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ဒံယေလ 8

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1 ဗေလရှာဇာမင်းကြီးနန်းစံ သုံးနှစ်တွင်၊ ငါ ဒံယေလသည် ယခင် ဗျာဒိတ်တော်ကို မြင်ပြီးသည်နောက်၊ တဖန် ဗျာဒိတ်ရူပါရုံကို မြင်ရသောအကြောင်းအရာဟူ မူကား၊

2 ဧလံပြည်၊ ရူရှန်မြို့တော်၌ ဥလဲမြစ်နားမှာ ငါရှိ စဉ်၊ ရူပါရုံထင်ရှား၍၊

3 ငါမျှော်ကြည့်သော၊ ရှည်လျားသော ချို နှစ်ချောင်းရှိသော သိုးတကောင်သည် မြစ်တဘက်၌ ရပ် နေ၏။ ထိုချိုနှစ်ချောင်းသည်မညီ၊ တချောင်းသာ၍ ရှည်၏။ သာ၍ ရှည်သောချိုသည် နောက်ပေါက် သတည်း။

4 ထိုသိုးသည် အနောက်၊ တောင်၊ မြောက်၊ သုံး မျက်နှာသို့ တိုးခွေ့သောကြောင့် အဘယ်တိရစ္ဆာန်မျှ မခံနိုင်၊ အဘယ်သူမျှ သူ့လက်မှတ်မကယ်မလွှတ်နိုင်သည် ဖြစ်၍ မိမိအလိုရှိသည့်အတိုင်း ပြုသဖြင့် ကြီးမားခြင်းသို့ ရောက်လာ၏။

5 ထိုအမှုကို ငါဆင်ခြင်လျက်နေသောအခါ၊ မျက်စိ နှစ်လုံးကြား၌ ထူးဆန်းသော ချိုတချောင်းရှိသော ဆိတ် တကောင်သည် အနောက်မျက်နှာကလာ၍၊ မြေကို မနင်းဘဲ မြေကြီးတပြင်လုံးကို ကျော်လေ၏။

6 ချိုနှစ်ချောင်းနှင့်မြစ်တဘက်၌ ထင်ရှားသော သိုးရှိရာသို့ ပြင်းစွာသော အဟုန်နှင့်ပြေး၍

7 အနားသို့ ရောက်သောအခါ၊ ပြင်းစွာ အမျက် ထွက်သဖြင့် သိုးကို ခတ်၍ သိုးချိုနှစ်ချောင်းကို ချိုးဖဲ့၏။ သိုးသည်ခံနိုင်သော တန်ခိုးမရှိသည် ဖြစ်၍ ဆိတ်သည် သူ့ကိုမြေ၌ လှဲ၍နင်းလေ၏။ သူ့လက်မှ အဘယ်သူမျှ သိုးကို မကယ်မလွှတ်နိုင်။

8 သို့ဖြစ်၍၊ ထိုဆိတ်သည် အလွန်ကြီးမားခြင်းသို့ ရောက်လေ၏။ ခွန်အားကြီးသောအခါ ချိုကြီးကျိုးပဲ့၏။ ထိုချိုအရာ၌ ထူးဆန်းသော ချိုလေးချောင်းပေါက်၍၊ မိုဃ်းကောင်းကင်လေးမျက်နှာသို့ မျက်နှာပြုကြ၏။

9 ထိုချိုလေးချောင်းတွင် တချောင်းထဲက အခြား သောချိုတက်တ ချောင်းပေါက်ပြန်၍ တောင်မျက်နှာသို့၎င်း၊ အရှေ့မျက်နှာသို့၎င်း၊ သာယာသော ပြည်သို့၎င်း မျက်နှာပြု၍၊ အလွန်ကြီးမားခြင်းသို့ ရောက်လေ၏။

10 ကောင်းကင်ဗိုလ်ခြေတိုင်အောင်ကြီးမား၍၊ ထိုဗိုလ်ခြေအချို့တို့နှင့် ကြယ်အချို့တို့ကို မြေသို့ချ၍ နင်းလေ၏။

11 ထိုမျှမက၊ ဗိုလ်ခြေသခင်တိုင်အောင် ထောင် လွှားခြင်းကို ပြုလျက်၊ နေ့ရက်အစဉ်ပြုသော ဝတ်ကိုပယ်၍၊ သန့်ရှင်းရာဌာနတော်ကို ရှုတ်ချလေ၏။

