The Bible

 

Genesis 1

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1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first Day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

De Verbo (The Word) #14

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14. XIV. The Word in the heavens.

The Word exists in all the heavens, and it is read there as it is in the world, and sermons are based on it. For it is the Divine Truth which is the source of the angels' intelligence and wisdom. For without the Word no one knows anything about the Lord, love and faith, redemption, and all the other secrets of heavenly wisdom. In fact without the Word heaven would not exist, just as without the Word there would be no church in the world, so that there would be no linking with the Lord. I demonstrated above that natural theology is impossible without revelation, and in the Christian world without the Word. If it is not granted in the world, neither would it be granted after death. For the nature of a person's religious belief in the world dictates its nature after death, when he becomes a spirit. The whole of heaven is not made up of angels created before the world or at the same time as it, but of those who were people on earth, and were then angels inwardly. By means of the Word these in heaven acquire spiritual, that is, inner wisdom, because the Word there is spiritual.

[2] The Word in the Lord's spiritual kingdom is not the same as the Word in the world. In the world there is the natural Word, but in that kingdom there is a spiritual Word. The difference is like that between its natural and spiritual senses. The nature of the spiritual sense has been demonstrated at length in my Arcana Caelestia, where the whole contents of Genesis and Exodus have been explained in accordance with that sense. The difference is such that no word is the same. Things take the place of names, and likewise of numbers; the histories are replaced by matters concerning the church. The surprising thing is that, when an angel reads it, he is unaware that it is not the same as what he read in the Word while in the world. This is because he no longer has any natural ideas, since they are replaced with spiritual ones; and the natural and the spiritual are linked by correspondences into a kind of unity.

So when someone passes from the natural into the spiritual, it seems to him as if they were the same. In fact an angel does not know that he is wiser than he was in the world, though his wisdom is really so superior as to be comparatively indescribable. He is unable to recognise the difference, because in his spiritual state he knows nothing of the natural state, which he had in the world; and he is unable to compare and differentiate them, because he cannot return to his former state so as to make a comparison. Still an angel in heaven is constantly being brought to a higher degree of perfection in wisdom than he had in the world, because his affection for spiritual truth is purer. 1

[3] However, the Word in the Lord's celestial kingdom is far superior and wiser than the Word in His spiritual kingdom. The difference is of the same kind as that which distinguishes the natural Word in the world from the spiritual Word, as has been stated. For that Word contains an inmost sense, called celestial, which in all its details refers to nothing but the Lord. In this Word the Lord is read in place of Jehovah, and of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and also the Lord is named in place of David, Moses, Elijah and the rest of the Prophets; and His divinity is distinguished by special marks. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and also the names of the Apostles, when read there, convey something about the Lord as regards the church; and so with all the rest. From this it became plain to me that the whole of the Sacred Scripture deals in its inmost sense with nothing but the Lord.

The difference which distinguishes the two Words, the spiritual and the celestial, is like that between thoughts, the province of the intellect, and affections, the province of the will. For the angels of the celestial kingdom are guided by love to the Lord and so affection for good; the angels of the spiritual kingdom are guided by faith in the Lord and so by perception of truth.

[4] Another difference between the celestial and spiritual Words is their script. The script of the spiritual Word is made up of letters resembling the printed letters of our world; but each letter has a meaning. If therefore you were to see that script, you would not understand a single word. For one letter succeeds another without a break, with dashes and dots above and below, since it is in accordance with spiritual speech, which has nothing in common with natural speech. The wiser angels are, the more they see of the inner secrets of their Word so written, more so than the simpler angels. What is stored there is plainly visible to the eyes of the wise, but not to the eyes of the simple. It is similar to what happens with our Word, but to a greater degree; here too the wise see more than the simple.

The script of the celestial Word, however, is made up of letters not known in the world. They are indeed alphabetical, but each one of them is composed of curved lines with serifs above and below, and there are small marks or dots in the letters, and also above and below them. I was told that the most ancient people on this earth had such a script. Some details agree with the Hebrew script, but not much. Such a script expresses the affections which make up a love; so it contains more secrets than they themselves can ever utter. They express these unutterable secrets which they perceive from their Word by means of representations. The wisdom hidden away in this Word surpasses the wisdom in the spiritual Word as a thousand does one.

