SS 104 & 105 [2] - a few serve as the heart and lungs

SS 104
There can be no conjunction with heaven
unless somewhere on earth there is a church where the Word is,
and where by it
the Lord is known;
for the Lord is the God of heaven and earth,
and apart from Him there is no salvation.
It is sufficient
that there be a church where the Word is,
even if it consists of comparatively few,
for even in that case
the Lord is present by its means in the whole world,
for by its means heaven is conjoined with the human race.

SS 105 [2]
As all the other members and viscera subsist and live
from these two fountains of life of the human body (the heart & lungs),
so also do all those in the whole earth
who have some sort of religion,
worship one God,
and live aright . . ..
For the Word in the church,
although existing with comparatively few,
is life to all the rest,
from the Lord through heaven,
just as there is life
for the members and viscera of the whole body
from the heart and lungs . . ..

SS 102 - an ancient Word

SS 102
. . . there was among the ancients
a Word
written entirely by correspondences,
but that it had been lost,
and they said that it is still preserved,
and is in use in that heaven where those ancient people dwell
who had possessed it in this world. . . .
The inhabitants of all these kingdoms were in representative worship,
and consequently in the knowledge of correspondences.
The wisdom of that time was derived from this knowledge,
and by its means they had an interior perception,
and a communication with the heavens.
Those who had an interior acquaintance
with the correspondences of that Word
were called wise and intelligent, and later, diviners and magi.
But as that Word was full of correspondences
which only in a remote way signified celestial and spiritual things,
and consequently began to be falsified by many,
of the Lord's Divine Providence it disappeared in course of time,
and at length was utterly lost,
and another Word,
written by correspondences less remote than the other,
was given by means of prophets among the sons of Israel.
Yet many names of places in the land of Canaan
and in the surrounding countries
were retained in this Word
with significations like those they had in the Ancient Word.
It was for this reason that Abram was commanded to go into that land,
and that his descendants, from Jacob, were brought into it.

SS 96a - the Word is like a garden

SS 96a
The Word is like a garden,
a heavenly paradise,
that contains delicacies and delights of every kind,
delicacies in its fruits and delights in its flowers;
and in the midst of the garden
trees of life with fountains of living water near them,
while forest trees surround it.
The person
who from doctrine
is in Divine truths
is at its center where the trees of life are,
and is in the actual enjoyment of its delicacies and delights;
whereas the person
who is in truths not from doctrine,
but from the sense of the letter only,
is at the outskirts,
and sees nothing but the forest vegetation.
And one who is in the doctrine of a false religion,
and who has confirmed himself in its falsity,
is not even in the forest,
but is out beyond it
in a sandy plain where there is not even grass.

SS 83 - the marriage of good and truth in a person

SS 83
With every person there are two faculties of life,
called the understanding and the will.
The understanding is the receptacle of truth and the derivative wisdom,
and the will is the receptacle of good and the derivative love.
For a person to be a person of the church
these two must make a one,
and this they do
when the person forms his understanding from genuine truths,
which to all appearance is done as by himself;
and when his will is infilled with the good of love,
which is done by the Lord.
From this the person has a life of truth and a life of good,
a life of truth in the understanding from the will,
and a life of good in the will through the understanding.
This is the marriage of truth and good in a person,
and also the marriage of the Lord and the church in him.

SS 72-73 - the Word in heaven - and SS 77 - understanding the Word

SS 72-73
In every larger society of heaven,
a copy of the Word,
written by angels inspired by the Lord,
is kept in its sanctuary,
lest being elsewhere it should be altered in some point.
In respect to the fact that the simple understand it in simplicity
and the wise in wisdom,
our Word is indeed like that in heaven,
but this is effected in a different way.

The angels acknowledge that all their wisdom comes through the Word,
for they are in light in proportion to their understanding of the Word.
The light of heaven is Divine wisdom,
which to their eyes is light.
In the sanctuary where the copy of the Word is kept,
there is a flaming and bright light
that surpasses every degree of light in heaven that is outside of it.
The cause is . . . that the Lord is in the Word.