12 အပြစ်များသောကြောင့် နေ့ရက်အစဉ်ပြုသော ဝတ်နှင့်တကွ ဗိုလ်ခြေကိုလည်း ထိုချိုသည်ရ၍ သမ္မာ တရားကို မြေသို့နှိမ့်ချ၏။ ထိုသို့ပြု၍ အောင်မြင်ခြင်းသို့ ရောက်လေ၏။

13 ထိုအခါ သန့်ရှင်းသူတပါး၏ စကားပြောသံကို ငါကြား၏။ သန့်ရှင်းသူတပါးက၊ ယခင်ပြောသော သူကို ဟစ်၍၊ သန့်ရှင်းရာဌာနနှင့် ဗိုလ်ခြေကိုနင်းခြင်း အလိုငှာ နေ့ရက်အစဉ်ပြုသောဝတ်ကို ပယ်ခြင်းနှင့်၎င်း၊ ဖျက်ဆီးတတ်သော လွန်ကျူးခြင်းနှင့်၎င်း စပ်ဆိုင်သော ဗျာဒိတ်ရူပါရုံသည်အဘယ်မျှ ကာလပတ်လုံး တည်လိမ့် မည်နည်းဟုမေးမြန်းလျှင်၊

14 ယခင်ပြောသူက ရက်ပေါင်းနှစ်ထောင်သုံးရာ တိုင်တိုင် တည်လိမ့်မည်။ ထိုနောက် သန့်ရှင်းရာဌာနကို တဖန်ဆေးကြောသုတ်သင်ကြလိမ့် မည်ဟုပြန်၍ ပြောဆို ၏။

15 ငါဒံယေလသည် ထိုရူပါရုံကို မြင်၍ အနက်ကို ရှာဖွေသောအခါ၊ လူသဏ္ဌာန်ရှိသောသူတဦးသည် ငါ့ရှေ့တွင် ရပ်နေ၏။

16 အခြားသော သူက၊ အိုဂါဗြေလ၊ ထိုသူသည် ယခု မြင်သော ဗျာဒိတ်ရူပါရုံကို နားလည်စေခြင်းငှါ အနက်ကို ပြန်ပောလော့ဟု၊ ဥလဲ မြစ်နားကြားမှာ လူအသံနှင့်ဟစ်၍ ပြောဆိုသည်ကို ငါကြား၏။

17 ထိုသူသည် ငါရပ်နေရာအပါးသို့လာလျှင်၊ ငါသည် ကြောက်ရွံ့၍ ပြပ်ဝပ်လျက်နေ၏။ ထိုသူက၊ အချင်းလူသား၊ နားလည်လော့။ ဤဗျာဒိတ် ရူပါရုံသည် အမှုကုန် ရသောကာလနှင့်ဆိုင်သည်ဟု ငါ့အား ပြောဆို ၏။

18 ထိုသို့ ဆိုသောအခါ ငါသည် မြေပေါ်မှာပြပ်ဝပ်၍ မိန်းမော တွေဝေလျက်နေ၏။ ထိုသူသည်ငါ့ကိုလက်နှင့် တို့၍ ယခင်နေရာ၌ မတ်တတ်နေစေပြီးလျှင်၊

19 ဒေါသအမျက်တော်အဆုံး၌ ဖြစ်လတံ့သော အရာကိုငါကြား ပြောဦးမည်။ ချိန်းချက်သောအချိန်၌ လက်စသတ်လိမ့်မည်။

20 ချိုနှစ်ချောင်းနှင့် ပေါ်လာသော သိုးသည် မေဒိ ရှင်ဘုရင်၊ ပေရသိရှင်ဘုရင်ဖြစ်၏။

21 အမွေးကြမ်းသော ဆိတ်သည် ဟေလသ ရှင်ဘုရင် ဖြစ်၏။ မျက်စိနှစ်လုံးကြား၌ရှိသော ချိုကြီးသည် ပဌမမင်းဖြစ်၏။

