ways,
he will die for his sin;
but you will have saved yourself.

"Again, when a righteous man
turns from his righteousness and does evil,
and I put a stumbling block before him,
he will die.
Since you did not warn him,
he will die for his sin.
The righteous things he did will not be remembered,
and I will hold you accountable for his blood.
But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin
and he does not sin,
he will surely live because he took warning,
and you will have saved yourself.

The hand of the Lord was upon me there,
and He said to me,
"Get up and go out to the plain,
and there I will speak to you."
So I got up and went out to the plain.
And the glory of the Lord was standing there,
like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River,
and I fell face-down.

(Ezekiel 3:16-23)

AE 412 - Make Thy faces to shine

AE 412 [2]

Make Thy faces to shine upon Thy servant;
save me because of Thy mercy.
(Psalm 31:16)

"To make the faces to shine"
signifies to enlighten in Divine truth from Divine love;
this is signified by "making the faces to shine,"
because Divine truth,
which proceeds from the Lord as a sun in the angelic heaven,
gives all the light there,
and also enlightens the minds of the angels
and fills them with wisdom;
consequently the Lord's face,
in a proper sense, is the sun of the angelic heaven . . ..
From that sun both heat and light proceed,
that heat is Divine good,
and that light is Divine truth.
From this it can be seen that
"Make Thy faces to shine upon Thy servant"
signifies to enlighten with Divine truth from Divine good;
therefore it is also added,
"save me because of Thy mercy;"
mercy is of the Divine good. 

His Unfailing Love

For men are not cast off by the Lord forever.
Though He brings grief,
He will show compassion,
so great is His unfailing love.
For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief
to the children of men.

(Lamentations 3:31-33)

AE 411 - My Rock

AE 411 [9-10]

Who is God save Jehovah,
or who is a Rock besides my God?
Jehovah lives:
and blessed be my Rock;
and the God of my salvation shall be exalted.
(Psalm 18:2, 31, 46; 2 Samuel 22:2-3, 32, 47)

It is said, "Who is God save Jehovah,
and who is a Rock besides my God?"
because where Divine good is treated of
the Lord is called "Jehovah,"
and where Divine truth is treated of he is called "God,"
and also "Rock," as here;
so afterwards, "Jehovah lives, and blessed be my Rock;"
"the God of my salvation shall be exalted"
signifies that He must be worshiped
by means of truths from good,
from which is salvation;
"to be exalted," in reference to God
is predicated of worship from good by means of truths.

Let the sayings of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be well pleasing before Thee,
 O Jehovah, my Rock and my Redeemer.
(Psalm 19:14)

"Jehovah the Rock" has a like signification as "Jehovah God,"
namely, the Lord in respect to Divine good and Divine truth;
and He is called "Redeemer" from regeneration,
which is effected by Divine truth;
"sayings of the mouth"
signify the understanding of truth,
and "the meditation of the heart"
the perception of good.

 

Do Not Lose Heart

Do not lose heart or be afraid
when rumors are heard in the land;
one rumor comes this year,
another the next,
rumors of violence in the land
and of ruler against ruler.
For the time will surely come
when I will punish the idols of Babylon;
her whole land will be disgraced
and her slain will all lie fallen within her.

(Jeremiah 51:46-47)

Esau and Edom with AE 410 [4]

The terror you inspire
and the presumption of your heart
have deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rocks,
who occupy the height of the hill.
Though you build your nest as high as the eagle's,
from there I will bring you down.

(Jeremiah 49:16)
___________________

AE 410 [4]

This is said of Esau and Edom; and "Esau"
here signifies the love of self
and the evil therefrom
destroying the church,
and "Edom" the pride of self-intelligence
and the falsity therefrom
destroying the church.
That the love of self and such pride are meant
is evident from its being said
"the presumption of your heart has deceived you;
if you should make thy nest as high as the eagle,
from there I would I cast you down."
Those who are in falsities from self-intelligence
dwell in rocks below,
and the ways of approach to them
appear like holes . . ..
Within, however, there are rooms hollowed out
and arched chambers where they sit in their fantasies.
But before they are cast into these
they are seen on mountains and hills,
for they raise themselves into high places by fantasies,
and as they are not in truths they think they are there bodily,
and yet bodily they are in the caves of the rocks;
this, therefore, is what is meant by
"dwelling in the holes of the rocks,
and holding the height of the hill."
 This makes clear the nature of the Word,
namely, that in many places
it conforms to the aspects and appearances
in the spiritual world,
which are unknown to man
but known to spirits and angels;
from which it is evident
that the Word is written for them also.

