6
وجاء الى الكبش صاحب القرنين الذي رايته واقفا عند النهر وركض اليه بشدة قوته.
Conjugial Love # 27
27. MARRIAGES IN HEAVEN
People cannot accept as a matter of faith that marriages exist in heaven if they believe that a person is a soul or spirit after death, and hold to an idea of the soul or spirit as being like thin air or a puff of breath. Nor can they accept it if they believe that a person does not live again as a person until after the day of the Last Judgment.
In general, people cannot accept the existence of marriages in heaven if they know nothing about the spiritual world, the world in which angels and spirits live, consequently where the heavens and hells are. Moreover, because that world has till now remained unknown, and because it has not been known at all that the angels in heaven are people in perfect form, likewise that the spirits in hell are people in imperfect form, therefore nothing could be revealed respecting marriages in that world. Indeed, people would have said, "How can a soul be united with a soul, or a bit of breath with a bit of breath, as husbands and wives are united on earth?"
There would have been many other objections, too, which, the moment they were voiced, would have taken away and dispelled belief in the existence of marriages in the other world.
Now, however, many things have been revealed about that world, and what that world is like has been described. This I did in the book, Heaven and Hell, and also in The Apocalypse Revealed. Because of this, the existence of marriages there can be defended, even to the sight of reason, by the following arguments:
1. A person lives as a person after death.
2. A male is then still a male, and a female still a female.
3. Everyone's own love remains in him after death.
4. Especially does a love for the opposite sex remain, and in the case of people coming into heaven, namely, people who become spiritual on earth, conjugial love.
5. All of this has been fully attested by personal observation.
6. Consequently, marriages exist in heaven.
7. Spiritual marriage is meant by the Lord's words, that after the resurrection they are not given in marriage.
Development of these arguments now follows, taking them one by one:
Ezekiel 11
1
Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of Yahweh's house, which looks eastward: and see, at the door of the gate twenty-five men; and I saw in the midst of them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
2
He said to me, Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city;
3
who say, [The time] is not near to build houses: this [city] is the caldron, and we are the flesh.
4
Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man.
5
The Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, Speak, Thus says Yahweh: Thus you have said, house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind.
6
You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain.
7
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Your slain whom you have laid in its midst, they are the flesh, and this [city] is the caldron; but you shall be brought forth out of its midst.
8
You have feared the sword; and I will bring the sword on you, says the Lord Yahweh.
9
I will bring you forth out of its midst, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
10
You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.
11
This [city] shall not be your caldron, neither shall you be the flesh in its midst; I will judge you in the border of Israel;
12
and you shall know that I am Yahweh: for you have not walked in my statutes, neither have you executed my ordinances, but have done after the ordinances of the nations that are around you.
13
It happened, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down on my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord Yahweh! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?
14
The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
15
Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, the men of your relatives, and all the house of Israel, all of them, [are they] to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Go far away from Yahweh. This land has been given to us for a possession.
16
Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they are come.
17
Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
18
They shall come there, and they shall take away all the detestable things of it and all its abominations from there.
19
I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;
20
that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
21
But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way on their own heads, says the Lord Yahweh.
22
Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
23
The glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city.
24
The Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.
25
Then I spoke to them of the captivity all the things that Yahweh had shown me.
