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Ezekiel 3

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1 And He saith unto me, `Son of man, that which thou findest eat, eat this roll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel.'

2 And I open my mouth, and He causeth me to eat this roll.

3 And He saith unto me, `Son of man, thy belly thou dost feed, and thy bowels thou dost fill with this roll that I am giving unto thee;' and I eat it, and it is in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

4 And He saith unto me, `Son of man, go, enter in unto the house of Israel, and thou hast spoken with My words unto them.

5 For, not unto a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue [art] thou sent -- unto the house of Israel;

6 not unto many peoples, deep of lip and heavy of tongue, whose words thou dost not understand. If I had not sent thee unto them -- they, they do hearken unto thee,

7 but the house of Israel are not willing to hearken unto thee, for they are not willing to hearken unto Me, for all the house of Israel are brazen-faced and strong-hearted.

8 `Lo, I have made thy face strong against their face, and thy forehead strong against their forehead.

9 As an adamant harder than a rock I have made thy forehead; thou dost not fear them, nor art thou affrighted before them, for a rebellious house [are] they.'

10 And He saith unto me, `Son of man, all My words, that I speak unto thee, receive with thy heart, and with thine ears hear;

11 and go, enter in unto the Removed, unto the sons of thy people, and thou hast spoken unto them, and hast said unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: whether they hear, or whether they forbear.'

12 And lift me up doth a spirit, and I hear behind me a noise, a great rushing -- `Blessed [is] the honour of Jehovah from His place!' --

13 even a noise of the wings of the living creatures touching one another, and a noise of the wheels over-against them, even a noise of a great rushing.

14 And a spirit hath lifted me up, and doth take me away, and I go bitterly, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of Jehovah on me [is] strong.

15 And I come in unto the Removed, at Tel-Ahib, who are dwelling at the river Chebar, and where they are dwelling I also dwell seven days, causing astonishment in their midst.

16 And it cometh to pass, at the end of seven days,

17 that there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man, a watchman I have given thee to the house of Israel, and thou hast heard from My mouth a word, and hast warned them from Me.

18 In My saying to the wicked: Thou dost surely die; and thou hast not warned him, nor hast spoken to warn the wicked from his wicked way, so that he doth live; he -- the wicked -- in his iniquity dieth, and his blood from thy hand I require.

19 And thou, because thou hast warned the wicked, and he hath not turned back from his wickedness, and from his wicked way, he in his iniquity dieth, and thou thy soul hast delivered.

20 `And in the turning back of the righteous from his righteousness, and he hath done perversity, and I have put a stumbling-block before him, he dieth; because thou hast not warned him, in his sin he dieth, and not remembered is his righteousness that he hath done, and his blood from thy hand I require.

21 And thou, because thou hast warned him -- the righteous -- that the righteous sin not, and he hath not sinned, he surely liveth, because he hath been warned; and thou thy soul hast delivered.'

22 And there is on me there a hand of Jehovah, and He saith to me, `Rise, go forth to the valley, and there I do speak with thee.'

23 And I rise and go forth unto the valley, and lo, there the honour of Jehovah is standing as the honour that I had seen by the river Chebar, and I fall on my face.

24 And come into me doth a spirit, and causeth me to stand on my feet, and He speaketh with me, and saith unto me, `Go in, be shut up in the midst of thy house.

25 `And thou, son of man, lo, they have put on thee thick bands, and have bound thee with them, and thou goest not forth in their midst;

26 and thy tongue I cause to cleave unto thy palate, and thou hast been dumb, and art not to them for a reprover, for a rebellious house [are] they.

27 And in My speaking with thee, I do open thy mouth, and thou hast said unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah; the hearer doth hear, and the forbearer doth forbear; for a rebellious house [are] they.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 510

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510. But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet. (11:11) This symbolically means that at the end of the prior church, as the New Church commences and grows, these two essential elements of the New Church are made living by the Lord in people who accept them.

Three and a half days means, symbolically, at the end and then the beginning (no. 505), thus at the end of the church still existing and the beginning of a new one, here the beginning of the church in people in whom the New Church commences and grows, because we are told now in regard to the two witnesses that the breath of life entered them and they stood on their feet.

The breath of life from God symbolizes spiritual life, and standing on their feet symbolizes natural life in harmony with spiritual life, and thus one made living by the Lord. This is the symbolic meaning because the breath of life refers to a person's inner being, called his inner self, which regarded in itself is spiritual. For it is a person's spirit that thinks and wills, and to think and will is, in itself, a spiritual activity. 1 Standing on the feet symbolizes a person's outer being, called his outer self, which in itself is natural. For it is the body that says and does what the spirit in it thinks and wills, and to speak and act is a natural activity. That the feet symbolize natural things may be seen in nos. 49, 468.

[2] We need to say what all this means specifically. Everyone who is reformed is reformed first in respect to his inner self, and afterward in respect to his outer self. The inner self is reformed, not by simply knowing and understanding the truths and goods by which a person is saved, but by willing and loving them, and the outer self by saying and doing what the inner self wills and loves. To the extent the outer self does this, then, to the same extent the person is regenerated. He is not regenerated prior to that because before then his inner self is not present in the effect, but subsists only in the cause, and unless a cause has an effect, it dissipates. It is like a house founded on a field of ice, a house that sinks to the bottom when the sun melts the ice. In short, it is like a person without feet on which to stand and walk. The same is the case with the inner or spiritual self unless it is founded on the outer or natural self.

This, now, is what is symbolically meant by the two witnesses' standing on their feet after breath from God entered them, and also by similar statements in Ezekiel:

(Jehovah) said to me, "Prophesy regarding the breath...." And (when) I prophesied... breath came into them, and they... stood upon their feet... (Ezekiel 37:9-10)

Also in Ezekiel:

(The voice speaking to me said,) "Son of man, stand on your feet...." Then the spirit 1 entered me... and set me on my feet. (Ezekiel 2:1-2)

And again in Ezekiel:

...I fell on my face. But the spirit 1 ...entered me and set me on my feet... (Ezekiel 3:23-24)

This, too, is the meaning of the Lord's words to Peter:

...Peter said..., ."..(wash) not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to have his feet washed, and he is completely clean." (John 13:9-10)

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. In the original Latin, the word for breath and spirit is the same, and it is translated here as both breath and spirit.

  
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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.

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Revelation 11

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1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.

18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.