AC 6451, 6454 - the process

AC 6451 [2,3]
In person there is what is inmost,
there are interior things under the inmost,
and there are exterior things.
All these are most exactly distinct;
they succeed in order,
thus from the inmost down to the outermost;
according to the order in which they succeed,
they also flow in;
so it is that life flows
through the inmost into the interiors,
and through the interiors into the exteriors,
thus according to the order in which they succeed;
and it does not rest except in the ultimate of order,
where it stops.

[3] As all the interiors are together in the ultimate,
therefore the appearance is
as if life were in the ultimate,
that is, in the body;
when yet it is in the interiors,
nor yet there,
but in the highest,
that is, in the Lord,
from whom is the all of life.

AC 6454
Whatever is in the natural,
and especially what is in the exterior natural,
is obscure in comparison
with what is in the interior natural,
and still more so in comparison
with what is in the rational.
But this obscurity becomes clear in two ways;
first, if the exteriors
are brought into compliance with the interiors,
and thus into correspondence;
secondly, if the person can be elevated
from the exterior
to the interior things,
and thus to see the exterior things
from what is interior.
This latter way is possible
with those who are in the internal of the church,
and the former
with those who are in its external;
but neither the one nor the other is obtained
except through regeneration from the Lord.
From this it is plain what is meant
by the obscurity being capable of becoming clear.
(!)

Portions: Leviticus 14-16

These are the regulations for
any infectious skin disease, for an itch,
for mildew in clothing or in a house,
and for a swelling, a rash or bright spot,
to determine when something is clean or unclean.
These are the regulations for
infectious skin diseases and mildew.
(Leviticus 14:54-57)

"" You must keep the Israelites separate
from things that make them unclean,
so they will not die in the uncleanness
for defiling My dwelling place,
which is among them.'"
(Leviticus 15:31)

"' This is to be a lasting ordinance for you:
Atonement is to be made once a year
for all the sins of the Israelites."
And it was done,
as the Lord commanded Moses.
(Leviticus 16:34)

AC 6442 - when the Lord is present; AC 6443 - when first in heaven

AC 6442
. . . when the Lord is present
it shall be done,
is evident from the signification of "morning,"
as being in the supreme sense the Lord . . ..

AC 4663
. . . those who are being elevated into heaven
are at first in obscurity (evening);
for they cannot come to clearness
until they have been in heaven,
and have been instructed with respect to truths
by the Lord through the angels,
into whose society they are sent;
for there is need of time
in order that the obscurity induced by falsities
may be dissipated.

Portions: Leviticus 11-13

"I am the Lord
who brought you up out of Egypt
to be your God;
therefore be holy,
because I am holy.
These are the regulations concerning animals, birds,
every living thing that moves in the water,
and every creature that moves about on the ground.
You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean,
between living creatures that may be eaten
and those that may not be eaten.'"
(Leviticus 11:45-47)

"'These are the regulations for the woman
who gives birth to a boy or a girl.'"
(Leviticus 12:7)

These are the regulations concerning
contamination by mildew in woolen or linen clothing,
woven or knitted material or any leather article,
for pronouncing them clean or unclean.
(Leviticus 13:59)

AC 6432 - those who hear the Word of God and keep it

AC 6432 [8]
. . . the affections of truth which those have
who hear the Word of God;
and the affections of good
which those have who keep or do it.

Portions: Leviticus 5-10

If a person sins and does what is forbidden
in any of the Lord's commands,
even though he does not know it,
he is guilty and will be held responsible.
He is to bring to the priest as a guilt offering . . ..
In this way the priest will make atonement for him
for the wrong he has committed unintentionally,
and he will be forgiven.
It is a guilt offering;
he has been guilty of wrongdoing against the Lord.
(Leviticus 5:17-19)

The fire on the altar must be kept burning;
it must not go out.
(Leviticus 6:12)

These, then are the regulations for
the burnt offering,
the grain offering,
the sin offering,
the guilt offering,
the ordination offering
and the fellowship offering,
which the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai
on the day He commanded the Israelites
to bring their offerings to the Lord,
in the Desert of Sinai.
(Leviticus 7:37-38)

The Lord said to Moses,
"Bring Aaron and his sons, their garments,
the anointing oil,
the bull for the sin offering,
and the two rams
and the basket containing bread made without yeast,
and gather at the entire assembly
at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting."
Moses did as the Lord commanded him,
and the assembly gathered
at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
Then Moses took the anointing oil
and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it,
and so consecrated them.
(Leviticus 8:1-3,10)

Moses and Aaron then went into the Tent of Meeting.
When they came out,
they blessed the people;
and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.
Fire came out from the presence of the Lord
and consumed the burnt offering
and the fat portions on the altar.
And when all the people saw it,
they shouted for joy and fell facedown.
(Leviticus 9:23-24)

Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers,
and put fire in them and added incense;
and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord,
contrary to His command.
So fire came out from the presence of the Lord
and consumed them,
and they died before the Lord.
Moses then said to Aaron,
"This is what the Lord spoke of when He said:
"'Among those who approach me
I will show Myself holy;
in the sight of all the people,
I will be honored.'"
Aaron remained silent.
(Leviticus 10:1-3)

AC 6419 - "To march upon the wall" (Genesis 49:22); AC 6423 - why truth is strong

AC 6419 [2]
"To march upon the wall"
(Genesis 49:22)
is said because in the internal sense
the subject treated of is assault on truth by falsities,
and defense of truth against falsity;
for the spiritual church,
which is represented by Joseph,
is continually being assaulted,
but the Lord continually defends it.
Consequently in the Word
what belongs to this church is compared to a city,
which has a wall, outworks, gates, and bars;
and by the assaults on that city
are described the assaults on truth by falsities;
so also a "city" signifies doctrinal things,
and its "wall" the truths of faith which defend it,
and in the opposite sense
the falsities which are being destroyed.
That a "wall" signifies the truths of faith which defend . . . :
    
We have a strong city;
salvation will He appoint for walls and bulwark.
Open ye the gates,
that the righteous nation 
which keeps faithfulness
may enter in.
(Isaiah 26:1)

I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem;  
they shall not be silent all the day and the night,
keeping Jehovah in mind.
(Isa. 62:6)

AC 6423
The reason why truth is strong,
is that good acts through truth;
for good is of such a nature
that nothing of evil or of falsity can approach it,
thus none of the infernal crew,
who flee far away when good approaches,
or an angel who is in good.
But in order that good may fight with that crew
which is with a person from hell,
and protect him in every way,
. . .it acts through truth,
for in this way it can approach them.

Portions: Leviticus 1-4

The Lord called to Moses
and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting.
He said, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them:
'When any of you brings an offering to the Lord,
bring as your offering an animal
from either the herd or the flock.
It is a burnt offering,
an offering made by fire,
an aroma pleasing to the Lord.'"
(Leviticus 1:1-2,17)

"'When someone brings a grain offering to the Lord,
his offering is to be of fine flour.
He is to pour oil on it,
put incense on it and take it to Aaron's sons the priests.
The priest shall take a handful of the fine flour and oil,
together with all the incense,
and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar,
an offering made by fire,
an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
The rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons;
it is a most holy part of the offerings
made to the Lord by fire.'"
(Leviticus k:1-3)

"'If someone's offering is a fellowship offering,
and he offers an animal from the herd,
whether male or female,
he is to present before the Lord
an animal without defect.
The priest shall burn them on the altar as food,
an offering made by fire,
a pleasing aroma.
All the fat is the Lord's.
This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come,
wherever you live:
You must not eat any fat or any blood.'"
(Leviticus 3:1,16-17)

The Lord said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites:
'When anyone sins unintentionally
and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord's commands -
When he is made aware of the sin he committed,
he must bring as his offering for the sin he committed . . .
In this way the priest will make atonement for him
for the sin he has committed,
and he will be forgiven.
(Leviticus 4:1-2,28,35)

AC 6406 - works; AC 6410 - activity

AC 6406
Works are nothing
but good and truth themselves in outward form;
for good which is of the will,
and truth which is of the understanding,
when put forth into act,
are called "works;"
so it is evident that such as are the good and truth,
such are the works.

