Arcana Coelestia #2228
2228. 'And in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed' means that from Him all who have charity will be saved. This is clear from the meaning of 'being blessed' as being endowed with all goods that have a heavenly origin, dealt with in 981, 1096, 1420, 1422. People who are endowed with goods from a heavenly origin, that is, with celestial goods and spiritual goods, which have been referred to immediately above in 2227, are also endowed with eternal salvation, that is, they are saved. 'All nations of the earth' is used to mean in the internal sense those with whom the goods exist that flow from love and charity, as is clear from the meaning of 'nation' as good, dealt with in 1159, 1258-1260, 1416, 1849. That 'all the nations of the earth' does not mean all people throughout the whole world may become clear to anyone, for there are so many among them who are not saved. Only those who have charity, that is, who have acquired the life of charity, are saved.
[2] So that the whole matter of the salvation of people after they have died does not remain hidden from anyone, let a brief discussion of it follow here. There are many who declare that man is saved through faith, or as they say, if he merely has faith. But the majority of such people do not know what faith is. Some imagine that it is mere thought; some that it is the acknowledgement of something which ought to be believed; others that it is the entire doctrine of faith, which ought to be believed; and others something different again. Thus in their mere knowledge of what faith is they are mistaken, and as a consequence they are mistaken as to what it is that saves a person. Faith however is not mere thought; nor is it the acknowledgement of something that ought to be believed; nor is it a knowledge of all that constitutes the doctrine of faith. Nobody can be saved by such thought, acknowledgement, or knowledge that cannot send down roots any deeper than thought. Thought does not save anyone, but the life which he acquires to himself in the world through the cognitions of faith. Such life remains, but all thought that is not in keeping with his life dies away, even to the point of becoming none at all. In heaven that which brings people into association with one another is their lives, not thoughts that are not related in any way to a person's life. Thoughts which are unrelated to a person's life are spurious and are totally rejected.
[3] In general there are two kinds of life, the first being the life of hell, the second that of heaven. The life of hell is derived from all those intentions, thoughts, and deeds that flow from self-love, consequently from hatred against the neighbour. The life of heaven is derived from all those intentions, thoughts, and deeds that belong to love towards the neighbour. This heavenly life is that to which all things called faith have regard and is acquired by means of all things of faith. From this it becomes clear what faith is, namely that it is charity, for all things that are said to be part of the doctrine of faith lead to charity. Charity embraces them all and from charity they are all derived. After the life of the body, the soul is such as its love is.
Genesis 9
1
God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2
The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that the ground teems with, and all the fish of the sea are delivered into your hand.
3
Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As the green herb, I have given everything to you.
4
But flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat.
5
I will surely require your blood of your lives. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man.
6
Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.
7
Be fruitful and multiply. Bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply in it."
8
God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,
9
"As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you,
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and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ship, even every animal of the earth.
11
I will establish my covenant with you: all flesh will not be cut off any more by the waters of the flood, neither will there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth."
12
God said, "This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
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I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth.
14
It will happen, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud,
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and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16
The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."
17
God said to Noah, "This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."
18
The sons of Noah who went forth from the ship were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham is the father of Canaan.
19
These three were the sons of Noah, and from these, the whole earth was populated.
20
Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard.
21
He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent.
22
Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
23
Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, went in backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were backwards, and they didn't see their father's nakedness.
24
Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done to him.
25
He said, "Canaan is cursed. He will be servant of servants to his brothers."
26
He said, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant.
27
May God enlarge Japheth. Let him dwell in the tents of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant."
28
Noah lived three hundred fifty years after the flood.
29
All the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years, then he died.
