Moses Tells the Elders What the Lord Intends

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt . . .

"Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
because it was on this very day
that I brought your divisions out of Egypt.
Celebrate this day
as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.
In the first month
you are to eat bread made without yeast,
from the evening of the fourteenth day
until the evening of the twenty-first day.
For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses.
And whoever eats anything with yeast in it
must be cut off from the community of Israel,
whether he is an alien or native-born.
Eat nothing made with yeast.
Wherever you live,
you must eat unleavened bread."

Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel
and said to them,
"Go at once and select the animals for your families
and slaughter the Passover lamb.
Take a bunch of hyssop,
dip it into the blood in the basin
and put some of the blood on the top
and on both sides of the doorframe.
Not one of you
shall go out the door of his house until morning.
When the Lord goes through the land
to strike down the Egyptians,
He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe
and will pass over that doorway,
and He will not permit the destroyer
to enter your houses and strike you down.

"Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance
for you and your descendants.
When you enter the land
that the Lord will give you as He promised,
observe this ceremony.
And when your children ask you,
'What does this ceremony  mean to you?'
then tell them,
'It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord,
who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt
and spared our homes
when He struck down the Egyptians.'"
Then the people bowed down and worshiped.
The Israelites did
just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.

At midnight the Lord struck down all the first born in Egypt,
from the first born of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne,
to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon,
and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.
Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians
got up during the night,
and there was loud wailing in Egypt,
for there was not a house without someone dead.

(Exodus 12:1, 17-30)

AC 219 - The Voice of Jehovah God

AC 219 - 220

That by the
"voice of Jehovah God going to itself in the garden"
is meant an internal dictate of which they were afraid,
is evident from the signification of "voice" in the Word,
where the "voice of Jehovah"
is used to designate the Word itself,
the doctrine of faith, conscience or a taking notice inwardly,
and also every reproof thence resulting;
whence it is that thunders are called the "voices of Jehovah"
as in John:

The angel cried with a loud voice, as a lion roars,
and when he had cried seven thunders uttered their voices.
(Revelation 10:3)

denoting that there was then a voice both external and internal.
Again:

In the days of the voice of the seventh angel
the mystery of God shall be consummated.
(Revelation 10:7)

In David:

Sing unto God, sing praises unto the Lord,
who rides upon the heavens of heavens which were of old;
lo, He shall send out His voice, a voice of strength.
(Psalm 78:32, 33)

The "heavens of heavens which were of old"
denote the wisdom of the Most Ancient Church;
"voice" revelation, and also an internal dictate.
Again:

The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters;
the voice of Jehovah is in power;
the voice of Jehovah is in glory;
the voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars;
the voice of Jehovah divides the games of fire;
the voice of Jehovah makes the wilderness to shake;
the voice of Jehovah makes the hinds to calve,
and uncovers the forests.
(Psalm 29:3-5 and 7-9)

And in Isaiah:

Jehovah shall cause
the excellency of His voice to be heard,
for through the voice of Jehovah
shall Asshur be beaten down.
(Isaiah 30:30, 31) 



By the "voice going to itself" is meant
that there was but little perception remaining,
and that alone as it were by itself and unheard,
as is manifest also from the following verse where it is said,
"Jehovah called to the man."
So in Isaiah:

The voice of one crying in the wilderness;
the voice said, Cry.
(Isaiah 40:3 and 6)

The "wilderness" is a church where there is no faith;
the "voice of one crying"
is the annunciation of the Lord's advent,
and in general every announcement of His coming,
as with the regenerate,
with whom there is an internal dictate.

At the Burning Bush on Horeb, the Mountain of God

But Moses said to God,
"Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh
and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

And God said, "I will be with you.
And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you:
When you have brought the people out of Egypt,
you will worship God on this mountain."

Moses said to God,
"Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them,
'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,'
and they ask me,
'What is His name?'
Then what shall I tell them?"

God said to Moses,
"I AM WHO I AM.
This is what you are to say to the Israelites:
'I AM has sent me to you.'"

(Exodus 3:11-15)

AC 151-152, 154 - "And Jehovah God Built the Rib"

AC 151-152

And Jehovah God built the rib
which He took from the man into a woman,
and brought her to the man.
(Genesis 2:22)

'Building' means reconstructing that which has fallen down,
'rib' the proprium that has not been given life,
'woman the proprium that has been given life by the Lord,
'bringing her to the man' that a proprium was granted to him.
Since the descendants of this Church, unlike their ancestors,
did not wish to be the celestial man,
but to be their own guides
and so set their heart on the proprium,
they were allowed to have one.
It was however a proprium given life by the Lord,
which is why it is called 'a woman', and after that 'a wife'. 

 It requires but little attention in anyone to discern
that woman was not formed out of the rib of a man,
and that deeper arcana are here implied
than any person has heretofore been aware of.
And that by the "woman" is signified a person's proprium,
may be known from the fact
that it was the woman who was deceived;
for nothing ever deceives a person but his proprium,
or what is the same, the love of self and of the world.

AC 154

Nothing evil and false is ever possible
which is not a person's proprium,
and from a person's proprium,
for the proprium of a person is evil itself,
and consequently a person is nothing but evil and falsity.
This has been evident to me from the fact that
when the things of a person's proprium
are presented to view in the world of spirits,
they appear so deformed
that it is impossible to depict anything more ugly,
yet with a difference according to the nature of the proprium,
so that he to whom the things of the proprium
are visibly exhibited
is struck with horror,
and desires to flee from himself as from a devil. 

But truly the things of a person's proprium
that have been vivified by the Lord
appear beautiful and lovely,
with variety according to the life to which
the celestial of the Lord can be applied;
and indeed those who have been endowed with charity,
or vivified by it,
appear like boys and girls with most beautiful countenances;
and those who are in innocence, like naked infants,
variously adorned
with garlands of flowers encircling their bosoms,
and diadems upon their heads,
living and sporting in a diamond-like aura,
and having a perception of happiness from the very inmost.

Jacob Blesses His Sons

Then Jacob called for his sons and said:
"Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you
in days to come.

"Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel.

"Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my might, the first sign of my strength,
excelling in honor, excelling in power.
Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel,
for you went up onto your father's bed,
onto my couch and defiled it.

"Simeon and Levi are brothers -
their swords are weapons of violence.
Let me not enter their council,
let me not join their assembly,
for they have killed men in their anger
and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
Cursed be their anger, so fierce,
and their fury, so cruel!
I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.

"Judah, your brothers will praise you;
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
your father's sons will bow down to you.
You are a lion's cub, O Judah;
you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
like a lioness - who dares to rouse him?
The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs
and the obedience of the nations is his.
He will tether his donkey to a vine,
his colt to the choices branch;
he will wash his garments in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
His eyes will be darker than wine,
his teeth whiter than milk.

"Zebulun will live by the seashore
and become a haven for ships;
his border will extend toward Sidon.

"Issachar is a rawboned donkey
lying down between two saddlebags.
When he sees how good is his resting place
and how pleasant is his land,
he will bend his shoulder to the burden
and submit to forced labor.

"Dan will provide justice for his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan will be a serpent by the roadside,
a viper along the path,
that bites the horse's heals
so that its rider tumbles backward.

"I look for your deliverance, O Lord.

"Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders,
but he will attack them at their heels.

"Asher's food will be rich;
he will provide delicacies fit for a king.

"Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.

"Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine near a spring,
whose branches climb over a wall.
With bitterness archers attacked him;
they shot at him with hostility.
But his bow remained steady,
his strong arms stayed limber,
because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
because of your father's God, who helps you,
because of the Almighty, who blesses you
with blessing of the heavens above,
blessings of the deep that lies below,
blessings of the breast and womb.
Your father's blessings are greater
than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
than the bounty of the age-old hills.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

"Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
in the morning he devours the prey,
in the evening he divides the plunder."

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel,
and this is what their father said to them
when he blessed them,
giving each the blessing appropriate to him.

(Genesis 49:1-28)

AC 141 - proprium

AC 141

Countless things can be said about the proprium -
about what the proprium is like
in the case of the bodily-minded and worldly man,
what it is like in the case of the spiritual man,
and what in the case of the celestial man.
With the bodily-minded and worldly man
the proprium is his all.
He is unaware of anything else but the proprium.
And, as has been stated,
if he were to lose his proprium
he would think that he was dying.
With the spiritual man
the proprium takes on a similar appearance,
for although he knows that the Lord is the life of all,
and that He confers wisdom and intelligence,
and consequently the ability to think and to act,
it is more a matter of something he says
and not so much something he believes.
The celestial man however
acknowledges that the Lord is the life of all,
who confers the ability to think and act,
because he perceives that this is so.
Nor does he ever desire the proprium.
Nevertheless even though he does not desire it
the Lord grants him a proprium which is joined to him
with a complete perception of what is good and true,
and with complete happiness.
Angels possess a proprium such as this,
and at the same time utmost peace and tranquillity,
for their proprium has within it things that are the Lord's,
who is governing their proprium, that is,
governing them by means of their proprium.
This proprium is utterly heavenly,
whereas the proprium of the bodily-minded man is hellish.

 

Joseph's Family Settles, and Israel Blesses Joseph

So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt
and gave them property in the best part of the land,
the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed.
Joseph also provided his father and his brothers
and all his father's household with food,
according to the number of their children.

Then Israel said to Joseph,
"I am about to die,
but God will be with you
and take you back to the land of your fathers.
And to you, as one who is over your brothers,
I give the ridge of land I took from the Amorites
with my sword and my bow."

(Genesis 47:11-12; 48:21-22)

AC 127-128, 129 - To "Eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil"

AC 127-128, 129

A desire to investigate the mysteries of faith
by means of the things of sense and of the memory,
was not only the cause
of the fall of the posterity of the Most Ancient Church,
. . . but it is also the cause of the fall of every church;
for hence come not only falsities, but also evils of life.

The worldly and corporeal man says in his heart,
If I am not instructed concerning the faith,
and everything relating to it,
by means of the things of sense, so that I may see,
or by means of those of the memory,
so that I may understand,
I will not believe;
and he confirms himself in this by the consideration
that natural things cannot be contrary to spiritual.
Thus he is desirous of being instructed from things of sense
in what is celestial and Divine,
which is as impossible as it is for a camel 
to go through the eye of a needle;
for the more he desires to grow wise by such means,
the more he blinds himself,
till at length he believes nothing,
not even that there is anything spiritual,
or that there is eternal life.
This comes from the principle which he assumes.
And this is to "eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil"
of which the more anyone eats,
the more dead he becomes.
But he who would be wise from the Lord,
and not from the world,
says in his heart that the Lord must be believed,
that is, the things which the Lord has spoken in the Word,
because they are truths;
and according to this principle he regulates his thoughts.

. . . it is by no means forbidden to learn the sciences,
since they are useful to his life and delightful;
nor is he who is in faith prohibited from
thinking and speaking as do the learned of the world;
but it must be from this principle --
to believe the Word of the Lord,
and, so far as possible,
confirm spiritual and celestial truths by natural truths,
in terms familiar to the learned world.
Thus his starting-point must be the Lord,
and not himself;
for the former is life,
but the latter is death.

Joseph's Silver Cup Is In Benjamin's Sack

Now Joseph gave these instructions
to the steward of his house:
"Fill the men's sacks with as much food as they can carry,
and put each man's silver in the mouth of his sack.
Then put my cup, the silver one,
in the mouth of the youngest one's sack,
along with the silver for his grain."
And he did as Joseph said.

As morning dawned,
the men were sent on their way with their donkeys.
They had not gone far from the city
when Joseph said to his steward,
"Go after those men at once,
and when you catch up with them, say to them,
'Why have you repaid good with evil?
Isn't this the cup my master drinks from
and also uses for divination?
This is a wicked thing you have done.'"

When he caught up with them,
He repeated these words to them.
But they said to him,
"Why does my lord say such things?
Far be it from your servants to do anything like that!
We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan
the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks.
So why would we steal silver or gold
from your master's house?
If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die;
and the rest of us will become my lord's slaves."

"Very well, then," he said, "let it be as you say.
whoever is found to have it will become my slave;
the rest of you will be free from blame."

Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground
and opened it. 
Then the steward proceeded to search,
beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest.
And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
At this, they tore their clothes.
Then they all loaded their donkeys
and returned to the city.

(Genesis 44:1-10)

AC 112, 123 - From the Lord

AC 112

. . . there is no wisdom which is not from love,
thus from the Lord;
nor any intelligence except from faith,
thus also from the Lord;
and that there is no good except from love,
thus from the Lord;
and no truth except from faith,
thus from the Lord.
What are not from love and faith,
and thus from the Lord,
are indeed called by these names,
but they are spurious.

AC 123

The celestial man acknowledges,
because he perceives,
that all things both in general and in particular are the Lord's.
The spiritual man does indeed acknowledge the same,
but with the mouth,
because he has learned it from the Word.
The worldly and corporeal man
neither acknowledges nor admits it;
but whatever he has he calls his own,
and imagines that were he to lose it,
he would altogether perish.

The Rulers of Edom

These were the kings who reigned in Edom
before any Israelite king reigned:

Bela son of Beor became king of Edom.
His city was named Dinhabah.

When Bela died,
Jobab son of Zerah from Bozra succeeded him as king.

When Jobab died,
Husham from the land of the Temanites
succeeded him as king.

When Husham died,
Hadad son of Bedad,
who defeated Midian in the country of Moab,
succeeded him as king.
His city was named Avith.

When Hadad died,
Samlah from Masrekah succeeded him as king.

When Samlah died,
Shaul from Rehoboth on the river succeeded him as king.

When Shaul died,
Baal-Hanan son of Acbor succeeded him as king.

When Baal-Hanan son of Acbor died,
Hadad succeeded him as king.
His city was named Pau,
and his wife's name was Mehetabel daughter of Mared,
the daughter of Me-Zahab.

These were the chief descended from Esau, by name,
according to their clans and regions:

Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,
Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel and Iram.
These were the chiefs of Edom,
according to their settlements in the land they occupied.

This was Esau the father of the Edomites.

(Genesis 36:31-43)

AC 98, 99 - "Jehovah God Planted a Garden Eastward in Eden"

AC 98

And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward in Eden,
and there He put the man whom He had formed.
(Genesis 2:8)

By a "garden" is signified intelligence;
by "Eden" love;
by the "east" the Lord;
consequently by the "garden of Eden eastward"
is signified the intelligence of the celestial man,
which flows in from the Lord through love.

