The Bible

 

Revelation 1

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1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him, to show to His servants what must quickly come·​·to·​·pass; and He signified, sending by His angel to His servant John,

2 who gave by testimony the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatever he saw.

3 Happy is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things written in it; for the time is near.

4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be to you, and peace, from Him Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come*; and from the seven spirits who are before His throne;

5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and washes us from our sins in His blood,

6 and makes us kings and priests to God and His Father; to Him be the glory and the might for ages of ages. Amen.

7 Behold He comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth shall wail over Him. Yes; amen.

8 I am the Alpha and the Omega*, Beginning and End, says the Lord, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty.

9 I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in affliction, and in the kingdom and patient expectation* of Jesus Christ, came·​·to·​·be in the island called Patmos*, for·​·the·​·sake·​·of the Word of God, and for·​·the·​·sake·​·of the testimony of Jesus Christ.

10 I came·​·to·​·be in the spirit on the Lord’s day; and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

11 saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last; and what thou seest, write in a book, and send it to the churches, those in Asia; to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

12 And I turned to look·​·to the voice that spoke with me; and, having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands;

13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, wearing a garment down·​·to·​·the·​·foot, and girded at the breast with a golden belt.

14 And His head and hairs were white as white wool, as snow; and His eyes as a flame of fire;

15 and His feet like fine·​·brass, as if fired in a furnace; and His voice as the voice of many waters;

16 and having in His right hand seven stars; and out·​·of His mouth a sharp two-edged* sword going·​·out; and His face was as the sun appears in its power.

17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid· His right hand ·on me, saying to me, Fear not; I am the First and the Last;

18 and I am He who is Living, and became dead, and behold, I am Living for ages of ages. Amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death.

19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall come·​·to·​·be after these·​·things:

20 the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right·​·hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven lampstands which thou sawest are the seven churches.


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #11

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11. Which are in Asia. This symbolically means, to those who from the Word possess the light of truth.

Since, as we said before, all the names of persons and places in the Word mean things having to do with heaven and the church, so too does Asia, and likewise the names of the seven churches there, as will be apparent from considerations that follow.

Asia means those who possess the light of truth from the Word because the Most Ancient Church existed there, followed by the Ancient Church, and later the Israelite Church, and because the Ancient Word existed among them, and later the Israelite Word. For all light of truth comes from the Word.

To be shown that there were ancient churches in the Asiatic world, and that they had a Word which was afterward lost, and that there finally existed there the Word that we have today, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 101-103.

That, now, is the reason that Asia here symbolizes all those who from the Word possess the light of truth.

[2] Regarding the aforementioned Ancient Word which existed in Asia before the Israelite Word, this new information deserves to be reported, that it is still preserved there among peoples who live in Great Tartary. 1 I have spoken with spirits and angels in the spiritual world who came from there, who said that they possessed a Word, that they had possessed it from ancient times, that they conduct their worship in accordance with it, and that it consists of nothing but things that correspond. They said that it also contains the book of Jasher, which is mentioned in Joshua (Joshua 10:12-13) 2 and in the Second Book of Samuel (2 Samuel 1:17, 18) 3 , and that they have among them as well The Wars of Jehovah and Prophecies, books which Moses mentions in Numbers (Numbers 21:14, 15, 27-30) 4 .

Moreover, when I read in their presence the words that Moses took from those books, they looked to see whether they existed there, and they found them.

It was apparent to me from this that the Ancient Word still exists among them.

In the course of my conversation with them they said they worship Jehovah - some of them worshiping Him as an invisible God, some as a visible one.

Furthermore, they related that they do not allow foreigners to enter their midst, with the exception of the Chinese, with whom they cultivate a peaceful relationship, because the Chinese emperor came from them. They said, too, that their country is so populous that they do not believe any region in the whole world to be more populous - which is also believable on account of the wall extending so many miles which the Chinese once built to protect themselves from being invaded by them.

Inquire concerning the Ancient Word in China, and perhaps you will find it there among the Tartars. 5

Footnotes:

1. A vast region controlled by Mongols in the 13th and 14th centuries, extending from eastern Europe over much of Asia. After the Turkish groups known as Tatars were conquered and assimilated by the Mongols in the early 13th century, the Mongol invaders of Russia and Hungary became known to Europeans as Tatars or Tartars, and their territory was depicted in maps as Great Tartary.

2. "Then Joshua spoke to Jehovah in the day when Jehovah delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: 'Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.' So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher?"

3. "Then David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son, and he told them to teach the children of Judah the Song of the Bow; indeed it is written in the Book of Jasher."

4. "Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Jehovah: 'Waheb in Suphah, the brooks of the Arnon, and the slope of the brooks that reaches to the dwelling of Ar, and lies on the border of Moab.'" "...Therefore the Prophecies say: 'Come to Heshbon, let it be built; let the city of Sihon be repaired. For fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the heights of the Arnon. Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, O people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites. But we have shot at them; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon. Then we laid waste as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.'"

5. I.e., among the descendants of the Mongols.

  
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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.