AC 2851- Gates

AC 2851 [2, 3, 14]

As regards the of a "gate,"
there are in general two gates with every person;
the one opens toward hell,
and is opened to the evils and falsities therefrom;
in this gate are infernal genii and spirits;
the other gate opens toward heaven,
and is opened to good and the truths therefrom;
in this gate are angels.

For there are two ways
which lead into person's rational mind -
a higher or internal one,
through which good and truth from the Lord enter,
and a lower or external one,
through which evil and falsity come up from hell.
The rational mind itself is in the middle,
and to it these ways tend.
That mind, from the goods and truths which are in it,
is compared in the Word to a city,
and is called a "city."
And because it is compared to a city,
and is called a "city,"
gates are attributed to it,
and it is often described
as being besieged and stormed by enemies, that is,
by evil genii and spirits;
and as being defended by angels from the Lord,
that is by the Lord.
The infernal genii and spirits,
with their evils and falsities,
cannot come further than to the lower or outer gate,
and in no case into the city.
If they could get into the city, or into the rational mind,
all would be over with the person.
But when they come so far as to seem to themselves
to have taken that city by storm,
it is then closed,
so that good and truth no longer flow into it from heaven
except as was said
some little through chinks round about.
From this it is that such persons
no longer have anything of charity or anything of faith,
but make good consist in evil,
and truth in falsity.
From this also it is that they are no longer truly rational,
although they seem to themselves to be so.
And it is from this that they are called dead men,
although they believe that they are more alive than others.
These things are so
because the gate of heaven is closed to them.
That it is closed to them
manifestly appears and is perceived in the other life;
as also on the other hand
that the gate of heaven is open
to those who are in good and truth.

. . . what is signified by the "gate of enemies,"
namely, that it is hell, or infernal spirits,
who are continually attacking goods and truths.
Their seat with person as before said
is in his natural mind.
But when a person is of such a character
as to admit goods and truths, and thus angels,
the infernal spirits are then driven away by the Lord
from that seat;
and on their being driven away,
the gate of heaven or heaven itself is opened.
 

AC 2850 - Sand

AC 2850

And as the sand which is upon the sea shore.
(Genesis 22:17)

Memory-knowledges are compared to "sand,"
because the little stones of which sand is made,
in the internal sense mean memory-knowledges.
It is here said that they shall be multiplied
"as the stars of the heavens,"
and also "as the sand of the sea shore,"
because the stars or knowledges
have relation to the rational,
but the sand of the sea shore or memory-knowledges
to the natural.
When the things of the rational person,
namely, the goods and truths of knowledges,
agree with those of the natural person,
namely, with memory-knowledges,
so that they make a one,
or mutually confirm each other,
they then correspond.
To this correspondence the Lord reduces
the rational and natural things of a person
when He regenerates him, or makes him spiritual.
From this cause it is that both
the stars of the heavens and the sand of the sea shore
are here mentioned;
otherwise one would have been sufficient.

AC 2841 - Consolation

AC 2841

The first consolation is . . .
where the subject is the Lord's providence
that those from the human race
who are called the spiritual
should be adopted.
The second consolation, which is greater,
is . . . that the spiritual should be multiplied
as the stars of the heavens,
and as the sand upon the sea shore;
and that not only should they be saved,
but also all who are in good.
These were the things of the Lord's love,
and therefore He had consolation from them.
No one has consolation
except from the things which are of his love.

~ Comfort ~

 For this is what the Lord says:

"I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm
and dandled on her knees.
As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will comforted over Jerusalem.

(Isaiah 6:12-13)

AC 2838 - "This Day" and "Today"

AC 2838

We read in several places in the Word,
"even to this day," or "to today;"
as in what goes before . . .

but in the internal sense by "this day" and by "today"
there is meant perpetuity and eternity of state.

. . . That which is of time in the world,
is eternal in heaven.
That this might be meant,
"today" is added, or "to this day,"
although it appears to those
who are in the historical sense
as if it involved nothing further.

~ The Promise of New Heavens and a New Earth ~

"Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.
I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in My people;
the sound of weeping and crying
will be heard no more.

"Never again will there be in it an infant
who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years;
he who dies at a hundred
will be thought a mere youth;
he who fails to reach a hundred
will be considered accursed.
They will build houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
so will be the days of My people;
My chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.
They will not toil in vain
or bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
they and their descendants with them.
Before they call
I will answer;
while they are still speaking
I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
but dust will be the serpent's food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all My holy mountain," says the Lord.

