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Apocalypse Explained #102

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102. And for My name's sake hast toiled, is the acknowledgment of the Lord and of the knowledges of truth that have respect to Him. This is evident from the signification of "the name" of Jehovah, or of the Lord, as being, in the highest sense, His Divine Human (See Arcana Coelestia 2628, 6887), and in a relative sense, all things of love and faith by which the Lord is worshiped, because these are things Divine that proceed from His Divine Human (n. 2724, 3006, 6674, 9310). This is evident also from the signification of "toiling," as being to strive with mind and zeal that these things may be known and acknowledged; for this is signified by "toiling" when it is said of those who apply themselves to the knowledges of truth and good. From this it follows that "for My name's sake hast toiled" signifies the acknowledgment of the Lord, and of the knowledges that have respect to Him. The knowledges that have respect to the Lord are all things that are of love and faith. In many passages of the Word it is said, "for the sake of Jehovah's name," "for the sake of the Lord's name," "for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ," that "the name of God should be sanctified," and the like. Those whose thoughts do not go beyond the sense of the letter suppose that the name alone is meant; but what is meant is not the name, but everything whereby the Lord is worshiped; and all of this has relation to love and faith. Therefore by "the Lord's name" in the Word all things of love and of faith by which He is worshiped are meant; here the acknowledgment of the Lord and of the knowledges of truth that have respect to Him, because this is said to those who are only zealous about knowledges.

[2] That "Jehovah's name" or the "Lord's name" does not mean the name itself, but all things of love and faith, is from the spiritual world. There the names used on the earth are not uttered; but the names of the persons who are spoken of are formed from the idea of all things known about them combined into a single word. In this way names in the spiritual world are expressed; consequently names there, like all the other things, are spiritual The names "Lord" and "Jesus Christ," even, are not uttered there as on the earth, but in place of those names a name is formed from the idea of all things known and believed respecting Him; and this idea is made up of all things of love to Him and faith in Him. This is because these in the complex are the Lord in them; for the Lord is in everyone in the goods of love and of faith that are from Him. As this is so, the quality of everyone there, in respect to love to the Lord and faith in the Lord, is immediately known if he only utters "Lord" or "Jesus Christ" by a spiritual expression or spiritual name; and for the same reason also, those who are not in any love to Him or faith in Him are unable to speak His name, that is, to form any spiritual name of Him. From this it is now clear why by the "name" of Jehovah, of the Lord, or of Jesus Christ, name is not meant in the Word, but everything of love and of faith whereby He is worshiped.

[3] Lest, therefore, the opinion that is entertained by many should prevail, that the mere name Jesus Christ, without love to Him or faith in Him, thus without the knowledges by which love and faith exist, contributes something to salvation, I will introduce some passages from the Word in which the expressions "for His name's sake" and "in His name" are used, from which those who think more deeply may see that name alone is not meant:

Jesus said, Ye shall be hated of all for My name's sake (Matthew 10:22, 24:9, 10).

Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20).

As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God; even to them that believe in His name (John 1:12).

When Jesus was in Jerusalem many believed in His name (John 2:23).

He that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God (John 3:17, 18).

These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in His name (John 20:31).

Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord (Matthew 21:9; 23:39; Luke 13:35; 19:35).

Everyone that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or fields, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundred-fold, and eternal life (Matthew 19:29).

(What is here signified by "houses, brethren, sisters, father, mother, wife, children, and fields," which are to be left for the name of the Lord, see Arcana Coelestia 10490.)

Jesus said, Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that I will do (John 14:13, 14);

"to ask in My name" is to ask from love and faith.

Many shall come in My name, saying, I am He; go ye not therefore after them (Luke 21:8; Mark 13:6);

"to come in My name" and "to say that I am He" is to proclaim falsities and to say that they are truths, and thus to lead astray. The like is signified by saying that they are the Christ, when they are not, in Matthew:

Many shall come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and shall lead many astray (Matthew 24:5, 11, 23-27);

for by "Jesus" is meant the Lord in respect to Divine good; and by "Christ" the Lord in respect to Divine truth (Arcana Coelestia 3004-3005, 3009, 5502), and by not being Christ, truth not Divine, but falsity.

[4] The "name of the Lord," in the New Testament means the like as the "name of Jehovah" in the Old, because the Lord there is Jehovah.

