The Aid of the Lord

Since ancient times no one has heard,

no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides You,

who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.

You come to the help of those who gladly do right,

who remember Your ways.

(Isaiah 64:4-5)

DLife 9, 12, 15 - No one can from himself do good that is really good

DLife 9, 12, 15

At this day scarcely any one knows

whether the good which he does is from himself or from God,

because the Church has separated faith from charity,

and good has relation to charity.

A person gives to the poor, assists the needy,

endows churches and hospitals,

promotes the welfare of the Church,

of his country and of his fellow citizens,

diligently attends places of worship

and then devoutly listens and prays,

reads the Word and books of piety,

and thinks about salvation;

and yet he knows not whether he does such things

from himself or from God.

It is possible that he may do the same things from God,

and he may do them from himself.

If he does them from God they are good;

if from himself they are not good. 

Indeed, there are such good deeds done from self

which obviously are evil,

as hypocritical good deeds

which are deceitful and fraudulent.

There is civil good, moral good and spiritual good.

Civil good is that which a person does

when acting in conformity with the civil law;

and by this good and according to it

a person is a citizen in the natural world.

Moral good is that which a person does

when acting in conformity with rational law;

and by this good and according to it he is a person.

Spiritual good is that which a person does

when acting in conformity with spiritual law;

and by this good and according to it

a person is a citizen in the spiritual world.

These goods follow in this order:

spiritual good is the highest,

moral good is the middle

and civil good is the lowest.

That a person who is not spiritual

can yet think rationally and speak from that thought,

like a spiritual person,

is because a person's understanding

can be uplifted into the light of heaven,

which is truth,

and can see from it;

but his will cannot be in the same way

uplifted into the heat of heaven,

which is love,

so as to act from that heat.

It is for this reason that truth and love

do not make a one in a person unless he is spiritual.

. . . It is by means of this capacity

of the understanding to be uplifted into heaven

when as yet the will is not so uplifted,

that it is possible for a person

to be reformed and to become spiritual;

but he does not begin

to be reformed and become spiritual

until his will also is uplifted.

It is from this superior endowment

of the understanding over the will,

that a person, of whatever character he may be, 

even if evil,

is able to think and therefore to speak rationally,

as if he were spiritual.

That still in spite of this he is not rational,

is because the understanding does not lead the will,

but the will leads the understanding.

The understanding merely teaches and shows the way,

as has been said in the Doctrine of the Holy Scripture (n. 115).

And so long as the will is not in heaven

together with the understanding,

the person is not spiritual,

and consequently is not rational;

for when he is left to his will or love,

he throws off the rational things of his understanding

respecting God, heaven, and eternal life,

and adopts in their stead such things

as are in agreement with his will's love,

and these he calls rational.

In Its Time

. . . 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.

Your 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 60:16-22)

DLife - all religion is of life

Every one who reads the Word

perceives that religion has relation to life,

and that the life of religion is to do good;

and while he reads he acknowledges this . . .

Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord,

shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;

but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven.

(Matthew 7:21)

(DLife - Doctrine of Life)

Seek the Lord

Seek the Lord while He may be found;

call on Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake His way

and the evil man his thoughts.

Let him turn to the Lord,

and He will have mercy on him,

and to our God,

for He will freely pardon.

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are My ways higher than your ways

and My thoughts than your thoughts."

(Isaiah 55:6-9)

SS 114 - without the Word

SS 114

. . . without the Word 

no one would possess spiritual intelligence,

which consists in having knowledge of a God,

of heaven and hell, 

and of a life after death;

nor would know anything whatever about the Lord,

about faith in Him and love to Him,

nor anything about redemption,

by means of which nevertheless comes salvation.

As the Lord also says to His disciples:

Without Me you can do nothing.

(John 15:5)

A man can receive nothing

except it be given him from heaven.

(John 3:27)

The Lord Comforts His People

This is what the Lord says:

"In the time of My favor

I will answer you,

and in the day of salvation

I will help you;

I will keep you

and make you to be a covenant for the people,

to restore the land

and to reassign its desolate inheritances,

to say to the captive, 'Come out,'

and to those in darkness, 'Be free!'

(Isaiah 49:98-9)

Shout for joy, O heavens;

rejoice, O earth;

burst into song, O mountains!

For the Lord comforts His people

and will have compassion on His afflicted ones.

(Isaiah 49:13)

But you will not leave in haste or go in flight;

for the Lord will go before you,

the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

(Isaiah 52:12)

SS 104 - a church where the Word is

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.

