There are two stories of Christmas. We usually blend them into one chronological account, but they are very distinct. One appears in the Gospel of Matthew, 1:18-25, 2:1-23, and the other in Luke 2: 6-20.

Matthew tells the story from Joseph’s point of view. The angel appears to him, telling him not to fear to take Mary as his wife, even though she is expecting a Child. He names the child. The wise men appear, and then Joseph is warned to flee to Egypt, and told to return when Herod died.

Luke is Mary’s story - in fact, she alone could have recounted these things to Luke. The story of Zacharias and Elisabeth; Mary’s visit to Elisabeth; the birth of John; the angel appearing to Mary, the birth of Jesus, and the tale of the shepherds all speak of Mary’s part in this event.

There are remarkably consistent differences in the accounts. In the Matthew story the angel always appears in a dream, and he gives commands. “Do not be afraid to take to yourself Mary your wife.” “Call His name Jesus.” “Do not return to Herod” was the command to the wise men. “Arise, take the young child and Mary his mother, and flee into Egypt.” “Return, for they are dead who sought the young Child’s life.” Specific commands, which Joseph and the wise men obeyed.

In the Luke story the angel is actually seen, and carries on conversations with both Zacharias and Mary. An angel choir appears to the shepherds. What is surprising is that no actual commands are given. Zacharias is told that his prayer will be answered, and he will have a son. Mary is told she will be with child of the Holy Spirit, and she willingly accepts it. The shepherds are told the tidings of great joy, but it is they who say, one to another, “Let us now go, even to Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

Another amazing difference is the presence of Herod and his people in Matthew. He is shown in his wickedness and deceit, pretending to wish to worship Jesus while plotting to kill Him. He uses his counselors, none of whom are interested in the actual birth of the Christ, though they now know that a star has heralded His birth. Then there is the terrible story of Herod’s murder of the little ones around Bethlehem.

None of this appears in Luke. There is just a glancing reference: “There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea......” What a different tone, therefore, appears in Luke. It is one of peace and rejoicing, of wonder and gratitude, spoken from the heart by Zacharias, by Mary, and by Simeon. By contrast, Matthew tells of Joseph’s sadness and thought of putting Mary away privately, of Herod’s treachery and the sin of infanticide. And Matthew tells also how futile were Herod’s efforts, for the angel of the Lord provided that Joseph brought the infant Lord safely out of his reach.

So what are these two stories telling us about our lives, here, today? They speak of how the Lord is born in our minds and hearts. Let us leave Zacharias and Elisabeth and John out of this sermon. John represents repentance, and his birth precedes the birth of Jesus. But after we have repented of our sins, then the Lord Himself comes to be born in us. That birth is the implanting within us of charity - the ability to love others unselfishly. It is this birth which makes us into angels, which puts the stamp of eternal love in our hearts, which causes us to be “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

When charity begins to become felt in us we respond in two distinct ways. Matthew tells how our understanding reacts to His coming. Luke speaks of how His birth receives a response in the new will which the Lord is creating in us.

Joseph seems to represent the good of truth. He was a carpenter, working with tools of iron on wood to shape it, and his very act pictures the efforts of the human understanding, taking the truths of revelation and working to apply them to a life of goodness.

Joseph at first feared that Mary had been unfaithful to him, and that the child was conceived of a man. When we have done the deeds of repentance, and the Lord begins to create this wonderful, heavenly love inside of us, we too will doubt. How can I, a person who has been selfish up to date, how can I feel these tender, loving thoughts towards others? How can I be moved to do kind deeds with no thought of reward? I must be deceiving myself. This is just human-born selfishness under another guise.

But an angel of the Lord told Joseph that this birth was unique in all of history. The angel represents an insight from within, the presence of the Lord within the truths that we have learned, which gives us assurance that indeed unselfish love can be ours. The Word has promised that it will be so. Don’t doubt it. You can be a truly loving, unselfish, caring person. And when you feel this love inside of you, call it by its proper name. Call it “Jesus,” which means, “Jehovah is the Savior.” Realize that this is salvation come into your heart.

Joseph obeyed the angel. We need to believe that charity can be ours, and unite ourselves to the innocent love for the truth (which is what Mary represents).

Then, when this beautiful charity blossoms in our hearts, new truths come to herald that birth. The wise men had studied the Word, knew that a star would appear when the Christ was born, and took a long journey to find Him. The truths they represent, learned because we are moved to study and reflect on His Word, are the ones that tell us how to live the life of love. They are conscious truths, and they spur us to action.

