Apocalypse Explained # 626
626. APOCALYPSE. CHAPTER 11.
1. And there was given to me a reed like a staff; and the angel stood near, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2. And the court which is without the temple cast out, and measure it not, for it is given to the nations, and the holy city shall they trample down forty-two months.
3. And I will give unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.
4. These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands standing before the God of the earth.
5. And if anyone will hurt them, fire shall go forth out of their mouth and shall devour their enemies; and if anyone will hurt them, thus must he be killed.
6. These have power to shut heaven, that the rain rain not in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they will.
7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with them and overcome them and kill them.
8. And their bodies shall be upon the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
9. And they of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations shall see their bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their bodies to be placed in sepulchers.
10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and shall be glad, and shall send gifts one to another, because those two prophets tormented them that dwell upon the earth.
11. And after the three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them that beheld them.
12. And they heard a great voice out of heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they went up into heaven in the cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
13. And in that hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and there were killed in the earthquake names of men seven thousand; and the rest became afraid, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14. The second woe is past; behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
15. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord's and His Christ's, and He shall reign unto the ages of the ages.
16. And the twenty-four elders who sit before God upon their thrones fell upon their faces and worshiped God,
17. Saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who is, and who was, and who is to come, because Thou hast taken Thy great power and entered upon the kingdom.
18. And the nations were angered, and Thy anger is come, and the time of the dead to be judged, and to give the reward to Thy servants, the prophets and the saints, and to them that fear Thy name, the small and the great, and to destroy them that destroy the earth.
19. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His covenant; and there were lightnings and voices and thunders and an earthquake and great hail.
EXPOSITION
Verses 1, 2. And there was given to me a reed like a staff; and the angel stood near saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. And the court which is without the temple cast out, and measure it not, for it is given to the nations; and the holy city shall they trample down forty-two months.
1. "And there was given to me a reed like a staff," signifies the mode of visitation, that is, of exploring the quality of the church in respect to truth and to good n. 627; "and the angel stood near saying," signifies the Lord's will and command (n. 628); "Rise, measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein," signifies that he should explore the church, what is its quality in respect to the reception of Divine truth and Divine good, and thence in respect to the worship of the Lord. n. 629).
2. "And the court which is without the temple cast out, and measure it not," signifies that the external of the Word, and thence of the church and of worship, is not to be explored n. 630; "for it is given to the nations," signifies since it has been perverted by evils of life and falsities of doctrine n. 631; "and the holy city shall they trample down," signifies that they will destroy all the doctrine of truth and good from the Word n. 632; "forty-two months," signifies even to the end of the old church and the beginning of the new n. 633.
The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Teachings # 53
53. The fallacies arising from the senses that preoccupy the merely earthly and sense-oriented people mentioned in §45 above. People who are completely earthly and sense-oriented derive their thinking and reasoning from fallacies arising from the senses: 5084, 5700, 6948, 6949, 7693. The nature of fallacies arising from the senses: 5084, 5094, 6400, 6948. To this I may add the following: There are fallacies arising from the senses that concern earthly matters, others that concern civic matters, others moral matters, and still others spiritual matters, and there are many of each kind; at this point I would like to list a few that concern spiritual matters.
If we base our thinking on fallacies arising from the senses, we cannot understand the idea that after death people still look human, that they enjoy the use of their senses as they did before, and that they can become angels. We think [instead] that
1. The soul is simply something barely alive, something purely ethereal, and we can have no concept of it.
2. It is only the body that feels, sees, and hears.
3. We are just like animals except that we can say what we are thinking.
4. Nature is all there is-it came first and is the source of everything.
5. We learn to think and we develop that ability because the inner things of nature and its order flow into us.
6. Spiritual reality does not exist; or if it does it is just a purer aspect of earthly reality.
7. It would be impossible for us to enjoy any sense of blessedness if we were deprived of the gratifications that come from loving glory, high rank, and profit.
8. Conscience is nothing but a feeling of distress caused by physical weakness or lack of success.
9. The Lord's divine love is a love of glory.
10. There is no such thing as providence; everything depends on our own prudence 1 and intelligence.
11. High rank and wealth are the real blessings granted by God.
Not to mention many more such things.
These are just some of the fallacies arising from the senses that concern spiritual matters. These examples show that what is heavenly cannot be grasped by people who are completely earthly and sense-oriented. And we become completely earthly and sense-oriented when our inner spiritual self is closed and only our earthly self is open.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. In general English use, prudence only rarely has a negative sense-for instance, in the case of a Falstaffian coward who acts "prudently" with a view to his or her own survival. But in Christian authors the term often has a negative denotation. This negative aspect derives from the Vulgate translation of passages such asRomans 8:6, Prudentia carnis mors, prudentia autem spiritus vita et pax ("The prudence of the flesh is death, but the prudence of the spirit is life and peace"), and1 Corinthians 1:19 (quoting Isaiah 29:14), Prudentiam prudentium reprobabo ("I will condemn the prudence of the prudent"). The Bible often distinguishes between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God (for example,Isaiah 47:10; Jeremiah 4:22; Romans 1:22; 1 Corinthians 2:6; 3:19; James 1:5). Swedenborg, following this tradition, generally uses the term prudence to refer to an overweening belief in one's ability to foresee and take measures to meet the difficulties of life without divine assistance. This belief typically stands in contrast to reliance on divine providence (see, for example, Secrets of Heaven 950, 4214:4, 6316, 8717:3; Divine Providence 206). In some passages Swedenborg defines prudence as speaking or acting with cunning deceit in order to hide one's evil intentions (see, for example, Secrets of Heaven 3573[4], 6655). In other passages, however, he understands prudence as the use of cunning and deception to achieve good ends; see for example, Secrets of Heaven 3993[12]; Marriage Love 1 155b:3, 187. He does approve the use of prudential thinking when it is properly understood to be wisdom that derives from the Lord rather than one's self (see Divine Providence 191), especially in the collocation "Christian prudence" (see, for example, New Jerusalem 85; Secrets of Heaven 6704). For extensive discussion of the topic of divine providence as opposed to human prudence, see Secrets of Heaven 8478, and especially Divine Providence 191-213. For examples of discussion of these issues by other Christian authors, see Aquinas Summa Theologiae 2:2:55 (= Aquinas 2012, 17:507-521); Saarinen 2006, 206-209 (on Luther). [SS]