AE 409 - two masters

AE 409 [7]

No servant can serve two masters;
for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or else he will prefer the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
(Luke 16:13)

This must be understood as referring,
not to servants in the world,
for such can serve two masters,
and yet not hate and despise one of them,
but to servants in a spiritual sense,
who are such as desire
to love the Lord and themselves equally,
or heaven and the world equally.
These are like those who wish to look with one eye upwards,
and with the other downwards,
that is, with one eye to heaven, and with the other to hell,
and thus to hang between the two;
and yet there must be
a predominance of one of these loves over the other;
and where there is a predominance,
that which opposes will be hated and despised
when it offers opposition.
For the love of self and of the world is the opposite
of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor.
For this reason, those who are in the heavenly love
would rather die
or be deprived of honors and wealth in the world
than be drawn away by them
from the Lord and from heaven;
for this they regard as the all,
because it is eternal,
but the former as relatively nothing,
because it comes to an end with life in the world.
On the other hand, however,
those who love themselves and the world above all things,
regard the Lord and heaven as relatively of no account,
and even deny them,
and so far as they see that they are opposed
to self and the world
they hate them . . ..

 

"Do Not Fear, O Jacob"

"Do not fear, O Jacob My servant;
do not be dismayed, O Israel.
I will surely save you out of a distance place,
your descendants from the land of their exile.
Jacob will again have peace and security,
and no one will make him afraid.
Do not fear, O Jacob My servant,
for I am with you," declares the Lord.
"Though I completely destroy
all the nations among which I scatter you,
I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you
but only with justice;
I will not let you go entirely unpunished."

(Jeremiah 46:27-28)

** Jacob & Israel are the church,
external & internal respectively.

AE 409 - the Divine Human by Divine Truth is the Servant

AE 409 [2, 6]

That "servant" means what is of service and effects
is plainly evident from this,
that the Lord in relation to His Divine Human
is called "servant" and "minister," . . .:
    
Behold My servant, on whom I lean,
My chosen, in whom My soul is well pleased;
I have given My spirit upon Him.
[He shall bring forth judgment to the nations].
Who is blind but My servant?
or deaf as My angel that I send?
Who is blind as He that is perfect,
and blind as the servant of Jehovah?
(Isaiah 42:1, 19)

This is said of the Lord,
who is treated of in the whole of this chapter,
and the Lord in respect to His Divine Human
is here called "a servant,"
because He served his Father by doing His will,
as He frequently declares;
and this means that He reduced to order
all things in the spiritual world,
and at the same time
taught men the way to heaven.
Therefore by "My servant on whom I lean,"
and by "My chosen, in whom My soul is well pleased,"
the Divine Human is meant;
and this is called "a servant" from the Divine truth
by which it produced effects,
and "chosen" from the Divine good.
That it was by means of the Divine truth
which belonged to Him
that the Lord produced effects
is meant by
"I have given My spirit upon Him,
He shall bring forth judgment to the nations;"
"the spirit of Jehovah"
 meaning the Divine truth,
and "to bring forth judgment to the nations"
meaning to instruct.

He is called "blind" and "deaf"
because the Lord is as if
He did not see and perceive the sins of men,
for He leads men gently, bending and not breaking,
thus leading away from evils, and leading to good;
therefore He does not chastise and punish,
like one who sees and perceives.
This is meant by
"who is blind but My servant? or deaf as My angel?"
He is called "blind" and hence "a servant"
from the Divine truth,
and "deaf" and hence "an angel"
from the Divine good;
for "blindness" has reference to the understanding
and thence to the perception,
and "deafness" to the perception and thence to the will;
it is therefore here meant
that He as it were does not see,
although He possesses the Divine truth
from which He understands all things,
and that He does not will according to what He perceives,
although He has the Divine good,
from which He is able to effect all things.


But in a particular sense,
"servant" and "servants" in the Word
mean those who receive Divine truth and who teach it,
since Divine truth is what serves,
and by means of it Divine good produces effects.
For this reason "servants" and "chosen"
are frequently mentioned together . . .

