Quando Gesù morì sulla croce, ci fu un terremoto. Le rocce si spaccarono. Il centurione e i suoi soldati che avevano eseguito gli ordini di crocifissione ebbero paura.

Nel cuore del tempio, nel "santo dei santi", nel cuore stesso di Gerusalemme, il sacro velo si strappò, da cima a fondo.

Il velo, "spezzato in due"...

I veli nel tabernacolo e più tardi nel tempio erano importanti. Sono descritti in grande dettaglio nell'Esodo e in 1 Re. In Arcana Coelestia 2576, dice che, "Le verità razionali sono una specie di velo o di abito per le verità spirituali.... Il velo rappresentava le apparenze più vicine e più intime del bene e della verità razionale....

E ora, mentre Gesù muore sulla croce, il velo si strappa. Cosa significa questo?

Ecco come Swedenborg descrive il simbolismo di questo:

"...che una volta dissipate tutte le apparenze, il Signore entrò nel Divino stesso, e allo stesso tempo aprì un mezzo di accesso al Divino stesso attraverso il Suo Umano che era stato reso Divino." (Arcana Coelestia 2576)

Pensa a quattro eventi spirituali spartiacque:

1) La creazione dell'universo fisico. (La migliore ipotesi attuale: 13,8 miliardi di anni fa). Genesi 1:1-10

2) L'inizio della vita. (Sulla terra, tra 3,5 e 4,5 miliardi di anni fa). Genesi 1:11-25

3) L'inizio degli esseri umani spiritualmente coscienti. (Supposizione ragionevole: 100.000 anni fa). Genesi 1:26-31

4) L'incarnazione e la resurrezione del Signore Dio Gesù Cristo (2000 anni fa).

L'amore e la saggezza di Dio fluiscono nell'universo da molto tempo. Dove ci si potrebbe aspettare l'entropia, invece vediamo un universo che sembra favorire la vita e l'intelligenza. Pensa che momento appagante deve essere stato quando Dio ha potuto dire che le menti umane ora rispondevano a Lui, dopo tutta quella effusione.

Ma la libera capacità di risposta è una tragedia, perché possiamo anche scegliere di non rispondere e di andare nella direzione opposta.

Man mano che noi umani diventavamo più "sofisticati", Dio usava nuovi canali per raggiungerci, in particolare profeti e guide spirituali, e più tardi la parola scritta. E in questi canali, fin dai primi tempi, ci sono già profezie che il Signore un giorno sarebbe venuto nel mondo in forma umana.

Perché aveva bisogno di farlo? Deve aver previsto che le persone avrebbero avuto bisogno di avere quel livello umano di connessione, affinché esistesse abbastanza bene e verità per prendere le decisioni che ci aprono alla salvezza.

Torniamo alla descrizione di Swedenborg:

"... una volta dissipate tutte le apparenze, il Signore entrò nel Divino stesso..."

Durante tutta la vita del Signore sulla terra, c'era l'apparenza che fosse un uomo, come noi. Aveva un corpo umano. Poteva essere stanco e affamato. Poteva essere tentato (anche se, a differenza di noi, vinceva sempre). Nella sua vita spirituale, c'erano momenti in cui sentiva acutamente l'aspetto del suo umano separato dalla sua essenza divina. Altre volte, quell'apparenza si assottigliava ed egli sentiva la sua divinità con più forza. Mentre cresceva, e veniva battezzato, e iniziava il suo ministero, doveva essere sempre più consapevole di ciò che stava accadendo dentro di lui - la glorificazione della parte umana di lui. Con la morte del suo corpo sulla croce, l'umanità corporea non era più di intralcio. Quell'apparenza fu dissipata. Una nuova connessione fu pienamente forgiata tra il Divino e l'umano.

E poi, c'è la seconda parte dell'affermazione di Swedenborg:

"allo stesso tempo Egli aprì un mezzo di accesso al Divino stesso attraverso il Suo Umano che era stato reso Divino".

