Revelation 21:22-27

I did not see a temple in the city,
because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God gives it light,
and the Lamb is its lamp.
The nations will walk by its light,
and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
On no day will its gates ever be shut,
for there will be no night there.
The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
Nothing impure will ever enter it,
nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful,
but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
(Revelation 21:22-27)

From AR 876:
"But they that are written in the Lamb's book of life"
signifies that no others will be received into the New Church,
which is the New Jerusalem,
but they who believe in the Lord,
and live according to His commandments in the Word.

AE 28 - Firstborn

AE 28 [2]
. . . the Lord in respect to the Divine Human is called "the Firstborn,"
for the reason that all good proceeds from Him . . .

AE 22 - grace is the affection of truth from good

AE 22
Grace to you and peace,
signifies the delight of truth and good.
This is evident from the signification of
"grace" as being the delight of truth. . .
and from the signification of
"peace," as being the delight of the good of innocence and love . . ..

[2] In general, Divine grace is all that is given from the Lord;
and as all that is so given has relation to faith and love,
and faith is the affection of truth from good,
this is meant in particular by Divine grace:
for to be gifted with faith and love,
or with the affection of truth from good,
is to be gifted with heaven, thus with eternal blessedness.

AE 15 - to will & to do

AE 15
To do is to will,
and to will is to do;
because in deeds the will is everything.

AE 8 - spiritual perception

AE 8
. . . that which an angel speaks is out of heaven;
for when an angel communicates to a person
such things as pertain to heaven and the church,
he does not speak as a person speaks with a person,
who brings forth out of his memory what another has told him;
but that which an angel speaks flows in continuously,
not into his memory,
but immediately into his understanding,
and from that into words.

Only those who are in the good of love have spiritual perception.
This is because they receive heavenly things not only with the hearing,
but also with the love;
and to receive with the love is to receive fully,
since the things so received are loved;
moreover, those who thus receive,
see these things in their understanding,
where the sensation of their internal sight is.

ISB 20 - a spiritual fisherman

ISB 20
I was once asked how from a philosopher I became a theologian;
and I answered,
In the same manner that fishermen were made disciples
and apostles by the Lord;
and that I also from early youth had been a spiritual fisherman.
On hearing this the inquirer asked,
What is a spiritual fisherman?
I replied that a fisherman in the spiritual sense of the Word,
signifies a man who investigates and teaches natural truths,
and afterwards spiritual truths rationally.

[2] To the question, How is this demonstrated? I said,
From these passages in the Word:

Then the waters shall fail from the sea,
and the river shall be dried up and become dry,
therefore the fishers shall mourn,
and all that cast a hook into the sea shall be sad.
(Isaiah 19:5, 8)

In another place:

Upon the river whose waters were healed,
the fishers stood from Engedi;
they were there in the spreading forth of nets;
according, to its kind was their fish,
as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
(Ezekial 47:9-10)

And in another place:

The saying of Jehovah,
Behold, I will send to many fishers,
who shall fish the sons of Israel.
(Jeremiah 16:16)

So it is evident, why the Lord chose fishermen for disciples, and said:

Come ye after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.
(Matthew 4:18-19; Mark 1:16-17).

And to Peter after he had caught a multitude of fishes:

From henceforth thou shalt catch men.
(Luke 5:9-10)

. . . "water" signifies natural truths (AR n. 50, 932);
likewise "a river" (AR n. 409, 932);
"fish," those who are in natural truths (n. 405);
and so "fishermen" signify those who investigate and teach truths.

[4] On hearing this my interrogator raised his voice and said,
Now I can understand why
the Lord called and chose fishermen to be His disciples,
and therefore I do not wonder that He has also called and chosen you,
since, as you have said,
you were from early youth a fisherman in a spiritual sense,
that is, an investigator of natural truths;
that you are now an investigator of spiritual truths,
is because these are founded on the former.
To this he added, because he was a man of reason,
that the Lord alone knows who is adapted to receive
and to teach those things which are of His New Church,
whether someone among the primates,
or someone among their servants.
Moreover, what theologian among Christians
does not first study philosophy at college,
before he is inaugurated as a theologian;
and from what other source has he intelligence?

ISB 12 & 14 - spiritual, natural; the light of heaven

ISB 12 [4]
That a person is rational from the union of spiritual things with natural,
is evident from the analytical processes of his thought;
and that he is moral from the honorableness of his conduct
and the graces of his bearing.
These he has from the faculty of receiving influx from the Lord
through the angelic heaven, where is the very abode of wisdom and love,
thus of rationality and morality.
From these things it is perceived,
that what is spiritual and what is natural, being united in a person,
cause him to live a spiritually natural man.
The reason that he lives in a similar and yet dissimilar manner after death,
is because his soul is then clothed with a substantial body,
as in the natural world it was clothed with a material body.

