AR 584 - His Name

AR 584

God symbolizes the Lord's Divinity . . ..

And His name symbolizes everything

by which the Lord is worshiped,

including the Word . . ..

In the second commandment of the Decalogue,

the name of Jehovah God that is not to be profaned,

and in the Lord's Prayer,

that name of the Father that is to be hallowed,

have precisely this meaning.

The Lord's Judgment

I will deal with them

according to their conduct,

and by their own standards

I will judge them.

Then they will know

that I am the Lord.

(Ezekiel 7:27)

AR 571 - doctrinal falsity; loving the neighbor

AR 571

. . . every doctrinal falsity takes its origin

from no other source than people's own intelligence.

For what is more universally taught in the Word

than to refrain from evil and do good?

And what is more evident there

than the precept that God is to be love,

and the neighbor also?

Who does not see, too,

that no one is capable of loving the neighbor

unless he lives in conformity with the works of the law?

Also, anyone who does not love his neighbor

does not love God either,

for it is in love for the neighbor

that the Lord conjoins Himself with a person

and that a person conjoins himself with the Lord;

that is to say,

that it is in that love

that God and and man join together.

What, then, is it to love the neighbor

except to refrain from doing evil to him,

in accordance with the commandments of the Decalogue?

And to the extent a person wills

not to do evil to the neighbor,

to the same extent

he wills to do good to him.

Ezekiel's Call

Then I looked,

and I saw a hand stretched out to me.

In it was a scroll,

which He unrolled before me.

On both sides of it were written

words of lament and mourning and woe.

And He said to me,

"Son of man, eat what is before you,

eat this scroll;

then go and speak to the house of Israel."

So I opened my mouth,

and He gave me the scroll to eat.

Then He said to me,

"Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you

and fill your stomach with it."

So I ate it,

and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

(Ezekiel 2:9-10; 3:1-3)

AR pre-532 - the dragon; AR 563 - reasonings

AR pre-532

Now when the dragon saw that it has been cast to the earth,

it pursued the woman who gave birth to the male Child.

--- After they were cast down,

followers of the dragon in the world of spirits

immediately began to harass the New Church

because of its doctrine.

But the woman was given two wings of the great eagle,

that she might fly into the wilderness to her place,

--- The Divine vigilance for that Church

and protection while is was still among a few.

where she might be nourished

for a time and times and half a time,

from the face of the serpent.

--- Because of the cunning of those leading astray,

to provide vigilantly for the New Church

to spread among more people,

until it grows to its appointed state.

So the serpent spewed water out of its mouth

like a river after the woman,

that it might cause her to be swept away by the river.

--- A multitude of reasonings flowing from falsities

in order to destroy the church.

But the earth helped the woman,

and the earth opened its mouth

and swallowed up the river

which the dragon had spewed out of its mouth.

--- The multitude of reasonings come to nothing

in the face of the spiritual truths

rationally understood

that are advanced by the Michaels

of whom the New Church is formed.

And the dragon was enraged with the woman,

and it went off to make war with the rest of her offspring,

who keep the commandments of God

and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

--- The hatred ignited in those people .

who believe themselves wise

because of their arguments in support of the mystical union

of the Divine and the human in the Lord

and in support of justification by faith alone,

against those who acknowledge

the Lord alone as God of heaven and earth,

and the Ten Commandments as law to be lived,

and their attacking new converts

with the intention of leading them astray.

(Revelation 12:13-17)

AR 563

The reasonings of people meant by the dragon

all arise from misconceptions and appearances,

and if they are defended,

they seem superficially to be true,

but inwardly they contain a multitude of falsities.

Let Us Return to the Lord

Why should any living man complain

when punished for his sins?

Let us examine our ways and test them,

and let us return to the Lord.

(Lamentations 3:39-40)

AR pre-532 - a loud voice; AR 553 - to believe

AR pre-532

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,

"Now salvation, and power, and the kingdom of our God,

and the authority of His Christ have come,

--- The joy of angels in heaven

that the Lord alone now reigns in heaven and the church,

and that those people are saved

who believe in Him.

for the accuser of our brethren,

which accused them before our God

day and night,

has been cast down.

--- By the Last Judgment those were removed

who stood in opposition to the doctrine of the New Church.

And they overcame it by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony,

--- Victory gained by the Divine truth of the Word

and acknowledgment of the Lord,

and they did not love their lives to the death.

--- and they did not love themselves more than the Lord.

Therefore rejoice, O heavens,

and you who dwell in them!

--- The new state of heaven,

that the inhabitants are in the Lord

and have the Lord in them.

Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea!

For the devil has come down to you,

having great wrath,

--- A lamentation over people in the church

who are caught up in the falsities of their faith

and thus in evil practices,

because they are in league with followers of the dragon,

knowing that it has but a short time."

--- because it knew that a new heaven had been formed,

that a new church on earth was therefore imminent,

and that it would then be cast into hell,

along with its followers.

(Revelation 12:10-12)

AR 553

. . . God means the Divine itself

from which springs all else,

namely the Divine called Jehovah, the Father,

and that His Christ means

the Divine humanity called the Son of God . . ..

So then, because the Divine itself

from which all else springs

and the Lord's Divine humanity

are united as soul and body,

it follows that the Lord alone reigns.

[2]  To believe in the Lord

is to turn directly to Him

and have confidence that He will save.

And because no one can have that confidence

unless he lives rightly,

therefore this, too, is meant by believing in Him.

The Burning and Looting of Jerusalem

On the tenth day of the fifth month,

in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,

Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard,

who served king of Babylon,

came to Jerusalem.

He set fire to the temple of the Lord,

the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem.

Every important building he burned down.

The whole Babylonian army

under the commander of the imperial guard

carried into exile

some of the poorest people

and those who remained in the city,

along with the rest of the craftsmen

and those who had gone over to the king of Babylon.

But Nebuzaradan left behind

the rest of the poorest people of the land

to work the vineyards and fields.

The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars,

the movable stands and the bronze Sea

that were at the temple of the Lord

and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.

They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers,

sprinkling bowls, dishes and all the bronze articles

used in the temple service.

The commander of the imperial guard

took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots,

lampstands, dishes and bowls used for drink offerings -

all that were made of pure gold or silver.

The bronze from the two pillars,

the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls under it,

and the moveable stands

which King Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord,

was more than could be weighed.

Each of the pillars was eighteen cubits high

and twelve cubits in circumference;

each was four fingers thick, and hollow.

The bronze capital on top of the one pillar

was five cubits high and was decorated

with a network

and pomegranates of bronze all around.

The other pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar.

There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides;

the total number of pomegranates

above the surrounding network

was a hundred.

(Jeremiah 52:12-23)

AR pre-532 - war in heaven; AR 548 - Michael & Gabriel

AR pre-532

​And war broke out in heaven:

Michael and his angels fought with the dragon;

and the dragon and its angels fought,

--- the falsities of the previous church

fighting against the truths of the New Church.

​but they did not prevail,

nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

--- They were convicted

of being caught up in falsities and evils,

and yet they persisted in them,

and therefore they were forcibly withdrawn

from any conjunction with heaven

and cast down.

​So the great dragon was cast out,

that serpent of old,

called the Devil and Satan,​

--- Those people now turned away

from the Lord to themselves,

and from heaven to the world,

and so were caught up 

in the evils of their lusts and in falsities.

​which leads the whole world astray;​

--- They pervert everything having to do with the church.

​it was cast to the earth,

and its angels were cast out with it.

--- They were cast into the world of spirits,

which is midway between heaven and hell,

from which a direct conjunction is formed

with people on earth.

(Revelation 12:7-9)

AR 548

Michael does not mean some archangel,

and neither does Gabriel or Raphael,

but ministries in heaven are meant.

The ministry that is Michael there

is performed by people

who confirm from the Word

that the Lord is God of heaven and earth,

that God the Father and the Lord are one

as soul and body are one,

that one must live according to the Ten Commandments,

and that a person then possesses charity and faith.

. . . Gabriel, on the other hand,

means the ministry performed by people

who teach from the Word

that Jehovah came into the world

and that the humanity that he took on there

is the Son of God and Divine.

The angel who announced this to Mary

is accordingly called Gabriel (Luke 1:19, 26-35)

People who are engaged in these ministries

are also called Michaels and Gabriels in heaven.

A Warning to Babylon

This is the word of the Lord . . .

"Like a lion coming up from Jordan's thickets

to a rich pastureland,

I will chase Babylon from its land in an instant.

Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?

Who is like Me and who can challenge Me?

And what shepherd can stand against Me?

(Jeremiah 50:1,44)

AR pre-532 - a male Child; AR 547 - growth of the New Church

AR pre-532

She bore a male Child

--- The doctrine of the New Church,

who would shepherd all all nations with a rod of iron.

--- which by truths drawn from the literal sense of the Word,

together with rational arguments

in accord with people's natural sight,

will convince all those willing to be convinced

whose worship is a lifeless worship

owing to their divorcing faith from charity.