SS 77
The Word is spirit and life according to the understanding of it,
for its letter if not understood is dead.
And as a person has truth and life according to his understanding of the Word,
so has he faith and love according thereto,
for truth is of faith,
and love is of life.
Now as the church exists by means of faith and love, and according to them,
it follows that the church is the church
through the understanding of the Word and according to these.

SS 71 is in today's blog comments.

SS 62 - the conjunction - through the Word - of the angels with a person

SS 67
We may now illustrate by an example
how from the natural sense in which is the Word with men,
the spiritual angels draw forth their own sense,
and the celestial angels theirs.
Take as an example five commandments of the Decalogue:

Honor thy father and thy mother.
By "father and mother" a man understands
his father and mother on earth,
and all who stand in their place,
and by to "honor" he understands to hold in honor and obey them.
But a spiritual angel understands
the Lord by "father,"
and the church by "mother,"
and by to "honor" he understands to love.
And a celestial angel understands
the Lord's Divine love by "father,"
and His Divine wisdom by "mother,"
and by to "honor" to do what is good from him.

Thou shalt not steal.
By to "steal" a man understands
to steal, defraud,
or under any pretext take from his neighbor his goods.
A spiritual angel understands
to deprive others of their truths of faith and goods of charity
by means of falsities and evils.
And a celestial angel
understands to attribute to himself what is the Lord's,
and to claim for himself His righteousness and merit.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.
By "committing adultery" a man understands
to commit adultery and fornication,
to do obscene things, speak lascivious words,
and harbor filthy thoughts.
A spiritual angel understands
to adulterate the goods of the Word, and falsify its truths.
And a celestial angel understands
to deny the Lord's Divinity and to profane the Word.

Thou shalt not kill.
By "killing," a man understands
also bearing hatred,
and desiring revenge even to the death.
A spiritual angel understands
to act as a devil and destroy men's souls.
And a celestial angel understands
to bear hatred against the Lord,
and against what is His.

Thou shalt not bear false witness.
By "bearing false witness" a man understands
also to lie and defame.
A spiritual angel understands
to say and persuade that what is false is true
and what is evil good, and the reverse.
And a celestial angel understands
to blaspheme the Lord and the Word.

From these examples it may be seen
how the spiritual and celestial of the Word are evolved and drawn out
from the natural sense in which they are.
Wonderful to say,
the angels draw out their senses without knowing
what the man is thinking about,
and yet the thoughts of the angels and of the men
make a one by means of correspondences, like end, cause, and effect.
Moreover ends actually are in the celestial kingdom,
causes in the spiritual kingdom,
and effects in the natural kingdom.
This conjunction by means of correspondences is such from creation.
This then is the source of man's association with angels
by means of the Word.

SS 57 - enlightenment from the Lord

SS 57
The genuine truth which must be of doctrine
appears in the sense of the letter to none
but those who are in enlightenment from the Lord.

Enlightenment is from the Lord alone,
and exists with those who love truths
because they are truths
and make them of use for life.
With others there is no enlightenment in the Word.
The reason why enlightenment is from the Lord alone
is that the Lord is in all things of the Word.
The reason why enlightenment exists with those who love truths
because they are truths
and make them of use for life
is that such are in the Lord
and the Lord in them.
For the Lord is His own Divine truth,
and when this is loved because it is Divine truth
(and it is loved when it is made of use),
the Lord is in it with the man.
This the Lord teaches in John:

In that day you shall know that you are in Me and I in you.
He that has My commandments,
and does them,
he loves Me,
and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him;
and I will come unto him,
and make My abode with him.
(John 14:20-21, 23)

And in Matthew:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
(Matthew 5:8)

These are they who are in enlightenment when they are reading the Word,
and to whom the Word shines and is translucent.

SS 42 - a ruby and a diamond

SS 42
As, in its inmost bosom, from its celestial sense,
our Word is like a flame that enkindles;
and as, in its middle bosom, from its spiritual sense,
it is like a light that enlightens;
it follows that in its ultimate bosom,
from its natural sense which has within it the two more interior senses,
the Word is like a ruby and a diamond;
like a ruby from its celestial flame,
and like a diamond from its spiritual light.
And as from its transparency the Word is like this in the sense of the letter,
the Word in this sense of the letter is meant by
the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem;
by the Urim and Thummim in Aaron's ephod;
by the garden of Eden in which had been the king of Tyre;
by the curtains and veils of the Tabernacle;
and by the externals of the Temple at Jerusalem.
But in its very glory
the Word was represented by the Lord when He was transfigured.

