~ Sin and Resulting Punishment ~

 "Say to them, 'This is what the Lord says:

"'When men fall down, do they not getup?
Why then have these people turned away?
Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
They cling to deceit;
they refuse to return.
I have listened attentively,
but they do not say what is right.
No one repents of his wickedness,
saying, "What have I done?"
Each pursues his own course
like a horse charging into battle.
Even the stork in the sky 

knows her appointed season,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
observe the time of their migration.
But My people do not know
the requirements of the Lord.

"'How can you say, "We are wise,
for we have the law of the Lord,"
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
has handled it falsely?
The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and trapped.
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what kind of wisdom do they have?
Therefore I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.
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 they are punished, says the Lord."

(Jeremiah 8:4-12)

AE 998 - A Person Is Like a Garden

 AE 998 [1, 4]

A person is like a garden,
which receives light in winter equally as in summer,
but not heat;
and yet when it does receive heat
it blossoms and bears fruit.
So the evil person equally with the good person
is able to receive light,
that is, to understand Divine truth,
but he cannot blossom and become fruitful,
that is, to be wise and do works that are good,
except as he receives heat,
that is, the good of love.

A person has such and so much of
intelligence and wisdom as he has of conjugial love.
The reason is that conjugial love descends
from the love of good and truth
as an effect does from its cause,
or as the natural from its spiritual;
and from the marriage of good and truth
the angels of the three heavens
have all their intelligence and wisdom;
for intelligence and wisdom are nothing else
than the reception of light and heat
from the Lord as a sun,
that is, the reception of
Divine truth conjoined to Divine good,
and of Divine good conjoined to Divine truth;
thus it is the marriage of good and truth
from the Lord. 

~ Stand and Look ~

This is what the Lord says:

"Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is,
and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls."

(Jeremiah 6:16)

AE 995 - The Rational; AE 997 - The Essence of Conjugial Love

AE 995

All the intelligence of the natural person
is from his rational,
for the rational is the medium
between the spiritual and the natural;
and because it is the medium,
it first receives influx from the spiritual world
and transfers it into the natural.
From this it follows that before the spiritual mind,
which is called the spiritual person,
can be opened,
and through it influx into the natural mind be given,
the rational must be cultivated,
which is done by means of knowledges,
which are natural and moral truths,
and by means of
cognitions* of truth and good from the Word.
Through these the rational mind is opened from below.
But as soon as the spiritual mind has been opened,
and there is influx from that,
the rational mind is opened from above;
and thus the rational,
as an intermediate, furnishes a passage;
and then through it the natural mind,
. . . is subordinated to the spiritual mind,
and thus to heaven and the Lord.

AE 997 [4]

Since conjugial love in its first essence
is love to the Lord from the Lord,
and thus is innocence,
conjugial love is also peace,
such as the angels in the heavens have.
For as innocence is the very being of all good,
so peace is the very being of all delight from good,
consequently is the very being of all joy
between the marriage pair.
As then, all joy is of love,
and conjugial love is the fundamental love
of all the loves of heaven,
so peace itself has its seat chiefly in conjugial love.
Peace is happiness of heart and soul
arising from the conjunction
of the Lord with heaven and the church,
as well as from the conjunction of good and truth,
when all conflict and combat
of evil and falsity with good and truth has ceased . . ..
And as conjugial love descends from such conjunction
so all the delight of that love
descends and derives its essence from heavenly peace.
Moreover, this peace shines forth in the heavens
as heavenly happiness
from the faces of a marriage pair who are in that love,
and who mutually regard each other from that love.
But such heavenly happiness,
which inmostly affects the delights of loves,
and is called peace,
can be granted only to those
who can be joined together inmostly,
that is, as to their very hearts.
__________

* cognitions = concepts, knowledges of ideas
 (rather than just of facts)
-- NCL 1985, p. 308;
Words, Words, Words by Rev. Frank Rose.

 

~ The Lord Is Forsaken By Israel ~

 This is what the Lord says:

"What fault did your fathers find in Me,
that they strayed so far from Me?
They followed worthless idols
and became worthless themselves.
They did not ask, 'Where is the Lord,
who brought us up out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness,
through a land of deserts and rifts,
a land where no one travels and no one lives?
I brought you into a fertile land
to eat its fruit and rich produce.
But you came and defiled My land
and made My inheritance detestable.
The priests did not ask,
'Where is the Lord?'
Those who deal with the law did not know Me;
the leaders rebelled against Me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
following worthless idols."

(Jeremiah 2:5-8)

AE 991 - The Horror of Hatred; AE 993 - The Delights of Conjugial Love and Heaven's Joys

AE 991 [6]

What the delight of hatred and thus of doing evil
is with those who are in hell
can neither be described nor believed.
To do evil is the joy of their heart,
and this they call their heaven.
Their delight in doing evil
derives its all from hatred and vindictiveness
against good and truth; when,
therefore, they are moved by
a deadly and diabolical hatred
they rage against heaven,
especially against those who are from heaven
and who worship the Lord;
for they violently burn to slaughter them,
and because they cannot destroy their bodies
they will to destroy their souls.

AE 993 [2]

That true conjugial love contains in itself
so many ineffable delights
that can neither be numbered nor described
can be seen from the fact
that this love is the fundamental love
of all celestial and spiritual loves,
since through that love a man becomes love;
for from it each of the marriage pair loves the other
as good loves truth and truth loves good,
thus representatively
as the Lord loves heaven and the church.
Such love can exist only through a marriage in which
the man is truth and the wife is good.
When a man through marriage has become such love
he is also in love to the Lord
and in love towards the neighbor,
and thus in the love of all good
and in the love of all truth.
For from man as love
there must proceed loves of every kind;
therefore conjugial love is the fundamental love
of all the loves of heaven.
And as it is the fundamental love
 of all the loves of heaven
it is also the fundamental
of all the delights and joys of heaven,
since every delight and joy is of love.
From this it follows that heavenly joys,
in their order and in their degrees,
have their origins and their causes from conjugial love.

~ The Lord to Jeremiah ~

"Get yourself ready!
Stand up and say to them whatever I command you.
Do not be terrified by them,
or I will terrify you before them.
Today I have made you a fortified city,
an iron pillar and a bronze wall
to stand against the whole land --
against the kings of Judah,
its officials, its priests and the people of the land.
They will fight against you but will not over come you,
for I am with you and will rescue you,"
declares the Lord.

