Apocalypse Revealed # 134
134. "'To teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality.'" This symbolically means, in consequence of which faith the truths of the church are falsified.
To teach and seduce the Lord's servants means, symbolically, to teach and seduce people who can be and are willing to be instructed in truths from the Word. That servants of the Lord are what people governed by truths are called may be seen in nos. 3 and 128 above; and to commit sexual immorality means, symbolically, to adulterate and falsify the Word. To commit sexual immorality has this symbolic meaning because every particular of the Word contains a marriage of good and truth, and this marriage is broken when goodness is divorced and estranged from truth.
To be shown that every particular of the Word contains a marriage of good and truth, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 80-90. It is because of this that to commit sexual immorality means, symbolically, to adulterate the goods of the Word and falsify its truths. Moreover, because this is spiritual licentiousness, therefore people who have employed their own reason to falsify the Word become sexually licentious people when they enter the spiritual world after death. And something as yet unrecognized in the world is the fact that people who have affirmed faith alone to the exclusion of any works of charity are prompted by the lust of an adultery of a son with his mother. In the spiritual world I have often perceived them to be impelled by the lust of so unspeakable an adultery. Remember this and inquire into it after death, and you will be convinced. I have not dared to reveal this previously, because it offends the ears.
[2] This adultery is symbolized by the adultery of Reuben with Bilhah, his father's concubine (Genesis 35:22), inasmuch as Reuben symbolizes that faith. Therefore he was cursed by his father Israel, and the birthright was subsequently taken from him. For in prophesying concerning his sons, his father Israel said of Reuben,
Reuben, you are my firstborn, My might and the beginning of my strength... Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father's bed, then defiled it. He went up to my pallet. (Genesis 49:3-4)
And therefore the birthright was taken from him:
...Reuben (was) the firstborn of Israel..., but because he defiled his father's pallet, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph... (1 Chronicles 5:1)
We will see in the explanation of Revelation 7:5 that Reuben represented truth arising from good or faith springing from charity, and afterward truth divorced from good or faith divorced from charity.
[3] That references to sexual licentiousness in the Word symbolize adulterations of good and falsifications of truth can be seen from the following passages:
...when Joram saw Jehu, he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" And he said, "What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are many?" (2 Kings 9:22)
The harlotries of Jezebel do not mean any acts of licentiousness, but her deeds, as cited in no. 132 above.
Your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms... (Numbers 14:33)
The person who has regard to mediums and soothsayers, to go whoring after them..., I will cut him off... (Leviticus 20:6)
(Do not) make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, (lest) they go whoring after their gods... (Exodus 34:15).
(Jerusalem,) you trusted in your own beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, (so that) you poured out your harlotries on everyone passing by... You also committed harlotry with the Egyptians, your very carnal neighbors, and multiplied your acts of harlotry... You also played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable, (with whom) you played the harlot... You multiplied your harlotry as far as... Chaldea... The adulterous woman, who in place of her husband takes strangers. All men give payment to their harlots, but you made your payments to them all, (that they may) come to you from all around for your harlotries... Therefore, harlot, hear the word of Jehovah. (Ezekiel 16:15-16, 26, 28-29, 32-33, 35ff.)
Jerusalem there is the Israelite and Jewish Church. Its harlotries mean adulterations and falsifications of the Word. And because Egypt symbolizes the knowledge of the natural self, Assyria reasoning on the basis of it, Chaldea the profanation of truth, and Babel the profanation of good, therefore the passage says that it played the harlot with them.
[4] ...two women, the daughters of one mother, committed harlotry in Egypt; in their youth they committed harlotry... (One,) my subject, played the harlot, and she doted on her lovers, the neighboring Assyrians... She committed her harlotries with them... (Yet) she has not given up her harlotries in Egypt....
(The other) became more corrupt in her loving than she, and in her harlotries more corrupt than her sister's harlotries... She increased her harlotries... She loved (Chaldeans).... Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and they defiled her with their harlotry. (Ezekiel 23:2-3, 5, 7-8, 11, 14, 16-17ff.)
The two daughters of the same mother are likewise the Israelite and Jewish Church, whose adulterations and falsifications of the Word are described here, as above, by harlotries.
[5] So, too, in the following passages:
...you have played the harlot with many lovers... You have profaned the land with your harlotries and your wickedness... Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and... played the harlot... Treacherous Judah... went and played the harlot also. So that... by the report of her harlotry she defiled the land; ...she committed adultery with stone and wood. (Jeremiah 3:1-2, 6, 8-9)
And elsewhere:
Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see... if you can find a man... who executes judgment and seeks the truth... I satiated them, and they committed harlotry and came by troops into the harlots' house. (Jeremiah 5:1, 7)
I have seen your adulteries... your neighings, the wickedness of your harlotry, your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! You will not be made clean... (Jeremiah 13:27)
I have seen a horrible obstinacy in the prophets of Jerusalem: they commit adultery and walk in a lie. (Jeremiah 23:14)
...they have committed folly in Israel, have committed adultery..., and have spoken (My) word in My name falsely... (Jeremiah 29:23)
...they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into disrepute... They committed harlotry..., because they have forsaken Jehovah. Harlotry... enslaved (their) heart... ...your daughters commit harlotry, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. (Hosea 4:7, 10-11, 13)
I know Ephraim..., (that) he has (altogether) committed harlotry, (and) Israel is defiled. (Hosea 5:3)
I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: Ephraim committed harlotry there, (and) Israel is defiled. (Hosea 6:10)
Israel there is the church, and Ephraim is its understanding of the Word, from which and in accordance with which the church is formed. Therefore Ephraim is said to have committed harlotry and Israel to be defiled.