AC 99

Life, or the order of life, with the spiritual man,
is such that although the Lord flows in through faith,
into the things of his understanding, reason, and memory,
yet as his external man fights against his internal man,
it appears as if intelligence did not flow in from the Lord,
but from the man himself,
through the things of memory and reason.
But the life, or order of life, of the celestial man,
is such that the Lord flows in through love and the faith of love
into the things of his understanding, reason, and memory,
and as there is no combat
between the internal and the external man,
he perceives that this is really so.
Thus the order which up to this point
had been inverted with the spiritual man,
is now described as restored with the celestial man,
and this order, or man, is called a "garden in Eden in the east."
In the supreme sense,
the "garden planted by Jehovah God in Eden in the east"
is the Lord Himself. In the inmost sense,
which is also the universal sense,
it is the Lord's kingdom,
and the heaven in which man is placed
when he has become celestial.
His state then is such that he is with the angels in heaven,
and is as it were one among them;
for man has been so created that while living in this world
he may at the same time be in heaven.
In this state all his thoughts and ideas of thoughts,
and even his words and actions, are open,
even from the Lord,
and contain within them what is celestial and spiritual;
for there is in every man the life of the Lord,
which causes him to have perception.
 

Jacob and Laban Make a Covenant

Laban answered Jacob,
"The women are my daughters,
the children are my children,
and the flocks are my flocks.
All you see is mine.
Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine,
or about the children they have borne?
Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I,
and let it serve as a witness between us."

So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
He said to his relatives,
"Gather some stones."
So they took stones and piled them in a heap,
and they ate there by the heap.
Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha,
and Jacob called it Galeed.

Laban said,
"This heap is a witness between you and me today."
That is why it was called Galeed.
It was also called Mizpah, because he said,
"May the Lord keep watch between you and me
when we are away from each other.
If you mistreat my daughters
or if you take any wives besides my daughters,
even though no one is with us,
remember that God is a witness between you and me."

Laban also said to Jacob,
"Here is this heap,
and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me.
This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness,
that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you
and that you will not go past this heap and pillar
to my side to harm me.
May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor,
the God of their father,
judge between us.

So Jacob took an oath
in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac.
He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country
and invited his relatives to a meal.
After they had eaten,
they spent the night there.

Early the next morning
Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters
and blessed them.
Then he left and returned home.

(Genesis 31:43-55)

AC 84, 85, 87-88 - The Seventh Day

AC 84

And on the seventh day
God finished His work which He had made;
and He rested on the seventh day
from all His work which He had made.
And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it;
because that in it He rested
from all His work which God in making created.
(Genesis 2:2-3)

The celestial man is the "seventh day"
which, as the Lord has worked during the six days,
is called "His work;"
and as all combat then ceases,
the Lord is said to "rest from all His work."
On this account the seventh day was sanctified,
and called the Sabbath, from a Hebrew word meaning "rest."
And thus was man created, formed, and made.
These things are very evident from the words.

AC 85

As regards the seventh day,
and as regards the celestial man
being the "seventh day" or "Sabbath"
this is evident from the fact
that the Lord Himself is the Sabbath;
and therefore He says:

The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.
(Mark 2:27)

which words imply that the Lord is Man himself,
and the Sabbath itself.
His kingdom in the heavens and on the earth is called,
from Him, a Sabbath, or eternal peace and rest.

[2] The Most Ancient Church, which is here treated of,
was the Sabbath of the Lord above all that succeeded it.
Every subsequent inmost church of the Lord
is also a Sabbath;
and so is every regenerate person
when he becomes celestial,
because he is a likeness of the Lord.
The six days of combat or labor precede.
. . . The like was also represented by the ark
when it went forward, and when it rested,
for by its journeyings in the wilderness
were represented combats and temptations,
and by its rest a state of peace;
and therefore, when it set forward, Moses said:

Rise up, Jehovah, and let Thine enemies be scattered,
and let them that hate Thee flee before Thy faces.
And when it rested, he said, Return, Jehovah,
unto the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.
(Numbers 10:35-36)

It is there said of the ark
that it went from the Mount of Jehovah
"to search out a rest for them"
(Numbers 10:33). 

AC 87-88

Another reason why the celestial man
is the "Sabbath" or "rest"
is that combat ceases when he becomes celestial.
The evil spirits retire, and good ones approach,
as well as celestial angels;
and when these are present,
evil spirits cannot possibly remain,
but flee far away.
And since it was not the man himself
who carried on the combat,
but the Lord alone for the man,
it is said that the Lord "rested."

When the spiritual man becomes celestial,
he is called the "work of God"
because the Lord alone has fought for him,
and has created, formed, and made him;
and therefore it is here said,
"God finished His work on the seventh day;"
and twice, that "He rested from all His work."

Isaac Sends Jacob to Paddan Aram

Esau held a grudge against Jacob
because of the blessing his father had given him.
He said to himself,
"The days of mourning for my father are near;
then I will kill my brother Jacob."

When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said,
she sent for you younger son Jacob and said to him,
"Your brother Esau is consoling himself
with the thought of killing you.
Now then, my son, do what I say:
Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.
Stay with him for awhile until your brother's fury subsides.
When your brother is no longer angry with you
and forgets what you did to him,
I'll send word for you to come back from there.
Why should I lose both of you in one day?"

Then Rebekah said to Isaac,
"I'm disgusted with living because of these Hittite women.
If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land,
from Hittite women like these,
my life will be be worth living."

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

(Genesis 27:41-46; 28:1-5)

AC 81 - Genesis Chapter 2

AC 81
THE INTERNAL SENSE - Genesis Chapter 2

This chapter treats of the celestial man,
as the preceding one did of the spiritual,
who was formed out of a dead man.
But as it is unknown at this day what the celestial man is,
and scarcely what the spiritual man is,
or a dead man,
it is permitted me briefly to state the nature of each,
that the difference may be known.
First, then, a dead man
acknowledges nothing to be true and good
but what belongs to the body and the world,
and this he adores.
A spiritual man
acknowledges spiritual and celestial truth and good;
but he does so from a principle of faith,
which is likewise the ground of his actions,
and not so much from love.
A celestial man believes and perceives
spiritual and celestial truth and good,
acknowledging no other faith than that which is from love,
from which also he acts. 

Secondly:
The ends which influence a dead man
regard only corporeal and worldly life,
nor does he know what eternal life is,
or what the Lord is;
or should he know, he does not believe.
The ends which influence a spiritual man
regard eternal life, and thereby the Lord.
The ends which influence a celestial man
regard the Lord, and thereby His kingdom and eternal life. 

Thirdly:
A dead man, when in combat almost always yields,
and when not in combat,
evils and falsities have dominion over him,
and he is a slave.
His bonds are external, such as the fear of the law,
of the loss of life, of wealth, of gain, and of the reputation
which he values for their sake.
The spiritual man is in combat,
but is always victorious;
the bonds by which he is restrained are internal,
and are called the bonds of conscience.
The celestial man is not in combat,
and when assaulted by evils and falsities,
he despises them,
and is therefore called a conqueror.
He is apparently restrained by no bonds, but is free.
His bonds, which are not apparent,
are perceptions of good and truth.

Abraham Sends His Chief Servant to Nahor

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

The servant asked him,
"What if the woman is unwilling
to come back with me to this land?
Shall I then take your son
back to the country you came from?"

"Make sure that you do not take my son back there,"
Abraham said.  "The Lord, the God of heaven,
who brought me out of 
my father's household and my native land
and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying,
To your offspring I will give this land" --
He will send His angel before you
so that you can get a wife for my son from there.
If the woman is unwilling to come back with you,
then you will be released from this oath of mine.
Only do not take my son back there."
So the servant put his hand
under the thigh of his master Abraham
and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and left,
taking with him all kinds of good things from his master.
He set out for Aram Naharaim
and made his way to the town of Nahor.