[5] To make the difference between the three Words, the natural, the spiritual and the celestial, intelligible, let us take as an example the first chapters of Genesis, which deal with Adam, his wife and the Garden. 2 In the natural Word which we have in this world there is a description of the creation of the world, the first creation of man, and the earthly pleasures and delights of man and the world. By the persons named following him up to the Flood are meant his descendants, and the numbers mean their ages. But in the spiritual Word the angels of the spiritual kingdom have, this is not what is meant. The first chapter is a description of the reform and regeneration of the people of the most ancient church; this too is called a new creation. The second chapter describes as the Garden the intelligence of the people of that church; Adam and his wife stand for the church itself, and their descendants down to the Flood describe the changes in the state of that church, up to the time when it came to an end and was finally destroyed by the Flood.

But in the celestial Word possessed by the angels of the Lord's celestial kingdom, the first chapter describes the glorification of the Lord's Human; the Garden describes his Divine wisdom. Adam himself is understood to mean the Lord as regards the Divine itself and at the same time the Divine Human. His wife stands for the church, which since it has life from the Lord is called Eve from [the Hebrew word for] life. Adam says of her that she was to be his bone and his flesh, and [they should be] one flesh, because the church comes from the Lord, and is out of Him and with Him as if one. The names of the descendants of Adam describe the successive states by which the Lord was received by the people of that church and linked with them, until there was nothing at all received and so no linking.

[6] So when the first chapters in our Word are read by upright people, especially by boys and girls, and they feel joy at the state when everything was created and at the Garden, then these meanings are unfolded, and the spiritual angels understand them in accordance with their Word, and the celestial angels in accordance with theirs, without being aware that a person or a child is reading it. These meanings are unfolded in their due sequence because they correspond, and correspondences are from creation like this. This makes it plain what the Word is like in its depths, that is, it has three senses. The last is the natural one for men on earth; this deals mainly with worldly matters and where it deals with Divine matters, they are still described by the kind of things which the world contains. The middle sense is the spiritual one, which describes the kind of things which belong to the church. The inmost sense is the celestial one, which contains the kind of things which belong to the Lord. For the whole of nature is a theatre representing the Lord's kingdom; and the Lord's kingdom, heaven and the church, is a theatre representing the Lord Himself. For just as the Lord glorified His Human, so too He regenerates a person; and as He regenerates a person, so too did He create him.

[7] These facts may establish what the Word is like in its depths. The natural Word as possessed by the Christian part of the world contains within itself a spiritual and a celestial Word. For the spiritual sense of our Word is the Word in the heavens which make up the Lord's spiritual kingdom; and the celestial sense of our Word, its inmost sense, is the Word in the heavens which make up the Lord's celestial kingdom. Our Word therefore contains both the spiritual and the celestial Words; but the spiritual Word and the celestial Word do not contain the natural Word. The Word of our world is therefore the one most full of Divine wisdom, and consequently more holy than the Word of the heavens.

Footnotes:

1. Reading veri spiritualis for veri spirituali. -Translator

2. i.e. the Garden of Eden. -Translator

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #195

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195. (Verse 4) Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments. That this signifies those whose life has been moral from a spiritual origin, through having applied the knowledges of truth and good from the Word to the uses of their life, is evident from the signification of name, as denoting the quality of the state of a man's life (concerning which see above, n. 148) - here, therefore, names signify men who are of such a quality - and from the signification of the church in Sardis, as being those whose life is moral but not spiritual, because they lightly esteem the knowledges of truth and good from the Word (concerning which also see above, n. 148) - here, however, those are meant who live morally from a spiritual origin, for it is said, Who have not defiled their garments - and from the signification of garments, as denoting the scientific truths (scientifica vera) and knowledges (cognitiones) in the natural man, of which we shall speak presently. Hence by not defiling their garments is signified that they live morally not for the sake of self and the world, that is, for the sake of the body only and its life, but for the sake of the Lord and of heaven, that is, for the sake of the soul and its life. It is therefore evident that by these words, "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments," are signified those who are of such a quality that they live morally from a spiritual origin, by applying the knowledges of truth and good from the Word to their life.