(Jeremiah 1:17-19)

AE 984 - Two Eyes, One Sight

 AE 984 [2]

People were so created as to be spiritual and celestial love,
and thus an image and likeness of God.
Spiritual love, which is the love of truth,
is the image of God;
and celestial love, which is the love of good,
is the likeness of God.
All the angels in the third heaven are likenesses of God;
and all the angels in the second heaven are images of God.
A person can become the love
which is an image or likeness of God
only by a marriage of good and truth;
for good and truth inmostly love one another,
and ardently long to be united that they may be one;
and for the reason that the Divine good and the Divine truth
proceed from the Lord united,
therefore they must be united in an angel of heaven
and in a person of the church.
This union is by no means possible
except by the marriage of two minds into one,
since, as has been said before,
man was created to be the understanding of truth,
and thus truth,
and woman was created to be the affection of good,
and thus good;
therefore in them
the conjunction of good and truth is possible.
For conjugial love which descends from that conjunction
is the veriest means by which a person becomes
the love that is the image or the likeness of God.
For the two partners
who are in conjugial love from the Lord
love one another mutually and reciprocally from the heart,
thus from inmosts;
and therefore although apparently two
they are actually one,
two as to their bodies, but one as to life.
This may be compared to the eyes,
which are two as organs but one as to the sight;
also to the ears,
which are two as organs but one as to hearing;
so, too, the arms and the feet
are two as members but one as to use,
the arms one as to action,
and the feet one as to walking.
So with the other pairs with a person.
All these have reference to good and truth,
the organ or member on the right to good,
and that on the left to truth.
It is the same with a husband and wife
between whom there is love truly conjugial;
they are two as to their bodies but one as to life;
consequently in heaven
two partners are not called two angels but one.
All this makes clear that through marriage
a person becomes a form of love,
and thus a form of heaven,
which is the image and likeness of God.

~ Behold! ~

"Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.
I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in My people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard it it no more.

"Never again will there be in it an infant
who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years;
he who dies at a hundred
will be thought a mere youth;
he who fails to reach a hundred
will be considered accursed.
They will build houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
so will be the days of My people;
My chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.
They will not toil in vain
or bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
they and their descendants with them.
Before they call
I will answer;
while they are still speaking
I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
but dust will be the serpent's food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all My holy mountain,"
says the Lord.

(Isaiah 65:17-25)

AE 979 - True and Just; Good Works

AE 979 [1, 2]

Yea, O Lord God Almighty,
true and just are Thy judgments,
(Revelation 16:7)

means that these things are done
because all things have their essence, life and power
from the Divine good and the Divine truth.
This is evident from the meaning of "Lord God,"
as being the Lord
as to the Divine good and the Divine truth;
for the Lord is called "Lord" from the Divine good,
and "God" from the Divine truth.
Also from the signification of "Almighty,"
as being to be, to live, and to have power from Himself;
so also that He is being, life, and power to all things;
for the Lord is all this from Himself,
but a person is all this from the Lord.
Also from the meaning of "Thy judgments,"
as being those things that are being done . . ..

. . . good works . . . are all works done by a person
when evils have been removed as sins.
. . . Only cease from evils as sins
and look to the Lord,
and the Lord will teach and lead you.

~ Delight and Rejoice ~

I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For He has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make
righteousness and praise spring up
before all nations.

(Isaiah 61:10-11)

AE 972, 973 - The Lord Is Just and Holy

AE 972

Just art thou, O Lord who are and who was,
(Revelation 16:5)

means
the Lord as to the Divine Good from eternity.

AE 973

And art holy,
(Revelation 16:5)

means
and in relation to the Divine truth.
This is evident from the meaning of "holy,"
as being the divine truth proceeding from the Lord;
for this in the Word is meant by "holy,"
also by "the Holy Spirit,"
which is therefore called "the Spirit of Truth."

~ The Lord Will Be Your Everlasting Light ~

"Although you have been forsaken and hated,
with no one traveling through,
I will make you the everlasting pride
and the joy of all generations.
You will drink the milk of nations
and be nursed at royal breast.
Then you will know that I, the Lord,
am your Savior,
Your Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Jacob.
Instead of bronze I will bring you gold,
and silver in place of iron.
Instead of wood I will bring you bronze,
and iron in place of stones.
I will make peace your governor
and righteousness your ruler.
No longer will violence be heard in your land,
nor ruin or destruction within your borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.
The sun will no more be your light by day,
nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
for the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
The sun will never set again,
and your moon will wane no more;
the Lord will be your everlasting light
and your days of sorrow will end.
Then will all your people be righteous
and they will possess the land forever.
They are the shoot I have planted,
the work of My hands,
for the display of My splendor.
The least of you will become a thousand,
the smallest a mighty nation.
I am the Lord;
in its time I will do this swiftly."

(Isaiah 60:15-22)

AE 969 - To Be Born Again

AE 969 [2

To be born again is to be regenerated;
and a person is regenerated by the Lord
by means of truths from the Word
and a life according to them.

. . . before the Lord can flow in
with heaven out of heaven
and form a person to the image of heaven,
those evils that lie heaped up in the natural mind
must needs be removed.
Moreover, as the removal of evils must come first
before a person can be taught and led by the Lord,
the reason is evident
why in eight commandments of the Decalogue
the evil works that must not be done are recounted,
but not the goods that must be done.
Good does not exist together with evil,
nor does it exist before evils have been removed;
for until then
there is no way possible from heaven into a person.

~ Walk Uprightly ~

The righteous perish,
and no one ponders it in his heart;
devout men are taken away
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil
Those who walk uprightly enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death.

(Isaiah 57:1-2)

AE 965 - The Sabbath; AE 966 - Honoring

 AE 965 [2, 4]

Keep the sabbath holy.

The third and fourth commandments of the Decalogue
contain things that must be done,
namely, that the sabbath must be kept holy,
and that parents must be honored.
The other commandments
contain things that are not to be done,
namely, that other gods must not be worshiped;
that the name of God must not be profaned;
that one must not steal,
must not commit adultery,
must not bear false witness,
must not covet the goods of others.
These two commandments
are commandments to be done,
because the sanctification of the rest of the commandments
depends upon these,
for the "sabbath" means the union in the Lord
of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human,
also His conjunction with heaven and the church,
and thus the marriage of good and truth
with the person who is being regenerated.
This being the signification of the sabbath,
it was the chief representative
of all things of worship in the Israelitish Church . . ..