The wise men gave three gifts to Jesus, and for two thousand years they were the last people on earth to know why these gifts, and no others, were suitable. For there are only three things we can give to the Lord, only three things we can withhold. Myrrh represents obedience; frankincense, love to others; and gold, love to the Lord Himself. We can withhold these from the Lord and He cannot make us give them to Him. When moved by charity, we plan to offer Him the only gifts which we can possibly give - the offerings of a grateful heart to obey, to love His children, and to love Him.

But the Matthew story contains Herod also. Within each of us there is a powerful love of self, and all sorts of false and horrible thoughts are tied to it. Through this love the hells seek to kill our unselfish instincts. They use deceit, they even use the truths of the Word (as Herod did when seeking to know where Christ should be born). For much of our lives we have given a fairly free rein to our selfish impulses. They don’t relinquish their kingship over us without a struggle. The story of Herod speaks of the plots of the hells to destroy our love for others, and of how the Lord protects us. When we obey the commands of His Word our love grows, quietly and secretly, in a safe place where Herod cannot find it.

So we come to the gospel of Luke. Why is Herod not mentioned there? It is in the Lord’s amazing mercy that there are times when selfishness seems to be a distant memory. We know it’s there - “In the days of Herod the King,” Luke says. We know that battles lie ahead, but there are moments when we see the joy of life, and these feelings give us an inner reason to fight for heaven. When you first fall in love, you feel only unselfish love for that person. At times you read the Word, and feel in its pages the certainty of the Lord’s love, and its promise of a heaven, a life of charity, just for you!

Selfishness seems far off. You know it will come back, but right now you know that there is a life beyond selfishness. There truly is a greater love that leaves self behind, and at times, at oh-so-precious times, you are allowed to feel it. The Lord touches our hearts, and the best image of that is Christmas night in the stable in Bethlehem.

In our peaceful states there is Mary, the innocent affection for truth. We often call it idealism. It is a deep-seated conviction about the highest ideals in life. We see deeply into the Word, see the values it teaches, we want a value system that will last for all time. We want the Lord to be our God, the God of our hearts and minds. In our innocent times we just don’t question these things, we long for them. Mary, betrothed, and longing for marriage, represents this innocent love, longing to experience the full heavenly marriage of good and truth, to make ideals work.

Mary went to Bethlehem, for that little town represents new truth, the truth of the internal sense of the Word. To go from Galilee to Bethlehem is to go upward, into the deeper regions of our minds, and experience that love which is the birth of the Lord in us. It is to feel, in the living waters of the Word, that we do love others, and this love is “God with us.”

Yet the inn at Bethlehem had no room for the infant Jesus. Many spiritual truths in our minds have languished, and lost their meaning. Other needs have crowded them out, even falsified them. There are many places in our minds where we know the truth, but that knowledge is full of earthly concerns which take the joy, the wonder out of it.

In His mercy the Lord prepares other places in our minds. The spiritual manger stands for lower truths, simple ideals long held precious. For example, you have truths in your minds about how to care for infants and how to teach little children about the Word and how to care for the needs of the elderly or those who are hurting. You understand these truths. A manger, where horses feed, represents such an understanding.

And you have simple, innocent ideas in your minds also which are, as it were, wrapped around charity. These truths tell you that certain things hurt others, that certain things, said with gentleness, touch their hearts. These truths tell you when to deal gently with others, and when to be firm but loving at the same time. They are simple ideas from the Word, first truths, which keep charity warm in your heart. “....and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger.”

How beautiful is the story of the shepherds. They too represent interior truths, long held, which through the night of our selfish lives have kept us turning towards good values. They kept watch over our spiritual flock, our valuable feelings, even though we have often been selfish and uncaring. These values are called forth, and respond with joy when love is born in our hearts.

The story of Luke is one of a free response to the Lord and His creation of heaven in our minds. It is full of joy. Zacharias prophesied, with a heart full of gratitude. Mary’s soul magnified the Lord and her spirit rejoiced in God her Savior. Simeon gave thanks because he had seen the Lord’s salvation, prepared for all people. The shepherds returned, praising God for all that they had seen.

When you feel heartfelt gratitude in your lives because of a special love the Lord has granted you, - why then, stop, stand still, lift up your heart and rejoice in that moment. And know this: that if you persist in following Him, that special love will become your heaven. It will be a love born of no human father. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you, and that holy love growing in you is indeed born of God.

Two stories of Christmas. Both so beautiful. The Lord gave each to us that we may see with our understandings, and feel in our hearts the wonder of this holy birth. They are secret stories, scarce felt because of the noisy pressures of worldly life, but revealed in all their wonder for the New Church. The spiritual Joseph and wise men are conscious, understood truths which are obeyed, and bring deep joy to the human mind. The spiritual Mary and Bethlehem and the manger and the swaddling cloths and the shepherds represent affections for deep ideals, and for practical ideas. These find inner happiness and peace when He comes to us.

