Der Stamm Dan macht sich Michas Götzendienst zu eigen

Dieses Kapitel zeigt, wie die Verzerrung der Wahrheit durch eine Person, die sie in eine Unwahrheit verwandelt, schwerwiegende Folgen in einem größeren Rahmen haben kann.

Der Stamm Dan - einer der zwölf Stämme Israels - erhielt Land im Westen, an der Küste, aber es fiel ihm schwer, es zu behalten. Der Name des Stammes Dan bedeutet "richten", aber wenn das Gericht nicht auf dem Wort basiert, herrscht Chaos. (Himmlischen Geheimnissen 842)

Die Stammesführer von Dan sahen sich mit der Konkurrenz um ihre Heimat konfrontiert und machten sich auf die Suche nach einem neuen Ort. Sie sandten fünf tapfere Männer aus, um das Land zu erkunden. Diese Männer kamen zu Michas Haus und erkannten dort die Stimme des jungen Leviten. Sie befragten ihn über seine Lage, und er erzählte ihnen, dass Micha ihn als Priester für sein Haus angestellt hatte. Die Männer aus Dan baten den Leviten, den Herrn zu fragen, ob ihre Suche erfolgreich sein würde, und er sagte ihnen, dass sie erfolgreich sein würde.

Die geistliche Bedeutung dieses Teils des Kapitels hat mit einem sich verstärkenden Unrecht zu tun. Auf der Textebene wird auf den Herrn verwiesen, und das, was geschieht, ist scheinbar normal. Doch dahinter verbirgt sich ein Unrecht, das im weiteren Verlauf des Kapitels deutlich wird. Die Hinweise darauf sind hier die fünf Männer aus Dan, die direkt in Michas Haus kommen, und die Anstellung eines Priesters.

Die Zahl "fünf" hat an vielen Stellen des Wortes eine gute Bedeutung, aber sie kann auch eine schlechte Bedeutung haben, so auch hier. In diesem Zusammenhang steht sie für wenig, für Uneinigkeit und die Zerstörung des Wortes (Enthüllte Offenbarung 738).

Wenn sie direkt in Michas Haus kommen und den Leviten erkennen, kommen zwei böse Absichten zusammen: Michas Götzenbild und das Bestreben der Männer von Dan, ein Haus für sich zu erobern. Ein Beispiel für uns könnte sein, dass zwei Menschen ein Komplott schmieden, um einer dritten Person zu schaden. (Himmlischen Geheimnissen 4724)

Die Anstellung eines Priesters ist nicht erlaubt, denn Priester sind dazu da, dem Herrn zu dienen, und sie werden vom Volk versorgt, nicht um angestellt zu werden. Anheuern bedeutet im geistlichen Sinne, dass man eine Belohnung für das, was man tut, sucht, während die wahre Belohnung für diejenigen, die dienen, ohne eine Belohnung zu erwarten, der Himmel ist. (Himmlischen Geheimnissen 8002)

Die fünf Männer verlassen das Haus des Micha und ziehen weiter nach Laish im hohen Norden, wo es Menschen gibt, die sicher in Frieden und ohne Herrscher wohnen, weit weg von anderen und ohne Bindungen. Laish bedeutet "furchtlos und zusammengeknetet". Es ist ein Bild der Vollkommenheit, des Himmels. (Göttliche Liebe und Weisheit 200)

Dann kehren die fünf Männer zu ihrem Stamm Dan zurück und berichten von Laish. Sie sagen, dass es ideal für die Einnahme ist, weil es viel Land hat und die Menschen dort sicher sind. Sie sagen, dass "Gott es in eure Hände gegeben hat".

Sechshundert Männer aus dem Stamm Dan machen sich auf den Weg und kommen ebenfalls zum Haus Michas. Die fünf Kundschafter berichten ihnen von den Götzen, und sie begrüßen den jungen Leviten. Dann gehen die fünf Kundschafter hinein und nehmen alle Götzen aus dem Haus mit. Der Levit schließt sich den Männern aus Dan an und sie ziehen gemeinsam weiter.

Eine geistliche Bedeutung der Geschichte ist, dass das Böse (Dan, das Böse) es liebt, Frieden und Unschuld (Laish) zu zerstören.

Der vollständige Verlust all seiner Götzen und seines angeheuerten Priesters an Micha zeigt auch, dass die vollständige Hinwendung zum Bösen den endgültigen Verlust all dessen bedeutet, was einen Menschen zurückbringen könnte. (Himmlischen Geheimnissen 9039)

Die Leute, die in der Nähe von Micha wohnen, gehen zu den Männern von Dan und beschweren sich über das, was sie genommen haben - aber Micha wird gesagt, er solle aufhören, sich zu beschweren, sonst würde sein Haus getötet werden.

