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Joel 3

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1 Sillä katso, niinä päivinä ja sillä ajalla, kuin minä Juudan ja Jerusalemin vankiuden palautan,

2 Tahdon minä koota kaikki pakanat, ja viedä heitä alas Josaphatin laaksoon; ja tahdon siellä heidän kanssansa riidellä, minun kansani ja minun perimiseni Israelin tähden, jonka he pakanain sekaan hajoittivat, ja jakoivat minun maani itsellensä,

3 Ja ovat minun kansastani arpaa heittäneet; ja ovat pojan porton edestä antaneet, ja piian myyneet viinan edestä, ja sen juoneet.

4 Mitä myös minun on teidän kanssanne, te Tyrosta ja Zidonista, ja te kaikki Philistealaisten rajat? vai tahdotteko te minulle kaiketi kostaa? Jos te minulle tahdotte kostaa, niin minä tahdon sen äkisti ja pian kostaa teidän päänne päälle.

5 Sillä te olette minun hopiani ja kultani ottaneet, ja minun kauniit kappaleeni teidän kirkkoihinne vieneet;

6 Ja myyneet Juudan ja Jerusalemin lapset Grekiläisille, heitä kauvas heidän rajoistansa saattaaksenne.

7 Katso, minä tahdon heidät sieltä herättää, johonka te heidät myyneet olette; ja tahdon sen kostaa teidän päänne päälle;

8 Ja tahdon myydä jälleen teidän poikanne ja tyttärenne Juudan lasten kautta; ne pitää heidät rikkaasen Arabiaan, kaukaisen maan kansalle myymän; sillä Herra on sen puhunut.

9 Julistakaat näitä pakanain seassa, pyhittäkäät sota, herättäkäät väkevät, käyköön edes, ja menköön ylös kaikki sotaväki.

10 Tehkäät vannanne miekoiksi ja viikahteenne keihäiksi. Ja joka heikko on, se sanokaan: minä olen väkevä.

11 Kootkaat teitänne, ja tulkaat tänne kaikki pakanat ympäristöltä, ja kootkaat teitänne; anna, Herra, sinun väkevät sinne astua alas.

12 Nouskaat pakanat ja menkäät ylös Josaphatin laaksoon; sillä minä tahdon siellä istua, ja tuomita kaikki pakanat ympäristöltä.

13 Sivaltakaat viikahteella, sillä elo on kypsä; tulkaat ja astukaat alas; sillä kuurnat ovat täydet, ja kuurna-astiat kuohuvat; sillä heidän pahuutensa on suuri.

14 Paljo kansaa pitää oleman ympärillä joka paikassa Tuomiolaaksossa; sillä Herran päivä on läsnä Tuomiolaaksossa.

15 Aurinko ja kuu pimenevät, ja tähdet peittävät valkeutensa.

16 Ja Herra on Zionista kiljuva, ja antaa kuulla äänensä Jerusalemista, että taivaan ja maan pitää vapiseman. Mutta Herra on kansansa turva, ja linna Israelin lapsille.

17 Ja teidän pitää tietämän, että minä Herra teidän Jumalanne asun Zionissa minun pyhällä vuorellani; silloin on Jerusalem pyhäksi tuleva, ja ei pidä muukalaisen käymän enään sen lävitse.

18 Sillä ajalla pitää vuoret makiaa viinaa tiukkuman, ja kukkulat rieskaa vuotaman, ja kaikki Juudan ojat pitää vettä täynnä oleman; ja lähde pitää Herran huoneessa käymän, ja Sittimin ojaan juokseman.

19 Vaan Egyptin pitää autioksi tuleman, ja Edom synkiäksi erämaaksi; sen vääryyden tähden, mikä Juudan lapsille tehty on, että he viattoman veren heidän maassansa vuodattaneet ovat.