(Isaiah 65:17-25)

AC 2832 - "Horns"

AC 2832

"Horns" are mentioned in many places in the Word;
and there mean the power of truth from good;
and in the opposite sense
the power of falsity from evil;
here the meaning is
that the spiritual who are meant by the "ram"
are entangled in natural memory-knowledge
with all their might in regard to truth,
and so they are deprived of the power
of perceiving truths.
For the more anyone
consults natural memory-knowledges,
and sticks fast in them in his animus and mind
in regard to the things which are truths of faith,
the more does he lose the light of truth,
and with the light,
the life of truth.
Everyone may know this from experience,
if he attends and reflects,
from those who say that they can believe nothing
unless they comprehend that it is so
by means of the things of sense,
or of memory-knowledge.
If you explore their quality,
you will find that they believe nothing;
and moreover that nothing seems to them more wise
than to ascribe everything to nature.
There are many also who say that they believe
although they do not comprehend;
when nevertheless, in secret with themselves,
they reason equally as others do
from the things of sense and memory-knowledge
concerning the truths of faith,
as to whether a thing is so.
These either have a kind of persuasion breathed in
from the love of self and the world,
or they do not believe at all.
Their quality is manifest from their life.
Both classes are indeed in the Lord's spiritual church,
but they are not of the church.
Those who are of the church are in a life of good,
and have faith in truths;
but the spiritual have faith in other truths
besides those which have been
impressed on them from infancy,
and which they have afterwards confirmed to themselves
from doctrine or from some other source.
Such is the state of the spiritual,
which state is here described by the
"ram caught in the thicket by his horns" (Genesis 22:13).

AC 2831 - "Thickets"

AC 2831 [10]

The reason why in the Word
memory-knowledges are called "thickets,"
is that they are comparatively of such a character,
especially when the cupidities (evils)
of the love of self and of the world,
and the principles of falsity,
seek for them.
Celestial and spiritual love
is that which disposes into order
the knowledges which are of the exterior memory;
and the love of self and of the world
is that which perverts the order,
and disturbs all things in it.
These things the person does not take notice of,
because he places order in perverted order,
good in evil, and truth in falsity.
On this account these things are in entanglement;
and also on this,
that the things of the exterior memory,
where these knowledges are,
compared with those in the interior memory,
where rational things are,
are as in a thicket, or as in a dark forest.
How shady, opaque, and dark it is there in comparison,
a person cannot know
so long as he is living in the body;
for he then supposes that all wisdom and intelligence
are from this source;
but he will know in the other life,
when he comes into the things of his interior memory.
That in the exterior memory,
which is proper to a person
while he is living in the world,
nothing is less to be found
than the light of intelligence and wisdom;
but that all is relatively dark,
disorderly, and entangled there . . ..

AC 2826 - "Fear of God"

AC 2826 [13]

. . . the "fear of God" is worship,
either from fear,
or from the good of faith,
or from the good of love.
But the more there is of fear in the worship,
the less there is of faith,
and the less still of love;
and on the other hand,
the more of faith there is in the worship,
and especially the more there is of love,
the less there is of fear.

There is indeed a fear within all worship,
but under another appearance and another condition,
and this is holy fear.
But holy fear is not so much
the fear of hell and of damnation,
as it is of doing or thinking anything against the Lord
and against the neighbor,
and thus anything
against the good of love and the truth of faith.
It is an aversion,
which is the boundary
of the holy of love and the holy of faith on the one side;
and as it is not a fear of hell and damnation,
as before said,
those have it who are in the good of faith;
but those have less of it who are in the good of love,
that is, who are in the Lord.

AC 2821, 2822 - Consolation After Temptation

 AC 2821

The angel of Jehovah called unto him out of heaven.
(Genesis 22:11)

That this means consolation from the Divine Itself . . ..
We read in like manner concerning the Lord,
that when He sustained
the most grievous temptation in Gethsemane,
and angel from heaven was seen by Him
strengthening Him (Luke 22:43).
By the "angel from heaven" here
also in the intern sense is meant
the Divine which was in Him.

AC 2822

All consolation after temptation
is insinuated into good,
for from good is all joy;
and from the good
it passes into truth.

~ Seek and Call On 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.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower
and bread for the eater,
so is My word that goes out from My mouth:
It will not return to Me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord's renown,
for an everlasting sign,
which will not be destroyed."

(Isaiah 55:6-13)

AC 2815-2816 - The Lord's Temptations

AC 2815

And Abraham put forth his hand,
and took the knife to slay his son.
(Genesis 22:10)

"Abraham put forth his hand,"
means temptation even to the utmost of power;
"and took the knife,"
means as to truth;
"to slay his son,"
means until
whatever was from the merely human was dead.

