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Deuteronomy 6

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1 Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it;

2 that you might fear Yahweh your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.

3 Hear therefore, Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God; Yahweh is one:

5 and you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

6 These words, which I command you this day, shall be on your heart;

7 and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

8 You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for symbols between your eyes.

9 You shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates.

10 It shall be, when Yahweh your God shall bring you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities, which you didn't build,

11 and houses full of all good things, which you didn't fill, and cisterns dug out, which you didn't dig, vineyards and olive trees, which you didn't plant, and you shall eat and be full;

12 then beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

13 You shall fear Yahweh your God; and you shall serve him, and shall swear by his name.

14 You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are around you;

15 for Yahweh your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; lest the anger of Yahweh your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 You shall not tempt Yahweh your God, as you tempted him in Massah.

17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you.

18 You shall do that which is right and good in the sight of Yahweh; that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which Yahweh swore to your fathers,

19 to thrust out all your enemies from before you, as Yahweh has spoken.

20 When your son asks you in time to come, saying, "What do the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh our God has commanded you mean?"

21 then you shall tell your son, "We were Pharaoh's bondservants in Egypt: and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand;

22 and Yahweh showed great and awesome signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes;

23 and he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore to our fathers.

24 Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day.

25 It shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us."

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 347

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347. "Till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." This symbolically means, before those people were separated who were governed by truths springing from goodness from the Lord, thus who were inwardly good.

Sealing them on the foreheads does not mean to seal them there actually, but to distinguish and separate people who are impelled by the goodness of love from the Lord; for the forehead symbolizes the goodness of love. They are people who are governed by truths springing from goodness from the Lord, because these are the kind of people meant by servants of God (no. 3).

The forehead symbolizes the goodness of love because the face images a person's affections, and the forehead is the highest part of the face. Just underneath the forehead is the brain, from which originates everything connected with the person's life.

Because the forehead symbolizes love - a good love in the case of good people, and an evil love in the case of evil people - therefore to seal them on the foreheads means, symbolically, to distinguish and separate one from the other according to their love.

The like is symbolically meant in Ezekiel:

Go through... the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men who groan... over... the abominations... (Ezekiel 9:4-6)

[2] Since the forehead symbolizes love, therefore regarding the plate on Aaron's turban which had "Holiness to Jehovah" engraved on it, we read that it was on the front of the turban, so as to be on Aaron's forehead, and to be always on Aaron's forehead, that the people might find favor before Jehovah (Exodus 28:36-38). And it was also commanded that the words, "You shall love your God with all your heart and with all your soul," be on the hand and on the forehead (Deuteronomy 6:5, 8; 11:18); that they have the name of the Father written on their foreheads (Revelation 14:1), and the name of God and of the Lamb on their foreheads (Revelation 22:4).

It should be known that the Lord views angels by looking upon their foreheads, and they in turn view the Lord with their eyes. The reason is that the Lord regards all in accordance with the goodness of their love, and wills that they in turn regard Him in accordance with the truths of wisdom, so as to bring about a conjunction.

[3] In an opposite sense the forehead in the following instances symbolizes an evil love: people who have the mark of the beast on their foreheads (Revelation 13:16; 14:9; 20:4); and also people with the name of Babylon on their foreheads (Revelation 17:5). The forehead of a woman who is a harlot (Jeremiah 3:3). People having an obstinate forehead and a hard heart (Ezekiel 3:7-8).

...you were obstinate..., and your forehead was bronze... (Isaiah 48:4)

  
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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.