And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.

--- The Lord's protection of the doctrine

and its being guarded by angels in heaven.

Then the woman fled into the wilderness,
 ---The church being at first among few.

where she has a place prepared by God,

that they may feed her there

one thousand two hundred and sixty days. 
--- The state of that church then,

that in the meantime provision may be made for it

to exist among more people,

until it grows to its appointed state.

(Revelation 12:5-6)

AR 547

It is of the Lord's Divine providence

that the church be at first among few

and that it gradually grow to be among more,

because the falsities of the previous church

must first be removed.

For truths cannot be accepted before then,

inasmuch as truths accepted and implanted

before falsities have been removed

do not remain . . . .

A Curse

"A curse on him who is lax

in doing the Lord's work!"

(Jeremiah 48:10)

AR pre-532 - another sign; AR 540 - jewels

And another sign appeared in heaven:

--- A revelation from the Lord

concerning people antagonistic to the New Church

and its doctrine.

behold, a great, fiery red dragon

--- People in the Protestant Reformed Church

who make God three entities and the Lord two,

and who divorce charity from faith,

making faith saving

and not at the same time charity.

having seven heads--- Irrationality owing to their falsifying and profaning

the Word's truths.

and ten horns

--- Much power.

and seven jewels on its heads.

--- All the Word's truths falsified and profaned.

Its tail drew a third of the stars of heaven

and threw them to the earth.

--- By falsifying the Word's truths

they exiled all spiritual concepts

of goodness and truth from the church,

and by appeals to falsity

completely destroyed them.

(Revelation 12:3-4)

AR 540 [2]

Truths in the literal meaning of the Word

are symbolized by jewels or precious stones

because everything in the Word's literal meaning is,

in the eyes of angels, translucent

in consequence of the Word's spiritual meaning,

thus in consequence of the light of heaven

in which the Word's spiritual truths reside.

For a stone in the Word symbolizes

truth in its outmost expressions,

and thus a precious stone,

that truth translucent.

Jeremiah Stays

The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord

after Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard

had released him at Ramah.

He had found Jeremiah bound in chains

among all the captives from Jerusalem and Judah

who were being carried into exile to Babylon.

When the commander of the guard found Jeremiah,

he said to him,

"The Lord your God decreed this disaster for this place.

And now the Lord has brought it about;

He has done just as He said He would.

All this happened

because you people sinned against the Lord

and did not obey Him.

But today I am freeing you

from the chains on your wrists.

Come with me to Babylon, if you like,

and I will look after you;

but if you do not want to,

then don't come.

Look, the whole country lies before you;

go wherever you please."

However, before Jeremiah turned to go,

Nebuzaradan added, "Go back to Gedaliah

son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan,

whom the king of Babylon has appointed

over the towns of Judah,

and live with him among the people,

or go anywhere else you please."

and stayed with him among the people

who were left behind in the land.

(Jeremiah 40:1-6)

AR pre-532 - a great sign in heaven; AR 533

Now a great sign appeared in heaven:

--- A revelation from the Lord concerning His New Church

in heaven and on earth

and the difficulty of its doctrine's being accepted

and the antagonism to it.

a woman clothed with the sun,

with the moon under her feet,

--- The Lord's New Church in heaven,

which is the New Heaven,

and the New Church to come on earth,

which is the New Jerusalem.

and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

--- Its wisdom and intelligence resulting from

its concepts of Divine goodness and truth

drawn from the Word.

Then being with child,

she cried out in labor and in pain

to give birth.

--- The emerging doctrine of the New Church

and the difficulty of its being accepted

owing to the opposition to it

by people meant by the dragon.

(Revelation 12:1-2)

AR 533

The woman here appeared clothed with the sun

because the church is governed by love toward the Lord;

for it acknowledges Him,

and keeps His commandments,

and that is loving Him.

"Before long,

the world will not see Me anymore,

but you will see Me.

Because I live,

you also will live.

On that day you will realize

that I am in My Father,

and you are in Me,

and I am in you.

Whoever has My commands and obeys them,

he is the one who loves Me.

He who loves Me

will be loved by My Father,

and I too will love him

and show Myself to him."

Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said,

"But, Lord, why do You intend to show Yourself to us

and not to the world?"

Jesus replied,

"If anyone loves Me,

he will obey My teaching.

My Father will love him,

and We will come to him

and make Our home with him.

He who does not love Me

will not obey My teaching.

These words you hear are not My own;

they belong to the Father who sent Me."

(John 14:19-24)