from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #9373

Studere hoc loco

  
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9373. Come up unto Jehovah. That this signifies conjunction with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being to be raised toward interior things (see n. 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007), consequently also to be conjoined (n. 8760). That it denotes conjunction with the Lord, is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the the Lord, (n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315). A secret which also lies hidden in the internal sense of these words, is that the sons of Jacob, over whom Moses was the head, were not called and chosen; but they themselves insisted that Divine worship should be instituted among them (according to wh at has been said in n. 4290, 4293); and therefore it is here said, “and He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah,” as if not Jehovah, but another, had said that he should come up. For the same reason in what follows it is said that “the people should not go up” (verse 2); and that “Jehovah sent not His hand unto the sons of Israel who were set apart” (verse 11); and that “the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel” (verse 17); and lastly that Moses, being called the seventh day, “entered into the midst of the cloud.” For by “the cloud” is meant the Word in the letter (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 6832, 8106, 8443, 8781); and with the sons of Jacob the Word was separated from its internal sense, because they were in external worship without internal, as can be clearly seen from the fact that now, as before, they said, “all the words which Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (verse 3); and yet scarcely forty days afterward they worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah; which shows that this was hidden in their hearts while they were saying with their lips that they would serve Jehovah alone. But nevertheless those who are meant by “the called and the chosen” are those who are in internal worship, and who from internal worship are in external; that is, those who are in love to and faith in the Lord, and from this in love toward the neighbor.

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

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #2803

Studere hoc loco

  
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2803. That the Divine Truth is the “son,” and the Divine Good the “father,” is evident from the signification of a “son,” as being truth (see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2633); and of a “father,” as being good; and also from the conception and birth of truth, which is from good. Truth cannot be and come forth [existere] from any other source than good, as has been shown many times. That the “son” here is the Divine Truth, and the “father” the Divine Good, is because the union of the Divine Essence with the Human, and of the Human Essence with the Divine, is the Divine marriage of Good with Truth, and of Truth with Good, from which comes the heavenly marriage; for in Jehovah or the Lord there is nothing but what is infinite; and because infinite, it cannot be apprehended by any idea, except that it is the being and the coming forth [esse et existere] of all good and truth, or is Good itself and Truth itself. Good itself is the “Father,” and Truth itself is the “Son.” But because as before said there is a Divine marriage of Good and Truth, and of Truth and Good, the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, as the Lord Himself teaches in John:

Jesus saith unto Philip, Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me ? Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in me (John 14:10-11).

And again in the same Evangelist:

Jesus said to the Jews, Though ye believe not Me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father (John 10:36, 38).

And again:

I pray for them; for all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and that they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee (John 17:9-10, 21).

And again:

Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself. Father, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee (John 13:31-32; 17:1).

[2] From this may be seen the nature of the union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord; namely, that it is mutual and alternate, or reciprocal; which union is that which is called the Divine Marriage, from which descends the heavenly marriage, which is the Lord’s kingdom itself in the heavens—thus spoken of in John:

In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:20).

And again:

I pray for them, that they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us, I in them and Thou in Me; that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:21-23, 26).

That this heavenly marriage is that of good and truth, and of truth and good, may be seen above (n. 2508, 2618, 2728, 2729 and following numbers).

[3] And because the Divine Good cannot be and come forth without the Divine Truth, nor the Divine Truth without the Divine Good, but the one in the other mutually and reciprocally, it is therefore manifest that the Divine Marriage was from eternity; that is, the Son in the Father, and the Father in the Son, as the Lord Himself teaches in John:

And now O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:5, 24).

But the Divine Human which was born from eternity was also born in time; and what was born in time, and glorified, is the same. Hence it is that the Lord so often said that He was going to the Father who sent Him; that is, that He was returning to the Father. And in John:

In the beginning was the Word (the “Word” is the Divine Truth itself), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1-3, 14; see also John 3:13; 6:62).