SS 36- the natural sense, or sense of the letter, of the Word

SS 36
The Word in its ultimate or natural sense,
which is the sense of the letter,
is signified also by the wall of the Holy Jerusalem,
the structure of which was of jasper;
and by the foundations of the wall, which were precious stones;
and likewise by the gates, which were pearls

And the building of the wall of it was of jasper:
and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
And the foundations of the wall of the city
were garnished with all manner of precious stones.
The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire;
the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte;
the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus;
the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls:
every several gate was of one pearl:
and the street of the city was pure gold,
as it were transparent glass.
(Revelation 21:18-21);

for Jerusalem signifies the church as to doctrine.
. . . it is now evident that the sense of the letter of the Word,
which is the natural sense,
is the basis, container, and support of its interior senses,
which are the spiritual and the celestial.

SS 25 - the Lord appearing in the clouds

SS 25
The reason why the spiritual sense of the Word
has been at this day disclosed by the Lord
is that the doctrine of genuine truth has now been revealed;
and this doctrine,
and no other,
is in accord with the spiritual sense of the Word.
This sense, moreover,
is signified by the appearing of the Lord in the clouds of heaven
with glory and power:

At that time
the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky,
and all the nations of the earth will mourn.
They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky,
with power and great glory.
And He will send his angels with a loud trumpet call,
and they will gather his elect from the four winds,
and from one end of the heavens to the other.
(Matt. 24:30, 31)

SS 17 - the Lord's miracles

SS 17 [4]
. . . the Lord's miracles, which were Divine
because they signified the various states of those
with whom the church was to be set up anew by the Lord.
Thus when the blind received sight,
it signified that they who had been in ignorance of truth
should receive intelligence;
when the deaf received hearing,
it signified that they who had previously heard nothing
about the Lord and the Word should hearken and obey;
when the dead were raised,
it signified that they who otherwise would spiritually perish
would become living;
and so on.

Moreover, all the miracles related in the Word
contain in them such things as belong to the Lord,
to heaven, and to the church.
This makes these miracles Divine,
and distinguishes them from those which are not Divine.

TCR 791 - June 19th - and also - SS 1-2 - The Sacred Scripture, or the Word, is Divine Truth Itself.

True Christian Religion 791 - NOTE
After this work was finished
the Lord called together His twelve disciples who followed Him in the world;
and the next day He sent them all forth throughout the whole spiritual world
to preach the Gospel that THE LORD GOD JESUS CHRIST reigns,
whose kingdom shall be for ages and ages,
according to the prediction in Daniel (7:13, 14), and in Revelation (11:15).

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

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

He shall send His angels
and they shall gather together His elect,
from the end of the heavens to the end thereof.
(Matthew 24:31)

Blessed day, everyone!

The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 1-2 -
It is in everybody's mouth that the Word is from God,
is Divinely inspired, and is therefore holy;
and yet hitherto no one has known wherein it is Divine.
For in the letter the Word appears like a common writing,
in a style that is strange,
and neither so sublime nor so brilliant
as apparently are the writings of the day.
For this reason a man who worships nature as God,
or in preference to God,
and who consequently thinks from himself and what is proper to himself,
and not from heaven from the Lord,
may easily fall into error in respect to the Word,
and into contempt for it,
and while reading it may say to himself,
What is this?
What is that?
Can this be Divine?
Could God, whose wisdom is infinite, speak in this manner?
Wherein consists its holiness, and from where comes its holiness,
except from religious feeling and its consequent persuasion?

But he who thinks in this way
does not consider that Jehovah Himself, the God of heaven and earth,
spoke the Word through Moses and the prophets,
and that it must therefore be Divine truth itself,
for what Jehovah Himself speaks can be nothing else.
Nor does he consider that the Lord,
who is the same as Jehovah,
spoke the Word that is in the Gospels,
much of it with His own mouth,
and the rest from the spirit of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit.
This is why, as He Himself says,
there is Life in His words,
that He is the Light which enlightens,
and that He is the Truth.

