Finding Jesus in the Life of Abraham, Part 1: Beginnings

A Sermon by Pastor Joel Christian Glenn

30 April 2017

We all know that the Word, or the Bible, is about God. That’s not hard to believe. But shortly after His resurrection Jesus pushed this idea to another level. When He appeared to two disciples on the way to Emmaus, it says, “Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). From this we can gather that all of the Scriptures are not just about God, but are about Jesus Himself. That’s a concept that is harder to grasp. Yes, there are the prophecies that are clearly about Jesus. But what about, say the story of Creation? Or the Exodus from slavery in Egypt? The many kings of Israel, both good and evil? Or all the many lists of laws and genealogies, are even those about Jesus?

The truth of the matter is that the whole of the Word is not just about Jesus, it is Jesus. Listen to these verses from the opening of the Gospel of John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men…. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-4, 14)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. That is a clear reference to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the eternal Word, the Word that is also embodied in the Word of God, our Old and New Testaments.

If you feel that it is hard to grasp how Jesus and the Word are one and the same, you are not alone. It is difficult to comprehend how a living, breathing, person and an apparently lifeless slab of paper can be one and the same. The Writings for the New Church acknowledge this difficulty and offer a way around it. This is from the Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture:

Few understand how the Lord is the Word, for it is generally supposed that the Lord, by means of the Word, can enlighten and teach people, and yet He cannot, on this account, be called the Word.

So as we’ve said, it makes sense that the Word is about the Lord, and it is the Lord’s way of teaching us, but that doesn’t mean He is the Word. The passage however continues:

It should be known, however, that every person is his own love, and consequently his own good and his own truth. A person is a person for no other reason than this, and there is nothing else in him that is a person. For the same reason that a person is his own good and his own truth, angels and spirits also are people; and for all good and truth proceeding from the Lord, is in its own form, a person. But the Lord is Divine Good itself and Divine Truth itself; thus He is Personhood Itself, from whom every person is a person. (Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 100)

There is a lot going on in that passage. What it all boils down to is a definition of humanity that transcends having a physical body, a definition that helps us see how a book and a person can be one and the same. As the passage said, a person is a person because of his loves, and therefore because of all his good and truth that stem from that love. In short, you are what you love, and what you love makes you human. Think of it this way: if we were to transplant your brain from your body into someone else’s, and this new person loved the same things you love and in the exact same way, and so behaved as you would behave, wouldn’t we say that it is still you, even though the body is completely different? Take that a step further and think of death. Even your brain will die, but your spirit, your spirit in which resides everything of your love, will carry on. Even though there will no longer be a shred of “you” left on this earth, you will still live on. So that’s what makes a person a person: the mind, especially the love within the mind.

If a person is a person because of what he or she loves and so thinks from that love, then anything that reveals our love or our thought reveals us. We know this instinctively from other books we encounter. Have you ever read a book that you loved immensely, and felt that in some way you were connected to the author, as if you understood each other even though you’d never met? I’m not just talking about biographies either. You can read a book that never once refers directly to its author and yet still feel connected. That can happen because the book is a kind of extension of the author, since it reveals the authors loves and ideas.

We now come to the Word. The Word, more than any other book on earth, reveals the mind of its Author. This is so deeply the case that we say that the Word is one and the same with its author, the Lord. Yet unlike with some books that engross us, the Word can feel like a tangled mess that reveals little about the true character of God, much less the inner workings of the mind of Jesus. I have here two images that can help us understand this. On one side there is a brain scan. On the other, an open copy of the Word. At first glance these pictures have little to do with each other. But think about what this brain scan really is. To you and I and most other people it reveals little. But to a trained doctor it would reveal a great deal about what is going on in a person’s mind at a given time. It is a snapshot into someone’s inner life, but one that we can only read if we have the proper training to understand it.

On the other hand we have a copy of the Word. As with the brain scan it reveals what is going on in someone’s mind at a given point. In this case it is the mind of the Lord that is being revealed. And like the brain scan, even though any particular story we might open up to reveals the Lord’s mind, we need the proper training to understand it. If we read this document correctly than we will discover the loving mind of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Every page, every sentence, contains insight into how He thinks and what it is that He loves and cares about. The purpose then of exploring the stories of the Word in light of how they reflect the life and mind of Jesus Christ is that we will then be better equipped to follow His example, not only following the path He set with His words and actions, but going deeper to follow the path He set in His mind.

With this in mind, over the next three weeks we will be looking to the story of Abraham. Even though Abraham lived thousands of years before Jesus was even born, his life perfectly reflects the inner life that Jesus experienced. When we can see this connection we will be better able to not only understand the Lord, but to understand how to model our lives on His. This week we will spend a short time getting a glimpse of how this works. Over the next two weeks we will go deeper into the story of Abraham and into the mind of Jesus. We begin with the first inkling that Abraham had that God had chosen him for a special purpose. As a side note, early on Abraham was known as Abram:

Now the LORD had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,

From your family

And from your father’s house,

To a land that I will show you.

