AC 8806 - the good from the Lord is holy

AC 8806 [2]
Those who are of the spiritual church
and live a life of truth
and from this a life of good,
are withheld from evils
and are kept in good by the Lord.
The good which is from the Lord is holy with them.
Consequently insofar as they receive good from the Lord,
so far they are holy;
and they receive so much of good from the Lord,
that is, are so far holy,
as they live a life of good
according to the genuine truths of faith,
and at the same time believe
that all the good which they then think and do
is from the Lord.

Portions: Malachi 1 - 4

An oracle:
The world of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
"When you bring blind animals for sacrifice,
is that not wrong?
When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals,
is that not wrong?
Try offering them to your governor!
Would he be pleased with you?
Would he accept you?" says the Lord Almighty.
(Malachi 1:1,8)

"For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge,
and from his mouth men should seek instruction -
because he is a messenger of the Lord Almighty."
 
 You have wearied the Lord with you words.
"How have we wearied Him?" you ask.
By saying,
"All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord,
and He is pleased with them"
or "Where is the God of justice?"
(Malachi 2:7,17)

"See, I will send My messenger,
who will prepare the way before Me.
Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking
will come to His temple;
the Messenger of the Covenant,
whom you desire, will come,"
says the Lord Almighty.
(Malachi 3:1)

"But for you who revere My name,
the Sun of righteousness will rise
with healing in Its wings."
(Malachi 4:2)

AC 8788 - Who makes the church?

AC 8788
. . . in order that there may be a church,
there must be with the person of the church
faith in the Lord,
and also love to Him,
and likewise love toward the neighbor.
These make the church.

[2] The church is represented
when the person makes worship consist in external things,
but in such as correspond to heavenly things.
The internal things are represented by external ones,
and the internal things are open in heaven,
with which there is consequent conjunction.

Portions: Zechariah 10 - 14

Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;
it is the Lord who makes the storm clouds.
He gives showers of rain to men,
and plants of the field to everyone.
(Zechariah 10:1)

"For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,"
declares the Lord.
(Zechariah 11:6)

"Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts,
'The people of Jerusalem are strong,
because the Lord Almighty is their God.
(Zechariah 12:5)

"On that day a fountain will be opened
to the house of David
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
"On that day,
I will banish the names of the idols from the land,
and they will be remembered no more,"
declares the Lord Almighty.
(Zechariah 13:1-2)

A day of the Lord is coming . . .
'On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
east of Jerusalem,
and the Mount of Olives will be split in two
from east to west, forming a great valley,
with half of the mountain moving north
and half moving south.
On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost.
It will be a unique day,
without daytime or nighttime -
a day known to the Lord.
When evening comes, there will be light.
On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem,
half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea,
in summer and in winter.
The Lord will be king over the whole earth.
On that day there will be one Lord,
and His name the only name.
(Zechariah 14:1,4,6-9)

AC 8760 - reading the Word

AC 8780 [2-3]
By revelation here in the internal sense
is not meant revelation such as was made
to the Israelitish people from Mount Sinai,
namely, that the Lord spoke in a loud voice,
and the people standing around heard;
but such a revelation is meant as
is not made with a loud voice,
but inwardly in a person.
This revelation is made
by the enlightenment of the internal sight,
which is of the understanding,
when a person who is in the affection of truth from good
is reading the Word.
This enlightenment is then effected by the light of heaven,
which is from the Lord as the sun there.
That light enlightens the understanding
in much the same way as outward sight,
which is that of the eye, is enlightened by the light
which flows from the sun in the world.
When the understanding is enlightened by that Divine light
it perceives that to be the truth which is the truth,
inwardly acknowledges it,
and so to speak sees it.
This is what the revelation is like
which is received by those
with an affection for truth springing from good,
when they read the Word.

But they who are in the affection of truth from evil,
that is, who desire to know truths
merely for the sake of honors, gain, reputation, and the like,
these do not see truths, but only see things
which confirm the doctrinal things of their church,
whether they are true or false.
The light which then enlightens these
is not Divine light from heaven,
but is a sensuous light such as is that of the infernals (hell),
which light becomes mere thick darkness
at the presence of heavenly light.
For when these read the Word,
they are altogether blind to the truth
which does not make one with their doctrine . . ..

