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Matthew 8

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1 Upon descending from the hill country He was followed by immense crowds.

2 And a leper came to Him, and throwing himself at His feet, said, "Sir, if only you are willing you are able to cleanse me."

3 So Jesus put out His hand and touched him, and said, "I am willing: be cleansed." Instantly he was cleansed from his leprosy;

4 and Jesus said to him, "Be careful to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses appointed as evidence for them."

5 After His entry into Capernaum a Captain came to Him, and entreated Him.

6 "Sir," he said, "my servant at home is lying ill with paralysis, and is suffering great pain."

7 "I will come and cure him," said Jesus.

8 "Sir," replied the Captain, "I am not a fit person to receive you under my roof: merely say the word, and my servant will be cured.

9 For I myself am also under authority, and have soldiers under me. To one I say `Go,' and he goes, to another `Come,' and he comes, and to my slave `Do this or that,' and he does it."

10 Jesus listened to this reply, and was astonished, and said to the people following Him, "I solemnly tell you that in no Israelite have I found faith as great as this.

11 And I tell you that many will come from the east and from the west and will recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of the Heavens,

12 while the natural heirs of the Kingdom will be driven out into the darkness outside: there will be the weeping aloud and the gnashing of teeth."

13 And Jesus said to the Captain, "Go, and just as you have believed, so be it for you." And the servant recovered precisely at that time.

14 After this Jesus went to the house of Peter, whose mother-in-law he found ill in bed with fever.

15 He touched her hand and the fever left her: and then she rose and waited upon Him.

16 In the evening many demoniacs were brought to Him, and with a word He expelled the demons; and He cured all the sick,

17 in order that this prediction of the Prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, <"He took on Him our weaknesses, and bore the burden of our diseases.">

18 Seeing great crowds about Him Jesus had given directions to cross to the other side of the Lake,

19 when a Scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

20 "Foxes have holes," replied Jesus, "and birds have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

21 Another of the disciples said to Him, "Sir, allow me first to go and bury my father."

22 "Follow me," said Jesus, "and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

23 Then He went on board a fishing-boat, and His disciples followed Him.

24 But suddenly there arose a great storm on the Lake, so that the waves threatened to engulf the boat; but He was asleep.

25 So they came and woke Him, crying, "Master, save us, we are drowning!"

26 "Why are you so easily frightened," He replied, "you men of little faith?" Then He rose and reproved the winds and the waves, and there was a perfect calm;

27 and the men, filled with amazement, exclaimed, "What kind of man is this? for the very winds and waves obey him!"

28 On His arrival at the other side, in the country of the Gadarenes, there met Him two men possessed by demons, coming from among the tombs: they were so dangerously fierce that no one was able to pass that way.

29 They cried aloud, "What hast Thou to do with us, Thou Son of God? Hast Thou come here to torment us before the time?"

30 Now at some distance from them a vast herd of swine were feeding.

31 So the demons entreated Him. "If Thou drivest us out," they said, "send us into the herd of swine."

32 "Go," He replied. Then they came out from the men and went into the swine, whereupon the entire herd instantly rushed down the cliff into the Lake and perished in the water.

33 The swineherds fled, and went and told the whole story in the town, including what had happened to the demoniacs.

34 So at once the whole population came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they besought Him to leave their country.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 413

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413. And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, and a third of them was darkened. This symbolically means that because of their evils springing from falsities and their falsities springing from evils, they did not know what love is, or what faith is, or any truth.

A third means, symbolically, all (no. 400). The sun symbolizes love (no. 53). The moon symbolizes intelligence and faith (no. 332). The stars symbolize concepts of truth and goodness from the Word (no. 51). To be darkened means, symbolically, to be unseen and unknown because of evils springing from falsities and falsities springing from evils.

Evils springing from falsities are found in people who adopt falsities having to do with religion and defend them to the point that they appear to be true. Then, when they live in accordance with them, they do evils as a result of the falsities, or the evils of falsity.

On the other hand, falsities springing from evils are found in people who do not regard evils as being sins, and still more in people who employ reasonings issuing from their natural self, and moreover from the Word, to establish in themselves that evils are not sins. Their very arguments are falsities springing from evils, and what we call the falsities of evil.

[2] Darkness symbolizes these falsities because light symbolizes truth, and when the light has been extinguished, darkness is left.

To confirm this we will first cite passages where things similar to those here in the book of Revelation are said regarding the sun, moon and stars, and darkness ensuing upon their being extinguished:

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and terrible day of Jehovah. (Joel 2:31)

...the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. (Isaiah 13:10, cf. 24:21, 24:23)

When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens..., I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. All the luminaries of light in the heavens I will make dark over you, and bring darkness upon your land... (Ezekiel 32:7-8)

...the day of Jehovah... is at hand... The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. (Joel 2:1, 10)

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven... (Matthew 24:29, cf. Mark 13:24-25)

Who, if he elevates his mind, cannot see that in these places it is not the world's sun, moon and stars that are meant.

[3] That darkness symbolizes falsities of various kinds is clear from these passages:

Woe to you who desire the day of Jehovah! ...It will be one of darkness, and not light... Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light? Very dark, without any brightness? (Amos 5:18, 20)

(The day of Jehovah will be) a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of clouds and overcast... (Zephaniah 1:15)

In that day... it will look to the land, which, behold, will be darkness...; and the light will grow dark in its ruins. (Isaiah 5:30, cf. 8:22)

...behold, the darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. (Isaiah 60:2)

Give glory to Jehovah... before He causes darkness...; you look for light, but He turns it into thick darkness. (Jeremiah 13:16)

We look for light, but there is darkness and no brightness; we walk in thick darkness... We stumble at noonday as at twilight; among the living we are as dead men. (Isaiah 59:9-10)

Woe to those... who put darkness for light, and light for darkness. (Isaiah 5:20)

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. (Isaiah 9:2, cf. Matthew 4:16)

...the rising sun from on high (has appeared) to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death... (Luke 1:78-79)

If you give your soul to the hungry..., your light shall rise in the darkness, and your thick darkness shall be as the noonday. (Isaiah 58:10)

In that day... the eyes of the blind who are in thick darkness and gloom shall see. (Isaiah 29:18, cf. 42:16; 49:9)

(Jesus said,) "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12)

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you... I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. (John 12:35, 46)

When I sit in darkness, Jehovah is a light to me. (Micah 7:8)

This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness more than light... (John 3:19, cf. 1:4-5)

If... the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:23, cf. Luke 11:34-36)

...this is your hour, and the power of darkness. (Luke 22:53)

Darkness in these places symbolizes falsity arising either from ignorance of truth or from some false tenet of religion, or from a life of evil.

Regarding people caught up in falsities having to do with religion, who are therefore caught up in evils in life, the Lord says that they should be "cast out into outer darkness" (Matthew 8:12, cf. 22:13; 25:30).

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.