(Genesis 24:1-10)

AC 50 - "The Image of the Lord"

AC 50

The Most Ancient Church understood by
the "image of the Lord"
more than can be expressed.
Man is altogether ignorant
that he is governed of the Lord through angels and spirits,
and that with everyone
there are at least two spirits, and two angels.
By spirits man has communication with the world of spirits,
and by angels with heaven.
Without communication by
means of spirits with the world of spirits,
and by means of angels with heaven,
and thus through heaven with the Lord,
man could not live at all;
his life entirely depends on this conjunction,
so that if the spirits and angels were to withdraw,
he would instantly perish. 

[2] While man is unregenerate
he is governed quite otherwise than when regenerated.
While unregenerate there are evil spirits with him,
who so domineer over him
that the angels, though present,
are scarcely able to do anything more than merely guide him
so that he may not plunge into the lowest evil,
and bend him to some good --
in fact bend him to good by means of his own cupidities,
and to truth by means of the fallacies of the senses.
He then has communication with the world of spirits
through the spirits who are with him,
but not so much with heaven,
because evil spirits rule,
and the angels only avert their rule.

[3] But when the man is regenerate,
the angels rule,
and inspire him with all goods and truths,
and with fear and horror of evils and falsities.
The angels indeed lead, but only as ministers,
for it is the Lord alone
who governs man through angels and spirits.
And as this is done through the ministry of angels,
it is here first said, in the plural number,
"Let us make man in our image;"
and yet because the Lord alone governs and disposes,
it is said in the following verse, in the singular number,
"God created him in His own image." 

The Lord Judges Sodom and Gomorrah

When the men got up to leave,
they looked down toward Sodom,
and Abram 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?
Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation,
and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
For I have chosen him,
so that he will direct his children and his household after him
to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just,
so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham
what He has promised him."

Early the next morning Abraham got up
and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah,
toward all the land of the plain,
and he saw dense smoke rising from the land,
like smoke from a furnace.

So when God destroyed the cities of the plain,
He remembered Abraham,
and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe
that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

(Genesis 18:16-19;19:27-29)

AC 44 - Hearing and Doing

AC 44

Man, like the earth, can produce nothing of good
unless the knowledges of faith are first sown in him,
whereby he may know what is to be believed and done.
It is the office of the understanding to hear the Word,
and of the will to do it.
To hear the Word and not to do it,
is like saying that we believe
when we do not live according to our belief;
in which case we separate hearing and doing,
and thus have a divided mind,
and become of those whom the Lord calls "foolish"
in the following passage:

Whosoever hears My words, and does them,
I will liken unto a wise man
who built his house upon a rock:
but everyone that hears My words, and does them not,
I liken to a foolish man,
who built his house upon the sand.
(Matthew 7:24, 26)

Abram Becomes Abraham and Sarai Becomes Sarah

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

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

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

(Genesis 174:1-8,15-17)

AC 24, 33 - Real Love

AC 24 [3]

The next thing therefore
that man observes in the course of regeneration
is that he begins to know that there is an internal man,
or that the things which are in the internal man
are goods and truths, which are of the Lord alone.
Now as the external man, when being regenerated,
is of such a nature that he still supposes
the goods that he does to be done of himself,
and the truths that he speaks to be spoken of himself,
and whereas, being such,
he is led by them of the Lord,
as by things of his own proprium,
to do what is good and to speak what is true,
therefore mention is first made
of a distinction of the waters under the expanse,
and afterwards of those above the expanse.
It is also an arcanum of heaven,
that man, by things of his own proprium,
as well by the fallacies of the senses as by cupidities,
is led and bent by the Lord
to things that are true and good,
and thus that every movement and moment of regeneration,
both in general and in particular,
proceeds from evening to morning,
thus from the external man to the internal,
or from "earth" to "heaven."
Therefore the expanse, or internal man,
is now called "heaven."


AC 33

It is in everyone's power very well to know
that no life is possible without some love,
and that no joy is possible
except that which flows from love.
Such however as is the love,
such is the life, and such the joy:
if you were to remove loves . . .
you would become like a dead person . . ..
The loves of self and of the world
have in them some resemblance to life and to joy,
but as they are altogether contrary to true love,
which consists in a man's loving the Lord above all things,
and his neighbor as himself,
it must be evident that they are not loves, but hatreds,
for in proportion as anyone loves himself and the world,
in the same proportion he hates his neighbor,
and thereby the Lord.
Wherefore true love is love to the Lord,
and true life is the life of love from Him,
and true joy is the joy of that life.
There can be but one true love,
and therefore but one true life,
whence flow true joys and true felicities,
such as are those of the angels in the heavens.

His Rainbow

And God said,
"This is the sign of the covenant I am making
between Me and you and every living creature with you,
a covenant for all generations to come:
I have set My rainbow in the clouds,
and it will be the sign of the covenant
between Me and the earth.
Whenever I bring clouds over the earth
and the rainbow appears in the clouds,
I will remember My covenant between Me and you
and all living creatures of every kind.
Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds,
I will see it and remember
the everlasting covenant between God
and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

So God said to Noah,
"This is the sign of the covenant I have established
between Me and all life on the earth."

(Genesis 9:12-17)

AC 20, 21, 22 - The First Day Explained

AC 20, 21, 22

And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.
(Genesis 1:3)

The first state is when the man begins to know
that the good and the true are something higher.
Men who are altogether external
do not even know what good and truth are;
for they fancy all things to be good
that belong to the love of self and the love of the world;
and all things to be true that favor these loves;
not being aware that such goods are evils,
and such truths falsities.
But when man is conceived anew,
he then begins for the first time to know
that his goods are not goods,
and also, as he comes more into the light,
that the Lord is,
and that He is good and truth itself.

And God saw the light, that it was good,
and God distinguished between the light and the darkness.
And God called the light day, and the dark He called night.
(Genesis 1:4-5)

Light is called "good" because it is from the Lord,
who is good itself. 
The "darkness" means all those things which,
before man is conceived and born anew,
have appeared like light,
because evil has appeared like good,
and the false like the true;
yet they are darkness,
consisting merely of the things proper to man himself,
which still remain.
Whatsoever is of the Lord is compared to "day"
because it is of the light;
and whatsoever is man's own is compared to "night"
because it is of darkness.
These comparisons frequently occur in the Word.

And the evening and the morning were the first day.
(Genesis 1:5)

"Evening" means every preceding state,
because it is a state of shade, or of falsity and of no faith;
"morning" is every subsequent state,
being one of light, or of truth and of the knowledges of faith.
"Evening" in a general sense,
signifies all things that are of man's own;
but "morning" whatever is of the Lord . . ..

The First Day

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless and empty,
darkness was over the surface of the deep,
and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said,
"Let there be light,"
and there was light.
God saw that the light was good,
and He separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light "day,"
and the darkness He called "night."
And there was evening,
and there was morning -
the first day.

(Genesis 1:1-5)

De Domino 17, 49-50 - Concerning the Lord

Concerning the Lord & Concerning the Holy Spirit (De Domino) 
De Domino 17, 49-50

Through temptations man becomes spiritual
and is conjoined to heaven.
But the Lord through temptations
conjoined His Human to the Divine Itself
which was in Him,
and so He became God as to the Human.

He was united to His Divine by successive steps . . .
and He was united [to it]
through temptations and victories.
Full unition was accomplished by the passion of the cross.