Portions: Zechariah 1 -9

In the eighth month of the second year of Darius,
the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah
son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo:
"The Lord was very angry with your forefathers.
Therefore tell the people:
This is what the Lord says:
'Return to Me,' declares the Lord Almighty,
'and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty.
(Zechariah 1:1-3)

"Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion.
For I am coming, and I will live among you,"
declares the Lord.
"Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day
and will become My people.
I will live among you
and you will know that the Lord Almighty
has sent Me to you."
(Zechariah 2:10-11)

Now Joshua (the high priest) was dressed in filthy clothes
as he stood before the angel.
The angel said to those who were standing before him,
"Take off his filthy clothes."
Then he said to Joshua,
"See, I have taken away your sin,
and will put rich garments on you."
(Zechariah 3:3-4)

Then the word of the Lord came to me:
"The hands of Zerubbabel
have laid the foundation of this temple;
his hands will also complete it.
Then you will know
that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you."
(Zechariah 4:8-9)

I looked again -
and there before me was a flying scroll!
(Zechariah 5:1)

Those who are far away will come
and help to build the temple of the Lord,
and you will know
that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
This will happen
if you diligently obey the Lord your God."
(Zechariah 6:15)

"'When I called, 
they did not listen;
so when they called,
I would not listen,'
says the Lord Almighty."
(Zechariah 7:13)

"Do not be afraid.
These are the things you are to do:
Speak the truth to each other,
and render true and sound judgment in your courts;
do not plot evil against your neighbor,
and do not love to swear falsely.
I hate all this," declares the Lord.
(Zechariah 8:16-17)

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your King comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
(Zechariah 9:9)

AC 8768, 8772 - this life

AC 8768 [2]
That they who have the Word . . .
know the truths and goods of faith,
and because this is so
they can above others live the life of heaven
and thus be conjoined with the Lord.
For good, which makes heaven with a person,
has its quality from the truths of faith;
thus good becomes more heavenly or more Divine
with those who have genuine truths,
which are truths from the Word;
but only if they are kept, that is,
if the life is according to them.

AC 8772 [2]
This life, namely, spiritual life,
is first acquired by knowing the truths which are of faith,
afterward by acknowledging them,
and finally by believing them.
When they are only known,
they are as it were at the gate;
when they are acknowledged,
they are in the entrance hall;
but when they are believed,
they are in the inner chamber.
Thus they advance
from exteriors toward interiors successively.
In the interior person is good,
which is continually flowing in from the Lord,
and there conjoining itself with truths,
and making them to be faith
and afterward to be charity.
This good attracts truths to itself,
for it has a longing for them,
in order that through them
it may procure for itself a quality
and thus emerge.

Portions: Zephaniah 3; Haggai 1 - 2

Sing, O Daughter of Zion;
shout aloud, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
O Daughter of Jerusalem!
(Zephaniah 3:14)

Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger,
gave this message of the Lord to the people:
"I am with you," declares the Lord.
So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel
son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah,
and the spirit of Joshua
son of Jehozadak, the high priest,
and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people.
They came and began to work
on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God,
on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month
in the second year of King Darius.
(Haggai 1:13-15)

'The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,'
declares the Lord Almighty.
'The glory of this present house
will be greater than the glory of the former house,'
says the Lord Almighty.
'And in this place I will grant peace,'
declares the Lord Almighty.
(Haggai 2:8-9)

AC 8754 - "the wilderness of Sinai" (Exodus 19:1)

AC 8754
A few words shall here be said
about the good in which truths are to be implanted,
which good is here signified by "the wilderness of Sinai."
He who is being regenerated
is led by means of truth
to the intent that he may come to good,
that is, may know it,
and then will it,
and finally do it.
But when he is being led to good by means of truth,
he first comes to the good
in which the truths of faith have not yet been implanted;
for truths cannot be implanted until he is in good.
Before this they are indeed known,
because they are in the memory,
but at this time they are not in good,
but are outside of good.
Afterward when the person receives new life,
which he first receives when he is in good,
the truths of faith are implanted,
and as it were enter upon a marriage
with good in the internal person.
This good,
in which the truths of faith have not yet been implanted,
but which is still so disposed that they can be received,
is here meant by "the wilderness of Sinai."
No other good is meant than Christian good.

Portions: Habakkuk 2 - 3; Zephaniah 1 - 2

"Of what value is an idol,
since a man has carved it?
Or an image that teaches lies?
For he who makes it trusts in his own creation;
he makes idols that cannot speak.
But the Lord is in His holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before Him."
(Habakkuk 2:18,20)

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
(Habakkuk 3:17-18)

The word of the Lord
that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi,
the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah,
the son of Hezekiah,
during the reign of Joshia
son of Amon king of Judah:
Be silent before the Sovereign Lord,
for the day of the Lord is near.
The Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
He has consecrated those he has invited."
(Zephaniah 1:1,7)

Seek the Lord,
all you humble of the land,
you who do what He commands.
Seek righteousness,
seek humility;
perhaps you will be sheltered
on the day of the Lord's anger.
(Zephaniah 2:3)

AC 8742-8743, 8746 - the internal and external of a person

AC 8742-8743, 8746
Everyone has an internal man and an external man;
the internal man is what is called the spiritual man,
and the external man is what is called the natural man.
Both must be regenerated for the man to be regenerated.

