AC 1873 - love to the Lord

AC 1873
. . . as charity or love toward the neighbor
ought to proceed from love to the Lord,
this love is the fruit of faith in the internal sense;
and as all love is from the Lord,
it is the Lord Himself.
For thus in the good work is charity;
in charity is love to the Lord;
and in love to the Lord
is the Lord Himself.

AC 1861 - our love and seeing the Lord

AC 1861 [7, 15]
. . . those who are in the love of self,
or what is the same,
in hatred against the neighbor . . .

For Jehovah, or the Lord,
appears to everyone according to his quality -
to celestial angels as a Sun,
to spiritual angels as a Moon,
to all the good as a Light of varied delight and pleasantness
but to the evil as a smoke and as a consuming fire.
And because the Jews had no charity at all when the Law was given,
but the love of self and of the world prevailed in them,
and so nothing but evils and falsities,
He therefore appeared to them as a smoke and fire,
when at the same instant
He appeared to the angels as the Sun and Light of heaven.

AC 1860 - darkness and thick darkness

AC 1860
In the Word "darkness" signifies falsities,
and "thick darkness" evils . . ..
There is "darkness" when falsity is in the place of truth;
and there is "thick darkness" when evil is in the place of good,
or what is precisely the same,
when hatred is in the place of charity.
When hatred is in the place of charity,
the thick darkness is so great
that the person is quite unaware that it is evil,
still less that it is so great an evil
as in the other life to thrust him down to hell,
for they who are in hatred perceive a kind of delight
and as it were a kind of life in it,
and this delight and life themselves
cause him scarcely to know but that it is good,
for whatever favors a person's pleasure and desire,
because it favors his love,
he feels as good, and this to such a degree
that when he is told that it is infernal he can scarcely believe it,
still less when he is told
that such delight and life are in the other life
turned the stench of excrement and cadavers.
And still less does he believe that he is becoming a devil
and a horrible image of hell;
for hell consists of nothing but hatreds and such diabolical forms.

AC 1853-1854 - Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace . . .

AC 1853
Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace.
(Genesis 15:15)
To "go to one's fathers"
is to pass from the life of the body into the life of the spirit,
or from the world into the other life.
"In peace," signifies that he shall lose nothing,
and thus that nothing shall be harmed . . ..

AC 1854
Thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
(Genesis 15:15)
That this signifies the enjoyment of all goods by those who are the Lord's,
is evident from the fact
that those who die and are buried do not die,
but pass from an obscure life into a clear one.
For the death of the body is merely the continuation
and also the perfection of the life,
and they who are the Lord's
then first come into the enjoyment of all goods,
which enjoyment is signified by "a good old age."
The expressions that they "died," were "buried,"
and were "gathered to their fathers," occur quite often,
but in the internal sense
these do not signify the same as in the sense of the letter.
In the internal sense
are such things as are of the life after death and are eternal;
but in the sense of the letter
are such as are of the life in the world and belong to time.

Consequently, when such expressions occur,
those who see into the internal sense, as angels do,
have no thoughts of such things as have to do with death and burial
but with such as have to do with the continuation of life;
for they look upon death as nothing else
than a casting off of the things
which belong to merely earthly matter and to time,
and as the continuing of life proper.
Indeed they do not know what death is,
for death does not enter into any of their thinking.
It is the same with people's ages.
By the phrase used here, 'at a good old age',
angels have no perception at all of old age;
indeed they do not know what old age is,
for they themselves
are constantly moving towards the life of youth and early manhood.
It is life such as this,
consequently the celestial and spiritual things belonging to it,
that are meant when the expression
'a good old age' and others like it occur in the Word.

SD 2339-2340 - concerning the Last Judgment

SD 2339-2340
A common opinion prevails
that souls will not be raised up from their graves till the Last Judgment
[John 5:28-29]
when heaven and earth will perish,
[Matt. 24:35, Mark 12:31, Luke 21:33]
and that only then,
will all souls stand before the judgment, and be judged,
according to the literal statement in the Word of the Lord.
This opinion has this effect,
that scarcely anyone believes in the resurrection,
especially when he also believes that heaven and earth will not perish,
as well as that there is still a very long time to the last day.
In a word, such an opinion has sunk many people in lethargy.