22 ိုချိုကျိုးပဲ့၍၊ သူ့အရာ၌ ချိုလေးချောင်းပေါက် သည်မှာ အရင်နိုင်ငံတွင် နိုင်ငံလေးပါး ည်ောင်လိမ့် မည်။ အရင်နိုင်ငံ၏တန်ခိုးနှင့် မပြည့်စုံကြ။

23 ထိုနိုင်ငံတို့၏ အဆုံးစွန်သောကာလ၌ လွန်ကျူး သော သူတို့၏ အပြစ်ပြည့်စုံသောအခါ၊ ရဲရင့်သော မျက်နှာရှိ၍ ပရိယာယ်တို့ကို နားလည်သော မင်းကြီး တပါး ပေါ်လာလိမ့်မည်။

24 ထိုမင်းကြီးသည် ကိုယ်တန်ခိုးမရှိဘဲလျက် တန်ခိုးကြီးလိမ့်မည်။ အထူးသဖြင့် ဖျက်ဆီး၍ တိုးပွား အောင်မြင်လိမ့်မည်။ စွမ်းအားကြီးသော လူစု၊ သန့်ရှင်း သော လူစုကို ပင် ဖျက်ဆီးလိမ့်မည်။

25 သူသည်လိမ္မာစွာပြုသဖြင့်၊ မုသာလည်း အောင် မြင်လိမ့်မည်။ စိတ်ောင်လွှားခြင်းနှင့်တကွ မိဿဟာယ ဖွဲ့သောအားဖြင့် လူများတို့ကို ဖျက်ဆီး၍၊ သခင်တို့၏သခင် ကို ဆန့်ကျင်ဘက်ပြုလိမ့်မည်။ သို့သော်လည်း၊ လူလက် ဖြင့် ဒဏ်မခတ်ဘဲ ကျိုးပဲ့ပျက်စီးခြင်းသို့ ရောက်လိမ့်မည်။

26 ညဦးနှင့် နံနက်ကို တော်ပြသောဗျာဒိတ် ရူပါရုံ စကားမှန်သည် ဖြစ်၍ ထိုစကားကို တံဆိပ်ခက်ထား လော့။ တာရှည်သော ကာလတိုင်တိုင် တည်လိမ့်မည်ဟု ဆို၏။

27 ိုအခါ ငါဒံယေလသည် မော၍ နာလျက် နေ၏။ တဖန် အနာမမြောက်၍ ဘုရင်၏အမှုတော်ကို ဆောင်ရွက်၏။ မြင်ပြီးသော ဗျာဒိတ်ရူပါရုံကို ငါ့အံ့ဩ သော်လည်း ိုအမှုကို အဘယ်သူမျှ မရိပ်မိကြ။

   

스웨덴보그의 저서에서

 

Arcana Coelestia #5922

해당 구절 연구하기

  
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5922. 'And you must tell my father about all my glory in Egypt' means a communication of the spiritual heaven in the natural with spiritual good. This is clear from the meaning of 'telling' as communicating; from the meaning of 'glory' as the spiritual heaven, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'Egypt' as factual knowledge within the natural, thus the natural itself, as above in 5908; and from the representation of Israel, to whom 'father', the recipient of the communication, refers here, as spiritual good, dealt with above in 5906. From all this it is evident that 'you must tell my father about all my glory in Egypt' means a communication of the spiritual heaven in the natural with spiritual good.

[2] With regard to 'glory' meaning the spiritual heaven, the situation is this: There are two kingdoms that form heaven - the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. The celestial kingdom is the inmost or third heaven, and the spiritual kingdom is the middle or second heaven. Good as it exists among celestial angels is called celestial good, and good as it exists among spiritual angels is called spiritual good. Celestial good is the good of love to the Lord, while spiritual good is the good of love towards the neighbour. As for what joins the two kingdoms together, the good of charity towards the neighbour does so. For with members of the celestial kingdom love to the Lord is what is internal and charity towards the neighbour what is external; but with members of the spiritual kingdom charity towards the neighbour is what is internal and faith deriving from it what is external. From this one may see that what joins the two kingdoms is charity towards the neighbour; for charity is that in which the celestial kingdom ends and the spiritual kingdom begins. What comes last in the one comes first in the other, and is thus where they receive each other.