So far as He was united,
so far He spoke with Himself;
but so far as He was not yet united,
so far He spoke as with another.
The latter was His state of humiliation,
but the former the state of glorification. 

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 away 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."

(Revelation 21:1-4)

ATH 213 - From Whom Is All Safety

ATH 213

When the church was being established by the Lord,
the primary thing was to acknowledge and to receive Him;
to acknowledge that it was He
of whom the Word of the Old Testament speaks;
and that He was God,
and had power over all things.
Therefore He so often said,
"Believe you that I am able?" 
also, "Because you believe";
and "Let it be done according to your faith,"
that is, according to the faith that the Lord was God
who had power over all things, or was Almighty.
This was the primary,
for without that faith there was no safety,
because all things are from Him.
Through that confession and faith from the heart
is conjunction;
without it there is not conjunction,
and thus there is no safety.
The case is similar at the present day,
when the New Church is being established;
which is called the New Jerusalem,
and when its doctrine is taught;
the primary thing is to know and believe
that the Lord is the only God,
from whom is all safety.
It is for this reason that this now is taught;
this is the occasion of the present work;
for without that faith no one comes into the New Church,
neither does anyone receive anything from its doctrine;
consequently, without this faith
no one henceforth can be saved.
For henceforth it is not allowable to believe
in three equal Gods and say one,
nor to think of the Human of the Lord
as separate from the Divine,
as is done by so many.
 

The Song of the Lamb

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 image and the number of his name.
They held harps given them by God
and sang the song of Moses the servant of God
and the song of the Lamb:

"Great and marvelous are Your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are Your ways,
King of the ages.
Who will not fear You, O Lord,
and bring glory to Your name?
For You alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship before You,
for Your righteous acts have been revealed."

(Revelation 15:1-4)

ATH 173 - The Comings of the Lord

ATH 173

The Coming of the Lord is revealed,
in the end of the church.
At the end of the Jewish church,
the Lord Himself came into the flesh,
and He then revealed Himself
as being God or Jehovah who was to come,
as told in the Prophets,
and still further,
that He it is who rules heaven with the earth,
and who is the one only God.
This, in the Gospels (Matt. 24), is also called His Coming.

Hitherto, however, He has been almost neglected,
because in thought and in idea
He has been like a common man;
in regard to whom there has been
almost no thought of anything Divine,
for the reason that men have in their idea
placed the Divine outside of Him
and not within Him,
as nevertheless He teaches that it is;
and by the Divine outside of Him,
most have understood the Father,
and thus another person;
so that the Lord has been almost neglected in the world,
at the end.
Consequently His new and second Coming is made.
  
 

Those in White Robes

After this I looked and there before me
was a great multitude that no one could count,
from every nation, tribe, people and language,
standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.
They were wearing white robes
and were holding palm branches in their hands.
And they cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb."

All the angels were standing around the throne
and around the elders and the four living creatures.
They fell down on their faces before the throne
and worshiped God, saying:

"Amen!
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks
and honor and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!"

Then one of the elders asked me,
"These in white robes - who are they,
and where did they come from?"

I answered, "Sir, you know."

And he said,
"These are they who have come out of the great tribulation;
they have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore,

"They are before the throne of God
and serve Him day and night in His temple;
and He who sits on the throne will spread His tent over them.
Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their Shepherd;
He will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

(Revelation 7:9-17)

ATH 98 - He Lived Humbly

ATH 98

The Lord lived in so humble a way
as scarcely to be distinguished from an ordinary man,
and not in splendor as God,
that the Jews might not acknowledge Him
as the Messiah from externals,
but from internals . . ..

When They Give Glory, Honor, and Thanks

Whenever the living creatures
give glory, honor and thanks to Him 
who sits on the throne
and who lives for ever and ever,
the twenty-four elders fall down before Him
who sits on the throne,
and worship Him who lives for ever and ever.
They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for You created all things,
and by Your will they were created and have their being."

(Revelation 4:9-11)

The Thought of God

ATH 58

. . . the thought of God as being one,
and that one the Lord,
is the principal and fundamental
in all things in the doctrine of the church;
without that, no one can be saved.

End of John

Jesus did many other things as well.
If every one of them were written down,
I suppose that even the whole world would not have room
for all the books that would be written.

(John 21:25)

ATH 18, 27 - The Divine Human From the Father

ATH 18, 27

Father and Son is the Lord alone.
He is so called for the reason
that He was in the world in the state of union.


. . . the Divine clothed itself with the Human,
according to Divine Order,
from firsts to lasts:
and therefore in the Divine Human was Divine order;
consequently, that thus it fills all things,
or is omnipresent everywhere.

The True Vine and the Branches

"I am the true vine,
and My Father is the gardener.
He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit,
while every branch that does bear fruit
He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
You are already clean
because of the word I have spoken to you.
Remain in Me,
and I will remain in you.
No branch can bear fruit by itself;
it must remain in the vine.
Neither can you bear fruit
unless you remain in Me.

"I am the vine;
you are the branches.
If a man remains in Me and I in him,
he will bear much fruit;
apart from Me you can do nothing.
If anyone does not remain in Me,
he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers;
such branches are picked up,
thrown into the fire and burned.
If you remain in Me
and My words remain in you,
ask whatever you wish,
and it will be given you.
This is to My Father's glory,
that you bear much fruit,
showing yourselves to be My disciples."

(John 15:1-8)

ATH 5, 6 - Thinking About the Lord

ATH 5, 6 (The Athanasian Creed, The Lord)

One who believes in three can in no wise be saved,
but they are saved who believe in one God.

If one thinks of the Divine of the Lord in His Human,
and not of another Divine which they call the Father,
the idea of the thought,
and thence the faith,
does not fall to the left of the Lord,
and thus outside of the Lord,
but in the Lord;
and with the idea is the perception
that no one comes to the Father except through Him,
thus through His Divine Human.
Examine yourselves, you who think of three Persons;
do they not think of another Divine
than that of the Lord Himself,
and thus outside of that when the Father is named? 

Serve and Follow the Light

"Whoever serves Me 
must follow Me;
and where I am,
My  servant also will be.
My Father will honor the one who serves Me."

Then Jesus told them,
"You are going to have the Light just a little while longer.
Walk while you have the Light,
before darkness overtakes you.
The man who walks in the dark
does not know where he is going.
Put your trust in the Light while you have it,
so that you may become sons of light."
When He had finished speaking,
Jesus left and hid himself from them.

(John 12:26, 35-36)

DW 12 [1(1), 4(3)] - Life and Freedom; Anthanasian Creed 99 - The Carpenter's Son

DW 12 [1(1), 4(3)]

What is spiritual can derive its essence from no other source
than the Divine love and the Divine wisdom,
for to love and to be wise is spiritual;
and what is natural can derive its essence
from no other source than pure fire and pure light.

That all things have been created for obedient service to life,
which is the Lord,
follows in its order from this,
that men, and angels who are from them,
have been created to receive life from the Lord,
and are nothing but receptacles,
although in the freedom
in which they are kept by the Lord.
They do not appear to be receptacles;
nevertheless they are so,
both the good and the evil;
for the freedom in which they are kept
is likewise from the Lord.
The life of men and angels is to understand,
and from that to think and speak,
and it is to will and from that to do;
and consequently these belong to life from the Lord,
since they are the effects of life.
All things that have been created in the world
have been created for the use,
for the benefit, and for the delight of men,
some more nearly, some more remotely.
Since, then, these things have been created for man's sake,
it follows that they are for the Lord's service,
who is the life with men.
It may seem as if these things were serviceable for the good,
because they live from the Lord,
and not for the evil;
nevertheless, created things
furnish uses, benefit, and delight,
both to the evil and the good,
for the Lord says that:
 
He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
(Matthew 5:45)
__________________

The Athanasian Creed 99

That He was a carpenter's son,
was because "a worker in wood"
signifies the good of life
from the doctrine of truth.