I will make you a great nation;

I will bless you

And make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

And I will curse him who curses you;

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran….

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South. (Genesis 12:1-4, 7-9)

Prior to the moment described here Abraham did not know of Jehovah in the slightest. He was in fact an idol-worshipper like most people of His day. Yet when he heard the call from the Lord he responded and moved with his family and everything he owned into a new land. This moment may not seem significant but it is the beginning of the epic saga of the Children of Israel, and the land to which the Lord sent Abraham would one day become the Kingdom of Israel. What began as the simple travels of one man from a faraway country into the heart of the Holy Land would lead to momentous things in the future. What we see here is simply the seed being planted, but a seed that would grow to become a great nation, a nation of which the Lord said it would become a blessing for all the nations of the earth. That is the reason that God called Abraham in the first place.

What can this simple beginning tell us about the mind of Jesus? Like the Kingdom of Israel, the great works that Jesus would do needed a beginning: a seed had to be planted that would grow into something greater. That seed was planted in Jesus early childhood. Just as Abraham was called to enter into the heart of what would become the earthly Kingdom of Israel, Jesus from the very beginning was brought to the heart of His own heavenly Kingdom. That heart, the heart and soul of heaven, is childlike innocence and love. Now as with Abraham, the journey does not end there: for Abraham, many centuries would pass before his people were a great nation. And for the Lord it would take years of temptation and struggle before He could fulfill His mission. But all of it, every last bit, stemmed from that first seed planted in childhood.

It might seem odd to think that everything the Lord needed to face the hells, to put them in their place, and to conquer them was established while He was still a little boy, but it is so. It is in fact the case for each of us that something essential to our life is planted within before we are even aware. Listen to this passage from the Teachings of the New Church that speaks to how powerful our childhoods are for our later lives:

The Lord had first of all to be endowed from infancy with the heavenly things of love - the heavenly things of love consisting in love towards Jehovah and love towards the neighbour, and in innocence itself present in those loves. From these, as from the very sources of life, flows every single thing, for all other things are simply derivatives. These heavenly things are implanted in a person primarily in the state of infancy through to childhood. (Secrets of Heaven 1450)

As a child Jesus received deep stores of love and innocence. This took place before He could even talk or conceptualize these things in His mind. They were simply blessings of love that would remain with Him for the rest of His life, and indeed, to eternity.

This stage of the Lord’s life was not trivial. Without these perfectly innocent and heavenly remains sitting at the core of His being He never would have been able to face the onslaught of hell later in life. That which would later give Him strength in temptation, even on the Cross itself, had been received in childhood innocence and stored away, hidden, until such time as it would be needed. Every loving word and parable, every miracle, every demon cast out and every sickness made well, all flowed from the fountain of love, a fountain established in His youth. We all know the power of little children and their heavenly innocence. There was never a moment that that innocence of infancy dissipated. We don’t often think of the fact that while that innocence recedes and is hidden, it never leaves us.

We all have those same heavenly remnants left over from our childhood. Before we were born the Lord was with us in the womb. He has blessed us, as Jesus was blessed, so that now we have all the innocence and power of a child. As does every human being you will meet. The boss who frustrates you to no end, the spouse that drives you crazy, the acquaintance you can’t stand, all were once little children that would have been beautiful to hold and love, that were beautiful and were held and were loved. None of that goes away. It is always there, part of you, making you who you are. And any time you make an effort to show true love, you are only able to do so because love was once the only thing you knew.

So what do we do with this information? Abraham heard the call of God and left his home to dwell in a new land. Jesus felt a call from deep within His soul and left his own desires to accept the heavenly love that was welling like a fountain within Him. Can we follow the example of both Abraham and Jesus? Will you answer the call? Will you remember when times are hard that once in this life all you knew was love? That deep within your heart beats the love and innocence of childhood? That every human you ever meet has that same source of love and innocence within them? And finally will you use that love to become a blessing to those around you? Jesus answered this call. He continues to answer this call. And He calls on us to do the same. Will you answer? Amen.
(Read the next sermon in this 3-part series, about Bargaining)

283. (5:8) And the four animals had, each by itself, six wings roundabout. That this signifies the appearance of the spiritual Divine on every side around the celestial Divine, is evident from the signification of the four animals, which were cherubim, as being the Divine guardianship and providence of the Lord that the higher heavens may not be approached except by the good of love and of charity. And because this is signified by the four animals, as to their bodies, the celestial Divine is also signified, concerning which we shall treat presently; and from the signification of six wings roundabout, as denoting the spiritual Divine around the celestial Divine, concerning which we shall also speak in what follows. The reason why the cherubim, as to their bodies, signifies the celestial Divine, and as to their wings the spiritual Divine, is that all things by which celestial things are represented, as to the bodies themselves signify things essential, and as to the things which are about them they signify things formal. Hence man also as to the body signifies good in essence, and as to those things which encompass it, good in form; celestial good is good in essence, and spiritual good is good in form; and this for the reason that the will, in which good resides, is the man himself, or the man in essence, and the understanding, in which truth is, which is the form of good, is the man therefrom, thus man in form; the latter good is also around the former.