For the greatest event in human history was the birth on earth of God Himself. And the greatest event in anyone’s life is when there is born to you the love from God that will never die. This is truly the spirit of Christmas.

(références: Apocalypse Explained 706; Matthew 2)

3. The same four Churches on this earth are described by four beasts rising up out of the sea, in Daniel; of which it is there written:

The first was seen like a lion, but it had eagle's wings. I beheld until the wings thereof were plucked out, and it was lifted up from the earth, and set up upon feet, erect like a man, and a man's heart was given to it. Afterwards, behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side; three ribs were in its mouth between the teeth: moreover, they were saying thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After these things, I beheld, and, lo, another, like a leopard, which had four wings, like birds' wings, upon the back of it; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this, I saw in the night visions, and beheld a fourth beast, terrible and dreadful, and strong exceedingly, which had great iron teeth; it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; but it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I beheld till thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit; and the judgment was set, and the books were opened; and, behold, one like the Son of Man was coming with the clouds of the heavens. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; and all peoples, nations and languages should worship Him: His dominion is a dominion of an age, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not perish (Dan. 7:3-9, [7:10], 7:13-14, etc.).

That by these beasts, in like manner, are meant and described those four Churches, is manifest from all the particulars there (which shall be unfolded in their order in the following pages); more especially from the last expressions there, that after those four beasts there will come "the Son of Man, to whom shall be given dominion, and a kingdom which shall not pass away nor perish"; who, also, is meant by the Stone made into "a great Rock, which shall fill the whole earth," as may be seen above (n. 2, at the end).

[2] That the states of the Church are likewise described by beasts, as well as by metals, in the Word, is evident from numberless passages, some only of which I will adduce here; which are as follows:

Thou causest the rain of benefits to drop; thou wilt confirm thy wearied inheritance; the beast ¹ -thy assembly-shall dwell therein (Psalm 68:9-10).

Every wild beast of the forest is Mine, the beasts in the mountains of thousands; I know every bird of the mountains, the beasts of My fields are with Me (Psalm 50:10-11).

Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon, his height was exalted; all the birds of the heavens made their nests in his branches, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth, and in his shadow dwelt all great nations (Ezek. 31:3, 5-6, 13; Dan. 4:7-13).

In that day will I make a covenant for them with the beast of the field, and with the bird of the heavens, and I will betroth Myself unto thee to eternity (Hosea 2:18-19).

Rejoice and be glad; be not afraid, ye beasts of My fields; for the habitations of the desert are become full of grass (Joel 2:21-22).

Thou, son of man, say unto the bird of every wing, and to every beast of the field, Gather yourselves together to My sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel: thus I will set My glory among the nations (Ezek. 39:17, 20-21).

The enemy hath reproached Jehovah; deliver not the soul of the turtle-dove unto the beast ² (Psalm 74:18-19).

Jehovah gathereth the outcasts of Israel; every beast of My fields, come (Isa. 56:8-9).

The spirit urging, made Jesus to go forth into the wilderness and He was with the beasts; and angels ministered unto Him (Mark 1:12-13).

He was not with beasts, but with devils, with whom He fought and whom He subdued-(not to mention a thousand other passages, which are adduced in part in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED , n. 567). Moreover, it is well known that the Lord Himself, in the Word, is called a "Lamb" and also a "Lion"; likewise, that the Holy Spirit was represented as a "Dove"; that the cherubs, also, by which the Word in the literal sense is signified, appeared like "four beasts," in Ezekiel and in the Apocalypse; and that the man of the Church who acknowledges the Lord as his God and Shepherd, is called a "sheep"; and, on the other hand, he who does not acknowledge Him, is called a "he-goat" and also a "dragon"; and that an assembly of the latter is described, in like manner as in Daniel, by

The beast out of the sea, like a leopard, whose feet were as it were a bear's, and his mouth as it were a lion's (Rev. 13:1-2).

These comparisons originate from the spiritual world, where all the affections and thoughts therefrom, of angels and spirits, are presented at a distance from them as beasts, which also appear in a form in all respects similar to that of the beasts in the natural world; the affections of the love of good as gentle beasts and good uses, but the affections of the love of evil as savage beasts and evil uses. Hence it is that beasts are so often named in the Word; and by them in the spiritual sense are signified affections, inclinations, perceptions and thoughts. From these considerations it is manifest what is meant by creatures in the following passages:

Jesus commanded the disciples to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).

If any one be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away, and all things are become new (2 Cor. 5:17).

These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creature of God (Rev. 3:14).

By "creatures," here, are meant those who are capable of being created anew, that is, regenerated, and thus becoming of the Lord's Church.

Notes de bas de page: