TCR 836 - spirits and angels

TCR 836

. . . every spirit and every angel is a human being.

The Song of Moses 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."

(Revelation 15:3-4)

TCR 806 - Can we see our internal?

TCR 806

It is rarely possible in the natural world
so see what a person's interior is like,
since he has learned from childhood to behave rationally,
and he likes to seem so.
But in the spiritual world
everyone's nature is plain to see,
for then he is a spirit,
and the spirit is the internal man.

God's Temple in Heaven

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet,
and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

"The kingdom of the world
has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ,
and He will reign for ever and ever."

. . . Then God's temple in heaven was opened,
and within His temple was seen the ark of His covenant.
And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings,
peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

(Revelation 11:15,19)

TCR 802 - faith and charity are given by the Lord

TCR 802 [2]

. . . it is of no avail to know and talk about faith and charity,
unless they are expressed in the life we lead,
being given to us by the Lord
when after self-examination we repent . . ..

The Voice of Many Angels

Then I saw a Lamb,
looking as if it had been slain,
standing in the center of the throne,
encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels,
numbering thousands upon thousands,
and ten thousand times ten thousand.
They encircled the throne
and the living creatures and the elders. 
In a loud voice they sang:

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth
and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth
and under the earth and on the sea,
and all that is in them, singing:

"To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!"

The four living creatures said, "Amen,"
and the elders fell down and worshiped.

(Revelation 5:6,11-14)

TCR 793 - after death

TCR 793

A person is just as much a person after death,
although he is then invisible to the eyes of the material body.
This can be established
from the cases of the angels seen by
Abraham, Hagar, Gideon, Daniel and some of the prophets,
from the angels seen in the Lord's tomb,
and afterwards on many occasions by John,
as he describes in Revelation.
Above all, this is proved by the Lord Himself,
who showed by touch and by eating
that He was a human being,
although He vanished from their sight.

Grace and Peace to You

Grace and peace to you
from Him who is,
and who was,
and who is to come,
and from the seven spirits before His throne,
and from Jesus Christ, 
who is the faithful witness,
the first-born from the dead,
and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To Him who loves us
and has freed us from our sins by His blood,
and has made us to be a kingdom
and priests to serve His God and Father -
to Him be glory and power for ever and ever!
Amen.

Look, He is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see Him,
even those who pierced Him;
and all the peoples of the earth
will mourn because of Him.
So shall it be! 
Amen.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God,
"who is,
and who was,
and who is to come,
the Almighty."

(Revelation 1:4-8)

Jehovah Himself Came Into the World

TCR 786 [2]

A boy is born for us,
a Son is given to us,
whose name is God, Hero,
the Everlasting Father.
(Isaiah 9:6)

Many passages in the Prophets state
that Jehovah Himself was to come into the world,
to be the Redeemer;
and this too He did in the human which He put on.

Blessed Are Those

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve,
was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
So the other disciples told him,
"We have seen the Lord!"

But he said to them,
"Unless I see the nail marks in His hands
and put my finger where the nails were,
and put my hand into His side,
I will not believe it."

A week later His disciples were in the house again,
and Thomas was with them.
Though the doors were locked,
Jesus came and stood among them and said,
"Peace be with you!"
Then He said to Thomas,
"Put your finger here; see My hands.
Reach out your hand and put it into My side.
Stop doubting and believe."

Thomas said to Him,
"My Lord and my God!"

Then Jesus told him,
"Because you have seen Me, you have believed;
blessed are those who have not seen
and yet have believed."

(John 20:24-29)

TCR 772 - He did not come to judge but to save.

