Manželství dobra a pravdy lze považovat za spojení mezi naší touhou po dobrém a pochopením toho, jak být dobrým. Tento vztah není statický, ale dynamický; dobro nás vede k hledání pravdy a pravdy stojí nezávisle na našich změnách stavu, takže se můžeme proti nim měřit a rozhodnout se, že je použijeme ve svém vlastním životě jako dobro. Tento proces je základem lidské regenerace.

Od dětství se všichni zabýváme bojem mezi naším srdcem a myslí, mezi relativně sobeckými věcmi, které chceme, a více vznešenými věcmi, o kterých víme, že jsou správné. Čím více děláme to, co víme, má pravdu, tím více bude Pán pomalu schopen začít měnit naše srdce a odstraňovat sobectví kousek po kousku, aby mohla projít skutečná láska. Je to celoživotní proces, ale nakonec můžeme dosáhnout stavu, kdy opravdu milujeme dělat to, co je správné, a naše srdce a mysl mohou být „ženatí“, aby mohli pracovat jako sjednocený celek.

Všechno ve stvoření je formou tohoto manželství. V lidské společnosti to lze nalézt mnoha způsoby. Může existovat uvnitř každé osoby samostatně. Může existovat mezi manželem a manželkou, protože ženy mají dary pro přijímání touhy po dobru a muži mají dary pro přijímání pochopení pravdy. Může to být vytvořeno skupinou lidí jako kostel. A existuje mezi Pánem jako ženichem a církví jako nevěstou.

Když Bible mluví o manželství, manželství a svatbě, mluví také o hlubší úrovni o duchovním manželství dobra a pravdy.

(références: Nebeská tajemství 2466; Manželská láska 44 [6])

45. THE STATE OF MARRIED PARTNERS AFTER DEATH

We have just shown in the preceding chapter that marriages exist in heaven. In this chapter we will now show whether or not a marriage covenant contracted in the world will continue and remain in force after death.

It is necessary that I make this known, because it is not a matter of judgment but of personal experience, and I have had this experience through association with angels and spirits. Nevertheless, I must make it known in such a way that reason may also assent.

Among the prayers and yearnings of married partners, moreover, is a wish to know the state of married partners after death. For men who have loved their wives wish to know - if their wives have died - whether it is well with them. So, too, wives who have loved their husbands. And they want to know whether they will meet again.

Many married couples also would like to know in advance whether partners separate after death or whether they stay together. Those who are discordant in spirit wish to know whether partners separate. And those who are concordant in spirit wish to know whether they stay together.

Because these are some of the things people would like answers to, they will be made known, and this will be done in the following order:

1. In every person after death, love for the opposite sex continues to be what it was like inwardly, that is, what it was like in the person's inner will and thought in the world.

2. Likewise conjugial love.

3. Most married couples meet after death, recognize each other, associate again, and live together for a time, which occurs in their first state, thus while they are still maintaining the outward aspects of their lives as they did in the world.

4. Progressively, however, as married partners put off outward appearances and enter into their inward qualities, they gradually perceive what sort of love and mutual feeling they had had for each other, and consequently whether it is possible for them to live together or not.

5. If it is possible for married partners to live together, they remain partners. But if it is not possible, they separate, the husband sometimes separating from the wife, the wife sometimes from the husband, and both of them sometimes from each other.

6. A man is then given a suitable wife, and a woman, likewise, a suitable husband.

7. Married couples enjoy the same intimate relations with each other as in the world, only more delightful and blessed, but without begetting children. Instead of or to take the place of begetting children, they experience a spiritual procreation, which is one of love and wisdom.

8. This is what happens in the case of people who come into heaven. It is different, however, with those who go to hell.

Development of this outline now follows, elucidating and supporting the various statements:

739. 'A flood of waters' means the onset of temptation. This is clear from the fact that the temptation dealt with here regards things of the understanding, which temptation, as has been stated, comes first and is mild. Consequently it is called 'a flood of waters' and not simply a flood, as in verse 17 below. For the primary meaning of 'waters' is man's spiritual things, matters of faith in the understanding, and also their opposites, which are falsities, as may be confirmed from so many places in the Word.

[2] That a flood of waters or a deluge means temptation is clear from what has been shown in the preliminary section of this chapter, ¹ and also in Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovah, I will make a stormy wind ² break out in My wrath, and there will be a deluging rain in My anger, and hailstones in rage to consume it, so that I may break down the wall you daub with whitewash. Ezekiel 13:11, 13-14.

Here 'stormy wind ² and 'deluging rain' stand for the desolation of falsity, 'a wall daubed with whitewash' for a fabrication which looks like the truth. In Isaiah,

Jehovah God is a shelter from the deluge, a shade from the heat, for the spirit of violent men is like a deluge against a wall. Isaiah 25:4.

Here 'deluge' stands for temptation as regards things of the understanding, which is quite different from temptation as regards things of the will, which is called 'heat'.

[3] In the same prophet,

Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong, like a deluge of hail, a destroying tempest, like a deluge of mighty overflowing waters. Isaiah 28:2.

This describes degrees of temptation. In the same prophet, When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not deluge you. When you go through fire you will not be burned, and the flame will not consume you. Isaiah 43:2.

Here 'waters' and 'rivers' stand for falsities and delusions,' fire' and 'flame' for evils and evil desires. In David,

Therefore everyone who is holy will pray to You at a time of discovering. In the deluge of many waters they will not reach him. You are a hiding-place for me, You will save me from distress. Psalms 32:6-7.

Here 'deluge of waters' stands for temptation, which is also called a flood in the same author,

Jehovah sits over the flood; and Jehovah sits as King for ever. Psalms 29:10.

These quotations and those given in the preliminary section of this chapter ¹ show that a flood or deluge of waters means nothing other than temptations and vastations, even though according to the custom of the most ancient people the description is of historical events.

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