Thus in Isaiah:

And in that day shall ye say, Confess ye to Jehovah, call upon His name (Isaiah 12:4).

In the same:

O Jehovah, we have waited for Thee; to Thy name and to Thy memorial is the desire of our soul. By Thee will we make mention of Thy name (Isaiah 26:8, 13).

In the same:

From the rising of the sun shall My name be called upon (Isaiah 41:25).

In Malachi:

From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My name is great among the nations; and in every place incense is offered unto My name; for My name is great among the nations (Malachi 1:11).

In Isaiah:

Everyone that is called by My name I have created for My glory, I have formed him (Isaiah 43:7).

In Micah:

All peoples walk in the name of their god, and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God (Micah 4:5).

In Moses:

Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that hath taken His name in vain (Deuteronomy 5:11).

In the same:

Jehovah separated the tribe of Levi, that they should minister and bless in the name of Jehovah (Deuteronomy 10:8).

In the same:

They shall worship Jehovah in one place, where He shall place His name (Deuteronomy 12:5, 11, 13, 14, 18, 26; 16:2, 6, 11, 15, 16).

"Where He shall place His name" means where there shall be worship from the good of love and the truths of faith. This was done at Jerusalem; and therefore by "Jerusalem" the church in respect to doctrine and worship is signified (See in the small work on The New Jerusalem and its Doctrine 6).

[5] Since by the "name of Jehovah" or the "name of the Lord" is signified in the spiritual sense all worship from the good of love and the truths of faith, therefore in the highest sense by "name of Jehovah" is meant the Lord in respect to the Divine Human, for the reason that from His Divine Human everything of love and of faith proceeds. That by "name of Jehovah," in the highest sense, the Lord is meant, is evident in John:

Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy name. There came a voice out of heaven, saying, I have both glorified and will glorify again (John 12:28).

In Isaiah:

I will give thee for a covenant to the people, for a light of the nations. I am Jehovah, this is My name, and My glory will I not give to another (Isaiah 42:6, 8);

the coming of the Lord is here treated of.

In Jeremiah:

Behold the days come that I will raise unto David a righteous shoot, and He shall reign as King, and this is His name, by which they shall call Him, Jehovah, our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:5, 6).

From this it is clear what is meant in the Lord's prayer by the words:

Hallowed be Thy name (Matthew 6:9);

namely, that the Divine Human of the Lord is to be accounted holy, and to be worshiped.

[6] As this is meant by "the name of the Lord," the meaning of the following passages can be seen.

In John:

The shepherd of the sheep calleth his own sheep by their name (John 10:3).

In Luke:

Rejoice that your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20).

And in Revelation:

Thou hast a few names in Sardis (Revelation 3:4).

He who does not know what "name" signifies in the Word cannot possibly know how these words are to be understood, in Matthew:

He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous one in the name of a righteous one shall receive a righteous one's reward; and whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold [water] in the name of a disciple only, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward (Matthew 10:41, 42).

"To receive a prophet in the name of a prophet," "a righteous one in the name of a righteous one," and "to give drink in the name of a disciple," signifies to love truth for the sake of truth, good for the sake of good, and to exercise charity from the faith of truth; for by "prophet" is signified truth, by "righteous one" is signified good, and by "disciple" good from truth; and "to give to drink of cold [water]" is to exercise charity from obedience; "in the name" of these is for the sake of what they are, thus for their sake. Who could ever understand these things unless he knew what "name" signifies?

[7] To love and to do truth for the sake of truth, and good for the sake of good, is to have affection for truth and good for their sake, and not for the sake of one's own reputation, honor, or gain. Such affection of truth and good is a truly spiritual affection; but the affection of truth and good for the sake of one's own reputation, honor, or gain, is a merely natural affection. And as those who love truth and good for the sake of truth and good, or because they are truth and good, are in the spiritual affection of truth and good, therefore it is said that they shall receive "a prophet's reward" and "a righteous one's reward;" which means that they are in the spiritual affection of truth and good, and this affection has reward in itself, because it has heaven in itself. (That the happiness of heaven is in the affection of loving and doing truth and good, without regard to reward as an end, thus for the sake of truth and good, see Arcana Coelestia 6388, 6478, 9174, 9984. That "prophet" signifies one who teaches truth, thus also, in the abstract, truth that is taught, see n. 2534, 7269. That a "righteous one" signifies the good of love to the Lord, n. 2235, 9857. That "disciple" signifies good from truth, which is the good of charity, n. 2129, 3354, 3488, 3858, 6397. That "to give drink" is to instruct in the goods and truths of faith, and thus to exercise charity, n. Arcana Coelestia 3069, 3772, 4017, 4018, 8562, 9412; and that "name" signifies the quality of a thing, n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 3237; hence "the name of Jehovah," or "the name of the Lord," signifies every quality by which He is worshiped, n. Arcana Coelestia 2724[1-3], 3006, 6674, 9310).