AC 6410
The delight from good
and the pleasantness from truth
which cause blessedness in heaven,
do not consist in idleness,
but in activity;
for in idleness delight and pleasantness
become undelight and unpleasantness;
but in activity delight and pleasantness
are permanent and constantly uplift,
and cause blessedness.
With those who are in heaven,
activity consists in the performance of uses
(which to them is delight from good),
and in relishing truths with the end of uses
(which to them is pleasantness from truth).

AC 6397 - judgment

AC 6397 [3]
. . . no person,
nor even an angel,
can judge any one;
for no one but the Lord alone
can know the interiors,
what they are
and what they will be,
and this to eternity.

Portions: Genesis 36-40

Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab
and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability
and who was willing to come and do the work.
They received from Moses
all the offerings the Israelites had brought
to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary.
And the people continued to bring freewill offerings
morning after morning
So all the skilled craftsmen
who were doing all the work on the sanctuary
left their work and said to Moses,
"The people are bringing more than enough
for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done."
Then Moses gave an order
and they sent this word throughout the camp
"No man or woman is to make anything else
as an offering for the sanctuary."
And so the people were restrained from bringing more,
because what they already had
was more than enough to do all the work.
(Exodus 36:2-7)

Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood -
two and a half cubits long,
a cubit and a half wide,
and a cubit and a half high.
They made the table of acacia wood -
two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high.
They made the lampstand of pure gold
and hammered it out, base and shaft;
its flower-like cups, buds and blossoms 
were of one piece with it.
They made the altar of incense out of acacia.
It was square,
a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high -
its horns of one piece with it.
(Exodus 37:1,10,17,25)

They built the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood,
three cubits high;
it was square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.
They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand
from the mirrors of the women
who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
Next they made the courtyard.
These are the amounts of the materials used for the tabernacle,
the tabernacle of the Testimony,
which were recorded at Moses' command by the Levites
under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.
(Exodus 38:1,8-9,21)

From the blue, purple and scarlet yarn
they made woven garments for ministering in the sanctuary.
They also made sacred garments for Aaron,
as the Lord commanded Moses.
They made the ephod of gold,
and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn,
and of finely twisted linen.
They fashioned the breastpiece -
the work of a skilled craftsman.
They made it like the ephod:  of gold,
and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn,
and of finely twisted linen.
The Israelites had done all the work
just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Moses inspected the work
and saw that they had done it
just as the Lord had commanded.
So Moses blessed them.
(Exodus 39:1,2,8,42-43)

Then the Lord said to Moses:
"Set up the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting,
on the first day of the first month.
The the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting,
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day,
and fire was in the cloud by night,
in the sight of all the house of Israel
during all their travels.
(Exodus 40:1,34,38)

AC 6388
. . . (those) who are in genuine mutual love
are in their delight and bliss
when they are benefiting the neighbor,
for they desire nothing more.
This delight and bliss are what is meant by "hire" in the Word;
for the delight and bliss is itself the reward;
and in the other life this becomes the joy and happiness
which are in heaven, thus it becomes heaven to them.
For when they who are in this love perform uses,
and do good to others,
they are in such joy and happiness
that then for the first time
they seem to themselves to be in heaven;
this is given them by the Lord,
to everyone according to the uses he performs.
But the happiness vanishes as soon as they think of reward,
for being in the reward itself,
thought about reward renders that love impure, and perverts it;
the reason of which is
that they are then thinking about themselves,
and not about the neighbor,
that is, about making themselves happy,
and not others,
except Insofar as it affects themselves.

AC 6392
. . . (those) who are led by the Lord
desire nothing more than to do good works,
and that nothing is further than their thought
than of meriting by them. This is in the new will,
which is given by the Lord
to those who are being regenerated,
for this will is the will of the Lord in the person.

Portions: Exodus 32-35

When the people saw
that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain,
they gathered around Aaron and said,
"Come, make us gods who will go before us.
As for this fellow Moses
who brought us up out of Egypt,
we don't know what has happened to him."
Aaron answered them,
"Take off the gold earrings that your wives,
your sons and your daughters are wearing,
and bring them to me."
(Exodus 32:1-2)

Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it
outside the camp and some distance away,
calling it the "tent of meeting."
Anyone inquiring of the Lord
would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp.
Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud
standing at the entrance to the tent,
they all stood and worshiped,
each at the entrance to his tent.
The Lord would speak to Moses face to face,
as a man speaks with his friend.
(Exodus: 33:7,10-11)

The Lord said to Moses,
"Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones,
and I will write on them the words 
that were on the first tablets which you broke.
Be ready in the morning, 
and then come up on Mount Sinai.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai
with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands,
he was not aware that his face was radiant
because he had spoken with the Lord.
(Exodus 34:1-2,29)

Then the whole Israelite community
withdrew from Moses' presence,
and everyone who was willing whose heart moved him
came and brought an offering to the Lord
for the work on the Tent of Meeting,
for all its service,
and for the sacred garments.
(Exodus 35:20-21)

AC 6386 - definitions

AC 6386
Doctrinal things are those which are from the Word;
knowledges are those which are from
doctrinal things on one side
and from memory-knowledges on the other;
and memory-knowledges are those which belong to experience,
either one's own or that of others.

Portions: Exodus 28-31

"Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron,
to give him dignity and honor.
Tell all the skilled men
to whom I have given wisdom in such matters
that they are to make garments for Aaron,
for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest.
These are the garments they are to make:
a breast piece, an ephod,
a robe, a woven tunic,
a turban and a sash.
They are to make these sacred garments
for your brother Aaron and his sons,
so they may serve Me as priests.
Have them use gold, and blue,
purple and scarlet yarn,
and fine linen."
(Exodus 28:2-5)

"So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar
and will consecrate Aaron and his sons
to serve Me as priests.
Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.
They will know that I am the Lord their God,
who brought them out of Egypt
so that I might dwell among them.
I am the Lord their God."
(Exodus 29:44-46)

Then the Lord said to Moses,
"Take fragrant spices
- gum resin, onycha and galbanum - and pure frankincense,
all in equal amounts,
and make a fragrant blend of incense,
the work of a perfumer.
It is to salted and pure and sacred.
Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves;
consider it holy to the Lord.
(Exodus 30:34-35,37)

When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai,
He gave him the two tablets of Testimony,
the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
(Exodus 31:18)

AC 6355 - truth is glory

AC 6355
. . . truth is glory to those who are in spiritual good.

Portions: Exodus 23-27

"Do not spread false reports.
Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witness.
"Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.
When you give testimony in a lawsuit,
do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd,
and do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit."
(Exodus 23:1-3)

Then He said to Moses,
"Come up to the Lord,
you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu,
and seventy of the elders of Israel.
You are to worship at a distance,
but Moses alone is to approach the Lord;
the others must not come near."
Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu,
and the seventy elders of Israel went up
and saw the God of Israel.
Under His feet was something like a pavement
made of sapphire (lapis luzuli),
clear as the sky itself.
But God did not raise His hand
against these leaders of the Israelites;
they saw God,
and they ate and drank.
(Exodus 24:1-2,9-11)

The Lord said to Moses,
"Then have them make a sanctuary for Me,
and I will dwell among them.
Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings
exactly like the pattern I will show you."
(Exodus 25:1,8-9)

"Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet
yarn and finely twisted linen,
with cherubim worked into it by a skilled craftsman.
Hang it with gold hooks
on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold
and standing on four silver bases.
Hang the curtain from the clasps
and place the ark of the Testimony behind the curtain.
The curtain will separate
the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.
Put the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony
in the Most Holy Place.
Place the table outside the curtain
on the north side of the tabernacle
and put the lampstand opposite it
on the south side."
(Exodus 26:31-35)