[6] Since the church had falsified the Word, the prophet Hosea was commanded to take himself a harlot as a wife, as follows:
...take yourself a woman of harlotries and children of harlotries, for the land has committed great harlotry behind Jehovah. (Hosea 1:2).
Again:
...love a woman who is loved by a companion and is an adulteress... (Hosea 3:1)
Since the Jewish Church was such as described, therefore the Lord called the Jewish nation an adulterous generation (Matthew 12:39; 16:4, Mark 8:38); and in Isaiah, the offspring of an adulterer (Isaiah 57:3).
In Nahum:
Woe to the bloody city! Full of lying... The multitude of the slain... because of the multitude of the harlotries of the harlot..., who sells nations through her harlotries... (Nahum 3:1, 3-4)
[7] Since Roman Catholicism adulterates and falsifies the Word more than any others in the Christian world, it is therefore called Babylon, the Great Harlot, and the following things are said of it in the book of Revelation:
Babylon... has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her harlotry. (Revelation 14:8)
(Babylon has made) all the nations (drink) of the wine of the wrath of her harlotry, and the kings of the earth have committed harlotry with her... (Revelation 18:3)
(The angel said,) "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot... with whom the kings of the earth committed harlotry. (Revelation 17:1-2)
...He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her harlotry. (Revelation 19:2)
It is apparent from this now that to commit adultery and to commit sexual immorality mean, symbolically, to adulterate and falsify the goods and truths of the Word.
Esaias 43
1
Og nu, så sier Herren, som skapte dig, Jakob, og som dannet dig, Israel: Frykt ikke! Jeg har gjenløst dig, kalt dig ved navn, du er min.
2
Når du går gjennem vann, så er jeg med dig, og gjennem elver, så skal de ikke overskylle dig; når du går gjennem ild, skal du ikke svies, og luen skal ikke brenne dig;
3
for jeg er Herren din Gud, Israels Hellige, din frelser; jeg gir Egypten til løsepenger for dig, Etiopia og Seba gir jeg i ditt sted.
4
Fordi du er dyrebar i mine øine, fordi du er aktet høit og jeg elsker dig, så gir jeg mennesker i ditt sted og folkeslag i stedet for ditt liv.
5
Frykt ikke! Jeg er med dig. Fra Østen vil jeg la din ætt komme, og fra Vesten vil jeg samle dig.
6
Jeg vil si til Norden: Gi dem hit, og til Syden: Hold dem ikke tilbake, la mine sønner komme fra det fjerne og mine døtre fra jordens ende,
7
hver den som nevnes med mitt navn, og som jeg har skapt til min ære, som jeg har dannet og gjort.
8
For frem et blindt folk som dog har øine, og døve som dog har ører!
9
La alle hedningefolk samle sig, alle folkeferd komme sammen! Hvem blandt dem* er det som kunngjør slikt**? La dem si oss hvad de tidligere har spådd***! La dem stille sine vidner, så de kan få rett, la dem høre og si: Det er sannhet! / {* avgudene.} / {** JES 43, 5 fg.} / {*** JES 41, 22.}
10
I er mine vidner, sier Herren, og min tjener, som jeg har utvalgt, forat I skal kjenne og tro mig og forstå at jeg er Gud*; før mig er ingen gud blitt til, og efter mig skal det ingen komme. / {* 5MO 32, 39.}
11
Jeg, jeg er Herren, og foruten mig er det ingen frelser.
12
Jeg har forkynt det og frelst, jeg har kunngjort det, og der var ingen fremmed gud blandt eder. I er mine vidner, sier Herren, og jeg er Gud.
13
Endog fra dag blev til, er jeg det, og det er ingen som redder av min hånd; jeg gjør en gjerning, og hvem gjør den ugjort?
14
Så sier Herren, eders gjenløser, Israels Hellige: For eders skyld sender jeg bud til Babel og lar dem alle sammen flykte nedover elven, jeg lar kaldeerne flykte på de skib som var deres lyst.
15
Jeg er Herren, eders Hellige, Israels skaper, eders konge.
16
Så sier Herren, som gjorde vei i havet og sti i mektige vann,
17
som lot vogner og hester, hær og krigsmakt dra ut - alle sammen ligger de der, de står ikke op, de er slukket, som en tande sluknet de - :
18
Kom ikke i hu de forrige ting, akt ikke på fortiden!
19
Se, jeg gjør noget nytt, nu skal det spire frem; skal I ikke opleve det? Ja, jeg vil gjøre vei i ørkenen, strømmer i ødemarken.
20
Markens ville dyr, sjakaler og strutser, skal ære mig fordi jeg gir vann i ørkenen, strømmer i ødemarken, så mitt folk, mine utvalgte, kan drikke.
21
Det folk jeg har dannet mig, skal forkynne min pris.
22
Men mig har du ikke påkalt; Jakob, så du gjorde dig møie for mig, Israel!
23
Du har ikke gitt mig dine brennoffers får og ikke æret mig med dine slaktoffer; jeg har ikke trettet dig med matoffer og ikke voldt dig møie med virak.
24
Du har ikke kjøpt mig Kalmus* for sølv og ikke mettet mig med dine slaktoffers fedme; du har bare trettet mig med dine synder, voldt mig møie med dine misgjerninger. / {* 2MO 30, 23.}
25
Jeg, jeg er den som utsletter dine misgjerninger for min skyld, og dine synder kommer jeg ikke i hu.
26
Minn mig*, la oss gå i rette med hverandre! Fortell du, så du kan få rett! / {* om det du har gjort for mig.}
27
Din første far syndet, og dine talsmenn falt fra mig;
28
så vanhelliget jeg de hellige høvdinger og overgav Jakob til bann og Israel til spott.