ISB 14
The understanding in a person can be elevated into the light, that is,
into the wisdom in which the angels of heaven are,
according to the cultivation of his reason;
and in like manner his will can be elevated into the heat of heaven,
that is, into love, according to the deeds of his life;
but the love of the will is not elevated
except so far as the person wills and does
those things which the wisdom of the understanding teaches.

ISB 9 - the body serves the soul

ISB 9 [5]
. . . those who distinguish between spiritual things and natural things,
and deduce the latter from the former;
these also perceive that the influx of the soul into the body is spiritual,
and that natural things, which are of the body,
serve the soul for vehicles and means,
that it may produce its effects in the natural world.

ISB 4 - influx & reasoning

ISB 4 [3-4]
. . . all influx proceeds from a sun;
spiritual influx from its sun, and natural influx from its sun.
The internal sight of a person, which is the sight of his mind,
receives influx from the spiritual sun;
but the external sight, which is that of the body,
receives influx from the natural sun;
and in operation they unite,
just as the soul does with the body.

From these things it is evident
into what blindness, thick darkness, and foolishness they may fall
who know nothing about the spiritual world and its sun:
into blindness, because the mind
that depends on the sight of the eye alone
becomes in its reasonings like a bat,
which flies by night here and there to a suspended cloth;
into thick darkness, because the sight of the mind,
when the sight of the eye flows into it from within,
is deprived of all spiritual light, and becomes like an owl;
into foolishness, because the person still thinks,
but from natural things concerning spiritual things,
and not the reverse; thus insanely, stupidly, and foolishly.

BE 120 - the holy truth

BE 120
There appeared a magnificent palace,
and in its inmost a temple.
In the midst of the latter was a table of gold,
upon which was the Word,
beside which two angels were standing.
Around it were seats in three rows:
the seats of the first row were covered with silken cloth of a purple color;
the seats of the second row, with silken cloth, of a blue color;
and the seats of the third row, with white cloth.
Under the roof, high above the table,
there appeared a widespread canopy, shining with precious stones,
from the splendor of which there shone forth as it were a rainbow,
as when heaven clears up after a shower.

. . . we have clearly seen, and so acknowledge as the holy truth,
that in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ there is a Divine Trinity,
which is the Divine from which, that is called the Father;
the Divine Human, which is the Son;
and the proceeding Divine, which is the Holy Spirit, crying out,
That in Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of the Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9).
Thus there is one God in the church.

BE 119 - the Divine Esse which is the Divine Essence is One, the Same, the Itself, and Indivisible

BE 119
. . . the Divine Esse is the Divine Esse in Itself, not from Itself;
because from Itself supposes an Esse in Itself from another,
and thus supposes a God from God, which is not given.
That which is from God is not called God, but is called the Divine . . .

. . . He is our Lord Jesus Christ
both as to the Divine
from which, and as to
the Divine Human:
since the Itself, which is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself,
was His soul from the Father,
and thus the Divine Life, which is Life in itself.
It is otherwise in every person:
in him the soul is not life, but a recipient of life.
The Lord also teaches this, saying:

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life;

and again:

As the Father has life in Himself,
so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself.

. . . that instead of a Trinity of Persons
there be there understood a Trinity of Person,
which is given only in the Lord Jesus Christ;
and instead of the birth of a Son of God
there be understood His birth foreseen from eternity and provided in time;
because as to the Human, which He took to Himself in time,
He is called openly the Son of God.

BE 118 - an east wind blew

BE 118 [3-4]
Then immediately an east wind blew . . .
and there appeared a tabernacle, as to its outward form simple.
And the angels who were with me said,
"Behold, the tabernacle of Abraham,
such as it was when the three angels came to him
and announced the future birth of Isaac.
It appears indeed simple to the eye,
but nevertheless according to the influx of light from heaven
it becomes more and more magnificent."
And they were permitted to open the heaven,
in which were the spiritual angels who excel in wisdom,
and then from the influx of light from heaven there,
the Tabernacle appeared as a temple resembling that of Jerusalem;
and on looking into it, I saw that the stone in the floor,
under which the Word was deposited,
was set with precious stones,
from which there issued forth bright rays as of lightning
that shone upon the walls,
and caused beautiful variegations of color on certain cherubic forms
that were sculptured on them.
As I was admiring these things, the angels said,
"You shall see something yet still more wonderful."
And it was permitted them to open the third heaven,
in which were the celestial angels who are in love,
and then from the light there inflowing that whole temple disappeared,
and in its stead was seen the Lord alone,
standing on the foundation stone, which was the Word,
in the same form that He appeared to John (Rev. 1).
But because holiness then filled the interiors of the minds of the angels,
occasioning in them an inclination to fall on their faces,
suddenly the way of light from the third heaven was closed by the Lord,
and the way from the second heaven opened;
in consequence of which the former appearance of the temple returned,
and also of the tabernacle, but this was in the temple.
Hereby was illustrated the meaning of these words:

Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and He will dwell with them.
(Revelation 21:3).