With the man who has not been regenerated
the external or natural man commands,
and the internal or spiritual man serves;
but with the man who has been regenerated
the internal or spiritual man commands,
and the external or natural serves.
This inversion cannot possibly exist
except through regeneration by the Lord.

The internal man is first regenerated by the Lord,
and afterward the external man,
and the latter by means of the former.
The internal man is regenerated
by thinking those things which are of faith,
and willing them;
but the external man
by a life according to them.
The life of faith is charity.

Portions: Nahum 1 - 3; Habakkuk 1

An oracle concerning Nineveh.
The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power.
The Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
(Nahum 1:1,3)

"I am against you," declares the Lord Almighty.
"I will burn up your chariots in smoke,
and the sword will devour your young lions.
I will leave you no prey on the earth.
The voices of your messengers
will no longer be heard."
(Nahum 2:13)

O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber;
your nobles lie down to rest.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
with no one to gather them.
Nothing can heal your wound;
your injury is fatal.
Everyone who hears the news about you
claps his hands at your fall,
for who has not felt your endless cruelty?
(Nahum 3:18-19)

The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received.
How long, O Lord, must I call for help,
but You do not listen?
Or cry out to You, "Violence!"
but You do not save?
(Habakkuk:1:1-2)

AC 8711 - gain; AC 8717 - Divine Blessing

AC 8711
By "gain" in general is signified
all the falsity from evil
that perverts the judgments of the mind;
and as this is the case
with those who have the world as their end,
therefore by "those who hate gain"
are also signified those who are without a worldly end.

AC 8717 [2,3]
. . . by means of the truth proceeding from Himself
the Lord directs all things down to the veriest singulars;
not as a king in the world,
but as God in heaven and in the universe.
A king in the world exercises only a care over the whole,
and his princes and officers a particular care.
It is otherwise with God,
for God sees all things,
and knows all things from eternity,
and provides all things to eternity,
and from Himself
holds all things in their order.
 
But this subject falls with difficulty into the idea of any person,
and least of all
into the idea of those who trust in their own prudence;
for they attribute to themselves
all things that happen prosperously for them,
and the rest they ascribe to fortune, or chance;
and few to the Divine Providence.
Thus they attribute the things that happen to dead causes,
and not to the living cause.
When things turn out happily they indeed say that it is of God,
and even that there is nothing that is not from Him;
but few, and scarcely any, at heart believe it.
In like manner do those who place all prosperity
in worldly and bodily things, namely, in honors and riches,
and believe that these alone are Divine blessings;
and therefore
when they see many of the evil abound in such things,
and not so much the good,
they reject from their heart
and deny the Divine Providence in individual things,
not considering
that Divine Blessing is to be happy to eternity,
and that the Lord regards
such things as are of brief duration,
as relatively, are the things of this world,
no otherwise than as means to eternal things.
Wherefore also the Lord provides for the good,
who receive His mercy in time,
such things as contribute
to the happiness of their eternal life;
riches and honors
for those to whom they are not hurtful;
and no riches and honors
for those to whom they would be hurtful.

Portions: Micah 3 - 7

This is what the Lord says:
"As for the prophets who lead My people astray,
if one feeds them,
they proclaim 'peace';
if He does not,
they prepare to wage war against Him."
(Micah 3:5)

Many nations will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us His ways,
so that we may walk in His paths."
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
(Micah 4:2)

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for Me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from old, from ancient times.
Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor gives birth
and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.
He will stand and shepherd His flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.
And they will live securely,
for then His greatness will reach the ends of the earth.
And He will be their Peace.
(Micah 5:2-5)

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
(Micah 6:8)

But as for me,
I watch in hope for the Lord,
I wait for God my Savior;
my God will hear me.
(Micah 7:7)

AC 8685, 8694 - perception & revelation

AC 8685 [2]
. . . the person who is being regenerated
and becoming a church has two states;
in the first state he acts from truth,
in the second from good.
In both states the person is led by the Lord;
but in the first by immediate influx,
and in the second by influx both immediate and mediate.
Immediate influx is represented
by Moses judging the people alone;
but influx both immediate and mediate,
by the princes of thousands, of hundreds,
of fifties, and of tens, being chosen, to judge small affairs,
and to refer great affairs to Moses.
But these are arcana which scarcely anyone can understand,
except one who is in enlightenment from the Lord,
and through enlightenment in perception.
These two kinds of influx, and also the consequent effects,
can indeed be described,
but still they do not fall rightly into the thought
unless there is perception from heaven;
and perception from heaven is not given
except with those who are in the love of truth from good;
and not even then
unless they are in the love of truth from genuine good.