[2] But because few know what it is thus to live, and what it is to apply the knowledges of truth and good from the Word to the uses of life, the matter shall therefore be explained. Man lives morally from a spiritual origin, when he lives from religion, thus when he thinks, when what is evil, insincere or unjust occurs to him, that it ought not to be done because it is contrary to the Divine laws. He who does this, since he abstains from what is wrong on account of the Divine laws, procures to himself spiritual life, and then his moral life is from the spiritual. For by such thought and faith he communicates with the angels of heaven, and by such communication his internal spiritual man is opened, the mind of which is a higher mind, being such as the angels of heaven have; and he is thence filled with heavenly intelligence and wisdom.

It is therefore evident that to live morally from a spiritual origin, is to act from religion, and within the church from the Word. For those who thus live from religion and from the Word, are raised up above their natural man, and thus above their proprium, and are led by the Lord by means of heaven. This is why they possess faith, the fear of God and conscience, and also the spiritual affection of truth, which is an affection of the knowledges of truth and good derived from the Word; for to them these are Divine laws, according to which they live. Such a moral life, many of the Gentiles live; for they think that evil ought not to be done because it is contrary to their religion. This is the reason why so many of them are saved.

[3] But, on the other hand, to live a moral life which is not from religion, but only from the fear of law in the world, from the fear of the loss of reputation of honour, and of gain, is not from a spiritual, but from a natural origin, and therefore those who live in this way have no communication with heaven. And because they think insincerely and unjustly of their neighbour, although they speak and act otherwise, the internal of their spiritual man is closed, and only the internal natural man opened; which being opened they are in the light of the world, but not in the light of heaven; therefore they lightly esteem Divine and heavenly things, and some deny them, believing nature and the world to be everything.

From these considerations it is now evident what it is to lead a moral life from a spiritual origin, and what it is to lead it from a natural origin. (But these things may be seen expounded in clearer light in the work, Heaven, and Hell, n. 528-535.) Concerning those whose life is moral from a natural origin only, it is said that they defile their garments, for by garments is meant that which is outside the man himself and invests him, thus his natural man with what it contains, which are scientifics (scientifica) and knowledges (cognitiones); these, when from the Word, are defiled by the fact that he earns and retains them solely for the sake of reputation, that he may be accounted learned and well informed, or that he may thereby acquire honours and gain wealth; were it not for these ends he would care nothing about them. Thus are knowledges from the Word polluted and defiled by the loves of self and of the world, for they have their abode together with the evils and falsities that flow forth from these loves as from their own founts.

[4] It was said above, that a man becomes spiritual by means of knowledges of good and truth from the Word applied to the uses of life; but why he becomes spiritual by means of those knowledges which are from the Word, and not by any other, shall now be explained. All things in the Word are Divine, and this because they contain in them a spiritual sense: and because by means of that sense they communicate with heaven, and with the angels there, therefore, when a man possesses knowledges from the Word, and applies them to his life, he has communication through them with heaven, and by that communication he becomes spiritual; for a man becomes spiritual by the fact that he is in similar or correspondent truths with the angels of heaven. It is said in correspondent truths, because all things in the sense of the letter of the Word are correspondences, for they correspond to the truths which the angels have. But knowledges from other books which teach, and by various things confirm the doctrinals of the church, do not bring about communication with heaven, unless those knowledges are from the Word. These knowledges do open a communication if they are properly understood, and are not applied to faith alone, but to life. That this is the case, any one may know from this consideration that the Word in itself is Divine, and that which is Divine in itself may become Divine in man if he applies it to life. By its becoming Divine in man is to be understood that the Lord can therein have His abode with him (John 14:23), thus can dwell with him in that which is His own. (That the Lord dwells in His own both with men and angels, and not in their proprium, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 12). And the Lord dwells in His own when in those things with man which are from the Word; for the Lord is the Word (John 1:1, 2, 14); and the words which He himself spoke, that is, which are in the Word, are "spirit and life" (John 6:63, 68; 12:50).