"Command the Israelites to bring you
clear oil of pressed olives for the light
so that the lamps may be kept burning.
In the Tent of Meeting,
outside the curtain that is in front of the Testimony,
Aaron and his sons
are to keep the lamps burning before the Lord
from evening till morning.
This is to be a lasting ordinance
among the Israelites for the generations to come."
(Exodus 27:20-21)

AC 6343 - the holiness of the Word

AC 6343 [2]
That the Word is holy,
and in its interiors most holy,
is very evident from the fact
that in every detail of the Word
there is the heavenly marriage,
that is, the marriage of good and truth, thus heaven;
and that in every detail of the inmost sense
there is the marriage of the Lord's Divine Human
with His kingdom and church;
and in the supreme sense there is the union
of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human in the Lord.
These most holy things are in every detail of the Word . . ..
That this is so may be seen from the fact
that where mention is made of good,
mention is made of truth also;
and where the internal is spoken of,
the external also is spoken of.
There are also words which constantly signify good,
and words which constantly signify truth,
and words which signify both good and truth;
and if they do not signify them,
still they are predicated of them, or involve them.
From the predication and signification of these words
it is plain that, as before said,
in every detail there is the marriage of good and truth,
that is, the heavenly marriage,
and in the inmost and supreme sense
the Divine marriage which is in the Lord,
thus the Lord Himself.

Portions: Exodus 19-22

In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt -
on the very day -
they came to the Desert of Sinai.
Then Moses went up to God,
and the Lord called to him from the mountain . . ..
The Lord said to Moses,
"I am going to come to you in a dense cloud,
so that the people will hear Me speaking with you
and will always put their trust in you."
(Exodus 19:1,3,9)

And God spoke all these words:
"I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of Egypt,
out of the land of slavery.
"You shall have no other gods before me . . ."
(Exodus 20:1-3)

"If a man hits a manservant or maidservant
in the eye and destroys it,
he must let the servant go free
to compensate for the eye.
And if he knocks out the tooth
of a manservant or maidservant,
he must let the servant to free
to compensate for the tooth."
(Exodus 21:26-27)

"If you lend money
to one of my people among you who is needy,
do not be like a money-lender;
charge him no interest.
If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge,
return it to him by sunset,
because his cloak
is the only covering he has for his body.
What else will he sleep in?
When he cries out to Me, I will hear,
for I am compassionate."
(Exodus 22:25-27)

AC 6333, 6340 - the Lord's Word unites angels and people

AC 6333 [3-4]
The Word is given in order to unite heaven and earth,
or angels with people;
and therefore it has been so written
that it may be spiritually understood by the angels,
when naturally understood by people,
and that in this way
what is holy may flow in through the angels,
by which means union is effected.
Such is the Word
in both the historical and the prophetical parts;
but the internal sense
is less apparent in the historical
than in the prophetical parts,
because the historical parts
have been written in a different style,
yet still by means of significatives.

The historical parts have been given
in order that infants and children
may thereby be initiated into the reading of the Word;
for the historical parts are delightful, and rest in their minds,
whereby communication is given them with the heavens;
and this communication is grateful,
because they are in a state of innocence and mutual charity.
This is the reason why there is an historical Word.
There is a prophetical Word,
because when it is read,
it is not understood by a person except obscurely,
and when it is understood obscurely
by such people as there are now,
it is perceived clearly by the angels . . ..

AC 6340
. . . they who are of the church should hear the Lord,
that is, should hear Him in the Word,
and what He there teaches with respect
to the truths of faith and the goods of love . . ..

Portions: Exodus 14-18

Then the angel of God,
who had been traveling in front of Israel's army,
withdrew and went behind them.
The pillar of cloud also moved from in front
and went behind them.
The pillar of cloud also moved from in front
and stood behind them,
coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel.
Throughout the night
the cloud brought darkness to the one side
and light to the other side;
so neither went near the other all night long.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,
and all that night the Lord drove the seas back
with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land.
The waters were divided,
and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground,
with a wall of water on their right
and on their left.
(Exodus 14:19-22)

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:
"In Your unfailing love You will lead
the people You have redeemed.
In Your strength You will guide them
to Your holy dwelling.
The Lord will reign for ever and ever."
(Exodus 15:1,13,18)

Then the Lord said to Moses,
"How long will you refuse to keep
My commands and My instructions?
Bear in mind
that the Lord has given you the Sabbath;
that is why on the sixth day
He gives you bread for two days.
Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day;
no one is to go out."
(Exodus 16:28-29)

So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered,
and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill.
As long as Moses held up his hands,
the Israelites were winning,
but whenever he lowered his hands,
the Amalekites were winning.
When Moses' hands grew tired,
they took a stone and put it under him
and he sat on it.
Aaron and Hur held his hands up -
one on one side, one on the other -
so that his hands remained steady until sunset.
So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.
(Exodus 17:10-13)

Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things
the Lord had done for Israel in rescuing them
from the hand of the Egyptians.
He said, "Praise be to the Lord
Who rescued you from the hand of the
Egyptians and of Pharaoh,
and Who rescued the people
from the hand of the Egyptians.
Now I know that the Lord
is greater than all other gods,
for He did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly."
(Exodus 18:9-11)

AC 6308, 6325 - what comes in and what goes out

AC 6308
. . . they who are in good can know . . . know from the Word
that there is something within
which fights against the evil and falsity with them,
and that the spiritual person fights against the natural;
thus the angels, who are in a person's interiors
and in his spiritual things,
(fights) against the evil spirits
who are in his exteriors and in his natural things;
and it is also from this that the church is called militant.
But the evil which flows into the thought from the evil spirits,
does the person no harm if he does not receive it;
but if he receives it and transfers it
from the thought into the will,
he makes it his own;
and he then goes over to the side of the infernal spirits,
and withdraws from the angels of heaven.
This is what the Lord teaches when He says
that the things which enter into a man
do not make him unclean;
but the things which go out of him,
because these go forth from the heart, that is, from the will.
(Mark 7:14-23)

AC 6325
It is an eternal truth that the Lord rules heaven and earth,
and also that no one besides the Lord lives of himself,
consequently that everything of life flows in
- the good of life from the Lord,
and the evil of life from hell.
This is the faith of the heavens.
When a person is in this faith
(and he can be in it when he is in good),
then evil cannot be fastened and appropriated to him,
because he knows that it is not from himself, but from hell.
When a person is in this state,
he can then be gifted with peace,
for then he will trust solely in the Lord.

Portions: Exodus 10-13

Then the Lord said to Moses,
"Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart
and the hearts of his officials
so that I may perform
these miraculous signs of Mine among them
that you may tell your children and grandchildren
how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians
and how I performed my signs among them,
and that you may know that I am the Lord."
(Exodus 10:1-2)

Moses and Aaron performed
all these wonders before Pharaoh,
but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart,
and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.
(Exodus 11:10)

So the people took their dough
before the yeast was added,
and carried on their shoulders
in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing.
Now the length of time
the Israelite people lived in Egypt
was 430 years, to the very day,
all the Lord's divisions left Egypt.
All the Israelites did
just what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
And on that very day
the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt
by their divisions.
(Exodus 12:34, 40, 50)

When Pharaoh let the people go,
God did not lead them on the road
through the Philistine country, though that was shorter.
For God said, "If they face war,
they might change their minds and return to Egypt."
So God led the people around by the desert road
toward the Red Sea (Sea of Reeds).
The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.
By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud
to guide them on their way
and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light,
so that they could travel by day or night.
Neither the pillar of cloud by day
nor the pillar of fire by night
left its place in front of the people.
(Exodus 13:17-18,21-22)

AC 6303 - "And God shall be with you." (Genesis 48:21)