"I am the Lord, and there is no other"

I am the Lord, and there is no other;

apart from Me there is no God.

I will strengthen you,

though you have not acknowledged Me;

so that from the rising of the sun

to the place of its setting

men may know there is none besides Me.

I am the Lord, and there is no other."

(Isaiah 45:5-6)

This is what the Lord says -

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

"I am the Lord your God,

Who teaches you what is best for you,

Who directs you in the way you should go.

If only you had paid attention to My commands,

your peace would have been like a river,

your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

Your descendants would have been like the sand,

your children like its numberless grains;

their name would never be cut off

nor destroyed from before Me."

(Isaiah 48:17-19)

SS 99, 100 - the Word became flesh

SS 99, 100

The state of the church was completely changed

by the Lord's becoming the Word in ultimates.

All the churches that had existed before His advent

were representative churches

and could see Divine truth in the shade only;

but after the Lord's coming into the world

a church was instituted by Him

that saw Divine truth in the light.

The difference is like that between evening and morning,

and the state of the church before His advent

is also called "the evening,"

and that of the church after it "the morning."

Before His coming into the world

the Lord was indeed present with the people of the church,

but mediately through heaven,

whereas since His coming into the world

He is present with them immediately,

for in the world He put on the Divine Natural,

in which He is present with people.

The glorification of the Lord

is the glorification of His Human

that He assumed in the world,

and the Lord's glorified Human is the Divine Natural.

. . . all the good and truth that proceeds from the Lord

is in its form a person.

And as the Lord is Divine good and Divine truth itself,

He is the Man,

from whom every person is a person.

"I am the Lord!"

"I am the Lord; that is My name!

I will not give My glory to another

or My praise to idols."

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,

along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;

I will turn the darkness into light before them

and make the rough places smooth.

These are the things I will do;

I will not forsake them."

(Isaiah  42:8,16)

SS 93-94 - appearances

SS 93-94

After death every person is instructed by angels,

and those are received who see truths,

and from truths falsities.

For the power to see truths spiritually is then given everyone,

and those see them

who have not confirmed themselves in falsities,

but those who have confirmed themselves

do not want to see truths,

and if they do see them

they turn their backs on them,

and then either ridicule or falsify them.

Let us illustrate this by an example.

In many places in the Word,

anger, wrath, and vengeance are attributed to the Lord,

and it is also said that He punishes,

that He casts into hell, that He tempts,

and many other such things.

He who believes all this in simplicity,

and on that account fears God

and takes care not to sin against Him,

is not condemned for that simple belief.

But the person who confirms himself in these ideas

to such a degree as to believe

that anger, wrath, revenge, thus things that are of evil,

exist in the Lord,

and that from anger, wrath, and revenge

He punishes a person and casts him into hell,

is condemned,

because he has destroyed the genuine truth

that the Lord is love itself, mercy itself, and good itself,

and that one who is these

cannot be angry, wrathful, and revengeful.

These things are attributed to the Lord

because such is the appearance.

So with many other things.

Isaiah 40

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and proclaim to her

that her hard service has been completed,

that her sin has been paid for,

that she has received from the Lord's hand

double for all her sins.

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."

A voice says, "Cry out."

And I said, "What shall I cry?"

"All men are like grass,

and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

The grass withers and the flowers fall,

because the breath of the Lord blows on them.

Surely the people are grass.

The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God stands forever."

You who bring good tidings to Zion,

go up on a high mountain.

You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem,

lift up your voice with a shout,

lift it up, do not be afraid;

say to the towns of Judah,

"Here is your God!"

See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,

and His arm rules for Him.

See, His reward is with Him,

and His recompense accompanies Him.

He tends His flock like a shepherd:

He gathers the lambs in His arms

and carries them close to His heart;

He gently leads those that have young.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,

or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,

or weighed the mountains on the scales

and the hills in a balance?

Who has understood the Mind (Spirit) of the Lord,

or instructed Him as His counselor?

Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten Him,

and who taught Him the right way?

Who was it that taught Him knowledge

or showed Him the path of understanding?

Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are regarded as dust on the scales;

He weighs the islands though they were fine dust.

Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,

nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.

Before Him all the nations are as nothing;

they are regarded by Him as worthless

and less than nothing.

To whom, then, will you compare God?

What image will you compare Him to?

As for an idol, a craftsman casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and fashions silver chains for it.

A man too poor to present such an offering

selects wood that will not rot.

