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Matthew 6

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1 "Be careful that you don't do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

2 Therefore when you do merciful deeds, don't sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.

3 But when you do merciful deeds, don't let your left hand know what your right hand does,

4 so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

5 "When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.

6 But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

7 In praying, don't use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.

8 Therefore don't be like them, for your Father knows what things you need, before you ask him.

9 Pray like this: 'Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

10 Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.

11 Give us today our daily bread.

12 Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.

13 Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.'

14 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

15 But if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

16 "Moreover when you fast, don't be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.

17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;

18 so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

19 "Don't lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;

20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don't break through and steal;

21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.

23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and Mammon.

25 Therefore, I tell you, don't be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

26 See the birds of the sky, that they don't sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you of much more value than they?

27 "Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan?

28 Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don't toil, neither do they spin,

29 yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these.

30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won't he much more clothe you, you of little faith?

31 "Therefore don't be anxious, saying, 'What will we eat?', 'What will we drink?' or, 'With what will we be clothed?'

32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

33 But seek first God's Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.

34 Therefore don't be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day's own evil is sufficient.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 164

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164. "'I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.'" This symbolically means that the things of which their worship consists will be taken from them, without their knowing when or how.

This says that the Lord will come like a thief because a person engaged in a lifeless worship has the outward good of worship taken from him. For lifeless worship has some good in it, inasmuch as the worshipers think about God and eternal life. Still, good without its truths is nevertheless not good, unless it is merit-seeking or hypocritical, and evils and falsities take that away, like a thief. This occurs progressively in the world, and totally after death, and moreover without the person's knowing when or how.

It is said in attribution to the Lord that He will come like a thief, but in the spiritual sense the meaning is that hell will take something away and rob people of it. The case here is the same as when the Word says that God does evil to a person, lays him waste, takes revenge, becomes wrathful, and leads into trial or temptation, when in fact it is hell that does these things; for it is so stated in accordance with the appearance to mankind.

In Matthew 25:26-30 and Luke 19:24-26 it may be seen that a talent or mina with which a person is to do business is taken from him if does not make a profit by it. To do business and make a profit means, symbolically, to acquire for oneself truths and goods.

[2] Since the taking away of goodness and truth from people engaged in a lifeless worship comes about as though by a thief in the dark, therefore in the Word it is sometimes likened to a thief, as in the following places:

Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked... (Revelation 16:15)

Watch therefore, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come. Know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. (Matthew 24:42-43)

If thieves have come to you, if robbers by night - oh, how you will be cut off! - will they not steal till they have enough? (Obadiah v. 5)

They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief. (Joel 2:9)

They have concocted a lie, and a thief comes, and a mob spreads outside. (Hosea 7:1)

Do not lay up... treasures on earth..., but... in heaven..., where thieves do not come and will not steal. (Matthew 6:19-20)

A person should watch and not know the hour at which the Lord comes in order that he may think and act as though of himself, thus in freedom in accordance with his reason, and not have fear interject anything. For everyone would be fearful if he were to know. Moreover, whatever a person does of himself in freedom remains to eternity, while what he does out of fear does not remain.

  
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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.