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Matthew 4

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1 Then Jesus was sent by the Spirit into the waste land to be tested by the Evil One.

2 And after going without food for forty days and forty nights, he was in need of it.

3 And the Evil One came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, give the word for these stones to become bread.

4 But he made answer and said, It is in the Writings, Bread is not man's only need, but every word which comes out of the mouth of God.

5 Then the Evil One took him to the holy town; and he put him on the highest point of the Temple and said to him,

6 If you are the Son of God, let yourself go down; for it is in the Writings, He will give his angels care over you; and, In their hands they will keep you up, so that your foot may not be crushed against a stone.

7 Jesus said to him, Again it is in the Writings, You may not put the Lord your God to the test.

8 Again, the Evil One took him up to a very high mountain, and let him see all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;

9 And he said to him, All these things will I give you, if you will go down on your face and give me worship.

10 Then said Jesus to him, Away, Satan: for it is in the Writings, Give worship to the Lord your God and be his servant only.

11 Then the Evil One went away from him, and angels came and took care of him.

12 Now when it came to his ears that John had been put in prison, he went away to Galilee;

13 And going away from Nazareth, he came and made his living-place in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the country of Zebulun and Naphtali:

14 So that the word of the prophet Isaiah might come true,

15 The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,

16 The people who were in the dark saw a great light, and to those in the land of the shade of death did the dawn come up.

17 From that time Jesus went about preaching and saying, Let your hearts be turned from sin, for the kingdom of heaven is near.

18 And when he was walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, whose other name was Peter, and Andrew, his brother, who were putting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

19 And he said to them, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.

20 And straight away they let go the nets and went after him.

21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with their father, stitching up their nets; and he said, Come.

22 And they went straight from the boat and their father and came after him.

23 And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the good news of the kingdom, and making well those who were ill with any disease among the people.

24 And news of him went out through all Syria; and they took to him all who were ill with different diseases and pains, those having evil spirits and those who were off their heads, and those who had no power of moving. And he made them well.

25 And there went after him great numbers from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judaea and from the other side of Jordan.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 546

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546. Then the woman fled into the wilderness. (12:6) This symbolizes the church, namely, the New Jerusalem, being at first among few.

The woman symbolizes the New Church (no. 533), and the wilderness symbolizes a circumstance in which there are no longer any truths. The church is symbolized as being at first among few because the statement follows, "Where she has a place prepared by God, that they may feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days," which symbolizes the state of that church then, that in the meantime provision may be made for it to exist among more people until it grows to its appointed state (no. 547).

A wilderness in the Word symbolizes:

1. A church devastated, or one in which the Word's truths have all been falsified, as was the case with the Jews at the time of the Lord's advent.

2. A church without truths, because it does not have the Word, as was the case with upright gentiles at the time of the Lord's advent.

3. A state of temptation or trial, in which a person is seemingly without truths, being surrounded by evil spirits who induce the temptation or trial and appear to rob him of his truths.

[2] 1. That a wilderness symbolizes a church devastated, or one in which the Word's truths have all been falsified, as was the case with the Jews at the time of the Lord's advent: This is apparent from the following passages:

Is this the man who shook the earth, who made kingdoms tremble, who made the world as a wilderness...? (Isaiah 14:16-17)

This said in reference to Babylon.

On the land of my people will come up thorns and briers...; ...the palace will be deserted... (Isaiah 32:13-14)

I beheld, and lo, Carmel was a wilderness... "The whole land shall be a wasteland." (Jeremiah 4:26-27)

The land is the church (no. 285).

...shepherds have destroyed My vineyard..., they have made the field of My desire a desolate wilderness... The devastators are coming... in the wilderness. (Jeremiah 12:10, 12)

...(the vine) is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. (Ezekiel 19:13)

...fire has devoured the habitations of the wilderness. (Joel 1:19-20)

...the day of Jehovah is coming... The land is like the Garden of Eden before it, but after it a desolate wilderness. (Joel 2:1, 3)

...see the word of Jehovah! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? (Jeremiah 2:31)

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God." (Isaiah 40:3)

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 33:9; Jeremiah 3:2; 23:10; Lamentations 5:9; Hosea 2:2-3; 13:15; Joel 3:19; Malachi 1:3; Matthew 24:26; Luke 13:35.

That such is the state of the church today may be seen in no. 566 below.

[3] 2. That a wilderness symbolizes a church without truths, because it does not have the Word, as was the case with upright gentiles at the time of the Lord's advent: This is apparent from these passages:

...the Spirit shall be poured upon us from on high, then the wilderness shall become a fertile field...; and judgment will dwell in the wilderness... (Isaiah 32:15-16)

(I will put) fountains in the midst of the valleys, [and turn] the wilderness into a pool of water... I will put in the wilderness the shittim cedar... and the oil tree. (Isaiah 41:18-19)

He will turn a wilderness into a pool of water, and dry land into springs of water. (Psalms 107:35-36)

I will make a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert... to give drink to My people, My chosen. (Isaiah 43:19-20)

...Jehovah... will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah; gladness and joy will be found in her... (Isaiah 51:3)

The habitations of the wilderness drip... (Psalms 65:12-13)

Let the wilderness... lift up (its) voice... Let the inhabitants of the rock sing... (Isaiah 43:10-11)

[4] 3. That a wilderness symbolizes a state of temptation or trial, in which a person is seemingly without truths, being surrounded by evil spirits who induce the temptation or trial and appear to rob him of his truths: This is apparent from Matthew 4:1-3, Mark 1:12-13.

  
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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.