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Deuteronomy 8

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1 All the commandment which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers.

2 And thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or not.

3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live.

4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

5 And thou shalt consider in thy heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so Jehovah thy God chasteneth thee.

6 And thou shalt keep the commandments of Jehovah thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

7 For Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;

8 a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey;

9 a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig copper.

10 And thou shalt eat and be full, and thou shalt bless Jehovah thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

11 Beware lest thou forget Jehovah thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

12 lest, when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

13 and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

14 then thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget Jehovah thy God, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

15 who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness, [wherein were] fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

16 who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not; that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end:

17 and [lest] thou say in thy heart, My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth.

18 But thou shalt remember Jehovah thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as at this day.

19 And it shall be, if thou shalt forget Jehovah thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

20 As the nations that Jehovah maketh to perish before you, so shall ye perish; because ye would not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah your God.

   

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True Christianity # 709

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709. From all that has just been said, you can see what the Lord's flesh and blood and the bread and the wine symbolize in their threefold meaning - their earthly, spiritual, and heavenly meaning.

All people within Christianity who are at all involved in their religion should know, and if they do not know, should find out, that in addition to physical nourishment, there is such a thing as spiritual nourishment. Physical nourishment affects the body; spiritual nourishment affects the soul. For instance, Jehovah the Lord says in Moses, "Humankind does not live by bread alone, but by everything that comes from the mouth of Jehovah" (Deuteronomy 8:3).

Now, since the body dies and the soul lives on after death, it follows that spiritual nourishment exists to serve our eternal well-being. Surely everyone can see, then, that these two types of nourishment should not in any way be confused with each other.

[2] If we do confuse the two, the ideas we form about the Lord's flesh and blood and the [sacramental] bread and wine will inevitably be earthly, sensory, and even materialistic, bodily, and carnal; and these types of ideas suffocate any appropriately spiritual idea we might have of this most holy sacrament.

If some people are so extremely simple that they are incapable of developing any mental concept beyond what they can see with their own eyes, I urge them, when they take the bread and the wine and hear the Lord's flesh and blood mentioned, to think of the Holy Supper as the most holy act of worship and remember Christ's suffering and the love that drove him to save humankind. As he says, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). "The Son of Humankind came to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). "I lay down my life for the sheep" (John 10:15, 17; 15:13).

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.