AC 6303
And God shall be with you.
(Genesis 48:21)
. . . this signifies the Divine providence of the Lord,
. . . for when the Lord is with anyone,
He leads him, and provides that all things which happen,
whether sad or joyful, befall him for good:
this is the Divine providence.
The reason why it is called the providence "of the Lord"
is that it is said, "God shall be with you,"
and by "God" and by "Jehovah" in the Word is meant the Lord,
for there is no other God besides Him;
for He is the very Father
and He is the very Son,
for they are one;
the Father is in Him,
and He in the Father, as He Himself teaches

Jesus answered:
"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;
or at least believe on the evidence
of the miracles themselves."
(John 14:9-11)

Portions: Exodus 6-9

Then the Lord said to Moses,
"Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh:
Because of My mighty hand he will let them go;
because of My mighty hand
he will drive them out of his country."
God also said to Moses,
"I am the Lord.
I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob
as God Almighty,
but by my name the Lord
I did not make myself known to them."
(Exodus 6:1-3)

Then the Lord said to Moses,
"See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh,
and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
You are to say everything I command you,
and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh
to let the Israelites go out of his country.
But I will harden Pharaoh's heart,
and though I multiply
My miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt,
he will not listen to you.
Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them.
(Exodus 7:1-4,6)

Moses replied [to Pharaoh],
"It will be as you say,
so that you may know
there is no one like the Lord our God."
But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief,
he hardened his heart
and would not listen to Moses and Aaron,
just as the Lord had said,
(Exodus 8:10,15)

Then the Lord said to Moses,
"Get up early in the morning,
confront Pharaoh and say to him,
'This is what the Lord,
the God of the Hebrews says:
Let my people go, so that they may worship Me,
or this time I will send the full force
of My plagues against you
and against your officials
and your people,
so you may know
that there is no one like Me in all the earth.
(The flax and barley were destroyed,
since the barley had headed and the flax was in bloom.
The wheat and spelt, however, were not destroyed,)
So Pharaoh's heart was hard
and he would not let the Israelites go,
just as the Lord had said through Moses.
(Exodus 9:13,31-32,35)

AC 6299 - an example of the internal and external of the church

AC 6299 [2-3]
. . . the natural, which is external,
must needs be regenerated;
for unless it is regenerated,
the internal has neither foundation nor receptacle;
and if it has no foundation nor receptacle,
it utterly perishes.

As an illustration of this matter take this example:
The very affection of charity
which a person feels within himself
as a quietude and bliss
in benefiting the neighbor
without regard to any recompense,
is the internal of the church;
but to will this good
and to do it from truth,
that is, because it has been so commanded in the Word,
is the external of the church.
If the natural, which is the external,
is not in agreement,
that is, does not will nor do this good,
because it sees in it no recompense,
thus nothing of self  . . .
then the internal has no foundation,
nor corresponding receptacle,
except such as either rejects, or perverts,
or extinguishes the influx;
and therefore the internal perishes,
that is, is closed and stopped up,
so that nothing from heaven
can pass into the natural through the internal . . ..
 

Portions: Exodus 1-5

Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,
but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly
and became exceedingly numerous,
so that the land was filled with them.
Then a new king,
who did not know about Joseph,
came to power in Egypt.
(Exodus 1:6-8)

When Pharaoh heard of this,
he tried to kill Moses,
but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian,
where he sat down by a well.
Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters,
and they came to draw water and fill the troughs 
to water their father's flock.
Some shepherds came along and drove them away,
but Moses got up and came to their rescue
and watered their flock.
(Exodus 2:15-17)

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro
his father-in-law, the priest of Midian,
and he led the flock to the far side of the desert
and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him
in flames of fire from within a bush.
Moses saw that though the bush was on fire
it did not burn up.
(Exodus 3:1-2)

Moses said to the Lord,
"O Lord, I have never been eloquent,
neither in the past
nor since you have spoken to your servant.
I am slow of speech and tongue."
The Lord said to him,
"Who gave man his mouth?
Who makes him deaf or mute?
Who gives him sight or makes him blind?
Is it not I, the Lord?
Now go; I will help you speak and teach you what to say."
But Moses said,
"O Lord, please send someone else to do it."
(Exodus 4:10-13)

Pharaoh said,
"Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him and let Israel go?
I do not know the Lord
and I will not let Israel go."
Then they said,
"The God of the Hebrews has met with us.
Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert
to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God,
or He make strike us with plagues or with the sword.
That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers
and foremen in charge of the people:
"You are no longer to supply the people
with straw for making bricks;
let them to and gather their own straw."
(Exodus 5:2-3,6-7)

AC 6280 - the Divine Human

AC 6280 [4]
. . . the Divine Itself could not appear
except through the Divine Human;
according to the Lord's words in John:

"No one has ever seen God, the only begotten Son,
who is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath set Him forth"
(John 1:18);

and in another place:

"You have neither ever heard the voice of the Father,
nor seen His shape."
(John 5:37)

Portions: Genesis 47-50

So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh.
The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields,
because the famine was too severe for them.
The land became Pharaoh's,
and Joseph reduced the people to servitude,
from one end of Egypt to the other.
Joseph said to the people,
"Now that I have bought you
and your land today for Pharaoh,
here is seed for you so you can plant the ground.
But when the crop comes in,
give a fifth of it to Pharaoh.
The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields
and as food for yourselves
and your households and your children."
(Genesis 47:20-21;23-24)

Some time later Joseph was told,
"Your father is ill."
So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim
along with him.
When Jacob was told
"Your son Joseph has come to you,"
Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.
(Genesis 48:1-2)

Then he gave them these instructions:
"I am about to be gathered to my people.
Bury me with my fathers
in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
the cave in the field of Machpelah,
near Mamre in Canaan,
which Abraham brought as a burial place
from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field.
There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried,
there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried,
and there I buried Leah.
The field and the cave in it
were bought from the Hittites.
When Jacob had finished
giving instructions to his sons,
he drew his feet up into the bed,
breathed his last
and was gathered to his people.
(Genesis 49:29-33)

Joseph stayed in Egypt,
along with all his father's family.
He lived a hundred and ten years
and saw the third generation of Ephraim's children.
Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh
were placed at birth of Joseph's knees.
(Genesis 50:22-23)

AC 6256 - the goods of charity, the truths of faith

AC 6256 [2]
. . . Those who from principles derived from doctrine
set faith before charity,
and yet live a life of charity,
are they who are of the Lord's spiritual church,
and are saved;
for in their life
they set the good of charity first,
but in doctrine the truth of faith.

Portions: Genesis 44-46

Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground
and opened it.
Then the steward proceeded to search,
beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest.
And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
At this, they tore their clothes.
Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.
(Genesis 44:11-13)

"So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.
He made me father to Pharaoh,
lord of his entire household and ruler of Egypt.
Now hurry back to my father and say to him,
'This is what your son Joseph says:
God has made me lord of all Egypt.
Com down to me; don't delay.
You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me -
you, your children and grandchildren,
your flocks and herds, all that you have.'"
(Genesis 45:8-10)

So Israel set out with all that was his,
and when he reached Beersheba,
he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
(Genesis 46:1)

AC 6232 - indefinitely infinite

AC 6232 [2]
That truths and goods can increase indefinitely
comes from the fact that they proceed from the Lord,
Who is infinite.

That truths and goods are of this nature,
may be seen from the fact
that the universal heaven is in truth and good,
and yet no one is in exactly the same
truth and good as another.
This would still be the case
if heaven were a thousand and a thousand times greater.
The same may be seen from the fact
that the angels are being perfected to eternity,
that is, they continually grow in good and truth,
and yet cannot arrive at the grade of any perfection,
because there always remains an indefinite scope;
for truths are indefinite in number,
and each truth has an indefinite scope within it;
and so on.