[5] The signification of garments as denoting those things that are in the natural man, which are scientific truths, or falsities, or knowledges (scientifica vera aut falsa aut cognitiones) is derived from the spiritual world. For there all, however many they are, appear clothed according to their moral life. Those, therefore, whose life has been moral from a spiritual origin appear clothed in shining-white garments, as it were of fine linen; but those whose moral life has been from a natural origin alone appear according to its quality: those who have polluted their life with evils and falsities appear in garments of a dark colour, vile, torn and foul to the sight (concerning which see in the work, Heaven and Hell 177-182). Hence then it is that garments in the Word signify truths from good, and, in the opposite sense, falsities from evil, and both the one and the other in the natural man, in which truths and falsities are called scientifics and knowledges.

[6] That garments in the Word signify truths or falsities, is quite evident in the following passages. In Isaiah:

"Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion, put on the garments of thy gracefulness, O Jerusalem; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean" (52:1).

Zion in the Word signifies the celestial kingdom of the Lord, thus also the celestial church, and Jerusalem the spiritual kingdom and the spiritual church. (What the celestial kingdom is, and what the spiritual kingdom, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 20-28.) The garments of gracefulness which Jerusalem should put on are Divine truths; the uncircumcised and the unclean, which shall no more come into her, are those who are in evils and falsities.

[7] In Ezekiel:

Jerusalem, "I have clothed thee with embroidery; I have shod thee with badger's skin, I have begirt thee with fine linen and adorned thee with ornament, and I have put bracelets upon thine hands and a chain on thy throat (guttur), and a jewel upon thy nose, and ear-rings upon thine ears, yea, a crown of ornament upon thy head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver, and thy garments fine linen, silk and embroidery, whence thou wast made exceedingly beautiful, and didst prosper into a kingdom. But thou hast taken of thy garments, and hast made to thee variegated heights, that thou mightest commit whoredom upon them; thou hast also taken the garments of thy embroidery, and hast covered" images of a male, with which thou hast committed whoredom (16:10-14, 16-18).

Here the church is described as to its quality when it is first established by the Lord, the garments mentioned signify truths from good; embroidery is scientific truth (verum scientificum), fine linen and silk signify truths from a celestial origin. The bracelets, the chain, the jewel, the ear-rings and the crown, are decorations which signify things spiritual of various kinds; the gold and silver with which she was decked, signify the good of love and its truth. In what follows is described the same church perverted by taking of the garments, and making to herself variegated heights, whereby are signified truths falsified and by taking the garments of embroidery and covering images of a male, is signified that they applied the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word to confirm falsities, so as to give them the appearance of truths. To commit whoredom with them, and under them, signifies to contrive doctrine and worship from falsities. (That this is to commit whoredom, may be seen above, n. 141, 161. That Jerusalem is the church where there is true doctrine, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 402, 3654, 9166. That embroidery is scientific truth, n. 9688. That fine linen is truth from a celestial origin, n. 5319, 9469. That bracelets are truths and goods of the church, n. 3103, 3105. That a necklace, is a representative of the conjunction of the interiors and exteriors, n. 5320; that jewels for the nose, and ear-rings, are representatives of perception and obedience, n. 4551. That a crown denotes wisdom, see above, n. 126. That gold is the good of love, see Arcana Coelestia 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 9510, 9874, 9881; that silver is truth from that good, n. 1551, 1552, 2954, 5658; that variegated heights are truths falsified, n. 796, 4005; that a male or the masculine is truth, n. 749, 2016, 4005, 7838; hence images of a male are appearances of truth.)

[8] In the same:

"Fine linen in broidered work from Egypt was thy spreading forth; blue and crimson from the isles of Elisha was thy covering, Syria was thy merchant in crimson, and broidered work, and fine linen, with the chrysoprasus. Dedan was thy merchant with garments of liberty for the chariot; Asshur and Chilmad with balls of blue and of embroidery, and with treasures of precious garment" (27:7, 16, 20, 23, 24).