The person who is being regenerated is in two states,
the first
when he is in truths and by means of truths
is being led to good and into good,
the other when he is in good.
When person is in the first state
he is in combats or temptations;
but when he is in the second state
he is in the tranquility of peace.
The former state is meant by
the six days of labor that precede the sabbath;
and the latter state is meant by
the rest on the sabbath day.
The Lord also was in two states;
the first when He was Divine truth
and from it fought against the hells and subjugated them,
the other when He was made Divine good
by union with the very Divine in Himself.
The former state was meant in the highest sense
by the six days of labor, and the latter by the sabbath

AE 966 [2]

Parents must be honored.

The fourth commandment of the Decalogue
is that parents must be honored.
This commandment was given
because honor to parents represented and thus meant
love to the Lord and love towards the church,
for "father" in the heavenly sense,
that is, the Heavenly Father, is the Lord;
and "mother" in the heavenly sense,
that is, the heavenly mother, is the church;
"honor" signifies the good of love;
and "length of days," which they will have,
means the happiness of eternal life.

~ Though the Mountains Be Shaken ~

"Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor My covenant of peace be removed,"
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

""O afflicted city,
lashed by storms and not comforted,
I will build you with stones of turquoise,
your foundations with sapphires.
I will make your battlements of rubies,
your gates of sparkling jewels,
and all your walls of precious stones.
All your sons will be taught by the Lord,
and great will be your children's peace.

(Isaiah 54:10-13)

AE 962, 963 - Living from Religion

AE 962

When he (a person) is being regenerated
the evils that are from his own (proprium, ego)
are removed,
and goods are implanted in their place,
and this is effected by means of truths.

AE 963 [1, 2]

It is an eternal statute
or from the Divine order
that where there are not good works
there are evil works . . ..


He who abstains from profaning the name of God,
that is, the holiness of the Word,
by contempt, rejection, or any blasphemy,
has religion;
and such as his abstinence is
such is his religion.
For no one has religion except from revelation,
and with us
revelation is the Word.
Abstinence from profaning the holiness of the Word
must be from the heart,
and not merely from the mouth.
Those who abstain from the heart live from religion;
but those who abstain merely from the mouth
do not live from religion
for they abstain either for the sake of self
or for the sake of the world . . ..

 

~ Listen! Look! ~

"Listen to Me, My people;
hear Me, My nation:
The law will go out from Me;
My justice will become a light to the nations.
My righteousness draws near speedily,
My salvation is on the way,
and My arm will bring justice to the nations.
The islands will look to Me
and wait in hope for My arm.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment
and its inhabitants die like flies.
By My salvation will last forever,
My righteousness will never fail.

(Isaiah 51:4-6)


 

AE 960 - The Letter of the Word

AE 960 [1, 2]

. . . "the anger of God" is predicated (affirmation) of
the evils and falsities that devastate
the goods and truths of the church.

. . . vessels have a similar meaning as their contents,
as goblets, beakers, cups,
with wine or other liquor in them;
and as the incense vessels and censers for the incense,
and many other vessels.
The reason of this is
that the sense of the letter of the Word
is the ultimate sense of the Divine truth,
and therefore consists
of the ultimate things that are in nature;
for upon ultimates
interior or higher things
are built and founded.
That vials, goblets, cups, beakers, and platters
are mentioned in place of their contents,
and therefore have a similar signification,
is evident from the Word,
where they signify falsities from hell,
and drunkenness or insanity therefrom.
They also signify temptations;
also truths from the Lord and wisdom therefrom.

~ Trust ~

Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys the word of His servant?
Let him who walks in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.

(Isaiah 50:10)

AE 959 - "Thou shalt not profane the name of God."

AE 959 [2-4]

"The name of God" means every quality
by which God is worshiped.
For God is in His own quality,
and is His own quality.
His essence is the Divine love,
and His quality is the Divine truth therefrom
united with the Divine good;
thus with us on earth it is the Word;
consequently it is said in John:

The Word was with God, and God was the Word.
(John 1:1)

So also, it is the doctrine
of genuine truth and good from the Word;
for worship is according to that.

Now as His quality is manifold,
for it comprises all things that are from Him,
so He has many names;
and each name involves and expresses His quality
in general and in particular.
He is called "Jehovah," "Jehovah of Hosts,"
"Lord," "Lord Jehovih," "God,"
"Messiah or Christ," "Jesus," "Savior,"
"Redeemer," "Creator," "Former,"
"Maker," "King," and "the Holy One of Israel,"
"the Rock" and "the Stone of Israel," "Shiloh,"
"Shaddai," "David," "Prophet,"
"Son of God," and "Son of man," and so on.
All these names
are the names of the one God,
who is the Lord;
and yet where they occur in the Word
they mean some universal Divine attribute
or quality distinct
from the other Divine attributes or qualities.
So, too, where He is called
"Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,"
three are not meant, but one God;
that is, there are not three Divines, but one,
and this trine which is one is the Lord.

Since each name
means some distinct attribute or quality,
"to profane the name of God"
does not mean to profane the name itself
but His quality.
"Name" signifies quality for the reason
that in heaven everyone is named
according to his quality;
and the quality of God or the Lord is everything
that is from Him by which He is worshiped.
For this reason,
since no Divine quality of the Lord
is acknowledged in hell,
the Lord cannot be named there;
and in the spiritual world
His names cannot be uttered by anyone
except so far as His Divine is acknowledged;
for there all speak from the heart,
thus from love and consequent acknowledgment.

 

~ Remember and Listen ~

"Remember this,
fix it in mind,
take it to heart, you rebels.
Remember the former things,
those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me.
I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient time, what is still to come.
I say:  My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.

"Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted,
you who are far from righteousness.
I am bringing My righteousness near,
it is not far away;
and My salvation will not be delayed.
I will grant salvation to Zion,
My splendor to Israel.

(Isaiah 46:8-10, 12-13)

AE 955 - Seeing God

AE 955 [4]

When a person shuns and turns away from evils
because they are sins,
he not only sees from the light of heaven
that God is
and that God is one,
but also that God is Man (Homo).
For he wishes to see his God,
and he is incapable of seeing Him otherwise
than as Man.

~ I Am the Lord ~

For this is what the Lord says --
He who created the heavens,
He is God;
He who fashioned and made the earth,
He founded it;
He did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited --
He says:
"I am the Lord, and there is no other.
I have not spoken in secret,
from somewhere in a land of darkness;
I have not said to Jacob's descendants,
'Seek Me in vain.'
I, the Lord speak the truth;
I declare what is right.

(Isaiah 45:18-19)

AE 954 - "Vials"

  AE 954

"Vials" are mentioned instead of plagues
because vials are the containants,
and plagues are the contents;
and in the Word the containants
are frequently mentioned instead of the contents,
because the containants are the ultimates,
in order that the sense of the letter of the Word
may be in ultimates.
Likewise "cups" and "chalices"
are mentioned instead of wine.