Jesus Asks "Why Don't You Believe Me?"

Jesus said to them,
"If God were your Father,
you would love Me,
for I came from God and now am here.
I have not come on My own;
but He sent me.
Why is My language not clear to you?
Because you are unable to hear what I say.

. . . Yet because I tell the truth,
you do not believe Me!
Can any of you prove Me guilty of sin?
If I am telling the truth,
why don't you believe Me?
He who belongs to God hears what God says.
The reason you do not hear
is that you do not belong to God."

(John 8:42-43, 45-47)

DW 11 - "How Can I Will and Do?"

DW 11 [3(3)]

If it be asked, "How can I will and do?"
the answer is,
Fight against evils, which are from hell,
and you will both will and do,
not from yourself
but from the Lord,
for when evils are put away
the Lord does all things.

 

The Bread from Heaven

Jesus said to them,
"I tell you the truth,
it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven,
but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God
is He who comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.

(John 6:32-33)

DW 11 - Conjunction With the Lord

DW 11 [1, 2(3)]

. . . to love the Lord
is to love that which is from Him,
which in itself is Divine,
in which the Lord is;
and that this is doing good to the neighbor;
and that this and in no other way
can one be loved by the Lord
and be conjoined to Him through love.

. . . conjunction of the Lord with man is in use;
and the conjunction is such 
and is as great as 
is the love of use,
for the Lord is in use
as He is in the good that is from Him,
and the man who is in the love of use
is in use as if from himself,
and yet he acknowledges
that is not from him,
but is from the Lord.

Jesus and Nicodemus

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus,
a member of the Jewish ruling council.
He came to Jesus at night and said,
"Rabbi, we know You are a teacher who has come from God. 
For no one could perform the miraculous signs You are doing
if God were not with him."

In reply Jesus declared,
"I tell you the truth,
no one can see the kingdom of God
unless he is born again."

"How can a man be born when he is old?"
Nicodemus asked. 
"Surely he cannot enter a second time
into his mother's womb to be born!"

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth,
no one can enter the kingdom of God
unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
Flesh give birth to flesh,
but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
 
. . . Light has come into the world,
but men loved darkness instead of Light
because their deeds were evil.
Everyone who does evil hates the Light,
and will not come into the Light
for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
But whoever lives by the truth
comes into the Light,
so that it may be seen plainly
that what he has done
has been done through God."

(John 3:1-6,19-21)
 

DW 9 - The Divine Love, the Divine Wisdom, Use

DW 9

. . . the Divine love is called the Divine good
from its effect, which is use;
also that the Divine wisdom is called the Divine truth
from its effect, which is use.
For effect is doing and also teaching,
the former having relation to love and the latter to wisdom;
also every effect is a use,
and use is what is called good and truth;
good being the essence of use,
and truth its form.

. . . love is what does and wisdom is what teaches,
and that which love does is good
and that which wisdom teaches is truth . . ..

The Divine wisdom is what is called the Divine providence,
and what is called also Divine order,
and Divine truths are called the laws of the Divine providence,
. . . they are also called the laws of Divine order.
These laws on the one side have regard to the Lord,
and on the other to man,
and on both sides to conjunction.
The Divine love has for its object
to lead and to bring man to itself;
and the Divine wisdom has for its object
to teach man the way in which he must go
that he may come into conjunction with the Lord.
This way the Lord teaches in the Word,
and particularly in the Decalogue;
and on this account the two tables of the Decalogue
were written by the finger of the Lord Himself,
one of which has regard to the Lord and the other to man,
and both to conjunction.

As man is a recipient
both of the Divine love and of the Divine wisdom,
a will has been given him,
and an understanding has been given him,
a will in which he may receive the Divine love,
and an understanding
in which he may receive the Divine wisdom,
the Divine love in the will through life,
and the Divine wisdom in the understanding through doctrine.
 

Nathanael

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching,
He said of him,
"Here is a true Israelite,
in whom there is nothing false."

"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered,
"I saw you while you were still under the fig tree
before Philip called you."

Then Nathanael declared,
"Rabbi, You are the Son of God;
You are the King of Israel."

Jesus said, "You believe
because I told you I saw you under the fig tree.
You shall see greater things than that."
He then added,
"I tell you the truth,
you shall see heaven open,
and the angels of God ascending and descending
on the Son of Man."

(John 1:47-51)

DW 8 - "The First and the Last"

DW 8 [3]

. . . all Divine influx is from first things into ultimates,
and through a connection with ultimates into intermediates,
and thus the Lord binds together all things of creation,
and for this reason He is called "the First and the Last."

For the same reason He came into the world
and put on a human body and therein glorified Himself,
that from firsts and also from ultimates
He might govern the universe,
both heaven and the world.
The same is true of every Divine operation.
This is so because in ultimates all things co-exist,
for all things that are in successive order
are in ultimates in simultaneous order;
consequently all things that are in simultaneous order
are in a continuous connection
with all things in successive order.
This makes clear
that the Divine in the ultimate is in its fullness.

. . . all creation has been effected in ultimates,
and that every Divine operation passes through to ultimates
and there creates and operates.
That the angelic mind is formed in man
is evident from man's formation in the womb,
also from his formation after birth,
also from the law of Divine order
that all things should return from ultimates
to the first from which they are,
and man to the Creator from whom he is.

The Widow's Offering

As He looked up,
Jesus saw the rich
putting their gifts into the temple treasury.
He also saw a poor widow
put in two very small copper coins.

"I tell you the truth," He said,
"this poor widow has put in more than all the others.
All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth;
but she out of her poverty
put in all she had to live on."

(Luke 21: 1-3)

DW 5 - The Receptacle of Love and the Receptacle of Wisdom

DW 5

WITH MAN AFTER BIRTH
THE WILL BECOMES THE RECEPTACLE OF LOVE
AND THE UNDERSTANDING
THE RECEPTACLE OF WISDOM.

It is known that there are two faculties of life in man,
the will and the understanding,
for man can will and he can understand;
he can even understand what he does not will;
from which it is clear
that the will and the understanding
are two distinct things in man,
and that the will is the receptacle of love
and the understanding the receptacle of wisdom.
This also makes clear that love is of the will,
for what a man loves that he also wills,
and that wisdom is of the understanding,
for that in which in a man is wise,
or which he knows,
he sees with the understanding;
the sight of the understanding is thought.
So long as man remains in the womb
he does not have these two faculties;
as . . . nothing whatever of will or of understanding
belongs to the fetus in its formation.

From this it follows
that the Lord has prepared two receptacles,
one for the will of the future man,
and the other for his understanding,
the receptacle called the will for the reception of love,
and the receptacle called the understanding
for the reception of wisdom;
also that He has prepared these
by means of His love and His wisdom;
but these two do not pass into the man
until he has been fully formed for birth.
Moreover, the Lord has provided means
for the more and more full reception in these
of love and wisdom from Himself
as man matures and grows old.