But still the interior sense of the Lord's Word is different,
namely, that everyone has his judgment when he dies,
for immediately then is the soul or spirit separated from the body,
and comes into another life,
and undergoes (suffers) judgment
according the person's faith and works.
Judgment is the subject everywhere
where hell and heaven are discussed.
(June 17, 1748)

SD 2318 - spirals

SD 2318
. . . the flow of endeavors and forces everywhere is to their centers,
namely, through spirals from left to right, toward the centers.
It is so everywhere, in every least point.
(June 13,1748)

AC 1839, 1843, 1486 - in the last times

AC 1839 [2-3]
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.
(Matthew 24:29)
This does not mean that the sun of the world will be darkened,
but the celestial which is of love and charity;
nor the moon,
but the spiritual which is of faith;
nor that the stars will fall from heaven,
but that the knowledges of good and truth
with a person of the church will do so,
for these are "the powers of the heavens;"
nor will these things take place in heaven,
but on earth; for heaven is never darkened.

That "a terror of great darkness fell upon him,"
means that the Lord was horrified at so great a vastation.
So far as anyone is in the celestial things of love,
so far does he feel horror
when he perceives a consummation (closure, ending).
So it was with the Lord, above all others;
for He was in love itself, both celestial and Divine.

AC 1843 [3]
. . . by the faith that will perish in the last times
there is meant nothing but charity,
for there cannot possibly be any faith but the faith of charity.
He who has no charity cannot have any faith at all,
for charity is the very soil in which faith is implanted;
it is its heart, from which it exists and lives.
The ancients for this reason compared love and charity to the heart,
and faith to the lungs, both of which are in the breast.
This comparison involves a real likeness,
seeing that if a person should pretend to a life of faith without charity,
it would be like having life from the lungs alone without the heart . . ..
From this came the ancient forms of speech concerning good and truth;
that they must go forth from the heart.

AC 1846 [3-4]
He was despised, a man of sorrows,
on account of which as it were
men hid their faces from Him.
He was despised,
and we esteemed Him not.
Surely He has borne our sicknesses and carried our sorrows,
yet we esteemed Him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted.
(Isaiah 53:3, 4)

These words mean the Lord's temptations.
The words 'He has borne our sicknesses and carried our sorrows'
are not used to mean that believers will not undergo any temptation,
nor that He transferred their sins on to Himself and so bore them Himself.
Rather, they mean
that He who overcame the hells through the conflicts
brought about by temptations and through victories
would in the same manner
- all by Himself, even as to His Human Essence -
endure the temptations experienced by believers.

Temptations are also called by the Lord "afflictions" . . .

SD 2302 - the Lord alone is to be revered, worshipped & adored

SD 2302
The Lord alone is to be revered,
Who knows each and all things,
and rules the universal heaven and earth,
Who rewards and makes all good.
Angels, likewise, are not to be worshipped,
much less adored,
for the good they do is not theirs, but the Lord's,
as all the angels confess;
otherwise they are not angels.
Yet honor is shown them
so far as they are the Lord's.
(June 12, 1748)

AC 1834 - Abraham

AC 1834 [3]
. . . in heaven they do not know of Abraham
except as any other human being
who of himself has no power to accomplish anything -
for the Lord alone has such power,
as is also stated in Isaiah:

You are our Father,
for Abraham does not know us
and Israel does not acknowledge us.
You, O Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer;
from of old is Your name.
(Isaiah 63:16)

SD 2250 - the proprium of a person

SD 2250
It can also be seen by a spiritual idea
that the proprium (also called self, own, ego) of a person,
is not only black in appearance,
but also hard,
for which reason it is called bony.
This is so
not only because what is a person's proprium is merely an instrument,
in which, seeing it has no vital sap, spirit and blood,
everything hardens and becomes bone-like -
but also because people can do nothing on their own power,
so that regarded in themselves, they are like bone, having no vital sap.