~ I Belong to the Lord ~

"But now listen, O Jacob, My servant,
Israel, whom I have chosen.
This is what the Lord says --
He who made you,
who formed you in the womb,
and who will help you:
Do not be afraid, O Jacob, My servant,
Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring,
and My blessing on your descendants.

They will spring up like grass in a meadow,
like poplar trees by flowing streams.

One will say, 'I belong to the Lord';
another will call himself by the name of Jacob;
still another will write on his hand, 'The Lord's,'
and will take the name Israel.

(Isaiah 44:1-5)

AE 950, 952 - White Linen and Golden Girdles

 AE 950

Clothed in linen clean and bright,
(Revelation 15:6)

signifies by means of the Divine truth
or the Word from the spiritual sense.
This is evident from the signification of "linen,"
as being truth,
and in reference to the Lord or the Word,
as being the Divine truth.
This is called "clean" because it is genuine,
and is called "bright" from the light in heaven,
which light is brightness,
since from it all things there are bright.
The Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord
is what appears to the eyes of angels as light,
for the reason that the Divine truth
enlightens their understanding;
and what enlightens the understanding of angels
is light to their eyes.
Such is the Divine truth in heaven,
and such is the Word in its spiritual sense;
while Divine truth on the earth
is such as the Word is in the sense of the letter,
in which there are few
genuine truths like those in heaven,
but there are appearances of truth;
and these only can the natural people receive.
Nevertheless in these appearances of truth genuine
truths like those in heaven lie stored up;
for these are what are contained
in the spiritual sense of the Word.
All this makes clear that the words
"there came out of the temple
angels clothed in linen clean and bright"
signify that the evils and falsities
that have devastated the church
were made manifest by the Divine truth,
or the Word from its spiritual sense.

AE 952
And girded about the breasts with golden girdles,
(Revelation 15:6)

signifies Divine spiritual good
holding truths in order and connection.
This is evident from the meaning of "a golden girdle,"
as being what holds in order and in connection,
for a girdle or belt encloses the garments
and holds them together.
Truths are so held in order and connection
because truths are signified by "garments,"
and particularly by "linen garments."
Spiritual good is meant,
because the "breast" which was girt about,
and the "gold" of which the girdles were made,
signify that good.
__________

signifies = means; signification = meaning

~ The Hand of the Lord Has Done This ~

"The poor and needy search for water,
but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the Lord will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
and the parched ground into springs.
I will put in the desert
the cedar and the acacia,
the myrtle and the olive.
I will set pines in the wasteland,
the fir and cypress together,
so that people may see and know,
may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

(Isaiah 41:17-20)

AE948 - Progressions

 AE 948 [3]

There have been several churches on our globe
one after another.
There was the Most Ancient, that was before the flood;
there was the Ancient, that was after the flood;
then the Hebrew; and then the Israelitish;
after this the Christian;
and now the New Church is beginning.
Inmost Divine truths were revealed to those
who were of the Most Ancient Church;
more external Divine truths were revealed to those
of the Ancient Church;
and most external or ultimate Divine truths
to the Hebrew Church,
and afterwards to the Israelitish,
with which church all Divine truth finally perished,
for at last there was nothing in the Word
that had not been adulterated.
But after the end of the Israelitish Church
interior Divine truths were revealed by the Lord
for the Christian Church,
and now still more interior truths
for the church that is to come.
These interior truths are such
as are in the internal or spiritual sense of the Word.
All this makes clear
that there has been a progression of Divine truth
from inmosts to ultimates,
thus from wisdom to mere ignorance;
and that now there is a progression of it
from ultimates to interiors,
thus from ignorance again to wisdom.

~ The Lord Is the Everlasting God ~

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and His understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary,
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

(Isaiah 40:28-31)

AE 942, 943 - Worship; AE 946 - "Commandments:, "Statutes", and "Judgments"

AE 942

Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord,
(Revelation 15:4)

means the worship of the Lord from the good of love.
. . . all worship of the Lord
is from the good of love by means of truths.
Good fears the Lord,
and truths glorify Him.

AE 943

And glorify Thy name,
(Revelation 15:4)

means the worship of the Lord from truths
from that good.

A person has the affection of truth
when he loves truth and turns away from falsity.
He has the affection of good
when he loves good uses
and turns away from evil uses.
He has the affection of bringing forth fruit
when he loves to do goods
and to be serviceable.
All heavenly joy is in these affections and from them,
and this joy cannot be described by comparisons,
for it is supereminent and eternal.

AE 946 [4]

. . . "commandments" mean the laws of life,
especially those contained in the Decalogue,
which are therefore called the Ten Commandments;
while "statutes" mean the laws of worship
which related especially
to sacrifices and holy ministrations;
and "judgments" mean civil laws;
and as these laws were representative of spiritual laws,
they mean such Divine truths
as are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom in the heavens.

~ A Voice ~

A voice of one calling:
"In the desert prepare the way for the Lord;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

(Isaiah 40:3-5)

AE 936 - "The Song of Moses and the Lamb"; AE 939 - "O Lord God Almighty"

AE 936 [1, 2, 4]

And they were singing
the song of Moses the servant of God,
and the song of the Lamb.
(Revelation 15:3)

. . . "the song of Moses and of the Lamb"
means the acknowledgment of
the commandments in the Word of both Testaments,
also the acknowledgment of
the Divine in the Lord's Human,
since these are what they were singing,
or what constituted their song.
In the first verse the Lord's works and His ways,
which mean His commandments, are glorified.
In the following verse the Lord is glorified,
and an injunction that all must fear Him,
because He alone is holy . . ..

. . . anyone who thinks in his heart that there is a God,
that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth,
that the Word is from Him,
and is therefore holy,
that there is a heaven and a hell,
and that there is a life after death,
is able to shun these evils.
But he is not able
who despises these truths
and casts them out of his mind,
and not at all he who denies them.
For how can one who never thinks about God
think that anything is a sin against God?
And how can one who never thinks about
heaven, hell, and the life after death,
shun evils as sins?
Such a person does not know what sin is.
Man is placed in the middle between heaven and hell.
Out of heaven goods unceasingly flow in,
and out of hell evils unceasingly flow in;
and as person is between
he has freedom to think
what is good or to think what is evil.
This freedom the Lord never takes away from anyone,
for it belongs to his life,
and is the means of his reformation.
So far, therefore, as a person from this freedom
has the thought and desire to shun evils
because they are sins,
and prays to the Lord for help,
so far the Lord removes them
and gives a person the ability to refrain from them
as if of himself,
and then to shun them.