[3] Now let what 'glory' is be stated. In the highest sense 'glory' is the Lord in respect to Divine Truth; thus it is Divine Truth that goes forth from the Lord. But in the representative sense 'glory' is the good of love towards the neighbour or charity, which is the external good of the Lord's celestial kingdom and the internal good of His spiritual kingdom; for in the genuine sense this good is Divine Truth in heaven. Now since reference is made at this point in the story to Israel, who is spiritual good or charity which makes the spiritual kingdom in heaven and the spiritual Church on earth, Joseph's 'glory' here which they were to tell Israel about means the spiritual heaven. The spiritual heaven is called 'glory' because things there are seen in light, brilliance, and radiance.

[4] Glory is attributed to Divine Truth that comes forth from the Lord's Divine Human, and it is ascribed to the Lord as King; for in the internal sense kingship means Divine Truth, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068. This is clear in John,

What is more, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14.

'The Word' is Divine Truth. Since it goes forth from the Lord it is the Lord Himself, and for that reason 'glory' is attributed to Divine Truth.

[5] In Luke, when Jesus was transfigured on the mountain,

Behold, two men talked to Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who were seen in glory. Luke 9:30-31.

There the Lord showed Peter, James, and John what His Divine Human was like and what it looked like in Divine light. The form in which they saw Him at that time demonstrated what the Word is like in its internal sense, and so what Divine Truth in heaven is like; for the Word is Divine Truth provided for the Church's use. This also explains why at the same time the scene presented Moses and Elijah talking to Him; for 'Moses' represents the Law, by which one means the books by him together with the historical ones, while 'Elijah' represents the Prophets or prophetical part of the Word. For more about Moses' representation of the Law, see Preface to Genesis 18, and also 4859 (end); and for more about Elijah's representation of the prophetical part of the Word, see the same Preface, and also 2762, 5247 (end).

[6] In Matthew,

They will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matthew 24:30.

The literal sense of the Word is meant by 'the clouds', while the internal sense, consequently Divine Truth as this exists in heaven, is meant by 'glory'; see Preface to Genesis 18. 'Glory' also means the intelligence and wisdom that flow from Divine Truth, 4809. So far as its external sense is concerned the Word exists 'in a cloud', for the reason that people's minds dwell in darkness. Therefore if the Word did not dwell 'in a cloud' scarcely anyone would understand it, and also the sacred contents of the internal sense would be rendered profane by wicked people in the world. This is why the Lord says in Isaiah,

Jehovah will create over every habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a covering. And there will be a tabernacle for shade by day. Isaiah 4:5-6.

[7] It was for the same reason that over the tabernacle a cloud was seen by day and a fire by night. The tabernacle represented the Lord's Divine Human, consequently Divine Truth which goes forth from Him, and so the Word, which is Divine Truth for the Church, see 3210, 3439. The same is meant by the following in Moses,

The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the dwelling-place. Exodus 40:34.

In the same author,

The glory of Jehovah appeared in the tent of meeting before all the children of Israel. Numbers 14:10.

And in another place,

The cloud covered the tent, and the glory of Jehovah appeared. Numbers 16:42.

[8] A cloud and glory appeared in a similar way over Mount Sinai, which are spoken of in Moses as follows,

When Moses went up into the mountain the cloud covered the mountain. And the glory of Jehovah dwelt over Mount Sinai and covered it six days. Exodus 24:15-16.

The same representations occurred then because the Law, which is Divine Truth, was delivered from that mountain. The reason why the cloud was seen and the glory of Jehovah when Moses went up into the mountain was that in this he represented the Law, that is, the historical section of the Word. This explains why on several occasions the expression 'Moses and the Prophets' or else 'the Law and the Prophets' is used. 'The Law' is in this case used to mean the books by him together with all the other historical books, but not the Prophets because that part of the Word was represented by Elijah and Elisha. For as is well known, the Word has a historical section and a prophetical part, and therefore when the Word is called 'the Law and the Prophets', 'the Law' is used to mean the historical section and 'the Prophets' the prophetical part.

[9] Divine Truth was also represented by a brightness, like a rainbow in the cloud, that surrounded the cherubs and was up above them - in Ezekiel, where those things are described as follows,

I saw the appearance of fire, like a brightness round about, like the appearance of a rainbow which is in the cloud on a day of rain. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah. Ezekiel 1:26-28.

