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Matthew 11

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1 And it came·​·to·​·pass when Jesus had finished instructing His twelve disciples, He passed·​·on thence to teach and to preach in their cities.

2 And John, hearing in the prison the works of the Christ and sending two of his disciples,

3 says to Him, Art Thou He who comest, or should we expect another?

4 And Jesus answering, said to them, Go, report to John what you hear and see:

5 the blind receive· their ·sight and the lame walk, the lepers are·​·cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised·​·up and the poor have·​·the·​·gospel·​·announced to them.

6 And happy is he, whoever shall not be offended in Me.

7 And as they went, Jesus began to say to the crowds concerning John, What did you come·​·out into the wilderness to observe? A reed shaken with the wind?

8 But what did you come·​·out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold, they who wear soft things are in kings’ houses.

9 But what did you come·​·out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to·​·you, and more·​·than a prophet.

10 For this is he about whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, who shall make·​·ready Thy way before Thee.*

11 Amen I say to you, There has not arisen among those who are born of women a greater than John the Baptist; but the least in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he.

12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens presses, and they who·​·press seize upon it.

13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John,

14 and if you will to accept it, he is Elijah who was·​·going to come.

15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

16 But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like little·​·boys sitting in the markets, and summoning their fellows,

17 and saying, We have piped to you, and you have not danced; we have lamented to you, and you have not wailed.

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a demon.

19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a man, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! And wisdom has been justified by her children.

20 Then He began to reproach the cities in which most of His works of power were·​·done, because they did not repent.

21 Woe to thee, Chorazin! Woe to thee, Bethsaida! Because if the works of power had been·​·done in Tyre and Sidon that were·​·done in you, they would have repented long·​·ago in sackcloth and ashes.

22 But I say unto you, It shall be more·​·tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you.

23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted up·​·to heaven, shalt be thrust·​·down even·​·to hell; for if the works of power which have been·​·done in thee had been·​·done in Sodom, it would have remained even·​·to this·​·day.

24 But I say to·​·you that it shall be more·​·tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for·​·thee.

25 At that time Jesus answering said, I profess Thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth, because Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and hast revealed them to infants.

26 Yes, Father; for so it was for good·​·pleasure before Thee.

27 All things are delivered·​·up to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; neither knows anyone the Father, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son intends to reveal Him.

28 Come to Me, all you that labor and are burdened, and·​·I will give· you ·rest.

29 Take My yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.

30 For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Heaven and Hell # 354

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354. I have been allowed to talk with many scholars after their departure from our world, with some who were quite renowned and celebrated throughout the learned world for their publications, as well as with some who were not so well known but who still had within themselves a hidden wisdom.

The ones who at heart denied the Deity, whether or not they acknowledged the Deity out loud, had become so stupid that they could scarcely understand any civic truth, let alone any spiritual truth. I could both comprehend and see that the inner levels of their minds were so shut off that they looked inky black (things like this are made visible in the spiritual world), and that this meant they could not bear any heavenly light or let in any inflow from heaven. The blackness that enveloped their deeper levels was greater and more extensive for people who had convinced themselves of their opposition to the Divine by means of their secular scholarship.

In the other life, people like this gladly accept anything false. They soak it up like a sponge soaking up water; and they repel anything true the way something bony and springy repels anything that falls on it. It is also said that if people convince themselves of their opposition to the Divine and their advocacy of nature, their deeper levels actually become bony. Their heads even look callused, as though they were made of ebony, and this reaches all the way to their noses, a sign that they no longer have any perception.

People like this are sunk in quagmires that look like swamps, where they are pestered by the hallucinations that their falsities turn into. Their hellfire is their craving for glory and fame, which leads them to denounce each other and to torment with hellish zeal anyone who does not worship them as gods. They do this to each other by turns.

This is what becomes of all earthly learning that does not accept light from heaven into itself by our acknowledgment of the Divine.

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