Portions: Genesis 40-43

Then Joseph said to them,
"Do not interpretations belong to God?
Tell me your dreams."
(Genesis 40:8)

Pharaoh said to Joseph,
"I had a dream, and no one can interpret it.
But I have heard it said of you
that when you hear a dream
you can interpret it."
"I cannot do it," Joseph replied to Pharaoh,
"But God will give Pharaoh
the answer he desires."
(Genesis 41:15-16)

When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt,
he said to his sons,
"Why do you just keep looking at each other"
He continued,
"I have heard that there is grain in Egypt.
Go down there and buy some for us,
so that we may live and not die."
(Genesis 41:1-2)

Then their father Israel said to them,
"If it must be, then do this:
Put some of the best products of the land in your bags
and take them down to the man as a gift -
a little balm and a little honey,
some spices and myrrh,
some pistachio nuts and almonds.
Take double the amount of silver with you,
for you must return the silver
that was put back into the mouths of your sacks.
Perhaps it was a mistake.
Take your brother also
and go back to the man at once.
And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man
so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin
come back with you.
As for me,
if I am bereaved, I am bereaved."
(Genesis 42:11-14)

AC 6222 - the intellectual & will of the church

AC 6222 [2-4]

The intellectual of the church is to perceive from the Word
what the truth of faith is, and what the good of charity.
. . . the literal sense of the Word is of such a nature
that whatever tenet a person embraces
he confirms from that sense,
is very clear from so many heresies
which have existed in the church, and still do so,
each of which is confirmed by its partisans
from the literal sense of the Word,
and so confirmed that they thoroughly believe it to be true;
and thereafter if they were to hear from heaven the very truth,
they would not receive a bit of it.

The reason is that they have not the intellectual of the church;
for the intellectual of the church consists in a person's perceiving,
when he reads the Word
and carefully compares one passage with another,
what is to be believed, and what is to be done.
This intellectual is to be found only in such people
as are enlightened by the Lord . . .
and this enlightenment is to be found in such people
who only as desire to know truths,
not for the sake of reputation and glory,
but for the sake of life and use.
 . . . Be it known further that they who have been regenerated,
receive from the Lord
an intellectual capable of being enlightened.
It is the light of heaven from the Lord
which flows into the intellectual and enlightens it;
for the intellectual has its light, its sight,
and consequently its perception, from no other source.

But this intellectual, which is called the intellectual of the church,
is more interior than the intellectual
which comes from mere memory-knowledges,
for it is a perception that the thing is so,
not from the dictate of memory-knowledges and philosophy,
but from the dictate of the Word in its spiritual sense.

Portions: Genesis 37-39

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons,
because he had been born to him in his old age;
and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.
When his brothers saw
that their father loved him more than any of them,
they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
Joseph had a dream . . ..
(Genesis 37:3-5)

Judah said, "Bring her out and her her burned to death!"
As she was being brought out,
she sent a message to her father-in-law.
"I am pregnant by the man who owns these," she said.
And she added, "See if you recognize
whose seal and cord and staff these are."
(Genesis 28:24-25)

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt.
Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials,
the captain of the guard,
bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered,
and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
(Genesis 39:1-2)

AC 6197 - deceitful ones; AC 6197 - a hereditary of natural good

AC 6197
Those deceitful ones chiefly insinuated such things
as were contrary to the Lord;
and then it was given me to reflect upon the fact
that no one in hell acknowledges the Lord;
but that insofar as they may, they are full of abuse of Him;
yet they are not unwilling to hear mention made
of the Father, the Creator of the universe.
From this very plain indication it is evident
that it is the Lord who rules the universal heaven,
as He Himself teaches in Matthew:
"All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth"
(Matt. 28:18);
and that they are opposed to the Lord
because they are opposed to heaven,
where the Lord is all in all.

AC 6208
There are many who enjoy an hereditary natural good,
by virtue of which they feel delight in doing well to others,
but who have not been influenced
by principles of doing what is good,
either from the Word, the doctrine of the church,
or from their religiosity.
Thus they could not be endowed with any conscience,
for conscience does not come from
natural or hereditary good,
but from the doctrine of truth and good
and of a life based on that teaching.
When such persons come into the other life,
they marvel that they are not received into heaven,
saying that they have led a good life.
But they are told that a good life
from what is natural or hereditary is not a good life,
but that a good life is from those things
which belong to the doctrine of good and truth
and the consequent life;
for by means of these,
people have principles impressed on them
that concern what is true and good,
and they receive conscience,
which is the plane into which heaven flows.

Portions: Genesis 32-36

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives,
his two maidservants and his eleven sons
and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
After he had sent them across the stream,
he sent over all his possessions.
So Jacob was left alone,
and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
(Genesis 32:22-24)

Jacob looked up and there was Esau,
coming with his four hundred men . . ..
He himself went on ahead
and bowed down to the ground seven times
as he approached his brother.
But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him . . ..
(Genesis 33:1, 3-4)

But Hamor said to them,
"My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter.
Please give her to him as his wife."
Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers,
"Let me find favor in your eyes,
and I will give you whatever you ask.
Make the price for the bride
and the gift I am to bring
as great as you like,
and I'll pay whatever you ask me.
Only give me the girl as my wife."
(Genesis 34:8,11-12)

Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place
where God had talked with him,
and he poured out a drink offering on it;
he also poured oil on it.
Jacob called the place
where God had talked with him Bethel.
(Genesis 35:14-15)

This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom.)
(Genesis 36:1)

AC 6179 - the conjugial

AC 6179
In the supreme sense
the conjugial is the union
of the Divine and the Divine Human In the Lord;
and from this it is the union 
of the Divine good and the Divine truth in heaven;
for that which proceeds from the Lord
is the Divine truth from the Divine good.
From this, heaven is heaven, and is called a "marriage,"
for it is the conjunction of the good and the truth there,
which proceed from the Lord,
that makes it.
And as the Lord is the good there,
and heaven is the truth derived from there,
therefore in the Word
the Lord is called the "bridegroom,"
and heaven and also the church are called the "bride;"
for good and truth make a marriage,
and their conjunction is what is meant by the conjugial.

Portions: Genesis 28-31

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.
When he reached a certain place,
he stopped for the night because the sun had set.
Taking one of the stones there,
he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought,
"Surely the Lord is in the place,
and I was not aware of it."
(Genesis 28:10-11,16)

After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month,
Laban said to him,
"Just because you are a relative of mine,
should you work for me for nothing?
Tell me what your wages should be."
Now Laban had two daughters;
the name of the older was Leah,
and the name of the younger was Rachel.
(Genesis 29:14-16)

He added, "Name your wages, and I will pay them."
Jacob said to him,
"You know how I have worked for you
and how your livestock has fared under my care.
The little you had before I came
has increased greatly,
and the Lord has blessed you
wherever I have been.
But now, when may I do something
for my own household?"
(Genesis 30:28-30)

Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels,
and he drove all his livestock ahead of him,
along with all the goods
he had accumulated in Paddan Aram,
to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
(Genesis 31:17-18)

AC 6144 - famine: the last of desolation and temptation is despair

AC 6144
There are many reasons
why despair is the last of desolation and of temptation . . ..
Despair causes those who feel it
to acknowledge in an effectual and feeling manner
that there is nothing of truth and good from themselves,
and that from themselves they are condemned;
but that they are delivered from condemnation by the Lord;
and that salvation flows in by means of truth and good.
Despair also causes them to feel
the happiness of life which is from the Lord;
for when they come out of that state,
they are like those who have been condemned to death,
and are set free from prison.
Moreover by means of desolations and temptations,
states contrary to heavenly life are felt,
the result of which
is the implantation of a sense and perception
of the satisfaction and happiness of heavenly life;
for a sense and perception of what is satisfying and happy
is impossible without comparison with the opposites.
To the end therefore that full comparisons may be made,
desolations and temptations are brought to their utmost,
that is, to despair.