Divine Truth is also called the glory of Jehovah, and the glory of the God of Israel in Ezekiel 8:4; 10:18-19; 11:21, 23. It is called 'the glory of Jehovah' in reference to the inmost heaven, and 'the glory of the God of Israel' in reference to the middle or spiritual heaven. The reason why in heaven Divine Truth appears in glory is that truth itself in the spiritual heaven appears before one's eyes as a shining cloud, which I too have been allowed to see several times, while the good held within that truth appears there as a fieriness. The cloud which is given diverse colourings by the fire presents amazing sights, which are 'glory' in the external sense. But the glory in the internal sense is intelligence and wisdom, which are also what those sights represent.

[10] The fact that Divine Truth, the source of all wisdom and intelligence, is 'the glory', as is the diversely coloured cloud appearing before one's external sight, is also clear from the following places: In Moses,

Jehovah said, I am the Living One, and the whole earth will be filled with the glory of Jehovah. Numbers 14:21.

This was said by Jehovah when the Israelite people were rejected by Him. He said that only their young children would enter the land of Canaan, at which time the whole earth would be filled with the glory of Jehovah. The meaning of this was that the glory of Jehovah would be present in the representatives of the Church existing among them, and in the Word which referred for the most part to them, and that all heaven and consequently the holy things of the Church would be filled with this glory.

[11] In Isaiah,

The seraphim kept calling out, Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah Zebaoth; the whole earth is full of His glory. Isaiah 6:3.

In the same prophet,

The glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together. Isaiah 40:5.

In the same prophet,

Therefore in the Urim give glory to Jehovah, in the isles of the sea to the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel. Isaiah 24:15.

'The Urim' stands for the light that is received from Divine Truth going; forth from the Lord. 'The isles of the sea' stands for those who are further away from the truth, 1158.

[12] In the same prophet,

The glory of Lebanon has been given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of Jehovah, the majesty of our God. Isaiah 35:2.

'Lebanon' stands for the spiritual Church, Carmel and Sharon' for the celestial Church. 'The glory of Jehovah' is attributed to the latter when celestial truth, which is charity, is meant, and 'the majesty of the God of Israel' to the former when spiritual good, which also is charity, is meant.

[13] In the same prophet,

Arise, shine, for Your light has come, and the glory of Jehovah has risen upon You. For behold, darkness is covering the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. But Jehovah will arise upon You, and His glory will be seen over You. Isaiah 60:1-2.

This refers to the Lord, who is called the Light, as in John 1:4, 9. It also says that 'the glory of Jehovah will arise upon Him', meaning that Divine Truth belongs to Him. Similarly in the same prophet,

For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; for how should it be profaned? My glory I do not give to another. Isaiah 48:11.

This too refers to the Lord, 'glory' in the highest sense standing for the Divine Human, and so also for Divine Truth since this comes forth from it. 'Not giving glory to another' is imparting it solely to the Divine Human, which is one with Himself.

[14] In John,

The holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, having the glory of God, and its light was like a most precious stone. Revelation 21:10-11.

'The holy city Jerusalem' is the Lord's spiritual kingdom in heaven and His spiritual Church on earth, to both of which glory is attributed. Its light is truth radiating from the Divine.

[15] Since Divine Truth is what kingship in the Word represents - even as the Lord in respect to His Divine Truth was represented by kings, see the places listed just above - glory was therefore ascribed to Him as King, as in David,

Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted , O ancient doors, 1 so that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, lift up. O ancient doors, 1 that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? Jehovah Zebaoth, He is the King of glory. Psalms 24:7-10.

In Isaiah,

Jehovah Zebaoth will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders, glory. Isaiah 24:23.

'Glory' stands for Divine Truth. Jehovah is called 'Jehovah Zebaoth' - that is, Jehovah of Hosts or of Armies - when the subject is Divine truth; for truths are meant by 'armies', 3448.

[16] Also, because Divine Truth was represented by kingship, the throne on which kings sat when they made judgements was called a throne of glory, Isaiah 22:23; Jeremiah 14:21; 17:12.

And in Matthew,

The Son of Man will sit on the throne of His glory. Matthew 19:28.

In the same gospel,

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. And the King will say to them . . . Matthew 25:31, 34, 40.

The throne was called 'a throne of glory' for the further reason that truth was the basis on which judgements were made. In the same gospel,

The Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father together with His angels, and at that time He will repay everyone according to his deeds. Matthew 16:27.