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

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Matthew 24:10

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10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

De obras de Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #9378

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9378. 'And Moses alone shall come near Jehovah' means the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people achieved through the Word in general. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming near' as the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Moses' as the Word in general, dealt with above in 9372. The reason why 'Moses shall come near' means the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people achieved through the Word is that 'coming near' in the spiritual sense means being joined together through love; for those who love each other are joined together, love being spiritual togetherness. It is universally so in the next life that all are joined together according to their love of goodness and truth received from the Lord. Consequently the whole of heaven consists in such togetherness. The situation is similar with coming near or being joined to the Lord. Those who love the Lord are joined to Him, so intimately that they are said to be 'in Him' when they are in heaven. And all those people love the Lord, and are consequently joined to Him through their love, who lead a good life based on the truths of faith, since the good based on those truths emanates from the Lord, indeed is the Lord, John 14:20-21.

[2] But it should be recognized that a person is unable of himself to come near the Lord and be joined to Him; rather the Lord has to come near the person and be joined to him. Yet since the Lord draws a person towards Himself, John 6:44; 12:32, the appearance is that the person does of himself come near and join himself. This happens when the person refrains from evils, for refraining from evils is left to a person's own decision or free will. At this time good from the Lord is flowing in; and it is never lacking, for it is present within the very life a person has from the Lord. But the good accompanying that life is received only in the measure that evils have been removed. The reason why the Word is the means by which the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people is achieved is that the Word unites a person to heaven and through heaven to the Lord. For the Word is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and therefore those who adhere to that truth in doctrine and life, or in faith and love, adhere to what is Divine emanating from the Lord, and in so doing are joined to Him.

[3] From all this it is evident that 'Moses alone shall come near Jehovah' means the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people achieved through the Word. The reason why 'coming near' means togetherness and presence is that in the next life distances between one person and another are determined altogether by the dissimilarity and diversity of the interior things which belong to thought and affection, see 1273-1277, 1376-1381, 9104. Also every moving away from the Lord or coming near Him is determined altogether by the good of love and consequently of faith received from Him and shown towards Him. So it is that every heaven's nearness to the Lord is determined by its good and conversely every hell's remoteness from Him by its evil. From all this it is evident why it is that 'being near' and 'coming near' in the spiritual sense mean being joined together, as also in the following places: In David,

Jehovah is near to all calling on Him, who call on Him in truth. Psalms 145:18.

'Near' stands for present and joined together with. In the same author,

Blessed is [anyone] whom You choose and cause to come near; he will dwell in Your courts. Psalms 65:4.

'Causing to come near' stands for being joined together with.

[4] In the same author,

O Jehovah, come near my soul; deliver me. Psalms 69:18.

In the same author,

Jehovah is near to those broken in heart. Psalms 34:18.

In Jeremiah,

Let them cause My people to hear My words, and let them bring them back from their evil way, from the wickedness of their deeds. Am I a God near at hand, and not a God afar off? Jeremiah 23:22-23.

The words 'a God near at hand' apply, it is evident, to those who refrain from evils, and the words 'a God afar off' to those who are immersed in evils. In Moses,

Moses said to Aaron, This is what Jehovah spoke, In those who are near Me 1 I will be sanctified. Leviticus 10:3.

'Being sanctified in those who are near' means with those who have been joined to the Lord through the good of love and the truth of faith derived from the Word. In Jeremiah,

At that time their Magnificent One will be one of themselves, and their Ruler will come from their midst; and I will cause Him to come near, and He will come near Me. For who is This [who] has pledged His heart to come near Me? Jeremiah 30:21.

This refers to the Lord, who is 'the Magnificent One' and 'the Ruler'. 'Coming near Jehovah' is being united to Him, for the coming near of [Him who is] Divine to Divine [Being Itself] is nothing other than union.

Notas a pie de página:

1. literally, In My near ones

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.