Portions: Genesis 25-27

Then Abraham breathed his last
and died at a good old age,
an old man and full of years;
and he was gathered to his people.
His sons Isaac and Ishmael
buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre,
in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite,
the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites.
There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah.
(Genesis 25:8-10)

Isaac planted crops in that land
and the same year reaped a hundredfold,
because the Lord blessed him.
The man became rich,
and his wealth continued to grow
until he became very wealthy.
He had so many flocks and herds and servants
that the Philistines envied him.
(Genesis 26:12-14)

Esau held a grudge against Jacob
because of the blessing his father had given him.
He said to himself,
"The days of mourning for my father are near;
then I will kill my brother Jacob."
When Rebekah was told
what her older son Esau had said,
she sent for your younger son Jacob
and said to him,
"Your brother Esau is consoling himself
with the thought of killing you.
Now then, my son, do what I say:
Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.
Stay with him for a while
until your brother's fury subsides."
(Genesis 27:41-44)

AC 6125 [6]
. . . intelligence ought to be procured by means of the Word,
which is Divine truth,
and not by means of memory-knowledges
from ones own understanding.

AC 6138 [3]
You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
This is the first commandment.
(Mark 12:30)

Thus since love to the Lord
does not come from a person
but from the Lord Himself,
all his heart,
all his soul,
all his mind,
and all his strength,
which are recipients,
must be the Lord's;
they must therefore be submitted totally to Him.

Portions: Genesis 21 - 24

Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He had said,
and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised.
Sarah became pregnant
and bore a son to Abraham in his old age,
at the very time God had promised him.
(Genesis 21:1-2)

Abraham looked up
and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns.
He went over and took the ram
and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
So Abraham called that place
The Lord Will Provide.
And to this day it is said,
"On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided."
(Genesis 22:13-14)

So Ephron's field in Machpelah near Mamre -
both the field and the cave in it,
and all the trees within the borders of the field -
was deeded to Abraham as his property
in the presence of all the Hittites
who had come to the gate of the city.
Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah
in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre
(which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
So the field and the cave in it
were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites
as a burial site.
(Genesis 23:17-20)

Then Rebekah and her maids got ready
and mounted their camels and went back with the man.
So the servant took Rebekah and left.
Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi,
for he was living in the Negev.
He went out to the field one evening to meditate,
and as he looked up,
he saw camels approaching.
Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac.
She got down from her camel and asked the servant,
"Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?"
"He is my master," the servant answered.
So she took her veil and covered herself.
The the servant told Isaac all he had done.
Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah,
and he married Rebekah.
So she became his wife, and he loved her;
and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
(Genesis 24:61-66)

AC 6119 - spiritual life

AC 6119
Spiritual life consists in activities according to truths,
consequently in uses;
for they who are in spiritual life
have an appetite and a longing for truths
with a view to life,
that is, that they may live according to them,
thus with a view to uses.

Portions: Genesis 16-20

The angel of the Lord also said to her:
"You are now with child and you will have a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,
for the Lord has heard of your misery.
He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone's hand against him,
and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers."

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her:
"You are the God who sees me,"
for she said,
"I have now seen the One who sees me."
(Genesis 16:11-13)

God also said to Abraham,
"As for Sarai your wife,
you are no longer to call her Sarai;
her name will be Sarah.
I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her."
Abraham fell face down;
he laughed . . ..
(Genesis 17: 15-16,17)

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent,
which was behind Him.
Abraham and Sarah were already old
and well advanced in years,
and Sarah was past the age of child-bearing. 
So Sarah laughed to herself . . ..
(Genesis 18:10-12)

By the time Lot reached Zoar,
the sun had risen over the land.
Then the Lord rained down
burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah -
from the Lord out of the heavens.
Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire pain,
including all those living in the cities -
and also the vegetation in the land.
(Genesis 19:23-25)

Abraham replied,
"I said to myself,
'There is surely no fear of God in this place,
and they will ill me because of my wife.'
Besides, she really is my sister,
the daughter of my father
thought not of my mother;
and she became my wife."
(Genesis 20:11-12)

AC 6097 - temptations

AC 6097
All temptations appear evil,
for the reason that they are interior anxieties and griefs,
and as it were damnations;
for the person is then let into the state of his evils,
consequently among evil spirits,
who accuse him,
and thus torment the conscience;
nevertheless the angels defend him, that is,
the Lord through angels,
for the Lord keeps him in hope and trust,
which are the forces of combat from within
whereby he resists.

Portions: Genesis 11-15

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower
that the men were building.
The Lord said,
"If as one people speaking the same language
they have begun to do this,
then nothing they plan to do
will be impossible for them."
So the Lord scattered them from there
over all the earth,
and they stopped building the city.
(Genesis 11:5-6,8)

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot of Haran,
and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram,
and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans
to go to Canaan.
But when they came to Haran,
they settled there.
(Genesis 11:31)

The Lord had said to Abram,
"Leave your country, your people
and your father's household
and go to the land I will show you.
"I will make yo into a great nation and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
(Genesis 12:1-3)

So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev,
with his wife and everything he had,
and Lot went with him.
Abram had become very wealthy in livestock
and in silver and gold.
(Genesis 13:1-2)

AC 6078 - pasture

AC 6078 [5]
That "Pasture" denotes the good and truth
which restore and sustain the soul or spirit of a person,
is clear from the Lord's words:

I am the door;
by Me if any one enter in,
he shall be saved,
and shall go in and go out,
and shall find pasture.
(John 10:9)

where "pasture" denotes the goods and truths
which those have
who acknowledge the Lord,
and seek life from Him alone.

AC 6073 - "What are your works?" (Genesis 47:3)

AC 6073
All the goods which are called goods of charity
are nothing but uses,
and uses are nothing but works for the neighbor,
for our country, for the church, for the Lord's kingdom.
Moreover regarded in itself
charity itself does not become charity
until it comes into act and becomes work.
For to love anyone,
and not do him good when we have the power,
is not to love him;
but to do him good when we have the power,
and to do it from our hearts,
this is to love him . . ..

As the angels who are in heaven
are in good from the Lord,
they long for nothing more than to perform uses.
These are the very delights of their life,
and it is also according to uses
that they enjoy bliss and happiness.

Portions: Genesis 5-10

When God created man,
He made him in the likeness of God.
He created them male and female and blessed them.
And when they were created,
He called them "Man."

After Noah was 500 years old,
he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.
(Genesis 5:1-2, 32)

Noah was a righteous man,
blameless among the people of his time,
and he walked with God.
(Genesis 6:9)

And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.

For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth,
and as the waters increased
they lifted the ark high above the earth.
The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth,
and the ark floated on the surface of the water.
(Genesis 7:5, 17-18)

The water receded steadily from the earth.
At the end of the hundred and fifty days
the water had gone down,
and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month
the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

By the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month
the surface of the ground was dry.
(Genesis 8:5,14)

And God said:
This is the sign of the covenant I am making
between Me and you
and every living creature with you,
a covenant for generations to come:
I have set my rainbow in the clouds,
and it will be the sign of the covenant
between Me and the earth.
(Genesis 9:12-13)

These are the clans of Noah's sons,
according to their lines of descent,
within their nations.
From these
the nations spread out over the earth
after the flood.
(Genesis 10:32)

AC 6065 - the good of truth

AC 6065
In itself this good is nothing else than truth in act.

Portions: Genesis 1-4

In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth.

God saw all that He had made,
and it was very good.
And there was evening,
and there was morning - the sixth day.
(Genesis 1:1, 31)

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed
in all their vast array.
By the seventh day God had finished
the work He had been doing;
so on the seventh day He rested from His work.
And God blessed the seventh day
and made it holy,
because on it He rested
from all the work of creating that He had done.

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east,
in Eden, and there He put the man He had formed.
(Genesis 2:1-3, 8)

Adam named his wife Eve,
because she would become the mother of all the living.
The Lord God made garments of skin
for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
So the Lord God banished him
from the Garden of Eden
to work the ground from which he had been taken.
(Genesis 3:20-21,23)

Lamech married two women,
one named Adah and the other Zillah.
Adah gave birth to Jabal;
he was the father of those who live in tents
and raise livestock.
His brother's name was Jubal;
he was the father of all who play the harp and flute.
Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain,
who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron.
Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.
(Genesis 4:19-22)

Three Events - Blessed New Church Day!