Die Daniter ziehen weg, erobern Lais, töten und verbrennen es und benennen die Stadt in Dan um. Dort stellen sie die Bilder auf und setzen Priester ein. Diese Bilder bleiben in Dan, solange sich das Haus Gottes in Silo befindet.

Die spirituelle Bedeutung, dass ein Übel oder eine Unwahrheit größer oder zahlreicher wird, liegt in der Art und Weise, wie wir eine negative Emotion oder eine verzerrte Ansicht in unserem Geist festhalten, die sich dann auf andere Emotionen und Ansichten ausbreitet und sie zu größerem Übel und Unwahrheit führt. Das ist die Absicht des Bösen und auch des Einflusses der Hölle, ihn so weit wie möglich auszudehnen.

Dies ist das Ergebnis all dessen, was sich in diesem und dem vorangegangenen Kapitel entwickelt hat. Es beschreibt die Ausbreitung des Bösen zu einer schrecklichen Kraft der Zerstörung und geistig, für den einzelnen Menschen, zur Selbstzerstörung. Im Zusammenhang mit dem Niedergang Israels, bei dem "jeder tat, was in seinen Augen richtig war", zeigt diese Entwicklung den Weg und den Prozess dieses geistlichen Verlustes. (Die göttliche Vorsehung 19)

531. To this I will append the following account:

I was suddenly seized with an almost fatal illness. My whole head was weighed down. A toxic smoke emanated from the Jerusalem called Sodom and Egypt. I was half-dead with the fierce pain. I awaited the end. In that state I lay in my bed for three and a half days. Thus was my spirit afflicted, and because of it my body.

And then I heard about me voices saying, "Look, there he lies dead in our city's street, the one who preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins and Christ alone, a man." And they asked some of the clergy whether they ought to bury him.

The clerics said, "No. Let him lie there for people to see."

The people went to and fro, scoffing.

In truth this happened to me when I was expounding this chapter of the book of Revelation.

I heard then the sober words of the people scoffing, especially the following:

"How can one repent apart from faith? How can Christ, a man, be worshiped as God? Since we are saved by grace apart from any merit of our own, what need do we have then of anything but simply a faith that God the Father sent His Son to take away the condemnation of the Law, to impute His Son's merit to us and thus justify us in His sight, to absolve us of our sins through His emissary the priest, and to grant us then the Holy Spirit to bring about any goodness in us? Does this not accord with Scripture, and also with reason?"

At that the crowd standing around applauded.

[2] I heard this, but could not reply, because I lay almost dead. But after three and a half days my spirit recovered, and in the spirit I went from the street into the city and said again, "Repent and believe in Christ, and your sins will be forgiven you and you will be saved. If you don't, you will perish. Didn't the Lord Himself preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and for people to believe in Him? Didn't He command His disciples to preach this, too? The dogma attending your faith - is it not followed by a lack of concern over the way you live?"

But they said, "What nonsense are you prattling on about? Did not the Son make satisfaction? Did the Father not impute this to us and justify those of us who believe it? We are led, therefore, by the spirit of grace. What then is sin in us? What then does death have to do with us? Do you not comprehend this gospel, you preacher of sin and repentance?"

However, a voice was heard from heaven then, saying, "What is the faith of an impenitent person but a lifeless one? The end is coming. The end is coming upon you so unconcerned, so blameless in your own eyes, so justified in that faith of yours, you who are devils."

Then suddenly a chasm opened at the center of that city and widened, and one after another their houses fell and were swallowed up. And shortly water bubbled up from that broad gulf and flooded the devastated land.

[3] When they were thus covered with water and seemingly drowned, I wished to know their fate at the bottom, and I was told from heaven, "You will see and hear it."

And before my eyes then the water vanished - the water in which they were seemingly drowned, because bodies of water in the spiritual world are correspondent forms, which appear therefore around people who are caught up in falsities - and I saw them then in the sandy bottom. There were heaps of piled up stones there, and the people were running among them, lamenting the fact that they had been cast down from their great city. They kept crying out and bawling, "Why has this happened to us? Thanks to our faith in the world, are we not pure, just, and godly?"

And others cried, "Has our faith not cleansed us, purified us, justified and sanctified us?"