Thou, Israel, art My servant,
and Jacob, whom I have chosen.
(Isaiah 41:8)

Fire and Destruction to Jerusalem

The Babylonians set fire to the royal palace
and the houses of the people
and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard
carried into exile to Babylon
the people who remained in the city,
along with those who had gone over to him,
and the rest of the people.
But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard
left behind in the land of Judah
some of the poor people,
who owned nothing;
and at that time
he gave them vineyards and fields.

(Jeremiah 39:8-10)

 

AE 406 - the spiritual sense and becoming spiritual

AE 406 [3, 12]
That there is such a sense in these words
can hardly be believed,
and yet it is there.

. . . all the knowledges of truth and good,
so far as they are knowledges,
are in the natural person;
they become truths and goods
when people live according to them,
because it is by means of the life
that they are received in the spiritual person . . ..

Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah Again

Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet
and had him brought
to the third entrance to the temple of the Lord.
"I am going to ask you something,"
the king said to Jeremiah.
"So not hide anything from me."

Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah,
"This is what the Lord Almighty,
the God of Israel, says:
'If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon,
your life will be spared
and this city will not be burned down;
you and your family will live.
But if you will not surrender
to the officers of the king of Babylon,
this city will be handed over to the Babylonians
and they will burn it down;
you yourself will not escape from their hands.'"

Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah,
"Do not let anyone know about this conversation,
or you may die."

All the officials did come to Jeremiah
and questioned him,
and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say.
So they said no more to him,
for no one had heard his conversation with the king.

And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard
until the day Jerusalem was captured.

(Jeremiah 38:14, 17-18, 24, 27-28)

AE 405 - "to give glory to God"

AE 405 [52]

. . . "to give glory to God"
signifies to acknowledge the Divine truth,
"glory" in the Word signifying Divine truth,
and to acknowledge it and live according to it
is the glory which the Lord desires,
and which is to be given to Him . . ..

Give Thanks

"Give thanks to the Lord Almighty,
for the Lord is good;
His love endures forever."

(Jeremiah 33:11)

AE 405 - mountains

AE 405 [30]

Mountain" and "mountains"
signify the goods of love and of charity . . .:

Jehovah who covers the heavens with clouds,
who prepares rain for the earth,
who makes grass to spring forth upon the mountains.
(Psalm 147:8)

"The clouds," with which Jehovah covers the heavens,
signify external truths,
such as are in the sense of the letter of the Word;
for the truths in that sense are called in the Word "clouds,"
while the truths in the internal sense are called "glory;"
"the heavens" mean internal truths,
because those who are in the heavens are in them;
"the rain which He prepares for the earth"
signifies influx of truth,
"the earth" meaning the church,
and thus those there who receive truth,
for the church consists of such;
"the mountains on which He makes grass to spring forth"
signify the goods of love,
and thence those who are in the goods of love,
"grass" signifying the spiritual nourishment that such have;
for grass for beasts is meant,
and "beasts" signify
the affections of good of the natural man. 

There Will Be a Day

There will be a day
when watchmen cry out
on the hills of Ephraim,
'Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.'

(Jeremiah 31:6)

AE 405 - three special mountains

AE 405 [24, 25, 26]

* The Mount of Olives *
Because "the Mount of Olives,"
which was before Jerusalem eastward,
signified the Divine love,
and "Jerusalem from the east"
Divine truth proceeding from Divine good,
. . . the Lord was accustomed to stay on that mount,
as is evident in Luke:

Jesus during the days was teaching in the temple;
but at night He went out
and lodged in the mount
that is called the Mount of Olives.
(Luke 21:37; 22:39; John 8:1)

It was here, too, that He spoke with His disciples
about His coming and the consummation of the age,
that is, about the Last Judgment
(Matt. 24:3 seq.; Mark 13:3 seq.).
It was from here, also,
that He went to Jerusalem and suffered
(Matt. 21:1; 26:30; Mark 11:1; 14:26;
Luke 19:29, 37; 21:37; 22:39);
signifying thereby that He did all things from the Divine love,
for "the Mount of Olives" signified that love;
for whatever the Lord did in the world was representative,
and whatever He spoke was significative.