The Last Judgment

LJ 45
. . . the Last Judgment does not exist on the earth,
but in the spiritual world . . ..
This Last Judgment was commenced
in the beginning of the year 1757,
and was fully accomplished at the end of that year.

The Second Coming

TCR 115 (i)
. . . since the Lord is today also
carrying on the process of redemption,
which began with the accomplishment of
the Last Judgment in 1757.
This redemptive process has continued
from that time down to the present.
The reason is that today
the Second Coming of the Lord is taking place,
and a new church is to be established,
something which could not happen
unless the conquest of the hells
and the ordering of the heavens had taken place first.


Ecclesiastical History of the New Church  1 [7,8]
When BRIEF EXPOSITION was published (1769)
the angelic heaven,
from east to west and from south to north,
appeared purple colored with the loveliest flowers.

'The Coming of the Lord' was written
on all the books in the spiritual world;
by command I therefore wrote this
in the same place in two copies in Holland.


The Establishment of the New Church

TCR 108
. . . at the present time
a new heaven of angels is being established by the Lord,
drawn from those who believe in the Lord God the Savior,
and approach Him directly . . ..

A few months ago
the twelve apostles were called together by the Lord
and sent out into the whole spiritual world,
as they were once into the natural world,
with instructions to preach the gospel.
Each apostle had his own zone assigned to him.
They are now following out their instructions
with all eagerness and dedication.


TCR 791 - Note
After the completion of this book,
the Lord called together His twelve disciples,
who had followed Him in the world;
and a day later He sent them all forth
through the spiritual world
to preach the Gospel,
that the Lord God Jesus Christ is King,
and His kingdom shall be for ever and ever,
as foretold by Daniel (7:13,14)
and in Revelation (11:15):

Blessed are they
who come to the wedding supper of the Lamb.
(Revelation 19:9)

This happened on the nineteenth of June in the year 1770.
This was meant by the Lord's saying:

He will send his angels,
and they will gather together His chosen people
from the bounds of the heavens on one side
as far as the bounds of the heavens on the other.
(Matthew 24:31)

AC 6057 - spiritual world, natural world

AC 6057 [2-3]
. . . as the internal person has been created to be an angel,
he is a heaven in the least form.

From all this it is now evident
that in a person
the spiritual world is conjoined with the natural world,
consequently that with him
the spiritual world flows into the natural world
in so vivid a manner
that he can notice it,
provided he pays attention.

Revelation 22:1-2,8-9,21

Then the angel showed me
the river of the water of life,
as clear as crystal,
flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
down the middle of the great street of the city.
On each side of the river stood the tree of life,
bearing twelve crops of fruit,
yielding its fruit every month.
And the leaves of the tree
are for the healing of the nations.

I, John, am the one
who heard and saw these things.
And when I had heard and seen them,
I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel
who had been showing them to me.
But he said to me,
"Do not do it!
I am a fellow servant with you
and with your brothers the prophets
and of all who keep the words of this book.
Worship God!"

The grace of the Lord Jesus
be with God's people.
Amen

(Revelation 22:1-2,8-9,21) NIV

AC 6044 - the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega

AC 6044
It has been shown previously that truths,
which are the essence of faith,
lead to good,
which is the essence of charity.
This is also evident from the consideration that
every single thing is related to an end
and has that end in view,
and that things which do not have an end in view
cannot remain in being.
For the Lord has never created anything
for any other reason
than its end in view.
So true is this
that one may speak of the end
as the all
in all created things.
And created things exist within this state of order:
Even as the end looks from Him who is the First
through means to what is last (ultimate),
so the end within what is last
looks to the end in Him who is the First.
This is the way things conjoin together.
By virtue of its very own origin
the end itself is nothing else
than the Divine Good of Divine Love,
thus the Lord Himself,
which also is why in the Word He is called
the First and the Last,
the Alpha and the Omega.

Revelation 21: 1-7,22-27

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
and there was no longer any sea.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"Now the dwelling of God is with men,
and He will live with them.
They will be His people,
and God Himself will be with them and be their God.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order of things has passed away."

He who was seated on the throne said,
"I am making everything new!"
Then He said,
"Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
He said to me:
"It is done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the Beginning and the End.
To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost
from the spring of the water of life.
He who overcomes will inherit all this,
and I will be his God and he will be my son."

I did not see a temple in the city,
because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
are its temple.
The city does not need the sun or moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God gives it light,
and the Lamb is its lamp.
The nations will walk by its light,
and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
On no day will its gates ever be shut,
for there will be no night there.
The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
Nothing impure will ever enter it,
nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful,
but only those whose names are written 
in the Lamb's book of life.

(Revelation 21: 1-7,22-27) NIV

AC 6032 - spiritual light and spiritual heat

AC 6032
Spiritual light makes the life of his understanding,
and spiritual heat the life of his will.
Spiritual light is from its first origin
Divine truth from the Divine good of the Lord,
and consequently
is the truth of faith from the good of charity.
And spiritual heat is from its first origin
the Divine good of the Divine love of the Lord,
and consequently is the good of celestial love,
which is love to the Lord,
and the good of spiritual love,
which is love toward the neighbor.
These two, as before said,
constitute the whole life of a person.

Revelation 20:7-11

When the thousand years are over,
Satan will be released from his prison
and will go out to deceive the nations
in the four corners of the earth -
Gog and Magog -
to gather them for battle.
In number they are like the sand on the seashore.
They marched across the breadth of the earth
and surrounded the camp of God's people,
the city He loves.
But fire came down from heaven
and devoured them.
And the devil, who deceived them,
was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur,
where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.
They will be tormented day and night
for ever and ever.

(Revelation 20:7-11) NIV

AC 6015 - sensory evidence

AC 6015 [6]
. . . factual knowledge (memory-knowledge)
perverts the truths of the Church
if a person uses it to enter the mysteries of faith
without believing anything 
unless factual knowledge,
indeed sensory evidence,
causes him to see it.

Revelation 19:11-16

I saw heaven standing open
and there before me was a white horse,
whose ride is called Faithful and True.
With justice He judges and makes war.
His eyes are like blazing fire,
and on His head are many crowns.
He has a name written on Him
that no one knows but He himself.
He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood,
and His name is the Word of God.
The armies of heaven were following Him,
riding on white horses
and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword
with which to strike down the nations.
"He will rule them with an iron scepter."
He treads the winepress of the fury
of the wrath of God Almighty.
On His robe and on His thigh
He has this name written:

KING OF KINGS
AND LORD OF LORDS.

(Revelation 19:11-16)

AC 6000 - "night" - what is obscure & false

AC 6000 [2]

Jesus said, Are there not twelve hours in the day?
 If anyone walk in the day, he stumbles not.
But if anyone walk in the night, he stumbles,
because the light is not in him.
(John 11:9, 10);

"twelve hours" denote all states of truth;
"walking in the day," denotes to live in truth;
and "walking in the night," to live in falsity.

Revelation 18:1-3

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven.
He had great authority,
and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.
With a mighty voice he shouted:

"Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!
She has become a home for demons
and a haunt for every evil spirit,
a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.
For all the nations have drunk
the maddening wine of her adulteries.
The kings of the earth committed adultery with her,
and the merchants of the earth
grew rich from her excessive luxuries."

(Revelation 18:1-3)

AC 5992 - the angels near us

AC 5992
The angels,
through whom the Lord leads and also protects a person,
are near his head.
It is their office to inspire charity and faith,
and to observe in what direction the person's delights turn,
and insofar as they can,
without interfering with the person's freedom,
moderate them and bend them to good.
They are forbidden to act with violence
and thus break the person's ambitions and principles;
but are enjoined to act gently.
It is also their office to rule the evil spirits who are from hell,
which is done in innumerable ways,
of which the following only may be mentioned.
When the evil spirits pour in evils and falsities,
the angels insinuate truths and goods,
which, if not received,
are nevertheless the means of tempering.
Infernal spirits continually attack,
and the angels protect;
such is the order.