Il velo fu strappato. La vecchia religione, che aveva posto il rituale al di sopra del bene reale, e dove Dio era invisibile, separato dalla conoscenza umana da un velo - fu strappata. Una nuova luce poteva raggiungere le persone, attraverso i nuovi insegnamenti del Signore. Potevamo rispondere a un Dio che, nel Suo Umano Divino, ora potevamo capire, avvicinarci e amare più profondamente.

9229. 'And men of holiness shall you be to Me' means a state of life then composed of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'men of holiness' as those who are led by the Lord, for the Divine which emanates from the Lord is holiness itself, 6788, 7499, 8127 (end), 8302, 8806. Consequently those who receive that emanation in faith and also in love are called holy ones. Anyone who imagines that a person is holy from any other source, or that anything present with a person is holy apart from that which comes and is received from the Lord is very much mistaken; for that which is the person's own, and is called his proprium, is evil.

The human proprium is nothing but evil, see 210, 215, 694, 874-876, 987, 1047, 4328, 5660, 5786, 8480, 8944.

To the extent that a person can be withheld from his proprium, the Lord can be present with him, and therefore to the same extent holiness resides with him, 1023, 1044, 1581, 2256, 2388, 2406, 2411, 8206, 8393, 8988 (end), 9014.

[2] The truth that the Lord is the Only Holy One, and that nothing is holy except that which emanates from the Lord, and so that which a person receives from the Lord, is evident from everywhere in the Word, as in John,

I make Myself holy, that they also may be made holy in the truth. John 17:19.

'Making Himself holy' means making Himself Divine by His own power. Consequently those who receive Divine Truth emanating from the Lord in faith and life are said to be 'made holy in the truth'.

[3] This also explains why after the Resurrection, when the Lord spoke to the disciples, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit, John 20:22. 'Breathing on (or into)' was a sign that represented the imparting of life through faith and love, as also in Genesis,

Jehovah breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man (homo) became a living soul. Genesis 2:7.

Other examples like this may be seen elsewhere, such as Psalms 33:6; 104:29-30; Job 32:8; 33:4; John 3:8. Therefore also the Word is said to be inspired because it comes from the Lord, and those who wrote the Word have been called 'inspired'. Breathing, and so breathing on or inspiring, corresponds to the life of faith, see 97, 1119, 1120, 3883-3896. This explains why the term spirit in the Word is derived from the word for wind, and holiness from the Lord is called Jehovah's wind, 8286, and why the Holy Spirit is the holiness emanating from the Lord, 3704, 4673 (end), 5307, 6788, 6982, 6993, 8127 (end), 8302, 9199.

[4] So also it says in John 1:33 that the Lord baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and in Luke 3:16 that He baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 'Baptizing' in the internal sense means regenerating, 4255, 5120 (end), 9088; 'baptizing with the Holy Spirit' means regenerating by means of the good of faith; and 'baptizing with fire' means regenerating by means of the good of love, 'fire' being the good of love, see 934, 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324. In John,

Who is not going to fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. Revelation 15:4.

In Luke the angel telling Mary about the Lord said,

That which is holy will be born from you. Luke 1:35.

And in Daniel,

I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, and behold, a vigilant and holy one came down from heaven. Daniel 4:13.

In these places 'that which is holy' and 'a holy one' stand for the Lord.

[5] Because the Lord alone is holy He is called in the Old Testament the Holy One of Israel, the Redeemer, the Saviour, and the Regenerator, as in Isaiah 1:4; 5:19, 24; 10:20; 12:6; 17:7; 29:19; 30:11-12, 15; 31:1; 37:23; 41:14, 16, 20; 43:3, 14; 45:11; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7; 54:5; 55:5; 60:9, 14; Jeremiah 50:29; 51:5; Ezekiel 39:7; Psalms 71:22; 78:41; 89:18. This is why the Lord in heaven, and consequently heaven itself, is called the dwelling-place of holiness, Jeremiah 25:30; 31:23; ¹ Isaiah 63:15; the sanctuary, ² Ezekiel 11:16; 24:21; and also the mountain of holiness, Psalms 3:4. It is also why the middle of the tent [of meeting], where the ark containing the law was, was called The Holy of Holies, Exodus 26:33-34; for the law in the ark in the middle of the tent [of meeting], represented the Lord in respect of the Word. For the law is the Word, 6752, 7463.

