8
Babylone est tombée en un instant, et a été brisée; hurlez sur elle, prenez du baume pour sa douleur, peut-être qu'elle guérira.
Jérémie 51:8
Iniquity, transgression and sin
In the Word three terms are used to refer to bad actions: transgression, iniquity, and sin. Transgression is the least bad. It means a violation of what is true in an external context, a violation of what is right and orderly. Iniquity is next and denotes acts that violate more interior truths. Sin is the worst. It is a violation of what is holy and righteous, a violation against the Lord. Sin is the deepest kind of evil. Regarding iniquity -- to be in charity, or live a life of charity is to live a life where the acts and thoughts that have top priority are those that have within them a love for the neighbor. Sometimes our love of self, our inborn desire to put ourselves first, is stronger than our charity and we do something for ourselves at the expense of our neighbor, or even do harm to our neighbor. Such an act, if our motive is selfish, is an iniquity.
(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 9156, 9965 [2-3])
Apocalypse Explained # 362
362. I heard the second animal saying, signifies out of the inmost heaven from the Lord. This is evident from what was said above n. 353; for by the animals are meant cherubim, and "cherubim," in the highest sense, signify the Lord in relation to providence and guard that He be not approached except through the good of love; and in a relative sense, the inmost heaven (See above, n. 152, 277, 313, 322). "Cherubim" signify also the inmost heaven because this heaven is in the good of love to the Lord, and the Lord cannot be approached except through the heavens, and into the inmost or third heaven there is nothing admitted that does not savor of the good of that heaven. There were four animals or cherubim, because "four" signifies conjunction into one, and such is the conjunction with those who are there; for the Lord thus conjoins them by means of love to Him from Him. For this reason four were seen. From this also it is clear that the second animal here has a similar significance as the first, and similar as the third and fourth in what follows. (That "four" signifies conjunction, see Arcana Coelestia 1686, 8877, 9601, 9674)