Only life, which is the Lord's, causes a person to soften,
and the more spiritual and heavenly life there is
encompassing each and every part of the person . . .
the less hard one is,
or the less one has from oneself
and the softer and more flowing one is, the more perfect one is.
(June 8,1748)

AC 1806 - the Lord's sight; AC 1808 - stars

AC 1806
He led him forth abroad.
(Genesis 15:5)

Things internal are led forth,
when with the eyes of the body a person
contemplates the starry heaven,
and so thinks of the Lord's kingdom.
. . . The eye itself is properly nothing
but the sight of his spirit led forth abroad . . .
that he may, from the objects in the world,
reflect continually upon those which are in the other life;
for this is the life for the sake of which he lives in the world.
Such was the sight in the Most Ancient Church;
such is the sight of the angels who are with a person;
and such was the Lord's sight.

AC 1808
The "stars" are frequently mentioned in the Word,
and everywhere they signify things good and true,
and also, in the contrary sense, things evil and false . . ..
When they signify angels or societies of angels,
they are then fixed stars;
but when evil spirits and their associations,
they are wandering stars . . ..

AC 1793 - 'Lord Jehovih'

AC 1793
. . . 'the Lord Jehovih' is the Internal Man
in relationship to the Interior Man . . .
it was Jehovah Himself,
from whom He was conceived,
whose only Son He was,
and to whom the Lord's Human became united after the maternal human,
that is, the human derived from the mother,
had been purified by means of the conflicts brought about by temptations.
In the Word 'Lord Jehovih' occurs quite often;
indeed for as many times as Jehovah is called the Lord
He is not named 'Lord Jehovah' but 'Lord Jehovih';
and especially so when temptations are the subject . . ..

SD 2223 - one person is more easily led by the Lord than another

SD 2223
It is well known that all are guided by the Lord,
yet one person more easily than another.
All could be influenced by the Lord to thinking, speaking and doing things,
but because many, many people do not have faith
and are consequently not in order,
it is more difficult to guide them in this respect,
that the Lord does not want to break them

A bruised reed shall he not break,
and the smoking flax shall he not quench:
he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
[Isaiah 42:3]

Thus He does not want to make them think,
speak and do what would go contrary to their desires,
which to them are freedom.
So they are permitted
to think, speak and act in and according to their desires,
so that they may be bent toward good.

Those who have faith, however,
and thereby a deeper knowledge of the truths of religion,
are not broken, because they know and are moved by what is of heaven.
Therefore, because their thoughts, speech and actions
are to a greater extent in a spiritual order,
they are guided more easily than others.
(June 6,1748)

AC 1783 - within the Word; AC 1786 - "a vision"

AC 1783
These events are historically true,
but even so every single one,
down to the smallest event that took place,
is representative;
and the actual words used to describe those events,
down to the smallest part of a letter,
carry a spiritual meaning, that is,
every single detail has an internal sense within it.
For every single detail in the Word is inspired,
and being inspired cannot come from other than a heavenly origin;
that is, celestial and spiritual things lie concealed in its inner recesses.
If this were not so
it could not possibly be the Word of the Lord.
. . . When this sense (the internal sense) lies open to view
the sense of the letter passes out of sight, as though it did not exist,
as also conversely
when attention is paid solely to the historical sense, or sense of the letter,
the internal sense passes out of sight, as though it did not exist.

AC 1786
That 'a vision' means inmost revelation,
which is an accompaniment of perception,
becomes clear from the nature of visions,
in that these take shape each one
in accordance with the state of the beholder.
A vision appearing to those whose interiors are closed
takes an entirely different shape
from a vision to those whose interiors are open.
For example,
when the Lord appeared to the whole congregation on Mount Sinai,
that appearing was a vision which was different
for the people from what it was for Aaron,
and was different for Aaron from what it was for Moses;
and a vision for the prophets was different again from what it was for Moses.
Many kinds of visions are possible,
which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be spoken about later on.
Visions are more perfect the more interior they are.
With the Lord they were the most perfect of all,
because at that time He had a perception of all things
in the world of spirits and in the heavens,
and had direct communication with Jehovah.
This communication is represented,
and in the internal sense is meant,
by the vision in which Jehovah appeared to Abram.

SD 2188-2189 - memories and pondering the future

SD 2188 - 2190
. . . the more inwardly perfect angels are,
the less memory they have of things past,
and that therein consists their happiness.
For at every moment,
the Lord gives them what is pleasant to them,
and causes them both to think and to feel -
so it is the Lord's doing, not theirs.