[6] All this shows why it is that the angels are called holy in Matthew 25:31; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26; Psalms 149:1; Daniel 8:13; also the prophets, Luke 1:70; and the apostles too, Revelation 18:20. Not that they are holy by their own virtue but that the Lord, who alone is holy and the only source of holiness, makes them so. For truths are meant by 'the angels', because they are those who receive truth from the Lord, 1925, 4085, 4295, 4402, 7268, 7873, 8192, 8301; teachings which present the truth that comes through the Word from the Lord are meant by 'the prophets', 2534, 7269; and all the truths and forms of the good of faith in their entirety which come from the Lord are meant by 'the apostles', 3488, 3858 (end), 6397.

[7] Consecrations ³ among the Israelite and Jewish people took place in order that the Lord who alone was holy might be represented, and in order that holiness, which He alone is the source of, might be represented. This is the reason for the consecration of Aaron and his sons, Exodus 29:1ff; Leviticus 8:10-11, 13, 30; the consecration of their garments, Exodus 29:21ff; the consecration of the altar in order that it might be most holy, ⁴ Exodus 29:37ff; the consecration of the tent of meeting, the ark of the Testimony, the table, all the vessels, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and its vessels, and the laver and its base, Exodus 30:26ff.

[8] The truth that the Lord is the real Holiness that was represented is evident also from the Lord's words in Matthew when they are seen in the internal sense,

Fools and blind! Which of the two is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy? And which of the two is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? Matthew 23:17-19.

'The temple' represented the Lord Himself, and so did 'the altar', while 'the gold' was a sign of the good that comes from the Lord, and 'the gift' or a sacrifice was a sign of things constituting faith and charity that come from the Lord.

The Lord was represented by 'the temple', see 2777, 3720, and by 'the altar', 2777, 2811, 4489, 8935, 8940. 'Gold' was a sign of good that comes from the Lord, 1551, 1552, 5658, and 'a sacrifice' a sign of worship springing from faith and charity that come from the Lord, 922, 923, 2805, 2807, 2830, 6905, 8680, 8682, 8936.

[9] From all this it is now evident why it is that the children of Israel were called a holy people in Deuteronomy 26:19 and elsewhere, or as in the present verse men of holiness. That is to say, they were so called because every single aspect of their worship represented Divine realities that are the Lord's, and celestial and spiritual things of His kingdom and Church. On this account they were called holy in a representative sense; they themselves were not holy on that account, because representatives had regard to the holy things that were represented, not to the person who represented them, see 665, 1097 (end), 1361, 3147, 3881 (end), 4208, 4281, 4288, 4293, 4307, 4444, 4500, 6304, 7048, 7439, 8588, 8788, 8806.

[10] On that account also was Jerusalem called holy, and Zion the mountain of holiness in Zechariah 8:3 and elsewhere, as well as in Matthew,

And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of dead holy ones were raised; and coming out of their tombs after the Lord's resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. Matthew 27:52-53.

Here Jerusalem is called 'the holy city', when in fact, quite to the contrary, it was unholy because the Lord was crucified there at that time, for which reason it is called 'Sodom and Egypt' in John,

Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Revelation 11:8.

Yet it is called holy, because it means the Lord's kingdom and the Church, 402, 2117, 3654. The appearance of 'dead holy ones' there, an event witnessed by some in vision, was a sign of the salvation of people who belonged to the spiritual Church, and of the raising of those people to the Holy Jerusalem, which is heaven - the people who had been kept up to that time on the lower earth, spoken of in 6854, 6914, 7091, 7828, 7932, 8049, 8054, 8159, 8321.

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