[3] Especially do the angels call forth
the goods and truths that are with a person,
and set them in opposition to the evils and falsities
which the evil spirits excite.
Thus the person is in the middle,
and does not perceive either the evil or the good;
and being in the middle,
he is in freedom
to turn himself either to the one or to the other.
By such means
do angels from the Lord lead and protect a person,
and this every moment,
and every moment of a moment;
for if the angels were to pause their care
for a single moment,
the person would be precipitated into evil
from which he could never afterward be brought out.
These things the angels do
from the love they have from the Lord,
for they perceive nothing more delightful and happy
than to remove evils from a person,
and lead him to heaven.
. . . Scarcely any person believes
that the Lord takes such care of a person,
and this continually from the first thread
of his life to the last of it,
and afterward to eternity.

Revelation 17:3-7,9,12-17

Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert.
There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast
that was covered with blasphemous names
and had seven heads and ten horns.
The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet,
and was glittering with gold,
precious stones and pearls.
She held a golden cup in her hand,
filled with abominable things
and the filth of her adulteries.
This title was written on her forehead:

                  MYSTERY
        BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF
                THE EARTH

I saw that the woman was drunk
with the blood of the saints,
the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.
Then the angel said to me:
"Why are you astonished?
I will explain to you the mystery of the woman
and of the beast she rides,
which has the seven heads and ten horns.
. . . This calls for a mind with wisdom."

"The ten horns you saw are ten hings
who have not yet received a kingdom,
but who for one hour will receive authority
as kings along with the beast.
They have one purpose
and will give their power and authority to the beast.
They will make war against the Lamb,
but the Lamb will overcome them
because He is Lord of Lords
and King of kings -
and with Him will be His called,
chosen and faithful followers."

The the angel said to me,
"The waters you saw,
where the prostitute sits,
are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.
The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute.
They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked;
they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
For God has put it into their hearts
to accomplish His purpose
by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule,
until God's words are fulfilled.

(Revelation 17:3-7,9,12-17) NIV

AC 5962 - morning, midday, evening in the spiritual world; AC 5963 - tranquility of peace

AC 5962 [2,3]
In heaven . . . spirits and angels have
their morning, midday, and evening, also twilight,
and again morning, and so on.
It is their morning when the Lord is present
and blesses them with manifest happiness:
 they are then in the perception of good.
It is their midday when they are in the light of truths;
and it is their evening when they are removed therefrom,
and then it appears to them
that the Lord is more remote and is hidden from them.
All who are in heaven undergo
and pass through these alternations,
and cannot otherwise be continually perfected . . ..
It is worthy of admiration
that to eternity one state is never exactly like another,
and also that one spirit and angel does not pass through
the like changes of state as another,
for the reason that one is not exactly like another
in respect to good and truth;
just as neither is one man exactly like another in the face.
Nevertheless out of these varieties the Lord makes a one.

AC 5963
The varying states in the other life . . . 
are according to the perception of good and truth
with those who are there,
thus according to their perception
of the Lord's presence.
According to this perception
they have tranquility;
for they who are in the perception of the Lord's presence
are in the perception
that each and all things which befall them
tend to their good,
and that evils do not reach them;
consequently they are in tranquility.
Without such faith or confidence in the Lord
no one can possibly come to the tranquility of peace,
thus neither to the bliss in joy,
because this bliss dwells in the tranquility of peace.

Revelation 17:1-4,8,10,12,17-18

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple
saying to the seven angels,
"Go, pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth."

The first angel went and poured out his bowl
on the land,
and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people
who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.

The second angel poured out his bowl
on the sea,
and it turned into blood like that of a dead man,
and every living thing in the sea died.

The third angel poured out his bowl
on the rivers and springs of water,
and they became blood.

The fourth angel poured out his bowl
on the sun,
and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire.

The fifth angel poured out his bowl
on the throne of the beast,
and his kingdom was plunged into darkness.

The sixth angel poured out his bowl
on the great river Euphrates,
and its water was dried up
to prepare the way for the kings from the East.

The seventh angel poured out his bowl
into the air,
and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne,
saying, "It is done!"
Then there came flashes of lightning,
rumblings, peals of thunder
and a severe earthquake.
No earthquake like it has ever occurred
since man has been on earth,
so tremendous was the quake.

(Revelation 17:1-4,8,10,12,17-18) NIV

AC 5957 - humiliation, adoration, and thanksgiving

AC 5957
The Lord does indeed demand
humiliation, adoration, thanksgivings,
and many other things from a person,
which appear like repayings,
and thus not gratuitous;
but the Lord does not demand these things for His own sake,
for the Divine has no glory
from a person's humiliation, adoration, and thanksgiving.

In the Divine,
anything of the love of self is utterly inconceivable -
that such things should be done for His own sake;
but they are for the sake of the person himself;
for when a person is in humiliation
he can receive good from the Lord,
because he has then
been separated from the love of self and its evils,
which are the obstacle;
and therefore the Lord wills
a state of humiliation in a person
for his own sake;
because when he is in this state
the Lord can flow in with heavenly good.
The case is similar with adoration, and with thanksgiving.

Revelation 15

And I saw in  heaven another great and marvelous sign:
seven angels with the seven last plagues -
last because with them God's wrath is completed.
And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and,
standing beside the sea,
those who had been victorious
over the beast and his his image
and over the number of his name.
They held harps given them by God
and sang the song of Moses the servant of God
and the song of the Lamb,

"Great and marvelous are Your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are Your ways, King of the ages.
Who will not fear You, O Lord,
and bring glory to Your name?
For You alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship before You,
for Your righteous acts have been revealed."

After this I looked
and in heaven the temple, that is,
the tabernacle of the Testimony,
was opened.
Out of the temple came
the seven angels with the seven plagues.
They were dressed in clean, shining linen
and wore golden sashes around their chests.
Then one of the four living creatures
gave to the seven angels
seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God,
who lives for ever and ever.
And the temple was filled with smoke
from the glory of God and from His power,
and no one could enter the temple
until the seven plagues of the seven angels
were completed.

(Revelation 15) NIV

AC 5928 - an example of good & truth working together

AC 5928
. . . truths do not act from themselves,
but from the good . . ..
The case herein is like the blood vessels in a living body.
Truths are as it were the vessels without the blood;
but good is as it were the blood;
when this pours itself into the vessels
which before were empty,
it acts from them in motion,
and also in reciprocal motion,
for they have received from the blood
a capacity of moving,
as as it were life.

Revelation 14:6-13

Then I saw another angel flying in midair,
and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim
to those who live on the earth -
to every nation, tribe, language and people.
He said in a loud voice,
'Fear God and give Him glory,
because the hour of his judgment has come.
Worship Him who made the heavens,
the earth, the sea and the springs of water.

A second angel followed and said,
"Fallen!  Fallen is Babylon the Great,
which made all the nations drink
the maddening wine of her adulteries."

A third angel followed them
and said in a loud voice:
"If anyone worships the beast and his image
and receives hi mark on the forehead or on the hand,
he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury,
which has been poured full strength
into the cup of His wrath.
He will be tormented with burning sulfur
in the presence of the holy angels
and of the Lamb.
And the smoke of their torment rises
forever and ever.
There is no rest day or night
for those who worship the beast and his image,
or for anyone who receives the mark of his name."

This calls for patient endurance
on the part of the saints
who obey God's commandments
and remain faithful to Jesus.
Then I heard a voice from heaven say,
"Write:  Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord from now on."
"Yes," says the Spirit,
"they will rest from their labor,
for their deeds will follow them."

(Revelation 14:6-13) NIV

AC 5912 - truth like a little star

AC 5912
For when good is in the first place,
and has dominion,
it continually produces truths.
It multiplies them around itself
and also around each truth,
and makes each truth like a little star,
in the center of which there is a bright light.
Nor does good only multiply truths around itself,
but it also produces truths from truths
by derivations in succession . . ..