[2] But it shall first be explained what the celestial Divine is, and what the spiritual Divine. The heavens are distinguished into two kingdoms, of which the one is called the celestial kingdom, and the other the spiritual kingdom. The distinction lies in this, that those who are in the celestial kingdom are in the good of love to the Lord, and those who are in the spiritual kingdom are in the good of charity towards the neighbour; hence the celestial Divine is the good of love to the Lord, and the spiritual Divine is the good of charity towards the neighbour. According to these goods also the heavens are arranged: the highest or third heaven consists of those who are in celestial good, or in the good of love to the Lord; and the heaven which succeeds it, and is called the middle or second heaven, consists of those who are in spiritual good, or in the good of charity towards the neighbour; and because celestial good is good in the highest place, and spiritual good is good in the second place, therefore the latter is around the former, for that which is above is also within, and that which is below is also without, and what is without is also around. Hence it is that in the Word by higher things, and things which are in the midst, are signified interior things, and by lower things, and things which are around, are signified exterior things.

Now because both celestial and spiritual good, guard, and as by the animals themselves, or by the cherubim as to their bodies, is signified the celestial Divine, and by the same as to their wings is signified the spiritual Divine, it is clear that by their being seen as having each by itself six wings about, is signified the appearance of the spiritual Divine on every side around the celestial Divine. (But concerning these things a fuller idea may be formed from what is said and shown in the work, Heaven and Hell. First, from the article in which it is shown that the Divine of the Lord makes heaven, n. 7-12; afterwards from the article, That the Divine of the Lord in heaven is love to Him and charity towards the neighbour, n. 13-19: and lastly, in the article, That heaven is distinguished into two kingdoms, a celestial kingdom and a spiritual kingdom, n. 20-28.)

[3] The reason why the cherubim were seen as animals is, that celestial things are represented in various ways in ultimates, as is evident from many passages in the Word; as, that the Holy Spirit appeared as a dove over Jesus when He was baptized (Matthew 3:16, 17); and that the Divine of the Lord appeared as a lamb (Apoc. 5:6, 8, 13), whence also the Lord is called a lamb (Apoc. 6:1, 16; 7:9, 10, 14, 17; 12:11; 13:8; 14:1, 4; 17:14; 19:7, 9; 21:22, 23, 27). The reason why the cherubim were four, and why each had six wings is, that by four is signified celestial good, and by six spiritual good. For the number four signifies conjunction, and inmost conjunction with the Lord is effected by means of love to Him; but the number six signifies communication, and communication with the Lord is effected by means of charity towards the neighbour.

[4] That wings signify the spiritual Divine which in its essence is truth from good, is evident from the following passages. In David:

"If ye have lain among the ranks; the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold; when thou, O Shaddai, spreadest out, kings are in it" (Psalms 68:13, 14).

What is signified by those who had lain among the ranks, by the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold, and kings are in it, Shaddai spreadeth out, no one can understand except from the internal sense. In this sense, to lie among the ranks, signifies to live in, or according to, the statutes; the wings of a dove covered with silver, signify spiritual truths; her feathers with yellow gold, signify spiritual good from which those truths are derived. Shaddai signifies a state of temptations; kings in it, signify truths in that state and after it. The reason why the wings of a dove covered with silver signify spiritual truths, is that wings signify what is spiritual, the dove signifies truth from good, and silver truth itself. The reason also why feathers covered with yellow gold signify spiritual good from which those truths are derived is that feathers signify spiritual good from which truths are derived, and similarly yellow gold. The reason why Shaddai spreading out signifies a state of temptations is, that God Shaddai signifies temptations, and consolations after them; and because truths from good are implanted in man by temptation, it is therefore said, "kings in it," for by kings are signified truths from good, as may be seen above (n. 31).

[5] In the same:

God "rode upon a cherub, he did fly; he was carried upon the wings of the wind" (Psalms 18:10).

By God riding upon a cherub is signified His Divine providence; by did fly, is signified His omnipresence in the spiritual world; he was carried upon the wings of the wind, denotes His omnipresence in the natural world; the wings of the wind signify spiritual things from which are natural things.

[6] Again:

Jehovah "covereth thee under his wing, and under the abyss shalt thou trust; truth is a shield and buckler" (Psalms 91:4).

