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Matthew 6

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1 TAKE heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall not have a reward of your Father who is in heaven.

2 Therefore when thou dost an almsdeed, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honoured by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.

3 But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth.

4 That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee.

5 And when ye pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men: Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.

6 But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee.

7 And when you are praying, speak not much, as the heathens. For they think that in their much speaking they may be heard.

8 Be not you therefore like to them, for your Father knoweth what is needful for you, before you ask him.

9 Thus therefore shall you pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our supersubstantial bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen.

14 For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences.

15 But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences.

16 And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.

17 But thou, when thou fastest anoint thy head, and wash thy face;

18 That thou appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret, will repay thee.

19 Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal.

20 But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal.

21 For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also.

22 The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome.

23 But if thy eye be evil thy whole body shall be darksome. If then the light that is in thee, be darkness: the darkness itself how great shall it be!

24 No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

25 Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment?

26 Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they?

27 And which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature by one cubit?

28 And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin.

29 But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these.

30 And if the grass of the field, which is to day, and to morrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little faith?

31 Be not solicitous therefore, saying, What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed?

32 For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.

33 Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Be not therefore solicitous for to morrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 48

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48. And His eyes like a flame of fire. This symbolizes the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love.

Eyes in the Word mean the intellect, and the sight of the eyes, therefore, intelligence. Consequently, when said in reference to the Lord, they mean Divine wisdom. A flame of fire, moreover, symbolizes spiritual love, which is charity, and consequently, when said in reference to the Lord, it means Divine love. So now, the statement that His eyes were like a flame of fire symbolizes the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love.

That the eye symbolizes the intellect is because they correspond. For as the eye sees as a result of natural light, so the intellect sees as a result of spiritual light. Consequently seeing is predicated of both.

That the eye in the Word symbolizes the intellect is apparent from the following passages:

Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears. (Isaiah 43:8)

In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness... the eyes of the blind shall see. (Isaiah 29:18)

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf... (Isaiah 35:5)

...I will give You... as a light to the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind... (Isaiah 42:6-7)

The last is said of the Lord, who, when He comes, will open the intellect in people who are ignorant of the truth.

[2] That this is what is meant by opening the eyes is further apparent from the following passages:

Make the heart of this people fat..., and smear over their eyes, lest they see with their eyes... (Isaiah 6:10, John 12:40)

For Jehovah has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes; the prophets and your leaders, the seers, He has covered. (Isaiah 29:10, cf. 30:10)

...who shuts his eyes so as not to see evil. (Isaiah 33:15)

Hear this..., O foolish people..., who have eyes and see not... (Jeremiah 5:21)

(The punishment of) the shepherd, who deserts the flock: a sword shall be... against his right eye..., and his right eye shall be totally darkened. (Zechariah 11:17)

...the plague with which Jehovah will strike all the peoples who fought against Jerusalem: ...their eyes shall waste away in their sockets... (Zechariah 14:12)

...I will strike every horse with stupor, and... every horse of the peoples with blindness. (Zechariah 12:4)

A horse in the spiritual sense is an understanding of the Word (no. 298).

...hear me, Jehovah my God; enlighten my eyes, lest (perchance) I sleep the sleep of death. (Psalms 13:3)

Everyone sees that eyes in these places symbolize the intellect.

[3] It is apparent from this what the Lord meant by the eye in the following places:

The lamp of the body is the eye. If... your eye is whole, your entire body will be full of light. If... your eye is bad, your entire body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23, cf. Luke 11:34)

If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is better for you... to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. (Matthew 5:29; 18:9)

The eye in these places does not mean an eye, but an understanding of truth.

Since the eye symbolizes an understanding of truth, it was therefore one of the statutes among the children of Israel that a blind man of the posterity of Aaron or one blurry-eyed not approach to offer a sacrifice, nor enter within the veil (Leviticus 21:18, 20, 23), and that nothing blind be offered as a sacrifice (Leviticus 22:22, Malachi 1:8).

[4] It is apparent from this what an eye means when said in reference to a person. It follows then that when said in reference to the Lord, it means His Divine wisdom, and also His omniscience and providence, as in the following passages:

Open Your eyes, Jehovah, and see. (Isaiah 37:17)

I will set My eye on them for good, and... I will build them... (Jeremiah 24:6)

Behold, the eye of Jehovah is on those who fear Him... (Psalms 33:18)

Jehovah is in His holy temple...; His eyes behold, (and) His eyelids test the children of man. (Psalms 11:4)

Inasmuch as cherubim symbolize the Lord's protection and providence to keep the spiritual meaning of the Word from being harmed, therefore it is said of the four living creatures - which were cherubim - that they were full of eyes in front and in back, and that their wings were likewise full of eyes (Revelation 4:6, 8). And it is also said that the wheels on which the cherubim rode were full of eyes all around (Ezekiel 10:12).

[5] "A flame of fire" means the Lord's Divine love, as will be seen in subsequent expositions where flame and fire are mentioned. And because it is said that His eyes were like a flame of fire, it symbolizes the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love.

The concept that the Lord has in Him Divine love as a property of Divine wisdom, and Divine wisdom as a property of Divine love, thus a reciprocal union of the two, is an arcanum disclosed in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 34-39 and elsewhere.

  
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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.