Arcana Coelestia # 666
666. 'A covenant' means nothing other than regeneration and the things that constitute regeneration. This becomes clear from many places in the Word where the Lord Himself is called 'the Covenant', for it is He alone who regenerates, to whom a regenerated person looks, and who is the All in all of love and faith. That the Lord is the Covenant itself is clear in Isaiah,
I Jehovah have called You in righteousness, taking You by the hand and keeping You, and I will give You for a Covenant of the people, a light of the nations. Isaiah 42:6.
Here 'a Covenant' stands for the Lord, and 'the light of the nations' is faith. Similarly in Isaiah 49:6, 8. In Malachi,
Behold, I am sending My angel, and suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the Angel of the Covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming. Who will endure the day of His coming? Malachi 3:1-2.
Here the Lord is called 'the Angel of the Covenant'. In Exodus 31:16 the Sabbath is called an eternal covenant because it means the Lord Himself. It also means the celestial man who has been regenerated by Him.
[2] The Lord being the Covenant itself, it is clear that what constitutes the covenant is everything that joins a person to the Lord, that is to say, love and faith and the things that belong to love and faith. In fact these are the Lord's and the Lord is within them, and so the Covenant itself exists within these, where they are received. These things do not exist except with someone who has been regenerated, with whom anything at all that is the Regenerator's, or the Lord's, constitutes the covenant, or is the covenant. As in Isaiah,
My mercy will not depart from you, and the covenant of My peace will not be removed. Isaiah 54:10.
Here 'mercy and covenant of peace' means the Lord and things that are the Lord's. In the same prophet,
Incline your ear and come to Me; hear, that your soul may live, and I will make with you an eternal covenant, even the sure mercies of David. Lo, I have given Him as a witness to the peoples, a leader and lawgiver to the peoples. Isaiah 55:3-4.
Here 'David' stands for the Lord. 'The eternal covenant' exists in and acts through those qualities that are the Lord's, which are meant by 'coming to Him' and 'hearing so that your soul may live'.
[3] In Jeremiah,
I will give them one heart and one way, to fear Me all their days, for their own good and that of their sons after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear into their heart. Jeremiah 31:39, 40.
This stands for those who are to be regenerated, and also for those things with someone regenerate which are 'one heart and one way', namely charity and faith, which belong to the Lord and so to the covenant. In the same prophet,
Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, when I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, for they rendered My covenant invalid. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put My law in the midst of them, and will write it on their heart, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Jeremiah 31:31-33.
This is an explicit statement of what constitutes the covenant - love and faith in the Lord, which will be present with him who is to be regenerated.
[4] In the same prophet love is called the covenant far the day, and faith the covenant for the night, Jeremiah 33:20. In Ezekiel,
I Jehovah will be their God, and my servant David will be prince in the midst of them; and I will make with them a covenant of peace, and I will banish the evil wild animal from the land, and they will dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. Ezekiel 34:24-25.
This clearly refers to regeneration. 'David' stands for the Lord. In the same prophet,
David will be their prince for ever. I will make with them a covenant of peace, it will be an eternal covenant with them. I will set My sanctuary in their midst for evermore. Ezekiel 37:25-26.
This similarly refers to regeneration. 'David' and 'the sanctuary' stand for the Lord. In the same prophet,
I entered into a covenant with you, and you were Mine. And I washed you with water and washed away your blood from upon you, and anointed you with oil. Ezekiel 16:8-9, 11.
This clearly stands for regeneration. In Hosea,
I will make for them a covenant on that day, with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air, 1 and with the creeping things of the earth. Hosea 2:18.
This stands for regeneration. 'Wild animals of the field' stands for things of the will, 'birds of the air' 1 for those of the understanding. In David,
He sent redemption to His people, He commanded His covenant for ever. Psalms 111:9.
This stands for regeneration. This is called 'a covenant' because it is something given and received.
[5] People however who have not been regenerated - or what amounts to the same, who focus worship on things that are external and who set up and worship as gods both themselves and everything they desire and think - are referred to, because they separate themselves from the Lord, as 'rendering the covenant invalid', as in Jeremiah,
They forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God, and bowed down to other gods and served them. Jeremiah 22:9.
In Moses,
He who transgressed the covenant by serving other gods, the sun, the moon, and the host of heaven, was to be stoned. Deuteronomy 17:2 and following verses.
'The sun' stands for self-love, 'the moon' for false assumptions, 'the host of heaven' for falsities themselves. From this it is now clear what 'the Ark of the covenant' is, containing the testimony or covenant, namely the Lord Himself; what 'the Book of the covenant' is, namely the Lord Himself, Exodus 24:4-7, 34:27; Deuteronomy 4:13, 23; what 'the Blood of the covenant' is, namely the Lord Himself, Exodus 24:6, 8; who alone is the Regenerator. Hence 'a covenant' is regeneration itself.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)
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.