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

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Explained #83

Studere hoc loco

  
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83. And I became dead, signifies that He was rejected. This is evident from this, that the Lord is said to be "dead" when faith in Him and love towards Him are no more; for with those who are in love towards Him and faith in Him the Lord lives, but with those who are not in love and in faith toward Him He does not live. With such He is said to be "dead" because He is rejected. This is what is here meant in the internal sense by the words "I became dead;" but in the sense of the letter it is meant that He was crucified. The Lord's being crucified has a like signification in the internal sense, namely, that He was rejected and treated thus by the Jews; for the Lord, when He was in the world, was Divine truth itself, and as Divine truth was altogether rejected by the Jews, therefore the Lord, who was Divine truth, suffered Himself to be crucified. Such things are signified by all that is related in the Evangelists concerning the Lord's passion; the particulars, even to every minutest particular, involve this. Whenever, therefore, the Lord speaks of His passion He calls Himself the Son of man, that is, Divine truth (See above, n. 63). That Divine truth was altogether rejected by the Jews is well known; for they accepted nothing that the Lord said, and not even that He was the Son of God. From this it may be known how those things that the Lord said to the disciples about the Jews' rejection of Him are to be understood. Thus in Luke:

The Son of man must suffer many things, and be repudiated by the elders and chief priests and scribes (Luke 9:22).

In the same:

The Son of man must suffer many things, and be repudiated by this generation (Luke 17:25).

In Mark:

It is written of the Son of man, that He should suffer many things and be set at naught (Mark 9:12).

In Luke:

Jesus took unto Him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are foretold through the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and shamefully entreated, and spit upon; and after they have scourged Him, they shall put Him to death; but the third day He shall rise again (Luke 18:31-33).

The way in which the Jews treated Divine truth, which was from the Word, is signified by these particulars. "Jerusalem" here is the Jewish Church; "to be delivered unto the Gentiles, to be mocked, to be shamefully entreated, to be spit upon, to be scourged, to be put to death," are the wicked ways in which the Jews treated Divine truth; and as the Lord was Divine truth itself, because He was the Word (John 1:14), and as it was foretold in the prophets that Divine truth would be so dealt with in the end of the church, therefore it is said, "that all things may be accomplished that have been foretold through the prophets concerning the Son of man." So elsewhere in the same Gospel:

These are the words which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me (Luke 24:44).

That all things were accomplished when Jesus was crucified He Himself said, when He was upon the cross:

Jesus, knowing that all things were accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst (John 19:28).

He then said, "I thirst," because He longed for a new church that would acknowledge Him. (That to "thirst," in the spiritual sense, signifies to long for, and that it is predicated of the truths of the church, see Arcana Coelestia 4958, 4976, 8568.) These are also the things that were predicted by Daniel concerning vastation and desolation:

After sixty and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself; then the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, so that its end shall be with a flood. At last upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation, and even to the consummation and decision it shall drop upon the devastation (Daniel 9:26-27).

"Desolation" and "vastation" signify repudiation and rejection of Divine truth with those that are of the church (See Arcana Coelestia 5360, 5376). That Divine truth, which is the Word, was so repudiated by the Jews, is also meant by these words in Matthew:

I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they have not acknowledged him, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Even so shall the Son of man suffer of them (Matthew 17:12).

By "Elias" the Word is signified (See Arcana Coelestia, preface to chapter 18 of Genesis, and in n. 2762, 5247), and also by "John the Baptist;" therefore he was called "Elias" (n. 7643, 9372). From this it can be seen what is signified by "Elias has come," and that "they have done to him whatsoever they listed," and that "the Son of man is to suffer of them." How the Jews explained and thus rejected the Word is clear from many passages in the Gospels, where the Lord makes this manifest. From this it can now be seen that "I became dead," signifies that He was rejected. Moreover, that the Lord, by the passion of the cross, also glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine, see New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, n. 294-295, 302, 305.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.