DLORD 65 - a summary

Great and marvelous are your works, 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 15:3-4)

DLORD 65
i. God is one in Person and Essence, and this God is the Lord.
ii. All Holy Scripture treats of Him alone.
iii. He came into the world to subdue the hells, and to glorify His Human;
and He accomplished both by admitting temptations into Himself,
and did so fully by the last of them which was the passion of the cross.
Thereby He became the Redeemer and Savior;
and thereby merit and righteousness are His alone.
iv. The statement that He "fulfilled all things of the law"
means that He fulfilled all things of the Word.
v. By the passion of the cross He did not take away sins,
but bore them as the Prophet, that is to say,
He suffered that there should be represented, in Himself,
the church in respect to its maltreatment of the Word.
vi. The imputation of His merit is not anything at all
unless thereby is meant the forgiveness of sins after repentance.

DLORD 62-64 - the New Jerusalem

DLORD 62-64

I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the former heaven and the former earth were passed away.
And I John saw the Holy City New Jerusalem
coming down from God out of heaven.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and He will dwell with them,
and they shall be His people,
and God Himself shall be with them, their God.
And He that sat upon the throne said,
Behold, I make all things new.
And He said unto me,
Write, for these words are true and faithful.
(Revelation 21:1-3, 5)

By the "new heaven," and by the "new earth,"
which John saw,
after the former heaven and the former earth had passed away,
is not meant a new starry and atmospheric heaven
such as appears before the eyes of men,
nor a new earth such as that on which men dwell;
but there is meant a newness of the church in the spiritual world,
and a newness of the church in the natural world.

By the "Holy City Jerusalem"
is meant this New Church as to doctrine,
and therefore it was seen coming down from God out of heaven,
for the doctrine of genuine truth comes to us from the Lord through heaven,
and from no other source.

That by "bride" and "wife" is meant the church,
when the Lord is meant by "bridegroom" and "husband," is well known.
The church is a "bride" when she is desirous to receive the Lord;
and a "wife," when she does receive Him.

. . . "city" in the spiritual sense of the Word signifies doctrine,
and therefore "holy city" signifies the doctrine of Divine truth from the Lord.

DLORD 60-61 - God is One in both Person and Essence; that the Trinity is in Him; and that this God is the Lord.

DLORD 60-61
God is One in both Person and Essence;
that the Trinity is in Him;
and that this God is the Lord.

The reason why these truths relative to the Lord
are now for the first time made publicly known,
is that it has been foretold in the Revelation (chapters 21 and 22)
that a New Church, in which this doctrine will hold the chief place,
is to be instituted by the Lord at the end of the former church.
It is this Church which is meant by the "New Jerusalem,"
and no one can come into it
who does not acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth.

This I can declare-that the universal heaven acknowledges the Lord alone;
and that no one who does not acknowledge Him is admitted into heaven;
for heaven is heaven from the Lord.
It is precisely this acknowledgment from love and faith
which causes all there to be in the Lord and the Lord in them,
as the Lord Himself teaches in John:

In that day ye shall know
that I am in My Father,
and you in Me, and I in you.
(John14:20).

Abide in Me,
and I in you.
I am the vine,
you are the branches,
he that abides in Me and I in him,
the same brings forth much fruit,
for without Me you can do nothing;
if any one abide not in Me,
he is cast forth.
(John15:4-6; 17:22, 23)

The reason why this has not been previously seen from the Word,
is that if it had been previously seen
it would not have been received,
because the Last Judgment had not been effected.
Before that event the power of hell prevailed over the power of heaven,
and as man is in the midst between the two,
it is evident that the devil (which is hell)
would have plucked it out of men's hearts,
and would also have profaned it.
But this state of power on the part of hell
was completely broken by the Last Judgment,
which has now been executed.
Since that Judgment - thus now -
every person who craves to be enlightened and wise can be so.

DLORD 46, 50 - The Holy Spirit is the Divine Proceeding from the Lord, and this is the Lord Himself.

DLORD 46
the Holy Spirit . . .
is the Lord's presence with a person through angels and spirits,
by and according to which
the person is enlightened and taught.