* Mount Sinai *
Because "a mountain" signified the good of love
and in reference to the Lord,
the Divine good of the Divine love,
from which good Divine truth proceeds,
so Jehovah, that is, the Lord,
descended upon Mount Sinai and promulgated the law.
For it is said that:

He came down upon that mount,
to the top of the mount.
(Exodus 19:20; 24:16-17)

And that He promulgated the law there.
(Exodus 20)

Therefore also Divine truth from Divine good
is signified in the Word by "Sinai,"
and also by "the law" there promulgated.

* Mount Zion *
Since "a mountain" signified the good of love,
and in the highest sense, the Divine good,
and from the Divine good Divine truth proceeds,
so Mount Zion was built up above Jerusalem,
 and in the Word "Mount Zion" signifies the church
that is in the good of love to the Lord,
and "Jerusalem" the church
that is in truths from that good,
or the church in respect to doctrine.
For the same reason Jerusalem is called
"the mountain of holiness," also "the hill;"
for "the mountain of holiness," likewise "hill"
signify spiritual good,
which in its essence is truth from good . . .

It shall come to pass in the latter end of days
that the mountain of Jehovah
shall be on the head of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
whence all nations shall flow unto it;
and many peoples shall go and say,
Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
(Isaiah 2:2-3)

Two Baskets of Figs

After Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah
and the officials, the craftsmen and the artisans of Judah
were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon
by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,
the Lord showed me two baskets of figs
placed in front of the temple of the Lord.
One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early;
the other basket had very poor figs,
so bad they could not be eaten.

Then the Lord asked me,
"What do you see, Jeremiah?"

"Figs," I answered.
"The good ones are very good,
but the poor ones are so bad they cannot be eaten."

Then the word of the Lord came to me:
"This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
'Like these good figs,
I regard as good the exiles from Judah,
whom I sent away from this place
to the land of the Babylonians.
My eyes will watch over them for their good,
and I will bring them back to this land.
I will build them up and not tear them down;
I will plant them and not up root them.
I will give them a heart to know Me,
that I am the Lord.
They will be My people,
and I will be their God,
for they will return to Me with all their heart.

"'But like the poor figs,
which are so bad they cannot be eaten,' says the Lord,
'so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah,
his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem,
whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt.
I will make them abhorrent
and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth,
a reproach and a byword,
an object of ridicule and cursing,
wherever I banish them.
I will send the sword, famine and plague against them
until they are destroyed from the land
I gave to them and their fathers.'"

(Jeremiah 24)

AE 404 - "heaven and earth"

AE 404

. . . "heaven and earth"
signify the church internal and external
so they signify the internal and external man,
or the spiritual and the natural man;
for as man in whom is the good of love and of faith
is a church, 
so the church, in general
exists from the men in whom the church is.
This makes clear why it is
that "heaven" here means the internal or spiritual man.
It is said "the spiritual man,"
by which is meant the spiritual mind,
which is the higher or interior mind of man,
while the lower or exterior mind is called the natural man.
The above is evident also from
the signification of "departed as a book rolled up,"
as meaning that it became closed up;
for the spiritual mind,
which is . . . the higher or interior mind with man,
is opened by truths applied to life, thus by goods,
but it is closed up by falsities applied to life,
thus by evils;
and the closing up
is as the rolling up of the scroll of a book. 

 

Jeremiah and Pashhur

When the priest Pashhur son of Immer,
the chief officer in the temple of the Lord,
heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,
he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks
at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the Lord's temple.
The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks,
Jeremiah said to him,
"The Lord's name for you is not Pashhur,
but Magor-Missabib (means terror on every side).
For this is what the Lord says:
'I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends;
with your own eyes
you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies.
I will hand all Judah over to the king of Babylon,
who will carry them away to Babylon
or put them to the sword.
I will hand over to their enemies all the wealth of this city -
all its  products, all its valuables
and all the treasures of the kings of Judah.
They will take it away as plunder
and carry it off to Babylon.
And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house
will go into exile to Babylon.
There you will die and be buried,
you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.'"

