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Amos 4

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1 Hoort dit woord, gij koeien van Basan! gij, die op den berg van Samaria zijt, die de armen verdrukt, die de nooddruftigen verplettert; gij, die tot hunlieder heren zegt: Brengt aan, opdat wij drinken.

2 De Heere Heere heeft gezworen bij Zijn heiligheid, dat er, ziet, dagen over ulieden zullen komen, dat men u zal optrekken met haken, en uw nakomelingen met visangelen.

3 En gij zult door de bressen uitgaan, een ieder voor zich henen; en gij zult, hetgeen in het paleis gebracht is, wegwerpen, spreekt de HEERE.

4 Komt te Beth-El, en overtreedt te Gilgal; maakt des overtredens veel, en brengt uw offers des morgens, uw tienden om de drie dagen!

5 En rookt van het gedesemde een lofoffer, en roept vrijwillige offers uit, doet het horen; want alzo hebt gij het gaarne, gij kinderen Israels! spreekt de Heere Heere.

6 Daarom heb Ik ulieden ook reinheid der tanden gegeven in al uw steden, en gebrek van brood in al uw plaatsen; nochtans hebt gij u niet bekeerd tot Mij, spreekt de HEERE.

7 Daartoe heb Ik ook den regen van ulieden geweerd, als er nog drie maanden waren tot den oogst, en heb doen regenen over de ene stad, maar over de andere stad niet doen regenen; het ene stuk lands werd beregend, maar het andere stuk lands, waar het niet op regende, verdorde.

8 En twee, drie steden togen om tot een stad, opdat zij water mochten drinken, maar werden niet verzadigd; nochtans hebt gij u niet bekeerd tot Mij, spreekt de HEERE.

9 Ik heb ulieden geslagen met brandkoren en met honigdauw; de veelheid uwer hoven, en uwer wijngaarden, en uwer vijgebomen, en uwer olijfbomen at de rups op; nochtans hebt gij u niet bekeerd tot Mij, spreekt de HEERE.

10 Ik heb de pestilentie onder ulieden gezonden, naar de wijze van Egypte; Ik heb uw jongelingen door het zwaard gedood, en uw paarden gevankelijk laten wegvoeren; en Ik heb den stank uwer heirlegeren zelfs in uw neus doen opgaan; nochtans hebt gij u niet bekeerd tot Mij, spreekt de HEERE.

11 Ik heb sommigen onder ulieden omgekeerd, gelijk God Sodom en Gomorra omkeerde, u, die waart als een vuurbrand, dat uit den brand gered is; nochtans hebt gij u niet bekeerd tot Mij, spreekt de HEERE.

12 Daarom zal Ik u alzo doen, o Israel! omdat Ik u dan dit doen zal, zo schik u, o Israel! om uw God te ontmoeten.

13 Want zie, Die de bergen formeert, en den wind schept, en den mens bekend maakt, wat zijn gedachte zij, Die den dageraad duisternis maakt, en op de hoogten der aarde treedt, HEERE, God der heirscharen, is Zijn Naam.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 502

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502. Which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt. This symbolizes the two hellish loves, namely, a love of ruling springing from a love of self, and a love of holding sway from a conceit in one's own intelligence, loves which are present in the church where there is not one God and where the Lord is not worshiped, and where people do not live in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

Sodom symbolizes, in the spiritual sense, a love of ruling springing from a love of self, as we shall presently see; and Egypt symbolizes, in the spiritual sense, a love of holding sway from a conceit in one's own intelligence, as we shall also presently see. So, because these two loves are symbolized, therefore the city is called, spiritually speaking, Sodom and Egypt.

These two loves are present in the church where there is not one God and where the Lord is not worshiped, and where people do not live in accordance with the Ten Commandments, because people are born with these two loves, and they come into them as they grow up. Nor can these loves be removed except by God the Savior and by a life in accordance with His commandments, and God cannot remove them unless people turn to Him, and neither is a life in accordance with His commandments possible unless a person is led by Him. Actually it is possible, but not a life that contains anything of heaven and so of the church.

A life like that is possible only from Him who is life. That the Lord is that life may be seen in John 1:1, 4; 5:26; 6:33-35ff., 11:25-26; 14:6, 19, and in many other places.

[2] A love of ruling springing from a love of self, and a love of holding sway from a conceit in one's own intelligence, are the principal loves of all the loves in hell, and so are the origin of all the evils and thus of all the falsities in the church. This is something unknown at the present day. The delights of these loves, which surpass the delights of all the heart's pleasures, cause it to be unknown, even though they are, spiritually, Sodom and Egypt.

That Sodom is a love of ruling springing from a love of self can be seen from the description of Sodom in Genesis, where we are told that when angels arrived there, the inhabitants tried to forcibly assault them at the house of Lot, and that fire and brimstone rained down on them from heaven (Genesis 19:1ff.). Fire and brimstone symbolize that love, together with its appetites.

I saw similar sights when cities and societies of people like that were overthrown at the time of the Last Judgment and their inhabitants cast into hell.

These loves and their accompanying evils are symbolized by Sodom and Gomorrah in the following passages: Isaiah 1:10; 3:8-9; 13:19.

[3] That this love is symbolically meant by Sodom is unknown in the world, but remember it and recall it when you come after death into the world of spirits and you will be completely convinced.

It should be known, however, that a love of ruling springing from a love of self and a love of ruling springing from a love of performing useful services are two different things. The latter love is a heavenly love, while the first is a hellish one. Consequently, when one is in first place, the other is in last place; which is to say, when a love of ruling springing from a love of self forms the head, then a love of ruling springing from a love of performing useful services - which is a love of serving the neighbor originating from the Lord - forms first the feet, then the soles of the feet, and finally is trampled underfoot.

On the other hand, when a love of ruling springing from a love of performing useful services - which, as we said, is a heavenly love - forms the head, then a love of ruling springing from a love of self - which, as we said, is a hellish love - forms first the feet, then the soles of the feet, and finally is trampled underfoot.

Still, these two loves can hardly be distinguished by a person in the world. That is because in outward appearance they are similar. But they can be told apart by this, that a heavenly love is present in people who turn to the Lord and live in accordance with the Ten Commandments, while a hellish love is present in people who do not turn to the Lord, and who do not live in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

  
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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.