Psalms 68
1
Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.
2
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
3
But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.
4
Sing unto God, Sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.
5
A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
6
God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
7
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah:
8
The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9
Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary.
10
Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor.
11
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.
12
Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil.
13
Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.
14
When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon.
15
The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan.
16
Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever.
17
The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
18
Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.
19
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.
20
He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.
21
But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.
22
The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea:
23
That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same.
24
They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.
25
The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.
26
Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel.
27
There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
28
Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us.
29
Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee.
30
Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war.
31
Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.
32
Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O Sing praises unto the Lord; Selah:
33
To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice.
34
Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds.
35
O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.
Apocalypse Revealed #200
200. "'The beginning of the workmanship of God.'" This symbolically means the Word.
That the Word is the beginning of the workmanship of God is something not yet known in the church, because it has not understood these words in John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men... He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, but the world did not know Him... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father... (John 1:1-14)
Someone who understands these words in respect to their inner meaning, and at the same time compares them with what we wrote in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, as well as with some sections in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, can see that the Word which was in the beginning with God, and which was God, means the underlying Divine truth in the Word that previously existed in this world (as reported in no. 11), and that which is present in the Word that we have today. It does not mean the Word viewed in respect to the words and letters of its languages, but viewed in terms of its essence and life which is inmostly present in the meanings of its words and letters. By this life the Word animates the will's affections of the person who reads it reverently, and by the light of this life it enlightens the thoughts of his intellect. Therefore we are told in John, "In the Word was life, and the life was the light of men." (John 1:4) The Word does this because the Word comes from the Lord and has the Lord as its subject and so is the Lord.
All thought, speech, or writing takes its essence and life from the one doing the thinking, speaking, or writing. It has the person in it, along with his character. And the Word has in it the Lord alone.
Still, no one senses or perceives the Divine life in the Word but one who, when reading it, is impelled by a spiritual affection for truth, for through the Word he is conjoined with the Lord. He experiences something inmostly affecting his heart and spirit, which flows with enlightenment into in his intellect and testifies.
[2] The following words in the first chapter of Genesis have a similar symbolic meaning to those in John:
In the beginning God created heaven and earth... And the spirit of God moved over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. (Genesis 1:1-3)
The spirit of God is Divine truth, and also light, the Divine truth being the Word; and therefore in John 1:4, 8-9 the Lord calls Himself the Word, and also the light.
A similar meaning is found in this declaration in the book of Psalms:
By the word of Jehovah the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. (Psalms 33:6)
In short, without the Divine truth of the Word, which in its essence is the Divine goodness of the Lord's Divine love and the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom, no mortal could have life. The Word is the means of the Lord's conjunction with a person, and of the person with the Lord, and through that conjunction comes life. There must be something from the Lord that a person can receive which makes possible that conjunction and so eternal life.
[3] It can be seen from this that "the beginning of the workmanship of God" means the Word, and if you would believe it, the Word such as it is in the sense of its letter, for this sense embraces the inner, holy levels, as we showed many times in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture.
Moreover, wonderful to say, the Word has been so written that it communicates with the whole of heaven, and every particular with some society there, as I have been given to know through personal experience, of which more elsewhere.
That the Word in its essence is such as described is still more apparent from these words of the Lord:
The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63)