Here Tyre and her merchandises are treated of, and by Tyre are signified the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good, and by merchandise and trading are signified procuring and communicating those knowledges; by crimson and blue is signified the celestial love of good and truth; by Egypt the Scientific of the natural man, and the same by embroidery. By Syria is signified the church as to the knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth, and by Asshur the Rational of that church. By Dedan are signified those who are in the knowledges (cognitiones) of celestial things. It is therefore evident that by the merchandise of Tyre, which is treated of in the whole of this chapter, is not meant natural merchandise, but that by all things there mentioned are signified spiritual things, which must be procured, stored up in the mind, and communicated. (That Tyre signifies the knowledges of good and truth may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 1201. That Egypt signifies the Scientific of the natural man, n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 5700, 5702, 6015, 6651, 6679, 6682, 6683, 6692, 7296, 9340, 9391. That Syria denotes the church as to the knowledges of truth and good, n. 1232, 1234, 3664, 3680, 4112. That Dedan signifies those who are in the knowledges of celestial things, n. 3240, 3241. That Asshur denotes the Rational thence derived, n. 119, 1186. That crimson denotes the celestial love of good, n. 9467. That blue denotes the celestial love of truth, n. 9466, 9687, 9833; so also does chrysoprasus, n. 9898. The signification of fine linen and embroidery may be seen just above.)

[9] Again, in David:

"The king's daughter is all glorious within, her clothing is embroidered with gold. She shall be brought unto the king in embroidery" (Psalms 45:13, 14).

By the king's daughter is signified the spiritual affection of truth, and hence the church from those who are in that affection; the king signifies the Lord as to Divine truth; clothing embroidered with gold signifies intelligence and wisdom from that truth; the embroidery in which she should be brought to the king signifies the knowledges of truth. (That daughter signifies the affection of truth, and the church therefrom, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 2362, 2623, 3373, 3963, 4257, 6729, 6775, 6779, 8649, 9055, 9807. That king signifies the Lord as to Divine truth, may be seen above, n. 31.)

[10] In the second book of Samuel:

"Daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet with dainty things, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel" (1:24).

This is the lamentation of David over Saul, which he wrote to teach the sons of Judah the bow (verse 18): by a bow is signified truth combating against falsities (see Arcana Coelestia 2686, 2709). By Saul as a king, is signified that truth; by the sons of Judah are signified those who are in truths from good; by clothing the daughters of Israel in scarlet, and by putting ornaments of gold upon their apparel, is signified to impart intelligence and wisdom to those who are in the spiritual affection of truth.

[11] In Matthew:

"When the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. And he said unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness" (22:11-13).

By a wedding garment is signified the intelligence of the spiritual man, which is from the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good; but by him who had not on a wedding garment is signified a hypocrite, who by a moral life feigns a spiritual, when yet it is merely natural. To bind hand and foot, signifies deprivation of knowledges from the Word, by which such a man has counterfeited the spiritual man; to be cast into outer darkness signifies amongst those who are in falsities from evil; for outer darkness signifies falsities from evils.

[12] In Zephaniah:

"I will visit upon the princes, and upon the sons of the king, and upon all who are clothed with the garments of the alien" (1:8).

Princes and king's sons signify those who are in truths, and, in the opposite sense, as here, those who are in falsities; these are said to be clothed with the garments of the alien, because a garment signifies falsity, and an alien those who are out of the church, and do not acknowledge its truth.

[13] In Matthew:

"Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing; inwardly they are ravening wolves" (7:15).

False prophets in sheep's clothing who inwardly are ravening wolves, are those who teach falsities as if they were truths, and in appearance live morally, but who, when they are left to themselves, think of nothing but themselves and the world, and study to deprive others of truths.

[14] In John:

Jesus said to Peter "When thou wast younger, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and another shall gird thee, and lead thee whither thou wouldest not" (21:18).

The spiritual signification of these words may be seen above (n. 9); which is, that by Peter is meant the faith of the church; by his being younger and girding himself and walking whither he would is meant the faith of the church at its beginning when its members are in the good of charity, that they then think from the spiritual man concerning the truths of the church, that is, from their own spirit, thus from the spiritual affection of truth, which is from freedom. But by Peter, when he should be old, stretching forth his hands, and another girding him is meant the faith of the church at its end, when faith would be without charity, that then they would think nothing concerning the truths of the church from themselves, but from others, thus from doctrine only, and not from the Word, which state respectively is a state of servitude. For to believe what another says is servile, but to believe what one thinks oneself from the Word is freedom, according to the words of the Lord in John,

"If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (8:31, 32).