He looks for a skilled craftsman

to set up an idol that will not topple.

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,

and its people are like grasshoppers.

He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,

and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

He brings princes to naught

and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

No sooner are thy planted,

no sooner are they sown,

no sooner do they take root in the ground,

than He blows on them and they wither,

and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

"To whom will you compare Me?

Or who is My equal?" says the Holy One.

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one,

and calls them each by name.

Because of His great power and mighty strength,

not one of them is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,

and complain, O Israel,

My way is hidden from the Lord;

my cause is disregarded by my 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)

SS 81 & 82 - there is a marriage in the Word

SS 81-82

As there is such a marriage in each and every thing of the Word,

there frequently occur in it

two expressions that appear like repetitions of the same thing.

They however are not repetitions,

for one of them has reference to good and the other to truth,

and both taken together effect a conjunction of good and truth,

and thus form one thing.

From this too comes the Divinity of the Word and its holiness,

for in every Divine work

good is conjoined with truth and truth with good.

It is said that in each and every thing of the Word

there is a marriage of the Lord and the church

and a derivative marriage of good and truth,

because wherever there is a marriage of the Lord and the church

there is also a marriage of good and truth,

for the latter is from the former.

For when the church or person of the church is in truths,

the Lord inflows into his truths with good, and vivifies them.

Or what is the same,

when through truths

the church or person of the church is in intelligence,

the Lord inflows into his intelligence

through the good of love and of charity,

and thus pours life into it.

King Hezekiah Prays to the Lord

Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers

and read it.

Then he went up to the temple of the Lord

and spread it out before the Lord.

And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:

"O Lord Almighty, God of Israel,

enthroned between the cherubim,

You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.

You have made heaven and earth.

Give ear, O Lord, and hear;

open Your eyes, O Lord, and see;

listen to all the words of Sennacherib has sent

to insult the living God.

"It is true, O Lord,

that the Assyrian kings have laid waste

all these peoples and their lands.

They have thrown their gods

into the fire and destroyed them,

for they were not gods

but only wood and stone,

fashioned by human hands.

Now, O Lord our God,

deliver us from his hand,

so that all kingdoms on earth may know

that You alone, O Lord, are God."

(Isaiah 37:14-20)

SS 79 - Where is the Church?

SS 79

. . . it is through the Word

that the Lord is present with a person

and is conjoined with him,

for the Lord is the Word,

and as it were

speaks with the person in it.

The Lord is also Divine truth itself,

as likewise is the Word.

From this it is evident

that the Lord is present with a person

and is at the same time conjoined with him,

according to his understanding of the Word,

for according to this the person has truth

and the derivative faith,

and also love

and the derivative life.

The Lord is indeed present with a person

through the reading of the Word,

but He is conjoined with him

through the understanding of truth from the Word . . .

and in proportion as the Lord has been conjoined with a person,

in the same proportion the church is in him.

The church is within person;

the church that is outside of him

is the church with a number of people

who have the church within them.

This is meant by the Lord's words to the Pharisees

who asked when the kingdom of God would come:

The kingdom of God is within you.

(Luke 17:21)

Here the "kingdom of God" means the Lord,

and from Him, the church.

Woe! and The Kingdom of Righteousness

"Woe to the obstinate children," declares the Lord,

"to those who carry out plans that are not Mine,

forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,

heaping sin upon sin . . ."

(Isaiah 30:1)

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 ear

will listen.

The mind of the rash

will know and understand,

and the stammering tongue

will be longer will the 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 will 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)

SS 73 - the Word in heaven

SS 73

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.

You Have Done For Us

Lord, You establish peace for us;

all that we have accomplished

You have done for us.

(Isaiah 25:12)

SS 67 - examples of the senses of the Word

SS 67

We may now illustrate by an example

how from the natural sense

in which is the Word with people,

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 person 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.

[2] Thou shalt not steal.

By to "steal" a person understands

to steal, defraud, or under any pretext take 

fromhis 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.

[3] Thou shalt not commit adultery.

By "committing adultery" a person 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.

[4] Thou shalt not kill.

By "killing," a person understands

also bearing hatred,

and desiring revenge even to the death.

A spiritual angel understands

to act as a devil and destroy the souls of people.

And a celestial angel understands

to bear hatred against the Lord,

and against what is His.

[5] Thou shalt not bear false witness.

By "bearing false witness"

a person 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.

[6] 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 person is thinking about,

and yet the thoughts of the angels

and of the people 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 a person's association with angels 

by means of the Word.