. . . to shun evils as sins is the sign of faith.

AE 939

O Lord God Almighty,
(Revelation 15:3)

means because He is Divine good.
This is evident from the signification of "omnipotence,"
as meaning to be, to exist, to have ability, and to live,
from Himself;
and as all goods and truths are from Him
because they are in Him
it is said "Lord God;"
for He is called "Lord" from the Divine good,
and "God" from the Divine truth;
and as He has omnipotence
from the Divine good through the Divine truth,
it is said "Lord God Almighty."

~ Isaiah 35 - for Hope ~

The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the Splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;
say to those with fearful hearts,
"Be strong, do not fear;
for God will come,
He will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution He will come to save you."

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

And a highway will be there;
It will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not journey on it;
it will be for those who walk in that Way;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
No lion will be there,
nor will any ferocious beast get up on it;
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
and the ransomed of the Lord will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

(Isaiah 35)

 

AE 934 - Two Things Are necessary; AE 935 - What Is Your God?

AE 934 [2]

. . . for works to be done by the Lord, and not by man,
two things are necessary:
first, the Lord's Divine must be acknowledged,
also that He is the God of heaven and earth
even as to the Human,
and that every good that is good is from Him;
and secondly, that man must live
according to the commandments of the Decalogue
by abstaining from those evils that are there forbidden,
that is, from worshiping other gods,
from profaning the name of God,
from thefts,
from adulteries, from murders,
from false witness,
from coveting the possessions and property of others.
These two things are requisite
that the works done by man may be good.
The reason is
that every good comes from the Lord alone,
and the Lord cannot enter into man and lead him
so long as these evils are not removed as sins;
for they are infernal,
and in fact are hell with man,
and unless hell is removed
the Lord cannot enter and open heaven.
This is what is meant
by the Lord's words to the rich man:

Who asked Him about eternal life,
and said that he had kept
the commandments of the Decalogue
from his youth;
whom the Lord is said to have loved,
and to have taught that one thing was lacking to him,
that he should sell all that he had
and take up the cross.
(Matt. 19:16-22; Mark 10:17-22; Luke 18:18-23)

AE 935

. . . every one's god is
that which he loves above all things.
 

~ The Kingdom of Righteousness ~

  See, a King will reign in righteousness
and rulers will rule with justice.
Each man will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

Then the eyes of those who see
will no longer be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will listen.

The mind of the rash will know and understand,
and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.

No longer will the fool be called noble
nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
For the fool speaks folly,
his mind is busy with evil:
He practices ungodliness
and spreads error concerning the Lord;
the hungry he leaves empty
and from the thirsty he withholds water.

The scoundrel's methods are wicked,
he makes up evil schemes
to destroy the poor with lies,
even when the plea of the needy is just.

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

(Isaiah 32:1-8)

AE 927 - Great and Wonderful

AE 927

Great and wonderful,
(Revelation 15:1)

means from Divine omnipotence and providence.
this is evident from the signification of "great,"
as being in reference to the Lord
His Divine omnipotence;
also from the signification of "wonderful,"
as being in reference to the Lord
His Divine providence.
For when a person looks to what
is great in the Lord
he looks to His divine omnipotence,
and when he looks to what
 is wonderful in the Lord
he looks to His divine providence.
Moreover, what follows
respecting the salvation of the good
and the condemnation of the evil
is all of the Divine omnipotence and providence.

~ In ~

This is what the Sovereign Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, says:

"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength . . .."

(Isaiah 30:15)

AE 926 - Spiritual Good Is Necessary to Seeing the Light

 AE 923 [3]

. . . this good (spiritual good),
which is the good of charity from the Lord,
is what alone opens the spiritual mind,
through which the Lord flows in and enlightens;
and without the opening of that mind
no enlightenment is possible,
and thus no understanding of truth.
He that believes
that he can see any truth of the church
from the mere light of reason
is much deceived.
He may have knowledge of it from another,
but he cannot see it in the light.
And when he wishes to see it
or to comprehend it in thought,
mere shadows from falsities,
which spring from fallacies
and from what is a person's proprium (ego, own)
hover over him and induce blindness.
All this makes clear what is meant by
the falsifications of the Word flowing forth from evil,
even to the dominion over the understanding . . ..

~ The Lord Issues a Warning and a Prophecy ~

 The Lord says:
"These people come near to Me with their mouth
and honor Me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from Me.
Their worship of Me
is made up only of rules taught by men.
Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."
Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the Lord,
who do their work in darkness and think,
"Who sees us?  Who will know?"
You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it,
"He did not make me"?
Can the pot say of the potter,
"He knows nothing'?

In a very short time,
will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field
and the fertile field seem like a forest?
In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,
and out of gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind will see.
Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord;
the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
The ruthless will vanish,
the mockers will disappear,
and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down --
those who with a word
make a man out to be guilty,
who ensnare the defender in court
and with false testimony
deprive the innocent of justice.

(Isaiah 29:13-21)

AE 918 - Charity, Also Known as Spiritual Good

 AE 918 [2]

Charity or spiritual good
is to do good because it is true;
thus it is to do truth,
and to do truth
is to do
what the Lord has commanded in His Word.

~ Honor the Lord ~

O Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt You and praise Your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
You have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago.

Therefore strong peoples will honor You;
cities of ruthless nations will revere You.
You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.

(Isaiah 25:1, 3-4)

AE 914 - The Spiritual and Natural Word

AE 914 [2]

The Divine truth in heaven
is such as the Word is in the spiritual sense;
while the Divine truth on earth .
is such as the Word is in the natural sense,
or the sense of the letter.
This Divine truth is for people,
and makes the church with them;
while the other Divine truth is for the angels,
and makes heaven with them.
These differ as what is spiritual
differs from what is natural;
and this difference is like
the difference between the wisdom of angels
and the wisdom of men.
The wisdom of people
as compared with the wisdom of angels
is as knowledge compared with intelligence,
which difference is so great that it cannot be described.

~ "Glory to the Righteous One" ~

They raise their voices,
they shout for joy;
from the west they acclaim the Lord's majesty.
Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord;
exalt the name of the Lord,
in the God of Israel,
in the islands of the sea.
From the ends of the earth we hear singing:
"Glory to the Righteous One."

. . . for the Lord Almighty will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before its elders,
gloriously.