[15] In Luke:

"No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; otherwise, the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old wineskins; else the new wine will burst the skins, and be spilled, and the skins will perish" (5:36-38; Matthew 9:16, 17; Mark 2:21, 22).

Because a garment signifies truth, therefore the Lord compared the truths of the former church, which was a church representative of spiritual things, to a piece of an old garment, and the truths of the New Church, which were essentially spiritual truths, to a piece of a new garment: He also compared them to wine-skins, because by wine in like manner is signified truth, and by skins the knowledges which contain truth. (That wine in the Word signifies truth, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 219.)

[16] From these considerations it is now evident what is signified by garments in other parts of the Word, where they are often mentioned; as in the following passages in the Apocalypse:

"Upon the thrones four-and-twenty elders sitting, clothed in white garments" (4:4).

Again,

The armies of him sitting upon the white horse "followed him, clothed in fine linen, white and clean" (19:14).

Again,

Those who stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, were "clothed in white robes" (7:9).

Again,

The seven angels came out of the temple, "clothed in linen clean and shining" (15:6).

Again,

"And white robes were given unto every one of those" who were under the altar (6:11).

Again,

"Buy of me gold and white garments" (3:18).

[17] In Ezekiel:

"Let him give his bread to the hungry, and let him cover the naked with a garment" (18:16).

To give bread to the hungry in the spiritual sense is from the good of charity to instruct those who desire to obtain truths; to cover the naked with a garment, signifies, to treat in the same manner those who are not in truth. In the same:

The enemies "shall strip thee of thy garments, and shall take the jewels of thine adorning" (23:26).

And in Zechariah:

"Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood thus before the angel, who said unto those that stood before him, Take away the filthy garments from upon him. And he said, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from upon thee, in clothing thee with changed garments" (3:3, 4, 5).

In Lamentations:

"They have wandered blind in the streets, they are polluted with blood, what they cannot, they touch with their garments" (4:14).

From the signification of garments it can be known what is meant by several statutes amongst the sons of Israel; as

That they should not be clothed with mixed garments (Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:11);

That a woman should not put on the armour of a man, nor a man be clothed with the garments of a woman (Deuteronomy 22:5)

That the garments should be washed that they might be purified, and thus sanctified (Exodus 19:14; Leviticus 11:25, 28, 40; 14:8, 9; Numbers 19:11 to the end),

and elsewhere;

That in mourning for their transgression against Divine truths they should put off their garments and put on sackcloth (Isaiah 15:3; 22:12; 37:1, 2; Jeremiah 4:8; 6:26; 48:37; 49:3; Lamentations 2:10; Ezekiel 27:31; Amos 8:10; Jonah 3:5, 6, 8):

And that they should rend their garments (Isaiah 37:1, and elsewhere).

It may also be known what is signified

By the disciples laying their garments upon the she-ass and the colt when the Lord was going to Jerusalem, and the people then strawing their garments in the way (Matthew 21:7, 8, 9; Mark 11:7, 8; Luke 19:35, 36);

which may be seen explained above (n. 31).

[18] The reason why garments signify truths is, that the light of heaven is Divine truth proceeding from the Lord as the Sun there; and everything that exists in the heavens exists from that light, as is the case also with the garments in which the angels are seen clothed. Hence it is

That the raiment of the angels who sat at the sepulchre of the Lord was "white as snow" (Matthew 28:3);

And that their garments were shining (Luke 24:4).

(That the garments in which the angels are seen clothed correspond to their intelligence, and that their intelligence is according to their reception of Divine truth from the Lord, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 177-182; and that Divine truth proceeding from the Lord is light in heaven, n. 126-135.) It is therefore evident that garments, when spoken of the Lord, signify the Divine truth proceeding from Him; and because Divine truth is signified, the Word is also signified; for the Word is Divine truth from the Lord on earth and in the heavens. This was represented by the garments of the Lord when He was transfigured before Peter, James and John, concerning which it is thus written in the Evangelists:

When Jesus was transfigured "his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light" (Matthew 17:2);

And his raiment was "white, glistering" (Luke 9:29);

And "his raiment became exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them" (Mark 9:3).