AC 2816

Abraham put forth his hand.
That this means temptation
even to the utmost of power,
is evident from the series of things;
for the Lord's most grievous
and inmost temptations are treated of.
The verses which precede
treat of the preparation of the Human Divine
for admitting and enduring them:
here the act is treated of,
which is expressed in the sense of the letter
by "Abraham put forth his hand."

~ My Salvation, My Righteousness ~

"Listen to Me, My people;
hear Me, My nation:
The law will go out from Me;
My justice will become a light to the nations.
My righteousness draws near speedily,
My salvation is on the way,
and My arm will bring justice to the nations.
The islands will look to Me
and wait in hope for My arm.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment
and its inhabitants die like flies,
But My salvation will last forever,
My righteousness will never fail.

"Hear me, you who know what is right,
you people who have My law in your hearts:
Do not fear the reproach of men
or be terrified by their insults.
for the moth will eat them up like a garment;
the worm will devour them like wool.
But My righteousness will last forever,
My salvation through all generations."

(Isaiah 51:4-8)

AC 2811 - The Lord's Divine Human; AC 2813, 2814 - The Truth Divine

AC 2811

. . . the Lord's Divine Human
is all worship and all doctrine;
so much so
as to be worship itself and doctrine itself . . ..

The final preparation of the Lord's Human Divine
for undergoing the last degrees of temptation
is treated of in this verse (Genesis 22:9),
and is described by Abraham laying the wood in order,
binding Isaac his son,
and placing him on the altar of wood.

AC 2813

It was Truth Divine
which was no longer acknowledged
when the Lord came into the world,
and therefore it was that from which
the Lord underwent and endured temptations.
Truth Divine in the Lord
is what is called the "Son of man,"
but Good Divine
is what is called the "Son of God."
Of the "Son of man"
the Lord says many times
that He was to suffer,
but never of the Son of God.

AC 2814

The Truth Divine in the Lord's Human Divine,
which underwent the temptations,
and which has been treated of,
is not the Divine Truth itself,
for this is above all temptation;
but it is rational truth,
such as the angels have,
consisting in the appearances of truth,
and is what is called the "Son of man,"
but before the glorification.
But the Divine Truth
in the Lord's glorified Divine Human
is above appearances,
nor can it possibly come to any understanding,
and still less to the apprehension of a person,
nor even to that of angels,
and thus not at all to anything of temptation.
It appears in the heavens as light
which is from the Lord.

~ The Lord Will Answer You and Help You ~

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 will make you to be
a covenant for the people,
to restore the land
and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
to say to the captives, 'Come out,'
and to those in darkness, 'Be free!'

They will feed beside the roads
and find pasture on every barren hill.
They will neither hunger nor thirst,
nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them.
He who has compassion on them
will guide them
and lead them beside springs of water.

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 49:8-10, 13)

 

AC 2802 - "He Said"; AC 2803 - The Divine Essence With the Human

Isaac said unto Abraham his father;
and he said, My father;
and he said, Here am I, my son.
And he said, Behold the fire and the wood;
and where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? "
(Genesis 22:7)

AC 2802

That more arcana lie hid in these words
than can come to human perception,
is evident from the fact that the words "he said"
occur four times in this verse.
It is usual in the Word,
when any new thing is begun, to say, "and he said".
The same is evident from the fact
that the words are words of love;
and when such come
to the perception of the celestial angels
who are in the inmost sense,
they form for themselves from them
most celestial ideas;
for they form for themselves luminous ideas
from the affections in the Word,
whereas the spiritual angels do so
from the meanings of the words and of the things;
and thus from these words,
in which there are four
distinct periods and affections of love,
the celestial angels form such things
as can in no wise come down to human apprehension,
nor can be put into words;
and this with ineffable abundance and variety.
So we can see what the quality of the Word is
in its internal sense,
even where it appears simple in the letter,
as in this verse.

AC 2803

Truth cannot be and come forth
from any other source than good,
as has been shown many times.
That the "son" here is the Divine Truth,
and the "father" the Divine Good,
is because the union
of the Divine Essence with the Human,
and of the Human Essence with the Divine,
is the Divine marriage of Good with Truth,
and of Truth with Good,
from which comes the heavenly marriage;
for in Jehovah or the Lord
there is nothing but what is infinite;
and because infinite,
it cannot be apprehended by any idea,
except that it is the being and the coming forth
of all good and truth,
or is Good itself and Truth itself.
Good itself is the "Father,"
and Truth itself is the "Son."
But because as before said
there is a Divine marriage of Good and Truth,
and of Truth and Good,
the Father is in the Son,
and the Son is in the Father,
as the Lord Himself teaches in John:

Jesus saith unto Philip,

Don't you know Me, Philip,
even after I have been among you such a long time?
Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.
How can you say,
'Show us the Father'?
Don't you believe that I am in the Father,
and that the Father is in Me?
The words I say to you
are not just My own.
Rather, it is the Father,
living in Me, who is doing His work.
Believe Me when I say
that I am in the Father
and the Father is in Me . . ..
(John 14:9-11)

~ I Will Sustain You ~

"Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
all you who remain of the house of Israel,
you whom I have upheld since you were conceived,
and have carried since your birth.
Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am He,
I am He who will sustain you.
I have made you
and I will carry you;
and will sustain you
and I will rescue you.

