Title: Daily and Yearly Preparation for Heaven
Topic: Salvation
Summary: The daily sacrifices, weekly sabbaths, and three annual feasts prescribed in the Old Testament are a picture of how to prepare for heaven.
Use the reference links below to follow along in the Bible as you watch.
References:
2 Peter 2:22, 10
Numbers 28:1
Exodus 23:14, 17
Leviticus 23:1, 5, 10, 33
Deuteronomy 16:1, 9, 13-14
Luke 6:1
Acts of the Apostles 2:1; 20:16
Nehemiah 8:13-14
Ezekiel 45:21, 25
Zechariah 14:16
John 7:2, 37
261 - Daily and Yearly Preparation for Heaven
Par Jonathan S. Rose
Spirit and Life Bible Study broadcast from 5/4/2016. The complete series is available at: www.spiritandlifebiblestudy.com
John 7
1
After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.
2
Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.
3
His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.
4
For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.
5
For neither did his brethren believe in him.
6
Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.
7
The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.
8
Go ye up unto this feast: I Go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come.
9
When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee.
10
But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.
11
Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?
12
And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.
13
Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.
14
Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
15
And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
16
Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
17
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
18
He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
19
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?
20
The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?
21
Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.
22
Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man.
23
If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?
24
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
25
Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?
26
But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
27
Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.
28
Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.
29
But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.
30
Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.
31
And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?
32
The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.
33
Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.
34
Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.
35
Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?
36
What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?
37
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
40
Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
41
Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
42
Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
43
So there was a division among the people because of him.
44
And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.
45
Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him?
46
The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
47
Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
48
Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
49
But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
50
Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)
51
Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
52
They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
Arcana Coelestia #9632
9632. 'And a covering from the skins of badgers above that' means outside that [another mantle], a mantle consisting of truths derived from external good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a covering' as a mantle, as just above in 9630; from the meaning of 'skins' as external truths, dealt with in 9471; and from the meaning of 'badgers' as forms of good, also dealt with in 9471.
Any further explanation of the things which have been stated so far regarding the dwelling-place, the tent over it, and the two coverings over that, can be dispensed with, since they are such as would be scarcely intelligible owing to the lack of proper knowledge. For where that knowledge is lacking there is blindness; thus there is no reception of light nor consequently any concept of the matter. Few if any people know that heaven is represented and thereby described by the dwelling-place, and the external part of it by the tent and its two coverings. The reason why there is no proper knowledge of these things is that scarcely anyone is aware of the fact that heavenly realities are meant by all that is written in the Word, thus that there is an inner meaning or spiritual sense within every detail there. Scarcely anyone knows either that this sense is not apparent in the letter, only from the letter to those who, having learned about correspondences, receive light from the Lord when they read the Word.
[2] Indeed scarcely anyone is aware of the fact that a person governed by the good of love and faith is heaven in the smallest form this can take, or that such a person in respect both of the more internal aspects of his being and of the more external corresponds to heaven, 9276. If these things had been known the learned in the Christian world who have acquired some knowledge regarding the parts of the human body could have received some light of understanding and therefore have had some concept of heaven. They could have discerned which particular realities in heaven are represented by the ark, its mercy-seat, and the cherubs above it; which particular realities by the table on which the loaves of the Presence were laid, the lampstand, and the gold altar for incense; also which particular ones are represented by the dwelling-place, its curtains, boards, and bases, and lastly by the tent and the two coverings over it. For similar things are met with in the human being, in the things with him that are internal and those that are external. They also present themselves in material form in his body; and to these [material parts of his body] the internal things have an exact correspondence. For unless the external things, which belong to the body, had an exact correspondence with the internal ones, which belong to the understanding and the will, there would not be any life in the body, nor thus any actions in accord with them.
[3] Similar things are said to be met with in the tabernacle as in the human being because representatives on the natural level resemble the human form and have the same meaning as the parts of it they resemble, 9496. External things within the human being provide four coverings which surround and enclose all that is more internal; these coverings are what animal skins and actual skins of the body refer to. See what has been mentioned from experience in 5552-5559, 8980, regarding the correspondence of the latter to internal things. The coverings which constituted the roof and sides of the tabernacle provided a similar representation. From all this the understanding may gain some light regarding the forms that heaven takes. Nevertheless that light will be snuffed out with all who have no definite knowledge regarding the things that exist within the human body and at the same time no definite knowledge regarding the spiritual realities belonging to faith and the celestial realities belonging to love, to which those things in the body correspond. Since most people are in the dark, indeed in thick darkness, so far as those realities and human physiology are concerned, owing not only to their lack of knowledge but also to their lack of belief, any further explanation of them has been dispensed with; for as stated above, they would be unintelligible because there is no light of understanding in such matters.