(Isaiah 24:14-16, 23.5)

AE 911 - Life; Harvest; The Lord's Gift to Us

AE 911 [3, 15, 17]

. . . to live a natural life or the life of the world,
. . . is sleep as compared with spiritual life,
which is wakefulness.
___________

Jesus said to His disciples,
The harvest is plentiful
but the laborers are few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore,
to send out workers into his harvest field.
(Matthew 9:37-38, Luke 2)

The "harvest" here means all with whom
the church was to be established by the Lord,
thus also the church in general;
and "laborers" mean all who will teach from the Lord.
___________

. . . although the Lord works all things,
and a person nothing from self,
yet He wills that a person should work
as if from self
in all that comes to his perception.
For without a person's co-operation
as if from self
there can be no reception of truth and good,
that no implantation and regeneration.
For to will is the Lord's gift to a person;
and because the appearance to a person is that
this is from self
He gives him to will
as if from self.

~ Watchman! ~

 An oracle concerning Dumah*:

Someone calls to me from Seir,
"Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?"
The watchman replies,
"Morning is coming,
but also the night.
If you would ask, then ask;
and come back again."

(Isaiah 21:11-12)
__________

*  Dumah means silence or stillness,
a wordplay on Edom.

~ To All You People of the World ~

All you people of the world,
you who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains,
you will see it,
and when a trumpet sounds,
you will hear it.
This is what the Lord says to me:

"I will remain quiet
and will look on from My dwelling place,
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."

(Isaiah 18:3-4)

~ To All You People of the World ~

 AE 906

. . . it must needs seem that a "cloud" means a cloud,
and not anything spiritual such as the Word is,
for the Word does not appear to have
any affinity or agreement with a cloud;
nevertheless it is the Divine truth in ultimates,
such as the Word is in the letter, that is here meant.
The reason is, that in the spiritual world
the Divine truth flowing down
from the higher heavens into the lower
appears like a cloud . . ..

AE 899 - What Does "Death" Mean?

 AE 899 [3-4, 7]

"Death" signifies resurrection,
and thus "the dead" means those
who rise again into eternal life,
because "death" (also) means hell,
and thus evils and falsities;
and these must die
that a person may receive spiritual life;
for until these are dead and extinct
a person has no spiritual life,
which is the life that is meant in the Word by
"life," "eternal life," and "resurrection;"
therefore "to die" means here and elsewhere in the Word
the extinction of the life that is a person's own,
which regarded in itself
consists solely of evils and falsities from them.
And because when that life has been extinguished
spiritual life enters in its place,
so "the dead in the Lord" means
those who have been made spiritual by the Lord.

Moreover, "to die" can mean in the spiritual sense
resurrection, because the angels,
who are in the spiritual sense of the Word,
know nothing about natural death,
by which a person is taken out of this world;
but they know only about spiritual death,
which comes to those
who are being regenerated by the Lord
by means of temptations,
and with whom evils and falsities therefrom
are being subdued and put to death.
Again, natural death is nothing but resurrection,
for the reason that when the body dies
a person rises again as to his spirit,
and thus death is simply a continuation of his life;
for through death a person passes
from a life in the natural world
into a life in the spiritual world,
with the difference only
that the life in the natural world
is a more external and imperfect life,
and the life in the spiritual world
is a more internal and perfect life . . ..

If a man keep My word he shall never see death.
(John 7:51, 52)

"To keep the Lord's words"
means to live according to the Lord's commandments;
"not to see death"
means not to see condemnation but life,
into which a person rises and enters by death.
In the same:

Jesus said, Verily I say unto you,
that he that hears My word
and believes on Him that sent Me
has eternal life,
and comes not into judgment
but passes from death into life.
(John 5:24)

~ Zion ~

  "The Lord has established Zion,
and in her His afflicted people will find refuge."

(Isaiah 14:32.5)
 

AE 897 - Consolations after Temptations

AE 897 [2]

All who are being regenerated by the Lord
undergo temptations,
and after temptations experience joys.
But the source of the temptations
and of the joys that follow,
which are here meant by consolations,
is not yet known in the world,
because there are few
who experience spiritual temptations,
for the reason that
there are few
who are in the knowledges of good and truth,
and fewer yet
who are in the marriage of good and truth,
that is, in truths as to doctrine
and at the same time in goods as to life;
and no others are let into spiritual temptations;
for if others were let into temptations
they would yield,
and if they yielded
their latter state would be worse than their former state.
The true reason why
only those who are in the marriage of good and truth
can be let into spiritual temptations
is that the spiritual mind,
which is, properly, the internal person,
can be opened only with these;
for when that mind is opened
temptations exist,
and for the reason that heaven,
that is the Lord through heaven,
flows in through
a person's spiritual mind into his natural mind;
there is no other way of heaven,
that is of the Lord through heaven,
into a person;
and when heaven flows in
it removes the hindrances,
which are evils and falsities therefrom,
which have their seat in the natural mind,
that is, in the natural person;
and these can be removed
only by a living acknowledgment of them by a person,
and grief of soul on account of them.
This is why a person is distressed in temptations
by the evils and falsities that rise up into the thought;
and so far as he then acknowledges his sins,
regards himself as guilty,
and prays for deliverance,
so far the temptations are useful to him.
From this it is clear
that a person has spiritual temptation,
when his internal, which is called the spiritual mind,
is opened,
thus when a person is being regenerated.
When, therefore,
a person's evils and falsities are removed
temptations are brought to an end;
and when they are ended
joy flows in through heaven from the Lord
and fills his natural mind.
This joy is what is here meant by consolations.
These consolations all those receive
who undergo spiritual temptations.
I speak from experience.
After temptations a person receives joys
because after them a person is admitted into heaven;
for through temptations
a person is conjoined to heaven and is admitted into it,
and consequently has joy like that of the angels there.

~ A Branch From Jesse ~

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 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)

** The Flight Into Egypt **

And when they were departed,
behold, the angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream,
saying, Arise,
and take the young Child and His mother,
and flee into Egypt,
and be thou there until I bring thee word:
for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.
When he arose,
he took the young Child and His mother by night,
and departed into Egypt:

And was there until the death of Herod:
that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son.
Then Herod, when he saw
that he was mocked of the wise men,
was exceeding wroth, and sent forth,
and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem,
and in all the coasts thereof,
from two years old and under,
according to the time
which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

Then was fulfilled
that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet,
saying, In Rama was there a voice heard,
lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
and would not be comforted,
because they are not.

But when Herod was dead,
behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
Saying, Arise, and take the young Child and His mother,
and go into the land of Israel:
for they are dead which sought the young Child's life.