AC 8694 [2]
By "revelation"
is meant enlightenment when the Word is read,
and perception then;
for they who are in good and long for truth
are taught in this way from the Word;
but they who are not in good
cannot be taught from the Word,
but can only be confirmed in such things
as they have been instructed in from infancy,
whether true or false. T
he reason why those who are in good have revelation,
and those who are in evil have no revelation,
is that in the internal sense
each and all things in the Word treat of the Lord
and of His kingdom,
and the angels who are with a person
perceive the Word according to the internal sense.
This is communicated to the person who is in good,
and reads the Word,
and from affection longs for truth,
and consequently has enlightenment and perception.
For with those who are in good
and from this in the affection of truth,
the intellectual part of the mind is open into heaven,
and their soul, that is, their internal man,
is in fellowship with angels;
but it is otherwise with those who are not in good,
thus who do not from the affection of good long for truth;
to these heaven is closed.

Portions: Jonah 1 - 4; Micah 1 - 2

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai:
"Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it,
because its wickedness has come up before Me."
But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish.
(Jonah 1:1-3)

And the Lord commanded the fish,
and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
(Jonah 2:10)

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time:
"Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it
the message I give you."
When God saw what they did
and how they turned from their evil ways,
He had compassion
and did not bring upon them
the destruction He had threatened.
(Jonah 3:1-2,10)

But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.
But the Lord replied,
"Have you any right to be angry?"
(Jonah 4:1,4)

The word of the Lord that came to Micha of Moresheth
during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz
and Hezekiah, kings of Judah -
the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
(Micah 1:1)

If a liar and deceiver comes and says,
'I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,'
he would be just the prophet for this people!
(Micah 2:11)

AC 8678
That "to deal proudly"
(Exodus 18:11)
denotes the endeavor and the force used to rule,
is because this endeavor and the consequent force
are in all pride,
for pride is to love self more than others,
and to set self above them,
and to wish to exercise command over others;
and they who wish this
also despise others in comparison with self,
and also persecute from hatred and revenge
those who set themselves above them,
or do not pay them respect.
The love of self, which is pride,
is of such a quality
that so far as the rein is given it, 
it rushes on, growing step by step
to the utmost of the ability that is granted to it,
until at last it lifts itself to the very throne of God
with the desire to be in His stead.
Such are all who are in hell.

That pride of heart, 
which is the love of self,
repels from itself the Divine,
and removes heaven from itself,
can be plainly seen
from the state of reception of the Divine and of heaven,
which is a state of love toward the neighbor,
and a state of humiliation toward God.
So far as a person can humble himself before the Lord,
and so far as he can love his neighbor as himself,
. . . so far he receives the Divine,
and consequently is so far in heaven.

Portions: Amos 8 - 9; Obadiah 1

"The days are coming," declares the Sovereign Lord,
"when I will send a famine through the land -
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
Men will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it."
(Amos 8:11-12)

"In that day I will restore David's fallen tent.
I will repair its broken places,
restore its ruins,
and build it as it used to be,
so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that bear My name,"
declares the Lord, Who will do all these things.
(Amos 9:11-12)

The vision of Obadiah.
This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom -
We have heard a message from the Lord:
An envoy was sent to the nations to say,
"Rise, and let us go against her for battle" -
Though you soar like the eagle
and make your nest among the stars,
from there I will bring you down,"
declares the Lord.
(Obadiah 1:1,4)

AC 8662 - application; AC 8665 - peace

AC 8662
. . . application precedes conjunction . . .

AC 8665
. . . in the supreme sense "peace" signifies the Lord,
and from this the state of the inmost heaven,
where they are 
who are in love to the Lord,
and from this in innocence.

Portions: Amos 3 - 7

The lion has roared -
who will not fear?
The Sovereign Lord has spoken -
who can but prophesy?
(Amos 3:8)

He who forms the mountains,
creates the wind,
and reveals His thoughts to man,
He who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads the high places of the earth -
the Lord God Almighty is His name.
(Amos 4:13)

Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say He is.
(Amos 5:14)

Woe to you who are complacent in Zion,
and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
you notable men of the foremost nation,
to whom the people of Israel come!
(Amos 6:1)

This is what He showed me:
The Lord was standing by a wall
that had been built true to plumb,
with a plumb line in His hand.
And the Lord asked me,
"What do you see, Amos?"
"A plumb line," I replied.
The the Lord said,
"Look, I am setting a plumb line
among My people Israel;
I will spare them no longer.
(Amos 7:7-8)