The like is said of the Ancient of Days, in Daniel:

"The Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow" (7:9).

The Ancient of Days is the Lord from eternity. Because light is Divine truth, and this is signified by garments when the Lord is spoken of, therefore it is said in David,

Jehovah "covereth himself with light as with a garment" (Psalms 104:2).

[19] From these considerations it is evident what is signified by the garments of the Lord elsewhere in the Word. As in David:

"All thy garments are anointed with myrrh, and aloes, and cassia" (Psalms 45:7, 8);

where the Lord is treated of. In Moses:

"He washed his garment in wine, and his covering in the blood of grapes" (Genesis 49:11).

This is also spoken of the Lord. Wine and blood of grapes signify Divine truth. Because the garments of the Lord signified Divine truth, therefore also

Those who touched the border of His garment were healed (see Matthew 9:20, 21; Mark 5:27, 28, 30; 6:56; Luke 8:44).

In Isaiah:

"Who is this that cometh from Edom, with garments sprinkled from Bozra? this that is honourable in his apparel? Wherefore art thou red as to thy garment, and thy garments like those of him that treadeth in the wine press? Their victory is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have polluted all my raiment" (63:1-3).

These things also are said of the Lord. By garments here is signified the Word, which, as has been said, is Divine truth from the Lord on earth and in the heavens; the violence offered to Divine truth, or the Word, by those who formed the church, is described by the Lord's garment being red as that of one treading in the wine-press, and by victory being sprinkled upon His garments, and by His raiment being polluted.

[20] Again in the Apocalypse, it is said,

He who sat on the white horse "was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called the Word of God" (19:13).

Here it is clearly said that He who sat on the white horse was called the Word of God; and that the same is the Lord is evident, for it immediately follows, concerning Him,

"He hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords" (ver. 16).

It is therefore the Word in the letter which is signified by the vesture dipped in blood, because violence was done to it, but not to the Word in the spiritual sense: to this violence could not be done, since they knew nothing about it.

[21] That violence was done to the Word in the sense of the letter, but not to the Word in the spiritual sense, is also signified by the soldiers dividing the garments of the Lord, but not His tunic, of which it is thus written in John:

"The soldiers took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be. These things therefore the soldiers did" (19:23, 24).

And, in David:

"They parted my garments, and cast lots upon my vesture" (Psalms 22:18).

By the Lord's garments which they parted is signified the Word in the letter; by his tunic the Word in the spiritual sense; by soldiers are signified those who belong to the church who fight on behalf of Divine truth; and hence it is said, These things therefore the soldiers did.

(That tunic signifies Divine truth, or the Word, in the spiritual sense, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 9826, 9942; that soldiers signify those who belong to the church, and enter into warfare for Divine truth, may be seen above, n. 64, at the end, where these things are more fully explained.) It should be known that the particular things related in the Evangelist concerning the Lord's passion involve and signify how the church, at that time, which was amongst the Jews, treated Divine truth, thus the Word, for this was Divine truth with them, and the Lord was the Word, because He was Divine truth (see John 1:1, 2, 14); but what those particulars involve and signify can be known from only the internal sense. In this place it is explained only what the garments of the Lord signified, because the signification of garments is the subject here treated of, namely, that they signify truths, and when said of the Lord, Divine truth.

[22] Similarly the things signified by the garments of the Lord are also signified by the garments of Aaron and his sons, because they represented the Lord as to Divine good, and their garments, the Lord as to Divine truth. (But these things may be seen explained and shown in Arcana Coelestia; as that Aaron represented the Lord as to Divine good, n. 9806, 9946, 10017; also what each of the garments signified, as the breast-plate, the ephod, the cloak, the coat wrought with chequer work, the mitre and the belt, n. 9814, 9823-9828, and the following numbers.)

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.