This is the meaning of the passage,
"Give us this day our daily bread"
[Matt. 6:11, Luke 11:3],
and that they should take no thought for the future,
what they should eat and drink [Matt. 6: 25, 31],
and that they gathered the manna daily [Exod. 16:14-21].

And since angels have no memory of things past,
neither do they have any foresight of the future,
which is a result of that same memory.
Yet they seem to themselves to have a memory
and to know all kinds of things beyond number,
because this is granted to them by the Lord from moment to moment.
Therefore they may indeed suppose that it is their memory,
when yet it is not.
In short, their happiness consists in this,
and in being in the Lord.

Nevertheless, they are all very much inclined to guessing . . ..
When anything happens,
everyone who is given the opportunity guesses
that the matter is thus or so,
and yet they are all wrong,
because they are doing so on their own power.
So also, if they were to be given the opportunity
to remember things of the past,
and to anticipate things to come,
then the whole aura would be filled with false guesses,
resulting in confusion and the destruction of their happiness.
(June 4,1748)

AC 1767, 1776 - when the Word is being read

AC 1767
When the Word of the Lord is being read
by a someone who loves the Word and lives in charity,
or by a person who from simplicity of heart
believes what is written
and has not formed principles
contrary to the truth of faith which is in the internal sense,
it is presented by the Lord before the angels
in such beauty and in such pleasantness,
with representatives also,
and this with indescribable variety
in accordance with all their state at the time,
that every particular is perceived as if it had life,
which life is that which is in the Word,
and from which the Word had birth
when it was sent down from heaven.
From this cause the Word of the Lord is such,
that although in the letter it appears crude,
there are stored up in it spiritual and celestial things
which lie open before good spirits, and before angels,
when the Word is being read by a person.

AC 1776
It may seem a paradox,
but still it is most true,
that the angels understand the internal sense of the Word
better and more fully when little boys and girls are reading it,
than when it is read by adult persons
who are not in the faith of charity.
The cause has been told me,
and is that little boys and girls are in a state of mutual love and innocence,
and thus their most tender vessels are almost heavenly,
and are simply capacities for receiving,
which therefore can be disposed by the Lord;
although this does not come to their perception,
except by a certain delight suited to their character and disposition.
The angels said that the Word of the Lord is a dead letter,
but that in everyone,
when he is reading it,
it is given life by the Lord,
each according to his capacity to receive it,
and that it is made alive according to the life in his charity
and according to his state of innocence,
and this with inexpressible variety.

SD 2161 - the Lord gives

SD 2161
The Lord gives both
the thought of good,
and the will of good,
so that all ought to do good,
but still know,
and therefore understand,
that the good is not theirs,
but the Lord's.

AC 1756 - the series and the singular

AC 1756
In general, the foregoing are the things
that are involved in the internal sense of this chapter;
but the series or connection itself of the things, and its beauty,
cannot appear when each separate thing is explained in detail
according to the signification of the words,
as they would if they were embraced in a single idea,
for when they are all understood under a single idea
the things that had been scattered
appear beautifully coherent and connected.

AC 1745 - when the Lord spoke

AC 1745 [2]
So long as the Lord was in a state of temptations,
He spoke with Jehovah as with another;
but so far as he was united to His Human Essence,
He spoke with Jehovah as with Himself;
which is evident from many passages in the Gospels,
as also from many in the Prophets and in David.

AC 1726, 1738 - peace & remains after temptations

AC 1726.
. . . "Salem" means "peace," and also "perfection;"
so it signifies a state of peace, and a state of perfection.
A state of peace is the state of the Lord's kingdom;
. . . in the state of peace
all celestial and spiritual things are as it were
in their morning or springtime flower and smile,
that is, in their happiness itself.
So does the state of peace affect everything,
for the Lord is peace itself.
. . . When a person is in the combats of temptations,
he is by turns gifted by the Lord with a state of peace,
and is thus refreshed.

AC 1738
. . . remains are . . . all the states of love and charity,
and consequently all the states of innocence and peace,
with which a person is gifted.
These states are given to a person from infancy,
but less by degrees as the person advances into adult age.
But when a person is being regenerated,
he then receives new remains also . . . thus new life.