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Matthew 8

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1 And when he came down from the mount, great multitudes did follow him,

2 and lo, a leper having come, was bowing to him, saying, `Sir, if thou art willing, thou art able to cleanse me;'

3 and having stretched forth the hand, Jesus touched him, saying, `I will, be thou cleansed,' and immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4 And Jesus saith to him, `See, thou mayest tell no one, but go, thyself shew to the priest, and bring the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony to them.'

5 And Jesus having entered into Capernaum, there came to him a centurion calling upon him,

6 and saying, `Sir, my young man hath been laid in the house a paralytic, fearfully afflicted,'

7 and Jesus saith to him, `I, having come, will heal him.'

8 And the centurion answering said, `Sir, I am not worthy that thou mayest enter under my roof, but only say a word, and my servant shall be healed;

9 for I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers, and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Be coming, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doth [it].'

10 And Jesus having heard, did wonder, and said to those following, `Verily I say to you, not even in Israel so great faith have I found;

11 and I say to you, that many from east and west shall come and recline (at meat) with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the reign of the heavens,

12 but the sons of the reign shall be cast forth to the outer darkness -- there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.'

13 And Jesus said to the centurion, `Go, and as thou didst believe let it be to thee;' and his young man was healed in that hour.

14 And Jesus having come into the house of Peter, saw his mother-in-law laid, and fevered,

15 and he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose, and was ministering to them.

16 And evening having come, they brought to him many demoniacs, and he did cast out the spirits with a word, and did heal all who were ill,

17 that it might be fulfilled that was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, `Himself took our infirmities, and the sicknesses he did bear.'

18 And Jesus having seen great multitudes about him, did command to depart to the other side;

19 and a certain scribe having come, said to him, `Teacher, I will follow thee wherever thou mayest go;'

20 and Jesus saith to him, `The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven places of rest, but the Son of Man hath not where he may lay the head.'

21 And another of his disciples said to him, `Sir, permit me first to depart and to bury my father;'

22 and Jesus said to him, `Follow me, and suffer the dead to bury their own dead.'

23 And when he entered into the boat his disciples did follow him,

24 and lo, a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves, but he was sleeping,

25 and his disciples having come to him, awoke him, saying, `Sir, save us; we are perishing.'

26 And he saith to them, `Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?' Then having risen, he rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm;

27 and the men wondered, saying, `What kind -- is this, that even the wind and the sea do obey him?'

28 And he having come to the other side, to the region of the Gergesenes, there met him two demoniacs, coming forth out of the tombs, very fierce, so that no one was able to pass over by that way,

29 and lo, they cried out, saying, `What -- to us and to thee, Jesus, Son of God? didst thou come hither, before the time, to afflict us?'

30 And there was far off from them a herd of many swine feeding,

31 and the demons were calling on him, saying, `If thou dost cast us forth, permit us to go away to the herd of the swine;'

32 and he saith to them, `Go.' And having come forth, they went to the herd of the swine, and lo, the whole herd of the swine rushed down the steep, to the sea, and died in the waters,

33 and those feeding did flee, and, having gone to the city, they declared all, and the matter of the demoniacs.

34 And lo, all the city came forth to meet Jesus, and having seen him, they called on [him] that he might depart from their borders.

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 48

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48. And in the kingdom, signifies in the church where truths are. This is evident from the signification of "kingdom" in the Word, as being heaven and the church. It means the church in respect to truth, or where truths are, because by the royalty of the Lord is signified Divine truth proceeding from Him, and therefore by "kings" are signified truths (See what is shown above, n. 31). It is said the church in respect to truth, by which is meant the church in respect to truths from good; and for the reason that there are no truths without good, for truths have their life from good. Truths with a man who is not in good are indeed truths in themselves, but they are not truths in him (as may be seen abundantly shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, 11-27).

[2] That "kingdom" in the Word signifies heaven and the church in respect to truths, is evident from many passages in the Word, some of which I will cite.

Thus in Matthew:

The sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness (Matthew 8:12);

the "sons of the kingdom" here are those of the church where truths do not prevail, but falsities.

In the same:

He that heareth the Word of the kingdom, and giveth not heed to it, the evil one cometh, and snatcheth away that which hath been sown in his heart. This is he that was sown by the wayside. The field is the world; the seed are the sons of the kingdom (Matthew 13:19, 38).

"To hear the Word of the kingdom" is to hear the truths of the church; and because "seed" signifies truths, they who receive truths are called "sons of the kingdom." (That "seed" is the truth of the church, see Arcana Coelestia 3038, 3373, 3671, 10248, 10249.)

In the same:

Therefore the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth fruit (Matthew 21:43).

It is evident that "the kingdom of God" here signifies the church in respect to truths, thus also the truths of the church, from its being said that "it should be taken away from them, and given to a nation bringing forth fruit;" "fruit" is good.

Again in the same:

In the consummation of the age, nation shall be stirred up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom (24:[3], 7).

The consummation of the age" is the last time of the church, "nation against nation" is evil against good, and "kingdom against kingdom" is falsity against truth. (That "nation" is the good of the church, and in the opposite sense the evil there, see Arcana Coelestia 1059, 1159, 1258-1260, 1416, 1849, 6005)

[3] From this it is plain what is meant by "kingdom" in the Lord's prayer:

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so also upon the earth. Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory (Matthew 6:10, 13).

"Thy kingdom come" is a prayer that truth may be received; "Thy will be done," that it may be received by those who do God's will; "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory," means Divine truth from God alone; it is also said "power and glory," because Divine truth has all power and glory (See above, n. 33). From all this it can be seen what "the kingdom of God" signifies in very many passages in the Word, namely, the church in respect to truths, and also heaven, and in the highest sense the Lord in respect to the Divine Human. "Kingdom," in the highest sense, signifies the Lord in respect to the Divine Human, because from Him all Divine truth proceeds; and "kingdom" signifies heaven, because heaven with the angels is from no other source than from the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord's Divine Human (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 7-12, 78-86, 126-140).

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.