20 Mutta Juudassa pitää ijankaikkisesti asuttaman, ja Jerusalemissa ijankaikkiseen aikaan.

21 Ja minä tahdon puhdistaa heidän verensä, jota en minä ennen ole puhdistanut; ja Herra on asuva Zionissa.

   


SWORD version by Tero Favorin (tero at favorin dot com)

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Sacred Scripture # 13

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13. In chapter 9 of Revelation we read,

The fifth angel sounded. And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. And out of the smoke locusts came onto the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. The shapes of the locusts were like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were what seemed to be golden crowns, and their faces were like human faces. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like those of lions. They had breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. And they had tails like scorpions, and there were stingers in their tails. Their power was to hurt people for five months. And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. [Revelation 9:1-3, 7-11]

Readers will not understand this either unless the spiritual meaning has been unveiled to them, because nothing in it is an empty statement. Everything, every detail, has meaning. It is about the state of the church when all the truth it has recognized in the Word lies in ruins, and when those who have become limited to their physical senses therefore convince themselves that falsities are truths.

[2] The star fallen from heaven means the ruined state of the truth that was once recognized.

The darkened sun and air mean the light of truth turned into darkness.

The locusts that came out of the smoke of the pit mean false beliefs built on the outward kind of thinking characteristic of people who have become limited to their physical senses and see and evaluate everything on the basis of deceptive appearances.

Scorpions mean the force of their rhetoric.

The locusts looking like horses prepared for battle means their rationalizing as though they understood what was true.

The locusts having what seemed to be golden crowns on their heads and having faces that looked human means that it seemed to them that they were triumphant and wise.

Their having hair like women’s hair means that it seemed to them that they were genuinely devoted to truth.

Their having teeth like those of lions means that their sensory impressions (which are the most superficial aspects of the earthly self) seemed to them to have power over everything.

[3] Their having breastplates like breastplates of iron means the arguments from deceptive appearances that they use in order to fight and prevail.

The sound of their wings being like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle means their rationalizations, based on supposedly true teachings from the Word, for which they feel compelled to fight.

Their having tails like scorpions means their persuasive ability.

Their having stingers in their tails means their skills in using this ability to deceive.

Their having power to hurt people for five months means that they induce a kind of stupor in people who are devoted to understanding what is true and perceiving what is good.

Their having as king over them the angel of the abyss whose name is Abaddon and Apollyon means that their false principles come from hell, where all the people are totally materialistic and in love with their own intelligence.

[4] This is the spiritual meaning of these words, none of which is obvious in the literal meaning. It is the same throughout the Book of Revelation.

Bear in mind that, when spiritually understood, everything is bound together in an ongoing connection, and every single word in the literal or earthly meaning contributes to its elegant construction. So if one little word were taken away, a connection would be broken and a link would be lost. To prevent this from happening, the command not to take away a word is appended to the end of this prophetic book (Revelation 22:19). It is the same with the prophetic books of the Old Testament: so that nothing would be lost, the Lord’s divine providence arranged that their details were counted right down to the letters, which was done by the Masoretes.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.

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Divine Providence # 264

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264. 2. Doubts about divine providence may be raised by the fact that until now people have not known that there is spiritual meaning in the details of the Word and that this is the basis of its holiness. It may raise doubts about divine providence when people ask, "Why is this only being revealed now? And why is it happening through this particular individual, and not through some prominent clergyman?" Whether it is some prominent clergyman or some prominent clergyman's servant, though, is up to the Lord. He knows the nature of each.

There are two reasons, though, that this meaning of the Word has not been revealed earlier. The first is that if it had been revealed earlier, the church would have profaned it, and in so doing would have profaned the very holiness of the Word; and the second is that the genuine truths that constitute the Word's spiritual meaning could not be revealed until the Last Judgment had been completed and the new church meant by the Holy Jerusalem was being founded by the Lord. But let us look at these separately.