(Jeremiah 20:1-6)

AE 403 - gardens and vineyards

AE 403 [8]

Your many gardens and your vineyards,
and your fig-trees and your olive-trees,
the palmer worm has devoured;
yet you have not returned unto Me.
(Amos 4:9)

"Gardens" signify all things of the church
that constitute intelligence and wisdom;
"vineyards" spiritual goods and truths;
"fig-trees" natural goods and truths;
"olive-trees" celestial goods and truths;
"the palmer worm" means the falsity that destroys;
"the fig-tree," "the vine," and "the olive"
properly signify the church and the man of the church;
but as the church is a church
and man is a man
from goods and truths,
so these also are signified by those trees,
goods by their fruits,
and truths by their branches and leaves.

Our Hope

Although our sins testify against us,
O Lord, do something for the sake of Your name.
For our backsliding is great;
we have sinned against You.

Have You rejected Judah completely?
Do You despise Zion?
Why have You afflicted us
so that we cannot be healed?
We hoped for peace
but no good has come,
for a time of healing
but there is only terror.
O Lord, we acknowledge our wickedness
and the guilt of our fathers;
we have indeed sinned against You.

For the sake of Your name
do not despise us;
do not dishonor Your glorious throne.
Remember Your covenant with us
and do not break it.

Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?
Do the skies themselves send down showers?
No, it is You, O Lord our God.
Therefore our hope is in You,
for You are the One who does all this.

(Jeremiah 14:7,19-22)
 

AE 403 - birth

AE 403

. . . every person is born natural from his parents,
but becomes spiritual from the Lord,
which is called to be born anew or to be regenerated.

Do Not Boast

This is what the Lord says:

"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts
boast about this:

That he understands and knows Me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises
kindness, justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,"
declares the Lord.

(Jeremiah 9:23-24)

AE 401 - "and the sun was darkened"

AE 401 [15]

. . . "and the sun was darkened;"
"the sun" that was obscured, meaning the Lord,
who is said to be "obscured"
when falsities so prevail in the church
that He is not acknowledged,
and evils so prevail
that He is crucified.

A Warning

"From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
They dress the wound of My people
as though it were not serious.
'Peace, peace,' they say,
when there is no peace.
Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when I punish them,"
says the Lord.

(Jeremiah 6:10-11, 13-15)

AE 401 - when Jesus was transfigured

AE 401 [3]

When Jesus was transfigured
before Peter, James, and John,
His face did shine as the sun,
and His garments became as light.
(Matthew 17:1-2)

Because the Lord was then seen in His Divine,
He appeared in respect to His face "as the sun,"
and in respect to His garments "as the light,"
because the face corresponds to love,
and "garments" correspond to truths;
and "His face did shine as the sun"
because Divine love was in Him,
and "His garments became as light"
because Divine truth was from Him;
for the light in Heaven is Divine truth
proceeding from the Lord as a sun.

Worthless Idols

Has a nation ever changes its gods?
(Yet they are not gods at all.)
But My people have exchanged My Glory
for worthless idols.
Be appalled at this, O heavens,
and shudder with great horror," declares the Lord.

(Jeremiah 2:11-12)

AE 400 - earthquakes

AE 400 [1,14]

And behold there was a great earthquake,
(Revelation 6:12)

signifies the state of the church entirely changed.
This is evident from the signification of "earthquake"
as being a change of state of the church,
"earth" meaning the church,
and its "quaking" a change of state.

It is recorded also in the Word
that there was an earthquake
when the Lord suffered upon the cross,
and also when the angel descended
and rolled away the stone
from the mouth of the sepulcher;
and each of these earthquakes
signified a change in the state of the church.

The Mountains Trembled Before You

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before You!
As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make Your name known 
to Your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before You!
For when You did awesome things
that we did not expect,
You came down,
and the mountains trembled before You.

Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides You,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.
You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember Your ways.

(Isaiah 64:1-5)

AE 397 - "consummation of the age"

AE 397 [2, 3]

"The consummation of the age"
is the last time when judgment takes place . . ..
The Last Judgment then comes,
for the further reason
that the human race is the basis or foundation
of the angelic heaven,
for the conjunction of the angelic heaven
with the human race is perpetual,
the one subsisting by means of the other;
when therefore the basis does not correspond
the angelic heaven totters;
consequently there must then be a judgment
upon those who are in the spiritual world,
that all things in the heavens
as well as in the hells,
may be reduced to order.

