Capítulo 1 (EL CIELO): El Dios del Cielo es el Señor

2. Lo primero será saber quien es el Dios del cielo, puesto que de ello dependen las demás cosas. En el cielo entero sólo el Señor es reconocido por Dios del cielo y ningún otro. Allí dicen, como Él mismo enseñó:

Que Él es uno con el Padre; que el Padre es en Él y Él en el Padre; que quien ve a Él, ve al Padre y que todo lo Santo procede de Él (Juan 10:30, 38; 14:9-11; 16:13-15).

He hablado varias veces con los ángeles sobre este particular, y siempre han dicho, que en el cielo no se puede partir lo Divino en tres, porque saben y sienten que la Divinidad es única, y que es única en el Señor. También han dicho, que los de la iglesia que llegan del mundo, teniendo la idea de tres Divinidades (Divinas Personas), no pueden ser admitidos en el cielo, puesto que su pensamiento pasa continuamente de uno a otro, y allí no es permitido pensar tres y decir uno; porque cada uno en el cielo habla por el pensamiento, siendo así que allí el hablar es pensar, o sea el pensar es hablar, por lo cual los que en el mundo han dividido la Divinidad en tres, formándose separada idea de cada uno, y no habiéndolos reunido y concentrado en el Señor, no pueden ser recibidos, porque en el cielo tiene lugar una comunicación de todo pensamiento; por lo cual si allí entrase alguien que pensara tres y dijera uno, sería en seguida descubierto y rechazado. Pero hay que saber que todos aquellos que no han separado la verdad del bien, o sea la fe del amor, al ser instruidos en la otra vida, reciben el celestial concepto del Señor de que Él es el Dios del universo. Otra cosa sucede con los que han separado la fe de la vida, es decir, los que no han vivido conforme a los preceptos de la verdadera fe.

4815. 'That Judah went down from his brothers' means the descendants of Jacob, in particular the tribe of Judah which was separated from the rest. This is clear from the representation of 'Judah' in the universal sense as the descendants of Jacob, and in a particular sense as the tribe called the tribe of Judah; and from the meaning of 'going down from his brothers' as being separated from the rest of the tribes, here as a departure into evil worse than theirs. 'Going down' implies a decline into evil, since 'going up' implies a lifting up to what is good, 3084, 4539. The reason for this is, as also stated already, that the land of Canaan represented the Lord's kingdom, and Jerusalem and Zion in that land the inmost part of this kingdom. But the regions outside the boundaries of that land represented things outside the Lord's kingdom, namely falsity and evil. Consequently the expression 'to go down' was used when going from Zion and Jerusalem towards the boundaries of the land, but 'to go up' when going from the boundaries towards Jerusalem and Zion. This is why 'going up' implies a lifting up to truth and goodness, and 'going down' a decline into falsity and evil. As the reference here is to the falsity and evil into which the tribe of Judah declined, the expression 'Judah went down' is used, and after that 'he turned aside to a man, an Adullamite', 'turning aside' meaning that it declined into falsity and then into evil.

[2] It is well known that the tribe of Judah was separated from the rest of the tribes. The reason for the separation was so that the tribe might represent the Lord's celestial kingdom, and the rest of the tribes His spiritual kingdom. This being so, Judah also describes, in the representative sense, the celestial man, and in the universal sense the Lord's celestial kingdom, 3654, 3881. The rest of the tribes however were referred to by the single term 'the Israelites', for in the representative sense Israel describes the spiritual man, and in the universal sense the Lord's spiritual kingdom, 3654, 4286.

[3] The decline of the tribe of Judah into evil worse than that of the rest is the particular meaning of these words - 'and Judah went down from his brothers, and turned aside'. The departure of the tribe of Judah into evil worse than that of the rest is clear from many places in the Word, in particular in the Prophets, as in Jeremiah,

Her treacherous sister Judah saw when, because of all the ways in which estranged Israel committed adultery, I sent her away and gave her a decree of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she also went and committed whoredom, so much so that with the voice of her whoredom she profaned the land; she committed adultery with stone and wood. Yet for all this treacherous Judah has not returned to Me. Estranged Israel has justified her soul more than treacherous Judah. Jeremiah 3:7-11.

And in Ezekiel,

Her sister did indeed see, yet she corrupted her own love more than she, and her own acts of whoredom beyond her sister's acts of whoredom. Ezekiel 23:11-end.

These, in addition to many others elsewhere, are references to Jerusalem and Samaria, that is, to the tribe of Judah and the tribes of Israel.

[4] Described in the internal sense of this chapter is the way in which that tribe sank into falsity, and from this into evil, and at length into that which was wholly idolatrous. This, it is true, is described in the internal sense even before that tribe was separated from the rest and before it came to be as mentioned above. But that which is contained in the internal sense is Divine, and to the Divine future things are also present ones. See what was foretold about that nation in Deuteronomy 31:16-21; 32:15-43.