The will and understanding are called receptacles
because the will is not an abstract spiritual thing,
but is a subject substantialized and formed
for the reception of love from the Lord;
and the understanding is not an abstract spiritual thing,
but is a subject substantialized and formed
for the reception of wisdom from the Lord;
for these actually exist;
and although hidden from the sight
they are interiorly in the substances
that constitute the cortex of the brain,
and also here and there i
n the medullary substance of the brain,
especially in the striated bodies,
also interiorly in the medullary substance of the cerebellum,
and in the spinal marrow,
of which they constitute the nucleus.
Thus there are not merely two but innumerable receptacles,
each one doubled and of three degrees,
as has been said above.

That these are receptacles
and that they are there
is clearly evident from this,
that they are the beginnings and heads of all the fibers
out of which the whole body is woven,
and that all the organs of sense and motion
are formed out of fibers that extend from these,
for these are their beginnings and ends.
The sensory organs feel and the motor organs
are moved solely by reason
of their being extensions and continuations
of these dwelling-places of the will and the understanding.
With infants these receptacles are small and tender;
afterwards they receive increase and are perfected
according to knowledges and affections for knowledges;
they are perfected
according to intelligence and the love of uses;
they are made soft according to innocence
and love to the Lord;
and they grow solid and hard from the opposites of these.
Their changes of state are affections;
their variations of form are thoughts;
memory is the existence and permanence of both of these;
and recollection is their reproduction.
The two taken together are the human mind.

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

To some who were confident of their own righteousness
and looked down on everybody else,
Jesus told this parable:

"Two men went up to the temple to pray,
one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself:
'God, I thank you that I am not like other men --
robbers, evildoers, adulterers --
or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

"But the tax collector stood at a distance.
He would not even look up to heaven,
but beat his breast and said,
'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

"I tell you that this man,
rather than the other,
went home justified before God.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

(Luke 18:9-14)

DW 3 - When You Read This

DW 3

I foresee that when you read this,
some doubts may occur to your mind;
but read to the end,
and afterwards recollect,
and the doubts will disappear.

A Crippled Woman Healed on the Sabbath

On a Sabbath 
Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,
and a woman was there
who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years.
She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.
When Jesus saw her,
He called her forward and said to her,
"Woman you are set free from your infirmity."
Then He put His hands on her,
and immediately she straighten up and praised God.

Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath,
the synagogue ruler said to the people,
"There are six days for work.
So come and be healed on those days,
and not on the Sabbath."

The Lord answered him,
"You hypocrites!
Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath
untie his ox or donkey from the stall
and lead it out to give it water?
Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham,
whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years,
be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?"

When He said this,
all His opponents were humiliated
but the people were delighted
with all the wonderful things He was doing.

(Luke 13:10-17)

DW 1 - "I Am the Light of the World"

Divine Wisdom (DW) 1

IN THE HEAVENS
THE DIVINE WISDOM APPEARS
BEFORE THE EYES OF THE ANGELS AS LIGHT.

In the Lord there is love and there is wisdom.
Love in Him is being (esse),
and wisdom in Him is existence (existere);
nevertheless, these are not two in Him but one;
for wisdom is of love and love is of wisdom;
and from this union,
which is reciprocal,
they become one,
and that one is the Divine love,
which appears in the heavens before the angels as a Sun.
The reciprocal union
of the Divine wisdom and the Divine love 
is meant by these words of the Lord:
 
Philip, do you not believe
that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?
Believe Me, that I am in the Father
and the Father in Me.
(John 14:10, 11)

and by these words:

I and the Father are one.
(John 10:30)

These two, which are one in the Lord,
do, indeed, proceed from Him as a Sun
as two distinct things,
wisdom as light and love as heat;
but they proceed as distinct in appearance,
for in themselves they are not distinct,
for the light is of the heat and the heat is of the light,
and in every least point they are a one,
as is true of our sun;
for whatever proceeds from the sun
is the sun in the least parts,
and thus universally in all.
It is said, every point and least part,
but this does not mean a point or least part of space,
for that does not pertain to the Divine,
for the Divine is spiritual and not natural.

Since wisdom and love proceed from the Lord as a sun
in appearance as two distinct things,
wisdom under the form of light,
and love under the perception of heat,
therefore they are received by the angels as two distinct things,
some receiving more of the heat which is love,
and some more of the light which is wisdom . . ..

The Divine wisdom that appears in the heavens as light
is not light in its essence,
but it clothes itself with light
that it may appear before the sight of the angels.
In its essence wisdom is the Divine truth,
and the light is its appearance and correspondence.
It is the same with the light of wisdom as with the heat of love,
that has been spoken of above.
As light corresponds to wisdom,
and the Lord is the Divine wisdom,
so in the Word, in many passages,
the Lord is called "the light," as in the following:

He was the true light,
that lights every man coming into the world.
(John 1:9)

Jesus said, I am the light of the world,
he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life.
(John 8:12)

Jesus said, Yet a little while is the Light with you;
walk while you have the Light,
lest the darkness seize you.
While you have the Light
believe on the Light,
that you may be the sons of the Light.
I have come a Light into the world,
that whosoever believes on Me
may not abide in darkness.
(John 12:35, 36, 46)

(And in many other passages.)

His Divine wisdom was also represented
by His garments when He was transfigured, that:
 
They appeared as light, glistening and white as snow,
so as no fuller on earth can whiten them.
(Mark 9:3; Matthew 17:2)

"Garments" signify in the Word the truths of wisdom;
and in consequence all angels in the heavens
appear clothed in accordance
with the truths of their knowledge, intelligence and wisdom.

Martha and Mary

As Jesus and His disciples were on their way,
He came to a village
where a woman named Martha
opened her home to Him.
She had a sister called Mary,
who sat at the Lord's feet
listening to what He said.
But Martha was distracted
by all the preparations that had to be made.
She came to Him and asked,
"Lord, don't You care
that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?
Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered,
"you are worried and upset about many things,
but only one thing is needed.
Mary has chosen what is better,
and it will not be taken away from her."

(Luke 10:38-42)

DL 19 - In the Word to Love Means to Perform Uses

DL 19

In the Word to love means to perform uses,
because love is will,
and to will is to do.

. . . to love is to do because it is to will;
for whatever a man loves that he wills;
and what he wills that he does if it is possible;
and if he does not do it because it is not possible,
it still comes into interior act,
which is not made manifest.
For no endeavor or volition can exist in man
unless it comes into ultimates;
and when it is in ultimates it is in interior act,
although this act is not perceived by anyone,
not even by the man himself,
because it exists in his spirit.
From this it is that volition and act are a one,
and that the volition is counted as the act.
This does not apply to the natural world,
because in that world
the interior act of the will does not appear,
but it applies to the spiritual world,
for there it is seen.
For all in the spiritual world act according to their loves;
those who are in heavenly love act sanely;
those who are in infernal love act insanely;
and if because of any fear they do not act,
their will is interiorly active,
but is restrained by them from breaking forth;
nor does this action cease until the volition ceases.

Since, then, the will and the act are a one,
and will is the endeavor of love,
it follows that in the Word "to love"
has no other meaning than to do;
thus that "to love the Lord and to love the neighbor"
means to perform uses to the neighbor from love
which is from the Lord.
That this is so the Lord Himself teaches in John:

He that has My commandments and does them,
he it is that loves Me;
but he that loves Me not
keeps not My words.
(John 14:21, 24)

In the same:

Abide in My love.
If you have kept My commandments
you shall abide in My love.
(John 15:9, 10)
 

Light and Practice

"No one lights a lamp
and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed.
Instead, he puts it on a stand,
so that those who come in can see the light.
For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed,
and nothing concealed that will not be known
or brought out into the open.
Therefore consider carefully how you listen.
Whoever has will be given more;
whoever does not have,
even what he thinks he has
will be taken away."