From this it can be known
that "consummation" means the last state of the church,
when there is no longer any faith
because there is no charity.
This state of the church is also called in the Word
"vastation" and "desolation,"
and by the Lord, "consummation of the age."

Here Am I

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter -
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will call,
and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help,
and He will say:
Here am I.

(Isaiah 58:6-9)

AE 392 - what the Lord speaks

AE 392 [1, 4]

What the Lord speaks is called the Word of God,
and that is Divine truth.
The Word or the Sacred Scripture is nothing else . . ..

. . . the Word in each and every particular
testifies respecting the Lord;
for in its inmost sense
it treats of the Lord alone,
and in its internal sense
of the celestial and spiritual things
that proceed from the Lord,
and in particular the Lord testifies respecting Himself
in every one who is in the life of love and charity;
for the Lord flows into their heart and life
and teaches them,
especially respecting His Divine Human;
for He grants to those who are in a life of love
to think of God under the human form,
and God under the human form is the Lord.

Seek the Lord While He May Be Found

Seek the Lord while He may be found;
call on Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him to to the Lord,
and He will have mercy on him,
and to our God,
for He will freely pardon.

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways
and My thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is My word that goes out from My mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush
will grow the pine tree,
and instead of briers
the myrtle will grow.
This will be fore the Lord's renown,
for an everlasting sign,
which will not be destroyed."

(Isaiah 55:6-13)

AE 391 - the establishment of a new church

AE 391 [23]

 In that day shall a man have respect to his Maker,
and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel.
And he shall not have respect to altars,
the work of his hands,
and he shall not look to that
which his fingers have made,
or to the groves or the sun-statues.
(Isaiah 17:7-8)

This treats of the establishment
of a new church by the Lord;
that men shall then be led into the goods of life,
and be instructed in the truths of doctrine,
is meant by
"In that day shall a man have respect to his Maker,
and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel."
The Lord is called "Maker"
because He leads into the goods of life,
for these make man;
and He is called "the Holy One of Israel"
because He teaches the truths of doctrine;
therefore it is added, "a man shall have respect,"
and "his eyes shall look;"
man is called "man" from the good of life,
and "eyes" are predicated of the understanding of truth,
thus of the truths of doctrine.
That there will then be no worship from self-love,
from which are the evils of life,
nor from self-intelligence,
from which are the falsities of doctrine,
is signified by
"he shall not have respect to altars,
the work of his hands,
and he shall not look to that
which his fingers have made,"
"altars, the work of his hands,"
mean worship from self-love,
from which are evils of life,
and "that which his fingers have made"
means worship from self-intelligence,
from which are the falsities of doctrine;
"groves and sun-statues"
signify a religion from falsities and evils therefrom,
"groves," a religious principle from falsities,
and "sun-statues" a religious principle
from the evils of falsity.

Open My Ears

The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears,
and I have not been rebellious;
I have not drawn back.

(Isaiah 50:4-5)

AE 391 - more on worship

AE 391 [2, 3, 11, 18]

Worship means not external worship only,
but also internal worship;
and internal worship comprehends
everything of love and everything of faith,
thus everything that constitutes
the church or heaven with man,
in a word, that causes the Lord to be with him.

That "the Altar" signifies, in the highest sense,
the Lord's Divine Human
in relation to the Divine good of the Divine love,
and that in a relative sense
it signifies heaven and the church . . ..

. . . "sing for joy" (signifies)
worship from the delight of good.

All things of worship are conjoined
when externals are conjoined with internals,
and goods with truths.

Sing for Joy

Sing for joy, O heavens,
for the Lord has done this;
shout aloud, O earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
you forests and all your trees,
for the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
He displays His glory in Israel.

(Isaiah 44:23)

AE 388 - worship

AE 388 [25]

. . . no one can worship God rightly from himself,
but from God,
that is, from the goods and truths
that are of God with him.

Comfort, Comfort My People

Comfort, comfort My People, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins.

(Isaiah 40:1-2)

AE 387 - "the evil wild beast"

AE 387 [21]

. . . "the evil wild beast" in general signifies the evils of life,
or lusts and falsities therefrom
springing from the loves of self and of the world,
which lay waste all things of the church with a person.