[17] From all this one may now see what is meant by 'the glory' in the Lord's Prayer,

Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever. Matthew 6:13.

The Lord's spiritual kingdom in heaven and His spiritual Church on earth is in addition referred to by another word for 'glory' (decus) in Isaiah 60:7; 63:15; 64:11; Daniel 8:9-11; 11:16, 41, 45.

Joseph too therefore speaks of his glory, for Joseph himself in the highest sense represents the Lord's Divine Spiritual or His Divine Truth, and in the internal sense His spiritual kingdom, also the good of faith, see 3969, 4669, 4723, 4727.

각주:

1. literally, doors of the world

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

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Arcana Coelestia #2776

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2776. 'Offer him as a burnt offering' means that He was to sanctify Himself to the Divine. This is clear from the representation of 'a burnt offering' among the Hebrew nation, and in the Jewish Church, as the holiest act of their worship. There were burnt offerings and there were sacrifices, and as regards what these represented, see 922, 923, 1823, 2180. Sanctifications were effected by means of burnt offerings and sacrifices, and that is why in this verse 'offering a burnt offering' means being sanctified to the Divine. For the Lord sanctified Himself to the Divine, that is, He united the Human to the Divine by means of the conflicts brought about by temptations, and by means of the victories in these, see 1663, 1690, 1692 (end), 1692, 1737, 1787, 1812, 1813, 1820.

[2] It is generally believed at the present day that the burnt offerings and sacrifices were signs of the Lord's passion, and that by His passion the Lord atoned for the iniquities of all. Indeed it is believed that He drew away those iniquities on to Himself, and thus bore them Himself, so that those who believe are made righteous and are saved, if only they think, even in the last hour prior to death, that the Lord suffered on their behalf, no matter how they may have lived throughout the whole course of their lives. But such beliefs are mistaken. The passion of the Cross was the utmost degree of temptation endured by the Lord, by means of which He fully united the Human to the Divine and the Divine to the Human, and by doing this glorified Himself. That union itself is the means by which people possessing faith in Him that is grounded in charity are able to be saved. For the Supreme Divine Itself was no longer able to reach the human race which had removed itself so far away from the celestial things of love, and from the spiritual things of faith, that people did not even recognize them any more, let alone perceive them. Consequently to enable the Supreme Divine to come down to all such as this, the Lord came into the world and united the Human to the Divine within Himself. This union could not have been effected except by means of the very severe conflicts brought about by temptations and by means of victories in these, and at length by means of the final temptation, which was that of the Cross.

[3] As a result of this the Lord is able from the Divine Human to enlighten human minds, even those that are quite remote from the celestial things of love, provided that faith grounded in charity is present in them. For in the next life the Lord appears to celestial angels as the Sun, and to spiritual angels as the Moon, 1053, 1521, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495 - all the light of heaven flowing from Him. The light of heaven is such that when it enlightens the eyes of spirits and angels it also at the same time enlightens their understanding. This ability to enlighten the understanding also exists inherently within that light, so that the amount of internal light, that is, of understanding, which anyone possesses in heaven is the same as the amount of external light he has. This shows the way in which the light of heaven is different from the light of the world. It is the Lord's Divine Human that enlightens both the eyes and the understanding of those who are spiritual, but this could never be done unless the Lord had united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence. And unless He had united them neither men in the world, nor indeed any spiritual angel in heaven, would any longer have possessed any ability to understand or to perceive that which is good or true. Nor thus would they have possessed any blessedness and happiness at all, nor consequently any salvation at all. From this it becomes clear that the human race could not have been saved unless the Lord had assumed the Human and glorified it.

[4] From what has now been stated anyone may decide for himself the truth or otherwise of the idea that people are saved, no matter how they may have lived, if only they think from some inner emotion that the Lord suffered on their behalf and bore their sins. But in reality the light of heaven received from the Lord's Divine Human is able to reach none except those with whom there exists the good that accompanies faith, that is, who lead charitable lives, or what amounts to the same, who possess conscience. The level itself into which that light can operate, that is, the receptacle for that light, is the good that accompanies faith, which is charity and thus conscience. That those who are spiritual have salvation from the Lord's Divine Human, see 1043, 2661, 2716, 2718.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.