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Matthew 4

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1 Then was Jesus led·​·away into the wilderness by the Spirit, to be tempted by the Devil.

2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He afterwards hungered.

3 And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If Thou be the Son of God, say that these stones be·​·made bread.

4 But He answering said, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every saying that goes·​·out through the mouth of God.*

5 Then the Devil takes Him into the holy city, and stands Him on a pinnacle of the temple;

6 and says to Him, If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down; for it is written that He shall command His angels concerning Thee, and in their hands they shall take· Thee ·up, lest Thou ever dash Thy foot against a stone.*

7 Jesus declared to him, Again, it is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.*

8 Again, the Devil takes Him to an exceedingly high mountain, and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;

9 and says to Him, All these·​·things I will give Thee, if, falling·​·down, Thou wilt worship me.

10 Then says Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.*

11 Then the Devil leaves Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

12 And Jesus, having heard that John was delivered·​·up into custody, departed into Galilee;

13 and leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is on the seacoast, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali,

14 that it might be fulfilled which was declared by Isaiah the prophet, saying,

15 The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;

16 the people who sat in darkness saw great light; and to them who sat in the country and shadow of death, light has risen.*

17 From then Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent ye, for the kingdom of the heavens is·​·near.

18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers.

19 And He says to them, Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.

20 And straightway they left their nets and followed Him.

21 And advancing from thence, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the ship with Zebedee their father, mending* their nets; and He called them.

22 And straightway, leaving the ship and their father, they followed Him.

23 And Jesus went·​·around all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every malady and every disease in the people.

24 And the report of Him went into the whole of Syria; and they brought·​·to Him all who were·​·ill, having different diseases and torments besetting them, and the demon-possessed, and the lunatics, and those sick·​·of·​·the·​·palsy; and He cured them.

25 And many crowds followed Him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and from across the Jordan.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 4766

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4766. 'And I, where do I go?' means, Where now is the Church? This is clear from the representation of 'Reuben' as the Church's faith in general, dealt with in 4731, 4734, 4761. And because Reuben says of himself, 'And I, where do I go?' the meaning is, Where now is the Church's faith? or what amounts to the same, Where now is the Church? For the Church does not exist where no heavenly Joseph - that is, no Lord as regards Divine Truth - does so. In particular it has no existence where the Divine Truth that the Lord's Human is Divine and the Truth that charity, and therefore the works of charity, is the essential element of the Church have no existence, as may be seen from what has been shown in this chapter about these two Truths.

[2] If there is no acceptance of this Divine Truth, that the Lord's Human is Divine, then of necessity it follows that a triad and not a single entity should be worshipped, and only half the Lord, that is, His Divine but not His Human (for is there anyone who worships that which is not Divine?) Is the Church anything when a triad is worshipped, each of the three separately from another, or what amounts to the same, when equal homage is paid to each of them? For although the three are called one, thought still keeps them separate and makes them three, the declaration 'a single entity' being no more than a saying spoken with the lips. Let anyone ask himself, when he says that he acknowledges and believes in one God, whether or not he has thoughts of three. Or when he says that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and that these are distinct and separate both in their persons and as to their functions, whether he can think that there is one God, except in the way that three who are distinct from one another make one through unanimity and also through deference insofar as one goes forth from another. When therefore three gods are worshipped, where then is the Church?

[3] But if the Lord alone is worshipped, in whom the perfect Triad dwells, and in whom is the Father and the Father in Him, as He Himself says in the following places -

Even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father. John 10:38.

He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Do you not believe, Philip, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. John 14:9-11.

He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. John 12:45.

All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine. John 17:10.

- then it is a Christian Church, as it is when it keeps to the following spoken by the Lord,

The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; therefore you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There Is no other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:29-31.

'The Lord our God' is the Lord, see Matthew 4:7, 10; 22:43-44; Luke 1:16-17; John 20:28, 'Jehovah' in the Old Testament being called 'the Lord' in the New, see 2921.

[4] If this Divine Truth too goes unaccepted both in doctrine and in life - the Truth that love towards the neighbour, that is, charity, and therefore the works of charity, is the essential element of the Church - then of necessity it follows that thinking what is true exists in the Church but not thinking what is good. That being so, the thought of one who belongs to the Church may consist of elements that contradict and stand opposed to each other; that is to say, thinking what is evil and thinking what is true may be present simultaneously. In thinking what is evil he lives with the devil and in thinking what is true he does so with the Lord. But truth and evil cannot possibly be in accord,

No one can serve two masters, either he will hate the one and love the other . . . Luke 16:13.

When faith separated from charity advocates this, and endorses it in life, then no matter how much it talks about the fruits of faith, where indeed is the Church?

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