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Genesis 15

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1 After these things the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward.

2 And Abram said, O Lord Jehovah, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?

3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

4 And, behold, the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir; But he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

6 And he believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.

7 And he said unto him, I am Jehovah that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

8 And he said, O Lord Jehovah, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

9 And he said unto him, Take me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.

10 And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other: but the birds divided he not.

11 And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.

13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

14 and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

15 But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

16 And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.

17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.

18 In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,

20 and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,

21 and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 42

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42. Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. (1:12) This symbolizes a turning around of the state of those people who possess goodness of life, in respect to their perception of the truth in the Word, when they turn to the Lord.

John says that he heard the voice behind him (verse 10), and now that he turned to see the voice, and secondly, that having turned he saw seven lampstands. From this it is apparent that he heard the voice in back of him, and that he turned to see where it was coming from.

Clearly in this lies an arcanum. The secret to it is that before a person turns to the Lord and acknowledges Him as God of heaven and earth, he cannot see the Divine truth in the Word. That is because God is one both in person and in essence, in whom is the Trinity, that God being the Lord. People who accept a trinity of persons, therefore, look primarily to the Father, and some to the Holy Spirit, but rarely to the Lord; and if they do look to the Lord, they think of His humanity in the same way that they do an ordinary person. When a person does this, he can by no means be enlightened in the Word, for the Lord embodies the Word, since it comes from Him and has Him as its subject. Therefore people who do not turn to the Lord alone regard Him and His Word as being behind them and not before them, or as being in back of them and not in front of them.

This is the secret that lies concealed in these words, that John heard the voice behind him, that he turned to see the voice, and that having turned he saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of them the Son of Man. For the voice that he heard came from the Son of Man, who is the Lord.

[2] That the Lord alone is God of heaven and earth, He now teaches in a clear statement, for He says,

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come...." (Revelation 1:8)

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last." (Revelation 1:11)

And later,

"I am the First and the Last." (Revelation 1:17, cf. 2:8)

To be shown that a voice, when coming from the Lord, means Divine truth, see no. 37 above; and that John means those people of the church who possess goodness of life, see nos. 5 and 6 above.

It can now be seen from this that these words, "Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me," symbolize a turning around of the state of those people who possess goodness of life, in respect to their perception of the truth in the Word, when they turn to the Lord.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.