Now Jesus' mother and brother came to see Him,
but they were not able to get near Him
because of the crowd.
Someone told Him,
"Your mother and brothers
are standing outside,
wanting to see You."

He replied,
"My mother and brothers are those
who hear God's word and put it into practice."

(Luke 8:16-21)

DL 13, 17 - Loving the Lord & the Neighbor and Uses

DL 13 [1, 3]

To love the Lord
means to do uses from Him and for His sake.
To love the neighbor
means to do uses to the church, to one's country,
to human society, and to the fellow-citizen.
To be in the Lord
means to be a use.
And to be a man
means to perform uses to the neighbor
from the Lord for the Lord's sake.
To love the Lord
means to do uses from Him and for His sake,
for the reason that all the good uses
that man does are from the Lord;
good uses are goods,
and it is well known that these are from the Lord.
Loving these is doing them,
for what a man loves he does.
No one can love the Lord in any other way;
for uses, which are goods,
are from the Lord,
and consequently are Divine;
yea they are the Lord Himself with man.

That every least thing in man
from its use
is a man,
does not fall into the natural idea
as it does into the spiritual;
in the spiritual idea
man is not a person, but a use;
for the spiritual idea is apart from an idea of person,
as it is apart from an idea of matter, space, and time;
therefore when one sees another in heaven,
he sees him indeed as a man,
but he thinks of him as a use.

DL 17 [5]

But the spiritual affection of use
is both internal and external,
and it is external or natural
to the same extent that it is spiritual;
for what is spiritual flows into what is natural,
and arranges it in correspondence,
thus into an image of itself.
But as there is in the world at the present day
no knowledge of what the spiritual affection of use is,
and what distinguishes it from the natural affection,
since in outward appearance they are alike,
it shall be told how spiritual affection is acquired.
It is not acquired by faith alone,
which is faith separated from charity,
for such faith is merely a thought-faith,
with nothing actual in it;
and as it is separated from charity
it is also separated from affection,
which is the man himself;
and for this reason it is dissipated after death
like something aerial.
But spiritual affection is acquired
by shunning evils because they are sins;
which is done by means of combat against them.
The evils that man must shun
are all set forth written in the Decalogue.
So far as man fights against them because they are sins
he becomes a spiritual affection,
and thus he performs uses from spiritual life.
By means of combat against evils
those things that possess one's interiors are dispersed;
and these, as has been said above,
with some appear fiery, with some dusky, and with some livid.
In this way one's spiritual mind is opened,
through which the Lord enters into his natural mind
and arranges it for performing spiritual uses
which appear like natural uses.
To these and to no others
is it granted by the Lord
to love Him above all things 
and the neighbor as oneself.
If a man by means of combat against evils as sins
has acquired anything spiritual in the world,
be it ever so small,
he is saved,
and afterwards his uses grow
like a grain of mustard seed into a tree
(according to the Lord's words,
Matt. 13:31, 32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18, 19).

The Lord Asks, Who Will Love Him More?

Now one of the Pharisees
invited Jesus to have dinner with him,
so He went to the Pharisee's house
and reclined at the table.
When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town
learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house,
she brought an alabaster jar of perfume,
and as she stood behind Him at His feet weeping,
she began to wet His feet with her tears.
Then she wiped them with her hair,
kissed them and poured perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this,
he said to himself,
"If this man were a prophet,
He would know who is touching Him
and what kind of woman she is --
that she is a sinner."

Jesus answered him,
"Simon, I have something to tell you."

"Tell me, Teacher," he said.

"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender.
One owed him five hundred denarii,
and the other fifty.
Neither of them had the money to pay him back,
so he canceled the debts of both.
Now which of them will love him more?"

Simon replied,
"I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."

"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon,
"Do you see this woman?
I came into your house.
You did not give Me any water for My feet,
but she wet My feet with her tears
and wiped them with her hair.
You did not give me a kiss,
but this woman, for the time I entered,
has not stopped kissing My feet.
You did not put oil on My head,
but she has poured perfume on My feet.
Therefore, I tell you,
her many sins have been forgiven --
for she loved much.
But he who has been forgiven little loves little."

The Jesus said to her,
"Your sins are forgiven."

The other guests began to say among themselves,
"Who is this who even forgives sins?"

Jesus said to the woman,
Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

(Luke 7:36-50)
 

DL 6 - In the Lord's View

DL 6

In the Lord's view,
the whole human race is as one man;
all in a kingdom are also as one man;
likewise, all in a province, all in a city, and all in a house.
It is not the men themselves that are thus seen together,
but the uses with them.
They that are good uses,
that is, that perform uses from the Lord,
when viewed together,
are seen as a man perfect in form and beautiful;
these are such as perform uses for the sake of the uses;
that is, that love uses because they are uses
of the house, of the city, province,
kingdom, or of the whole world.
But they that perform uses,
not for the sake of uses,
but for the sake of themselves alone, or the world alone,
likewise appear before the Lord as one man,
but as an imperfect and deformed man. 

 

The Birth of the Lord and The Angels Appear to the Shepherds

And it came to pass in those days,
that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be taxed.
(And this taxing was first made
when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee,
out of the city of Nazareth,
into Judaea, unto the city of David,
which is called Bethlehem;
(because he was of the house and lineage of David.)

To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife,
being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there,
the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son,
and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes,
and laid Him in a manger;
because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them,
and the glory of the Lord shone round about them:
and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them,
"Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you;
Ye shall find the Babe
wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace,
good will toward men."

And it came to pass,
as the angels were gone away from them into heaven,
the shepherds said one to another,
Let us now go even unto Bethlehem,
and see this thing which is come to pass,
which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found
Mary, and Joseph,
and the Babe lying in a manger.

And when they had seen it,
they made known abroad the saying
which was told them concerning this child.
And all they that heard it wondered at those things
which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things,
and pondered them in her heart.
And the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for all the things
that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

(Luke 2:1-20)

DL 1 - What Is Love?

Divine Love (DL)  1

IN THE WORLD
IT IS LITTLE C0MPREHENDED WHAT LOVE IS;
AND YET IT IS MAN'S VERY LIFE.

. . . what a man thinks,
that he has knowledge of.

. . . although the understanding,
by means of the thought,
presents itself to be seen,
love does not.
And yet love is the very soul or life of thought,
and if love be taken away
thought grows cold and dies,
like a flower deprived of heat;
for love enkindles, vivifies, and animates thought.

. . . love is the life of the understanding
and of thought therefrom;
and what is the life of the understanding
and of thought therefrom
is also the life of the whole man . . ..

Mary's Song

And Mary said,

My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden:
for, behold, from henceforth
all generations shall call me blessed.
For He that is mighty hath done to me great things;
and holy is His name.

And His mercy is on them that fear Him
from generation to generation.
He hath showed strength with His arm;
He hath scattered the proud
in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seats,
and exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He hath sent empty away.

He hath helped His servant Israel,
in remembrance of His mercy;
as He spake to our fathers,
to Abraham, and to His seed for ever.

(Luke 1:46-55)

AE 1231 - "Adore God"

AE 1231

Adore God
(Revelation 19:10)

signifies that the Lord
is to be acknowledged and worshiped from the heart.
This is evident from the signification of "God,"
as being the Lord,
since no other is the God of heaven and earth;
also from the signification of "to adore"
as being to acknowledge, confess, and worship
from the heart.