And he arose,
and took the young Child and His mother,
and came into the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea
in the room of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go thither:
notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream,
he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:

And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth:
that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophets,
He shall be called a Nazarene.

(Matthew 2:13-23)

 

AE 893 - "Come, Follow Me, Taking Up the Cross"; AE 895 - "Faith", "Truth", and Historical Faith

 AE 893 [4]

. . . "to follow the Lord and to take up the cross"
have the same signification as above,
namely, to acknowledge the Lord's Divine,
and the Lord as the God of heaven and earth;
for without that acknowledgment
no one can abstain from evils and do good
except from self and as meritorious good,
for the good that is good in itself
and that is not meritorious good
is solely from the Lord;
consequently he cannot be saved
unless the Lord is acknowledged,
and it is acknowledged that all good is from Him.
And yet before anyone can act from the Lord
he must undergo temptations,
for the reason that the internal of man,
by which he is conjoined with heaven,
is opened by means of temptations.
And because no one can do the commandments
apart from the Lord,
therefore the Lord said,
"Yet one thing you lack;
sell all that you have and follow Me,
taking up the cross;"
that is, the Lord must be acknowledged
and temptations must be endured.

AE 895 [2]

. . . it would be better to give up the use of the term "faith"
and to use the expression "the truth" in its stead.
And yet what is believed
and is not seen
may be called faith,
although such a faith is mere knowledge.
But as soon as a person becomes spiritual,
(and he becomes so when his internal
which communicates with heaven is opened),
then that which is known, which is called faith,
becomes truth,
for it is then seen from the light of heaven.
It is to be known
that all angels and all good spirits see the truths of heaven
as the bodily eye sees the objects of the world,
for the objects of heaven are truths
to those who are spiritual,
for the reason that their understanding is their spiritual sight.
The term truth should be used in place of faith,
because all intelligence and all wisdom
exists by means of truths,
while all ignorance, that is, in spiritual things,
exists by means of faith,
especially faith separated (from good/charity);
consequently the angels of the higher heavens
turn themselves away when they hear faith mentioned,
because their mind is turned away from
what is thought by them;
which thought is that the understanding
should be held captive in obedience to faith;
also because not to see truths
would be to extinguish the light of heaven,
in which those angels are and which is in them.
Moreover, they are surprised
that some believe that the faith that understands
is not spiritual faith,
when in fact such faith is truth;
while a faith that is destitute of understanding
is historical faith,
because it is from another,
and this regarded in itself is mere knowledge.

~ His Hand Is Still Upraised ~

On the right they will devour,
but still be hungry;
on the left they will eat,
but not be satisfied.
Each will feed on the flesh of his own offspring:
Manasseh will feed on Ephraim,
and Ephraim on Manasseh;
together they will turn against Judah.

Yet for all this
His anger is not turned away,
His hand is still upraised.

Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people,
making widows their prey
and robing the fatherless.
What will you do on the day of reckoning,
when disaster comes from afar?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your riches?
Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives
or fall among the slain.

Yet for all this,
His anger is not turned away,
His hand is still upraised.

(Isaiah 9:20-21; 10:1-4)

** The Adoration of the Wise Men **

And when they were come into the house,
they saw the young Child with Mary His mother,
and fell down, and worshiped Him:
and when they had opened their treasures,
they presented unto Him gifts;
gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
And being warned of God in a dream
that they should not return to Herod,
they departed into their own country another way.

And when they were departed,
behold, the angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream,
saying, Arise, and take the young Child and His mother,
and flee into Egypt,
and be thou there until I bring thee word:
for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.
When he arose,
he took the young Child and His mother by night,
and departed into Egypt:

And was there until the death of Herod:
that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Out of Egypt have I called My Son.
Then Herod,
when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men,
was exceeding wroth, and sent forth,
and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem,
and in all the coasts thereof,
from two years old and under,
according to the time
which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

Then was fulfilled
that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet,
saying, In Rama was there a voice heard,
lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
and would not be comforted,
because they are not.

(Matthew 2:11-15)

AE 885, 888 - Reasonings and the Falsification of the Word

 AE 885 [1, 2]   

. . . without reasonings from the natural person
nothing in the Word can be falsified.

. . . the Word is free from reasonings.

AE 888 [2]

. . . so far as a person falsifies the Word
so far he closes heaven to himself,
and so far as he destroys interior Divine truths,
which are Divine truths in the heavens,
and from which the heavens exist,
so far he is separated from the heavens
and is cast down the more deeply into hell.

. . . no one is tormented in hell by angels or by the Lord,
thus neither before the angels nor before the Lord,
but by himself
through the falsification and consequent destruction
of the Divine truth,
which is meant by "the holy angels,"
and of the Divine good,
which is meant by "the Lamb."

~ Those Who Reject the Law of the Lord ~

 Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight.
. . . for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty
and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.

(Isaiah 5:20-21, 24.5)

** Where is He that is Born King of the Jews? **

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea
in the days of Herod the king,
behold, there came wise men
from the east to Jerusalem, saying,
Where is He that is born King of the Jews?
for we have seen His star in the east,
and are come to worship Him.

When Herod the king had heard these things,
he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
And when he had gathered
all the chief priests and scribes of the people together,
he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

And they said unto him,
In Bethlehem of Judea:
for thus it is written by the prophet,
And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
art not the least among the princes of Judah:
for out of thee shall come a Governor,
that shall rule My people Israel.

Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men,
inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said,
Go and search diligently for the young Child;
and when you have found Him, bring me word again,
that I may come and worship Him also.

When they had heard the king, they departed;
and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east,
went before them,
till it came and stood over where the young Child was.
When they saw the star,
they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

(Matthew 2:1-10)

AE 881 - The Falsities of Evil

 AE 881

They are called falsities of evil
because all falsities arising from the love of ruling
for the sake of self and self-eminence
are falsities of evil,
and are direful according to that love.

~ The Lord Almighty Has a Day in Store ~

The Lord Almighty has a day in store
for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled),
for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
all the oaks of Bashan,
for all the towering mountains and all the high hills,
for every lofty tower and every fortified wall,
for every trading ship and every stately vessel.
The arrogance of man will be brought low
and the pride of men humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
and the idols will totally disappear.

Stop trusting in man,
who has but a breath in his nostrils.
Of what account is he?

