耶利米书 1
1
便雅悯地亚拿突城的祭司中,希勒家的儿子耶利米的话记在下面。
3
从犹大王约西亚的儿子约雅敬在位的时候,直到犹大王约西亚的儿子西底家在位的末年,就是十一年五月间耶路撒冷人被掳的时候,耶和华的话也常临到耶利米。
5
我未将你造在腹中,我已晓得你;你未出母胎,我已分别你为圣;我已派你作列国的先知。
7
耶和华对我说:你不要说我是年幼的,因为我差遣你到谁那里去,你都要去;我吩咐你说甚麽话,你都要说。
8
你不要惧怕他们,因为我与你同在,要拯救你。这是耶和华说的。
10
看哪,我今日立你在列邦列国之上,为要施行拔出、拆毁、毁坏、倾覆,又要建立、栽植。
11
耶和华的话又临到我说:「耶利米,你看见甚麽?」我说:「我看见一根杏树枝。」
12
耶和华对我说:「你看得不错;因为我留意保守我的话,使得成就。」
13
耶和华的话第二次临到我说:「你看见甚麽?」我说:「我看见一个烧开的锅,从北而倾。」
14
耶和华对我说:「必有灾祸从北方发出,临到这地的一切居民。」
15
耶和华说:「看哪,我要召北方列国的众族;他们要来,各安座位在耶路撒冷的城门口,周围攻击城墙,又要攻击犹大的一切城邑。
16
至於这民的一切恶,就是离弃我、向别神烧香、跪拜自己手所造的,我要发出我的判语,攻击他们。
17
所以你当束腰,起来将我所吩咐你的一切话告诉他们;不要因他们惊惶,免得我使你在他们面前惊惶。
Eden
“Eden” by itself stands for love, in most cases the love that comes from the Lord and our love for the Lord, which is the highest human love of all. Of course, “Eden” is closely identified with “garden,” which means intelligence and the intellect. The “Garden of Eden,” then, means the state of love and wisdom with people who are in a pure state of love to the Lord. The Garden of Eden is referred to throughout Scripture, but is described in detail in Genesis 2:8-17. Those verses, understood on a spiritual level, show the nature of what the Writings call the Most Ancient Church, in which people of pre-historic times were elevated to a state of love to the Lord and communion with heaven, a degree of innocence and love that we cannot truly imagine in the modern world.