DLORD 50
Jesus cried, saying,
if anyone thirst
let him come unto Me and drink;
he that believes in Me,
as the Scripture has said,
out of his belly shall flow streams of living water.
This He said of the spirit
which they that believe in Him should receive.
For the Holy Spirit was not yet,
because Jesus was not yet glorified.
(John 7:37-39)

Jesus breathed on His disciples, and said,
Receive ye the Holy Spirit.
(John 20:22)

[3] As the "Spirit of Truth" or "Holy Spirit" is the same as the Lord,
who is the Truth itself, it is said,
"the Holy Spirit was not yet,
because Jesus was not yet glorified"
(John 7:39);
for after His glorification or complete unition with the Father,
which was effected by the passion of the cross,
the Lord was Divine wisdom and Divine truth itself,
thus the Holy Spirit.
The reason why the Lord breathed on the disciples and said,
"Receive ye the Holy Spirit,"
was that all the breathing of heaven is from the Lord.
For angels as well as people have breathing and beating of the heart;
their breathing
being according to their reception of wisdom from the Lord,
and their beating of the heart or pulse
being according to their reception of Divine love from the Lord.

DLORD 45 - God is One, and the Lord is that God.

DLORD 45
Jesus said,
The first of all the commandments is,
Hear, O Israel,
The Lord our God is one Lord;
therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul.
(Mark 12:29, 30)

I am Jehovah
and there is none else there is no God besides Me
that they may know from the rising of the sun,
and from the west,
that there is no God besides Me:
I am Jehovah and there is none else.
(Isaiah 45:5, 6)

I am Jehovah thy God,
and thou shalt acknowledge no God but Me;
for there is no Savior besides Me.
(Hosea 13:4)

As the Lord alone is the Saviour and the Redeemer,
and as it is said that Jehovah is that Savior and Redeemer,
and that there is none besides Him,
it follows that the one God is no other than the Lord.

DLORD 35 - Why could the Lord be tempted?

Jehovah of hosts is His name,
and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel,
the God of the whole earth shall He be called.
(Isaiah 54:5)

DLORD 35 [3]
[3] As from His birth the Lord had a human from the mother,
and as He by successive steps put it off,
it follows that while He was in the world He had two states,
the one called the state of humiliation or emptying out [exinanitio],
and the other the state of glorification or unition
with the Divine called the Father.
He was in the state of humiliation at the time and in the degree
that He was in the human from the mother;
and in that of glorification at the time and in the degree
that He was in the Human from the Father.
In the state of humiliation He prayed to the Father
as to one who was other than Himself;
but in the state of glorification He spoke with the Father
as with Himself.
In this latter state He said that the Father was in Him and He in the Father,
and that the Father and He were one.
But in the state of humiliation
He underwent temptations,
and suffered the cross,
and prayed to the Father not to forsake Him.
For the Divine could not be tempted,
much less could it suffer the cross.
From what has been said
it is now evident that by means of temptations and continual victories in them,
and by the passion of the cross
which was the last of the temptations,
the Lord completely conquered the hells,
and fully glorified His Human . . ..

DLORD 30 - Jehovah

DLORD 30 [4]
. . . by the Lord form eternity
is meant His Divine as Source
which in the Word is "Jehovah."
. . . by Lord, and also by Jehovah,
after his His Human was glorified,
is meant the Divine and the Human together,
as a one;
and that by the Son, alone,
is meant the Divine Human.

DLORD 19, 22 - the Son of God, the Son of man

DLORD 19, 22
The Lord in respect to the Divine Human is called the Son of God;
and respect the the Word, the Son of man.

He who knows what in the Lord is called "the Son of God,"
and what in Him is called "the Son of man,"
is able to see many of the secret things of the Word;
for at one time the Lord calls Himself "the Son,"
at another "the Son of God,"
and at another "the Son of man,"
everywhere according to the subject that is being treated of.

When His Divinity, His oneness with the Father,
His Divine power, faith in Him, life from Him,
are being treated of,
He calls Himself "the Son," and "the Son of God."

But where His passion, Judgment, His advent,
and, in general, redemption, salvation,
reformation, and regeneration, are treated of,
He calls Himself "the Son of man;"
the reason of which is
that He is then meant in respect to the Word.