(Isaiah 2:12-18, 22)

** The Circumcision and Presentation in the Temple **

And when eight days were accomplished
for the circumcising of the child,
His name was called Jesus,
which was so named of the angel
before He was conceived in the womb.
And when the days of her purification
according to the law of Moses were accomplished,
they brought Him to Jerusalem,
to present Him to the Lord;
(as it is written in the law of the Lord,
every male that opens the womb
shall be called holy to the Lord;)
and to offer a sacrifice
according to that which is said in the law of the Lord,
a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem,
whose name was Simeon;
and the same man was just and devout,
waiting for the consolation of Israel:
and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit,
that he should not see death,
before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came by the Spirit into the temple:
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus,
to do for Him after the custom of the law,
then took he Him up in his arms,
and blessed God, and said,

Lord, now let thou Thy servant depart in peace,
according to Thy word:
For my eyes have seen Thy salvation,
which Thou hast prepared
before the face of all people;
a light to lighten the Gentiles,
and the glory of Thy people Israel.

And Joseph and His mother marvelled at those things
which were spoken of Him.
And Simeon blessed them,
and said unto Mary His mother,
Behold, this Child is set
for the fall and rising again of many in Israel;
and for a sign which shall be spoken against.
(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,)
that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

And there was one Anna, a prophetess,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher:
she was of a great age,
and had lived with an husband
seven years from her virginity;
and she was a widow
of about fourscore and four years,
which departed not from the temple,
but served God
with fastings and prayers night and day.
And she, coming in that instant,
gave thanks likewise unto the Lord,
and spoke of Him to all them
that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

And when they had performed all things
according to the law of the Lord,
they returned into Galilee,
to their own city Nazareth.
And the Child grew,
and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom:
and the grace of God was upon Him.

(Luke 2:21-40)

AE 872, 874, 876 - Glorifying the Lord and His Church

 AE 872

In the sense of the letter
"Every nation, tribe, tongue, and people,"
(Revelation 14:6)
means all, of whatsoever religion they are;
but in the spiritual sense
it means all who live well and understand well.

AE 874

Fear God and give glory to Him,
(Revelation 14:7)
means to worship the Lord from His Divine truth
by a life according to it.
This is evident from the signification of "fearing God,"
as being to revere and worship the Lord;
also from the meaning of "giving glory to Him,"
as being to live according to the Divine truth,
that is, according to His commandments in the Word.
"Glory" in reference to the Lord
means the Divine truth proceeding from Him,
thus the Word such as it is in heaven;
for that is light to the angels,
and by that light the Lord manifests His glory;
for by that light He gives intelligence and wisdom,
and also presents before the eyes of angels
magnificent objects that glow with most precious things.
This is the signification of the Lord's "glory"
in the sense nearest to the letter.
But all these magnificent things,
which glow
as if from gold and precious stones in wonderful forms,
are given by the Lord
according to the reception of Divine truth
proceeding from Him,
consequently they appear to the angels
in the exact measure of the wisdom that is with them,
for they are correspondences.
But since angels have wisdom
according to their reception of Divine truth
not only in doctrine but also in life,
"to give glory to Him,"
signifies to live according to Divine truth.

AE 876

So long, however, as person lives in the world
the church in him is in his natural,
which is his external.
Yet the church is in a person's natural or external
only when the internal has been opened;
for the church cannot exist with anyone
unless he has heaven within,
from which enlightenment and influx from the Lord
may pass into the natural or external which is beneath.

~ Through Isaiah, the Lord Admonishes Israel ~

"Your hands are full of blood;
wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of My sight!
Stop doing wrong,
learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.

"Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord.
"Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the best from the land;
but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword."

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

(Isaiah 1:15.5-20)

** Egypt **

AC 4964 [2, 3]

Egypt was one of those countries and kingdoms
where the Ancient Church was;
but as in Egypt it was chiefly memory-knowledges
that were handed down to posterity,
therefore such knowledge in general
is signified by "Egypt;"
and it is for this reason also that Egypt
is so often treated of in the prophetic Word . . ..

As the Lord is represented by Joseph,
its being here said
that Joseph was "brought down to Egypt,"
signifies that when the Lord glorified His internal man,
that is made it Divine,
He was first imbued
with the memory-knowledges of the church,
and from and by them
advanced to things more and more interior,
and at last even to those which are Divine.
For it pleased Him to glorify Himself,
that is, to make Himself Divine,
according to the same order
as that in which He regenerates man,
that is, makes him spiritual,
namely, from external things,
which are memory-knowledges and the truths of faith,
successively to internal things,
which are of charity toward the neighbor
and of love to Him.
From this it is plain what is signified
by the following words in Hosea:

When Israel was a child,
then I loved Him,
and called My son out of Egypt.
(Hosea 11:1);

that these words were spoken of the Lord
can be seen in Matthew 2:14-15:

So he got up,
took the child and His mother during the night
and left for Egypt,
where He stayed until the death of Herod.
And so was fulfilled
what the Lord had said through the prophet:
"Out of Egypt I called My Son."

AE 869 - The Angels

 AE 869

. . . an "angel" signifies something from the Lord,
for angels are not angels from themselves
but from the Lord,
for they are recipients of the Divine truth
that proceeds from the Lord,
and for this reason
they signify in the Word Divine truths.

signifies = means

~ The Lord Takes Delight ~

Praise the Lord.

Sing to the Lord a new song,
His praise in the assembly of the saints.

For the Lord takes delight in His people;
He crowns the humble with salvation.
Let the saints rejoice in this honor
and sing for joy on their beds.

(Psalm 149:1, 4-5)

** Symbolism in the Christmas Story **

 De Verbo 7 [2]

It can be seen from the wise men from the east
who came to see the Lord when He was born
that a knowledge of correspondences
remained with many eastern people
even down to the time of the Lord's advent.

That is why a star went before them,
and they brought with them
gold, frankincense and myrrh.
And that is why the shepherds were told,
in order that they might know He was the Lord,
that this would be a sign to them:
that they would see Him in a manger,
wrapped in swaddling cloths,
because there was no room in the inn.

For the star which went before
symbolized knowledge from heaven,
inasmuch as stars in the Word symbolize concepts.
The gold symbolized celestial good,
the frankincense spiritual good,
and the myrrh natural good -
the three kinds of good
from which everything of worship originates.
The manger where the shepherds found
the infant Lord
symbolized spiritual nourishment,
because horses,
which get their nourishment from mangers,
symbolize things having to do with the understanding.
The inn where there was no room
symbolized the Jewish Church,
in which there was no spiritual nourishment at that time,
because everything of the Word,
and so everything of worship with them,
had by then been adulterated and perverted.
Therefore it is said that this would be a sign to them
that it was the Lord:

This will be a sign to you:
You will find a baby wrapped in cloths
and lying in a manger.
(Luke 2:12).