Arcana Coelestia # 349
349. 'A gift' is used to mean worship. This becomes clear from the representative acts in the Jewish Church where, in addition to first-fruits of the earth and of all it yields, and also presentation of the firstborn, sacrifices of every kind are called 'gifts'. It was in these acts that worship consisted. And because they each represented something heavenly and had reference to the Lord, these gifts meant true worship, a fact that anyone is capable of recognizing. For what is any representative without the real thing it represents, and what is anything external without an internal but some idol or object that is dead? That which is external has life from things that are internal, that is, from the Lord through those internal things. From this it is clear that all gifts in the representative Church mean worship of the Lord. Further details on these points will in the Lord's Divine mercy be presented later on.
[2] That 'gifts' in general means worship becomes clear from various places in the Prophets, as in Malachi,
Who endures the day of His coming? He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them like gold, and like silver, and they will be people who present to Jehovah a gift in righteousness. Then the gift of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Jehovah as in the days of old and as in the former years. Malachi 3:2-4.
'A gift in righteousness' means something internal, which 'the sons of Levi', that is, devout worshippers, are going to offer. 'The days of old' means the Most Ancient Church, and 'former years' the Ancient Church.
In Ezekiel,
On My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, all the house of Israel, the whole of that land, will worship Me. There I will be well-disposed towards them, and there I will require your offerings and the first-fruits comprising your gifts in all your holy acts. Ezekiel 20:40.
'Offerings and first-fruits comprising gifts in holy acts' similarly are works that have been made holy through charity from the Lord. In Zephaniah,
From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia those who adore Me will bring My gift. Zephaniah 3:10.
'Ethiopia' stands for people who are in possession of celestial things, namely love, charity, and works stemming from charity.
Malachi 3
1
"Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!" says Yahweh of Armies.
2
"But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like launderer's soap;
3
and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.
4
Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.
5
I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don't fear me," says Yahweh of Armies.
6
"For I, Yahweh, don't change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
7
From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will Return to you," says Yahweh of Armies. "But you say, 'How shall we Return?'
8
Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In tithes and offerings.
9
You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation.
10
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this," says Yahweh of Armies, "if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for.
11
I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field," says Yahweh of Armies.
12
"All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land," says Yahweh of Armies.
13
"Your words have been stout against me," says Yahweh. "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against you?'
14
You have said, 'It is vain to serve God;' and 'What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies?
15
Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.'
16
Then those who feared Yahweh spoke one with another; and Yahweh listened, and heard, and a book of memory was written before him, for those who feared Yahweh, and who honored his name.
17
They shall be mine," says Yahweh of Armies, "my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.
18
Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn't serve him.