And by these:

And I saw no temple in the New Jerusalem,
for the Lord God Omnipotent and the Lamb are the temple of it.
(Revelation 21:22)

BE 114 - actual repentance

BE 114 [5]
Actual repentance consists in a person examining himself,
in knowing and acknowledging his sins,
in making himself guilty,
in confessing them before the Lord,
in imploring help and power to resist them,
and thus in desisting from them,
and leading a new life,
and doing all these things as of himself.
Do this once or twice in a year, when you come to the Holy Communion;
and afterwards when the sins, whereof you made yourselves guilty, recur,
then say to yourselves,
we will not consent to them,
because they are sins against God;
this is actual repentance.

BE 113 - those who are in good from the Lord

BE 113
. . . if anyone from purpose or confirmation
acts against any other commandment of the Decalogue;
he then also offends against the rest,
because he does not account anything a sin.
It is very similar with those who are in good from the Lord.
These, if from the will and understanding,
or from purpose and confirmation,
they abstain from one evil because it is a sin, abstain from all,
and still more if they abstain from many;
for whenever anyone abstains,
from purpose and confirmation,
from any evil, because it is a sin,
he is kept by the Lord in the purpose of abstaining from the rest;
wherefore if through ignorance,
or any predominant lust of the body, he does an evil,
it nevertheless is not imputed to him,
because he did not purpose it to himself, nor confirm it with himself.
A person comes into this kind of purpose,
if he examines himself once or twice a year,
and repents of the evil he discovers in himself.

BE 111 - shunning evils, doing goods

BE 111 [2-3]
That a person is led into good through regeneration by the Lord.
That there is regeneration,
and that unless one is regenerated,
he cannot enter into heaven . . ..
That regeneration is purification from evils,
and thus renovation of life . . ..
That this is effected by faith in the Lord,
and by a life according to His commandments . . ..
That evils ought to be shunned,
because they are of the devil and from the devil;
that goods ought to be done,
because they are of God and from God;
and that the Lord is to be approached,
that He may lead us so to do.

BE 92 - two things which form heaven in a person

BE 92
There are two things which form heaven in a person, namely,
the truths of faith and the goods of charity;
the truths of faith effect the presence of the Lord,
and show the way to heaven,
and the goods of charity effect conjunction with the Lord,
and introduce into heaven.
And everyone is there introduced into light according to his affection of truth,
and into heat according to his affection of good.
. . . the affection of truth is faith in its essence,
and the affection of good charity in its essence,
and the marriage of them both constitutes the church . . ..
The church and heaven make one.

BE 83 - the sheep and the he-goats

BE 83
It is a general rule of religion,
that as far as anyone does not will goods,
and consequently does not do them,
so far he wills evils,
and consequently does them;
and on the contrary,
that as far as anyone does not will evils,
and consequently does not do them,
so far he wills goods,
and consequently does them.
These latter are the "sheep,"
but the former are the "he-goats."

BE 78 - the sun, moon, and stars

BE 78
The day of Jehovah comes,
a day of darkness,
the sun and moon shall not cause their light to shine,
and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
(Joel 2:1, 2, 10)

After the affliction of those days,
the sun shall be darkened,
and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from heaven,
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
{Matthew 24:29,30)

By "the sun" in the above passages is meant love;
by "the moon" faith;
and by "the stars" the knowledges of good and truth;
and by "the powers of the heavens"
those three as the supports and firmaments
of the heavens where the angels are,
and of the churches where people are . . .

BE 69 - as of self

BE 69 [3]
. . . a person is capable of reforming and regenerating himself
as of himself,
provided he only acknowledge in his heart
that his ability is from the Lord.
Every person who does the work of repentance,
is reformed and regenerated.
Both must be done by a person
as of himself,
but this as of himself
is also from the Lord,
because the Lord gives both the power to will and perform,
and never takes it away from anyone.

BE 57 - salvation

BE 57
. . . without the Advent of the Lord into the world,
no mortal could have been saved,
and that they are saved who believe on Him and live well.