[2] (a) The Word's spiritual meaning was not revealed earlier because if it had been, the church would have profaned it, and in so doing would have profaned the very holiness of the Word. Not long after the church was begun it turned into a Babylon, and later it turned into a Philistia. Babylon does actually recognize the Word, but it looks down on it. They say that the Holy Spirit gives just as much inspiration to the members of its supreme council as it did to the prophets. They recognize the Word because the papacy was founded on the Lord's words to Peter, but they still look down on it because it does not agree with them. That is why they have taken it away from the people and hidden it in monasteries, where there are few who actually read it. So if the spiritual meaning had been revealed, where the Lord and all angelic wisdom are present, they would have profaned the Word not only as it is in its outermost form, in what we find in the literal meaning, but in its deepest meanings as well.

[3] Philistia too (meaning faith separated from charity) would have profaned the Word's spiritual meaning, because as already noted [258] it puts salvation in some words that we are to think about and say and not in good deeds that we are to do. So it attributes the power to save to something that has no such power. Particularly, it creates a gap between our intelligence and what we are to believe. For people like this, what becomes of the light that the spiritual meaning of the Word is in? Does it not turn into darkness? And when the outer meaning is turned into darkness, what else can happen to the spiritual meaning? Does anyone who has decided on faith separated from charity and on justification by that kind of faith want to know what a good life really is, what love for the Lord and our neighbor are, what caring and its good effects are, what good actions are, what "doing" is--actually what faith is in its essence, or any of the real truth that constitutes it? Such people write volumes, and all they do is prove what they call faith, claiming that all the things I have just listed are inherent in that faith.

We can see from this that if spiritual meaning had been disclosed earlier, it would have turned out as described by the Lord's words in Matthew, "If your eye had been evil, your whole body would have been full of darkness. So if the light that is in you is darkness, what a darkness!" (Matthew 6:23). In the Word's spiritual meaning, "the eye" means our discernment.

[4] (b) The genuine truths that constitute the Word's spiritual meaning could not be revealed by the Lord until the Last Judgment had been completed and the new church meant by the Holy Jerusalem was being founded by the Lord. The Lord foretold in the Book of Revelation that after the Last Judgment had been completed genuine truths would be disclosed, a new church would be begun, and spiritual meaning would be disclosed. On the completion of the Last Judgment, see what is presented in the booklet Last Judgment and in its supplement. This is the meaning of the heaven and earth that will pass away (Revelation 21:1). The disclosure of genuine truths is foretold by these words in the Book of Revelation, "The one sitting on the throne said, 'Look! I am making all things new!'" (Revelation 21:5). See also Revelation 19:17-18; Revelation 21:18-21; and Revelation 22:1-2. On the need for a revelation of the Word's spiritual meaning, see Revelation 19:11-16. This is the meaning of the white horse on which was seated the one called "The Word of God," the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. On this, see the booklet on The White Horse. On the holy Jerusalem meaning a new church that the Lord would begin, see Teachings for the New Jerusalem on the Lord 62-65, where this is explained.

[5] We can see, then, that the Word's spiritual meaning was to be revealed for a new church that would recognize and worship the Lord alone and would keep his Word holy, loving divine truths and rejecting any faith that is separated from charity. There is more about this meaning of the Word, though, in Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Sacred Scripture 5-26 and following. There the nature of the spiritual meaning is discussed in 5-26. Its presence throughout the Word and in every detail is discussed in 9-17; the spiritual meaning as the reason that the Word is divinely inspired and holy in every word, in 18-19; why the spiritual meaning has as yet been unknown and was not revealed earlier, in 20-25; and the granting of the spiritual meaning, from now on, only to people who have genuine truths from the Lord, in 26.

[6] We can therefore tell that it is under the Lord's divine providence that the spiritual meaning has been hidden from the world until this present age, and has been kept safe in the meanwhile among angels, who draw their wisdom from it. This meaning was known and cherished by the people of very ancient times, the ones who lived before Moses; but since their descendants took the correspondential relationships that were the sole basis of their Word and therefore of their religion and diverted them to various forms of idolatry (and to magic in Egypt), that meaning was closed off under the Lord's divine providence, first among Israelites and later among Christians, for the reasons just given. Only now is it being opened for the Lord's new church.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.