(Isaiah 46:3-4)

AC 2799 - A "Sword" Is Truth Protecting

AC 2799 [1, 4, 6, 21]

A "sword" in the internal sense
means the truth of faith combating,
and also the vastation of truth;
and in the opposite sense falsity combating,
and the punishment of falsity.

Out of the mouth of Him
that sat upon the white horse proceeded a sharp sword,
that with it He should smite the nations;
and they were slain by the sword
of Him that sat upon the horse,
which came forth out of His mouth.
(Revelation 19:15, 21);

where it is clear that the "sword out of His mouth"
is truth combating.
. . . it is that the Lord says in Matthew:

Think not that I came to send peace on the earth;
I came not to send peace, but a sword.
(Matthew 10:34)

. . . In Joshua:

Joshua lifted up his eyes and looked,
and behold there stood a man over against him,
and his sword drawn in his hand;
and he said to Joshua,
I am prince of the army of Jehovah;
and Joshua fell on his face to the earth.
(Joshua 5:13-14)

This was when Joshua entered with the sons of Israel
into the land of Canaan,
by which is meant
the entrance of the faithful into the Lord's kingdom.
Truth combating, which is of the church,
is the "drawn sword in the hand of the prince
of the army of Jehovah."

. . . truth combating is represented
by things that have a point, like swords;
for indeed truth without good is of this nature,
but when together with good
it has a rounded form and is gentle.
__________

vastation - the action or process
of emptying or purifying someone or something,
typically violently or drastically.

AC 2788 - In God; AC 2797 - Changes of State

 AC 2788

. . . in God
to be and to become
are the same;
indeed all eternity is present to Him.

AC 2795 [2]

. . . the Lord could not be tempted at all
when He was in the Divine Itself,
for the Divine is infinitely above all temptation;
but He could be tempted as to His human.
This is the reason why when He was to undergo
the most grievous and inmost temptations,
He adjoined to Himself the prior human,
that is, the rational and the natural of it,
as described in verse 3;
and why He afterwards separated Himself from these,
as is said in this verse (Genesis 22:5) . . ..

AC 2796 [1, 2]

As regards the putting on
of the various states by the Lord
which is here treated of,
they cannot but be unknown to a person,
because he never reflects on his changes of state;
which are nevertheless going on continually,
both as to what is
of the understanding or the thoughts,
and as to what is of the will or the affections.
The reason of his not reflecting upon them
is that he believes
that all things in him follow in natural order,
and that there is nothing higher which directs;
whereas the case is
that all things are disposed by means of
the spirits and angels with him;
and all his states
and changes of states are therefrom,
and are thus to eternity
directed by the Lord
to ends which the Lord alone foresees.

The changes of state with a person
as to what is of the understanding
and as to what is of the will,
and the order in which they follow on,
as also the series through which they pass,
and thus how they are bent by the Lord
as far as possible to good,
it belongs to the angels to know.
The wisdom of the angels is such
that they perceive all these things most minutely.
So it is that these things
which are revealed in the internal sense
concerning the changes of state with the Lord,
are clearly and distinctly perceivable by the angels,
because they are in the light of heaven from the Lord;
and they are also in some degree
intelligible to a person who lives in simple good;
but they are merely obscure
and as nothing to those who are in evil,
and also to those who are in the deliriums of wisdom;
for these have obscured and extinguished
their natural and rational light
by many things which have induced darkness,
however much they may believe
that they are preeminently in light.

AC 2780 - Morning

AC 2780

The state of peace in the heavens
is like that of the dawn on earth.
In the state of peace in the heavens
come forth all celestial and spiritual things,
and derive therefrom all that is
auspicious, blessed, and happy in them,
as in the time of dawn on earth
all things come forth before a person
as things of delight and gladness;
for all the singulars derive their quality
from the general affection.
The case is the same with the state of innocence:
this comes forth in the state of peace,
and is a general thing
affecting all the things of love and faith.
Unless these have innocence in them,
they lack their essential.
So it is that no one can come into heaven
unless he have something of innocence.