TCR 772

. . . the Lord's second coming,
is not taking place in order to wipe out
the sky we see and the earth we live on.
In fact it is not so as to destroy anything,
but to build something;
and so not to condemn,
but to save those who from His first coming
have believed in Him
and who after this will believe in Him.
This is established from these of the Lord's words:

God did not send His Son into the world
to judge the world,
but so that the world should be saved through Him.
He who believes in Him is not judged;
but he who does not believe is already judged,
because he has not believed
in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.
(John 3:17, 18)

If anyone has heard My words,
yet has not believed,
I do not judge him.
For I did not come to judge the world,
but to save the world.
He who despises Me
and does not receive My words,
has that which judges him.
The word which I have spoken
will judge him.
(John 12:47, 48)

"I Am the True Vine"

"I am the true vine,
and My Father is the gardener.
He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit,
while every branch that does bear fruit
He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

"I am the vine;
you are the branches.
If a man remains in Me and I in him,
he will bear much fruit;
apart from Me you can do nothing.
If anyone does not remain in Me,
he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers;
such branches are picked up,
thrown into the fire and burned.
If you remain in Me
and My words remain in you,
ask whatever you wish,
and it will be given you.
This is My Father's glory,
that you bear much fruit,
showing yourselves to be My disciples."

(John 15:1-2,5-8)

TCR 766 - the process

TCR 766

The Lord is present with every person,
urging and pressing him to receive Him.
And when a person receives Him,
which happens when he acknowledges Him as his God,
the Creator, Redeemer and Savior,
this is His first coming, and is called twilight.
From this time
the person begins to have his understanding
enlightened as regards spiritual matters,
and to advance to more and more inward wisdom.
As he receives this wisdom from the Lord,
so he advances through morning into day;
and he continues in this daylight
up to old age and until he dies.
After death he comes into heaven to the Lord Himself,
and there, for all that he died an old man,
he is brought back to the morning of his life,
and continues for ever to develop the wisdom
which was implanted in him in the natural world.

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

"I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me.
If you really knew Me,
you would know My Father as well.
From now on,
you do know Him and have seen Him."

(John 14:6-7)

TCR 748 - Wisdom and Love

TCR 748 [2]

Wisdom is at the right hand of love,
because a member of the church
has wisdom as if from himself,
and to the extent that he is wise,
he receives love from the Lord.
The right hand also stands for power,
and love gets its power
by means of wisdom.

The Light of Life

When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said,
"I am the Light of the world.
Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness,
but will have the Light of Life."

(John 8:12)

TCR 746 - every love, every pleasure

TCR 746 [3]

. . . every love has its own pleasure,
for this is what gives it life;
and the pleasure of the love of service
is a heavenly pleasure . . ..

"I Am Not Here on My Own"

Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out,
"Yes, you know Me,
and you know where I am from.
I am not here on My own,
but He who sent Me is True.
You do not know Him,
But I know Him
because I am from Him
and He sent Me."

At this they tried to seize Him,
but no one laid a hand on Him,
because His time had not yet come.

(John 7:28-30)

TCR 736 - what is meant by kings and princes and by reigning with Christ

TCR 736 [3]

After three hours heaven was opened above their heads,
and the angels looked down and pitied them.
'Why,' they said, 'do you sit like this
looking foolish and playing at acting?
They have made fools of you
and changed you from human beings into dummies,
because you believed in your hearts
that you would reign with Christ as kings and princes,
and that then angels would wait upon you.
Have you forgotten the Lord's words,
that he who would be great in heaven
must become a servant?
You must learn therefore what is meant
by kings and princes and by reigning with Christ.
This means being wise and performing services.
For Christ's kingdom, which is heaven,
is a kingdom of services.
For the Lord loves all and so wishes to do good to all,
and good is service.
Since the Lord does good or performs services
indirectly through angels,
and in the world through people,
He gives those who faithfully perform services
a love of service and its reward,
which is inward blessedness,
and this is everlasting happiness.

The Light

"This is the verdict:
Light has come into the world,
but men loved darkness instead of light
because their deeds were evil.
Everyone who does evil
hates the light,
and will not come into the light
for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
But whoever lives by the truth
comes into the light,
so that it may be seen plainly
that what he has done
has been done through God."

(John 3:19-21)