The Bible

 

Jeremia 51:39

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39 Wenn sie erhitzt sind, richte ich ihnen ein Trinkgelage an und berausche sie, auf daß sie frohlocken, und entschlafen zu ewigem Schlafe und nicht mehr erwachen, spricht Jehova.

Commentary

 

Forming

  

In Isaiah 44:2, 24, Isaiah 49:5, this signifies the Lord, the Reformer. (Apocalypse Revealed 535) For references to the Lord as Reformer and Regenerator, see Doctrine of the Lord 33-34 and Doctrine of Life 112.

(References: Isaiah 44:5, 49:1)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Doctrine of Life #112

Study this Passage

  
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112. The case is the same with every form of theft or fraud; with every form of murder and revenge; and with every form of false witness and lying. No one can be cleansed and purified of these on his own. For every urge has in it countless elements which seem to a person to constitute one simple unit, while the Lord sees each single element in their whole series.

In a word, a person cannot regenerate himself, that is to say, he cannot form in himself a new heart and new spirit, but only the Lord can, who is the only reformer and regenerator. Consequently, if a person tries to make himself a new person, using his own prudence and intelligence, it is merely like putting makeup on an ugly face, or like spreading cleanser over a body part inwardly infected with disease.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.