A Message from the Lord to Hezekiah (portion)

Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah:
"This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
Because you have prayed to Me
concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:

"He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.
By the way that he came
he will return;
he will not enter this city,"
declares the Lord.
"I will defend this city and save it,
for My sake and for the sake of David My servant!"

(Isaiah 37:21-22, 33-35)

AE 386 - "fear Jehovah"

AE 386 [18]

"Those that fear Jehovah"
mean those who love to do His commandments.

The Noble Man

But the noble man makes noble plans,
and by noble deeds he stands.

(Isaiah 32:8)

AE 386 - famine

AE 386

. . . the signification of "famine," as being
the deprivation of the knowledges of truth and good,
also the lack and ignorance of them.
These are signified by "famine" in the Word.
This is the signification of "famine"
because "food and drink" signify all things
that nourish and sustain spiritual life,
and these in general
are the knowledges of truth and good.
The spiritual life itself needs nourishment and support
just as much as the natural life does;
so it is said to be famished
when a man is deprived of these knowledges,
or when they fail,
or when they are unknown and yet desired.
Moreover, natural foods correspond to spiritual foods,
as bread to the good of love,
wine to the truths therefrom,
and other foods and drinks
to particular goods and truths . . ..

Thank You, Lord

Lord, You establish peace for us;
all that we have accomplished
You have done for us.

(Isaiah 26:12)

AE 376, 382 - How do we see the Lord?

AE 376 [37]

. . .those who are not in the love of self,
and who seek intelligence for the sake of the uses of life,
are elevated by the Lord
from what is their own (proprium)
into the light of heaven

and though not aware of it themselves,

are illustrated.

AE 382

. . . the Lord Himself, who is the Word:
He to appears to everyone according to his quality;
to those who are in goods and truths therefrom
He appears as a fire and as light vivifying and recreating,
but to those who are in evils and in falsities therefrom
He appears as a consuming fire and as thick darkness.

. . . to those who are in evil and in falsities therefrom
the Lord appears to be angry, to punish,
to condemn, and to cast into hell,
when yet He is never angry, never punishes,
or condemns, or casts into hell,
but saves so far as a person applies himself;
for the Lord is good itself and truth itself,
He is love itself and mercy itself.

A Prophecy Against Babylon

An oracle concerning the Desert by the Sea:

Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland,
an invader comes from the desert,
from a land of terror.

A dire vision has been shown to me:
The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot.
Elam, attack!  Media, lay siege!
I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.

At this my body is racked with pain,
pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor;
I am staggered by what I hear,
I am bewildered by what I see.
My heart falters,
fear makes me tremble;
The twilight I longed for
has become a horror to me.

They set the tables,
they spread the rugs,
they eat, they drink!
Get up, you officers, oil the shields!

This is that the Lord says to me:

"Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.
When he sees chariots with teams of horses,
riders on donkeys or riders on camels,
let him be alert, fully alert."

And the lookout shouted,

"Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower;
every night I stay at my post.
Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses.
And he gives back the answer:
'Babylon has fallen, has fallen!
All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!'"

O my people,
crushed on the threshing floor,
I tell you what I have heard from the Lord Almighty,
from the God of Israel.

(Isaiah 21:1-10)

AE 376 - such are those

AE 376 [32]

Such are those who are in a life of evil,
and at the same time in the principles of falsity,
however learned they are believed to be;
for a life of evil
shuts out the perception of good
by which thought has life and light,
and the principles of falsity
shut out the understanding of truth,
on which account they see from the sensual man only,
and not at all from the spiritual.

A Shoot Will Come Up

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from His roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him -
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord -
and He will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes,
or decide by what He hears with His ears;
but with righteousness He will judge the needy,
with justice He will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth;
with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
Righteousness  will be His belt
and faithfulness the sash around His waist.

(Isaiah 11:1-5)

AE 376 - essence and conscience

AE 376

The good of charity and the good of faith
in their essence are truth,
because that good is implanted by the Lord
in man's intellectual part
by means of the truths that are called the truths of faith,
and when man lives according to these truths
they become goods;
for by means of truths
a new will is formed in that part
and whatever proceeds from the will is called good.
This will, moreover, is the same as conscience,
and conscience is a conscience of truth,
for it is formed by truths of every kind
from the doctrine of the church,
and from the sense of the letter of the Word.