And still others, "Has our faith not made us such that in the sight of God the Father we appear, seem, and are regarded as clean, pure, just and godly, and declared to be so in the eyes of angels? Have we not been reconciled, restored to favor, and atoned for, and so freed, washed and cleansed of any sins? Has Christ not taken away the condemnation of the Law? Why, then, have we been cast down here as though condemned?

"A brazen preacher of sin told us in our great city, 'Believe in Christ and repent.' Have we not believed in Christ, since we believed in His merit? And have we not repented, since we confessed ourselves sinners? Why, then, has this befallen us?"

[4] At that they then heard from one side a voice speaking to them. "Are you aware of any sin gripping you? Have you ever examined yourselves? Have you as a result refrained from any evil as being a sin against God? Anyone who does not, remains caught up in it. Is not sin the devil? You are therefore the kind of people about whom the Lord says,

Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.' But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.' (Luke 13:26-27)

"And also the kind of people spoken of in Matthew 7:22-23. ¹

"Go, therefore, each to his own place. You will see caves opening into caverns. Go in, and there each of you will be given his own work to do, and food then commensurate with the work. If you don't want to go in, still hunger will drive you to."

[5] After that a voice from heaven addressed some people aboveground who were outside that great city - people also mentioned in Revelation 11:13 - saying loudly, "Beware! Beware of allying yourselves with people like that. Can you not understand that evils called sins and iniquities render a person unclean and impure? How can a person be cleansed and purified of those evils except by actual repentance and faith in Jesus Christ? Actual repentance is to examine oneself, to recognize and acknowledge one's sins, to make oneself guilty of them, to confess them before the Lord, to implore His aid and power in resisting them, and so to refrain from them and lead a new life, doing all this as though of oneself. Do this once or twice a year when you go to Holy Communion; and afterward, when the sins of which you have made yourself guilty recur, say to yourselves, 'We refuse to do them because they are sins against God.' That is actual repentance.

[6] "Who cannot understand that someone who does not examine himself and see his sins, remains caught up in them? For every evil is delightful from one's birth, inasmuch as it is delightful to take revenge, to be licentious sexually, to prey on others, to blaspheme, and most of all to dominate others from a love of self. Does delight not cause these to go unseen? And if by chance someone says they are sins, does not the delight you find in them cause you to excuse them, even to persuade you and by false arguments convince you that they are not sins, so that you remain caught up in them and go on doing them, afterward even more than before? And this until you do not know what sin is, indeed whether there is any such thing as sin.

"It is different with someone who repents actually. His evils that he recognizes and acknowledges, he calls sins, and therefore he begins to refrain from them and to be averse to them, and to feel the delight he had felt in them as undelightful. Moreover, to the extent that he does this, to the same extent he sees and loves goods, and finally feels delight in them, a delight which is one of heaven. In a word, to the extent someone casts the devil behind him, to the same extent he is adopted by the Lord and taught, led, withheld from evils by Him and kept in goods. This is the way, the only way, from hell to heaven."

[7] Surprisingly, it is a fact that the Protestant Reformed have a certain deep-seated resistance, opposition and aversion to actual repentance, which is so great that they cannot compel themselves to examine themselves and see their sins and confess them before God. It is as though a kind of horror besets them when they go to do it.

I have asked many of them in the spiritual world about this, and they have all said that it is beyond their power.

When they are told that Roman Catholics still do it, namely that they examine themselves and openly confess their sins to a monk, they are quite surprised, saying that the Protestant Reformed cannot do this in secret to God, even though they are likewise enjoined to do it before they take Holy Supper. Some of them there also inquired into why this was, and they found that faith alone produced in them such a state of impenitence and such a disposition.

They were then given to see, moreover, that Roman Catholics who worship the Christ and do not call on their saints, and who do not worship their so-called Vicar of Christ ² or any of his keepers of the keys, are saved.

[8] After that I heard what sounded like thunder and a voice speaking from heaven, saying, "We are astonished. Tell the company of the Protestant Reformed, 'Believe in the Christ and repent and you will be saved.'"

So I said that, and also added, "Is not Baptism a sacrament of repentance and thus an initiation into the church? What else do the sponsors promise for the one being baptized than to renounce the devil and his works?

"Is not Holy Supper a sacrament of repentance and thus an initiation into heaven? Are the communicants not told to thoroughly repent before they approach?

"Any catechism containing the universal doctrine of the Christian Church, is it not a document teaching repentance? Does it not say there in reference to the six commandments of the second table that you must not do this or that evil, and say that you must do this or that good?

"You may know from this that to the extent someone refrains from evil, to the same extent he loves good; and that before then you do not know what good is, nor even what evil is."

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