Isaiah Foretells

Then Isaiah said,
"Hear now, you house of David!
Is it not enough to try the patience of men?
Will you try the patience of my God also?
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:
The virgin will be with Child
and will give birth to a Son,
and will call Him Immanuel.
He will eat curds and honey when He knows enough
to reject the wrong and choose the right.
But before the Boy knows enough
to reject the wrong and choose the right,
the land of the two kings you dread
will be laid waste.
The Lord will bring on you
and on your people
and on the house of your father
a time unlike any 
since Ephraim broke away from Judah -
He will bring the king of Assyria."

(Isaiah 7:13-17)

AE 375 - Isaiah 5:1-2 and the good Samaritan

AE 375 [31, 42]

I will sing to my Beloved a song of my friend.
My Beloved had a vineyard in a horn of the son of oil,
which He fenced, and gathered out the stones,
and planted it with a noble vine;
and He waited for it
that it should bring forth grapes,
but it brought forth wild grapes.
(Isaiah 5:1-2)

"The vineyard that the Beloved had in a horn of the son of oil"
signifies the spiritual church
which has truths from the good of love,
thus most excellent;
for "vineyard" signifies the spiritual church,
or the church that is in truths from good;
its inauguration is meant by "the horn of oil,"
for inaugurations were performed by oil out of a horn;
and "the son of oil," means truth from good;
"Beloved" means the Lord,
because it is He who establishes churches,
therefore it is said of Him,
"which He fenced and gathered out the stones,
and planted with a noble vine,"
"a noble vine" meaning spiritual truth from the celestial,
or truth from the good of love;
the "grapes that he waited for that it should bring forth"
signify the goods of charity,
which are the goods of life;
and the "wild grapes that it brought forth"
signify the evils that are contrary to the goods of charity,
that is, the evils of life.
______

Because "oil" signified the good of love and charity,
and "wine" signified truth:

The Lord says of the Samaritan,
who as he journeyed saw in the way
a man wounded by thieves,
that he poured oil and wine into his wounds,
and then set him on his own beast,
and brought him to an inn,
and told them to care for him.
(Luke 10:33-35)

In the spiritual sense these things are thus perceived:
"the Samaritan" means the Gentiles
that were in the good of charity towards the neighbor;
"the man wounded by thieves"
means those who are infested by those from hell,
who are thieves
because they injure and destroy man's spiritual life;
the "oil and wine that he poured into his wounds"
mean things spiritual that heal man,
"oil" good, and "wine" truth;
that "he set him on his own beast"
signifies that he did this according to his intelligence
so far as he was able,
"horse," and likewise "beast of burden"
signifying the intellect;
that "he brought him to an inn and told them to care for him"
signifies to bring to those that are well instructed
in the doctrine of the church from the Word,
and who are better able to heal him
than one who is still in ignorance.
Thus are these words understood in heaven,
and from them it is evident
that the Lord when He was in the world
spoke by pure correspondences,
thus for the world and for heaven at the same time. 

 

The Song of the Vineyard, portions

I will sing for the One I love
a song about His vineyard:
My loved One had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.
He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
The He looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.

Woe to those who rise early in the morning
to run after their drinks,
who stay up late at night
til they are inflamed with wine.
They have harps and lyres at their banquets,
tambourines and flutes and wine,
but they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord,
no respect for the work of His hands.

So man will be brought low
and mankind humbled,
the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by His justice,
and the holy God
will show Himself holy by His righteousness.
Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture;
lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich.

(Isaiah 5:1-2,11-12, 15-17)

AE 375 - why the prophets were anointed

AE 375 [15]

The spirit of the Lord Jehovih is upon me;
therefore hath Jehovah anointed me
to preach good tidings unto the poor.
(Isaiah 61:1)

The prophets were anointed
because the prophets represented the Lord
in respect to the doctrine of Divine truth,
consequently in respect to the Word;
for the Word is the doctrine of Divine truth.

Praise the Lord

Praise the Lord.

Praise God in His sanctuary;
praise Him in His mighty heavens.
Praise Him for His acts of power;
praise Him for His surpassing greatness.
Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise Him with the harp and the lyre,
praise Him with tambourine and dancing,
praise Him with the strings and flute,
praise Him with the clash of cymbals,
praise Him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

(Psalm 150)