To cover under wings signifies to be guarded by the Divine truth, which is the spiritual Divine; and to trust under the abyss signifies truth scientific (verum scientificum), or the natural Divine. And because both the latter and the former signify truth, and being covered signifies protection thereby, it is therefore said, truth a shield and buckler. From these considerations it is also evident what is signified

By being hid under the shadow of God's wings (Psalms 17:8).

By the children of men putting their trust under the shadow of His wings (Psalms 36:7; 57:1);

and also

By singing under the shadow of His wings (Psalms 63:7).

That wing, when said of the Lord, signifies the spiritual Divine, is further evident from the following passages.

[7] In Ezekiel:

"When I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold thy time was the time of loves, I spread my wing over thee, and I covered thy nakedness" (16:8).

Here the church and its reformation is treated of, and is signified by Jerusalem; the time of loves signifies the state when it could be reformed. I spread my wing over thee, signifies spiritual truth, by which reformation is effected; and I covered thy nakedness, signifies the hiding of evil thereby; for the evil which man has from his hereditary nature and afterwards from his proprium is hidden, that is, it is removed so as not to appear, by means of spiritual truths, which are truths from good.

[8] In David:

Jehovah "covereth himself with light as with a garment; he stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain; he layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; he maketh the clouds his chariot; he walketh upon the wings of the wind" (Psalms 104:2, 3).

By the light with which Jehovah is said to cover Himself is signified the Divine truth in the heavens, which is called His garment because it proceeds from Him as the Sun, and so is without and about Him. The signification of this passage is similar to that of those which treat of the Lord's transfiguration, and of the light which then beamed from His face and His raiment (Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:3; Luke 9:28-37). By he stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain, is signified Jehovah's filling heaven and its inhabitants with the Divine truth, and thereby with intelligence. He layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters, denotes His filling with the knowledges of truth and good those who are in the ultimate heaven and who are in the church; he maketh the clouds his chariot, signifies the doctrine of truth from the literal sense of the Word; the clouds denote that sense, and chariot denotes doctrine; He walketh upon the wings of the wind, signifies the spiritual sense of the Word contained in the literal sense.

[9] In Malachi:

"But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise and healing in his wings" (4:2).

The Sun of righteousness signifies the good of love, which is the celestial Divine; and the wings of Jehovah in which there is healing signify truth from that good, which is the spiritual Divine: healing denotes reformation thereby.

[10] In Moses:

"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, beareth them on her wings; so Jehovah alone doth lead him" (Deuteronomy 32:11, 12).

Here comparison is made with an eagle, because an eagle signifies intelligence, and wings signify the spiritual Divine, which is Divine truth, whence that intelligence is derived.

[11] In Isaiah:

"They that wait for Jehovah renew their strength, they mount up with wings as eagles" (40:31).

To mount up with wings as eagles denotes to ascend into the light of heaven, which is Divine truth, or the spiritual Divine from which is intelligence.

[12] In Ezekiel:

"In the mountain of the height will I plant it, that it may lift up the bough and bear fruit, and become a magnificent cedar, that under it may dwell every bird of every wing" (17:23).

By a magnificent cedar is signified the spiritual church; by every bird of every wing, are signified intellectual things which are derived from spiritual truths.

From these considerations it is now evident that the wings of the cherubim, both here and elsewhere in the Word, signify the spiritual Divine, which is the Divine truth instructing, regenerating and defending.

[13] As also in Ezekiel:

"There were four faces to each" cherub, "and four wings to each; their wings erect one to the other; each of them had wings covering their bodies. I heard the sound of the wings as it were the sound of great waters, as the voice of Shaddai; when they went, the voice of a tumult, as the voice of a camp; when they stood they let down their wings. I heard the voice of their wings kissing each the other, and the voice of wheels near them: the voice of the wings of the cherubim was heard at the court without, as the voice of God Shaddai; the likeness of hands was under their wings" (1:4, 6, 23; 3:13; 10:5, 21).

That wings here signify the spiritual Divine, which is the Divine truth of the Lord in His celestial kingdom, is evident from each particular of the above description. The wings being four, signifies the spiritual Divine in that kingdom; their wings being erect one to the other and kissing each other, signifies the association and conjunction of all who are in that kingdom by the Lord; the wings covering their bodies, signifies the spiritual Divine encompassing the celestial Divine; the sound of their wings being heard as the sound of great waters, and as the sound of wheels and as the voice of Shaddai, and the voice of the wings being heard even to the outer court, signifies the quality of the spiritual Divine, or of the Divine truth in the ultimate heaven; for voice is said of truth. Waters also signify truths, and the perception of them; wheels signify the truths of all doctrinals, because a chariot signifies doctrine. God Shaddai denotes truth rebuking in temptations, and afterwards consoling; the outer court denotes the ultimate heaven; the likeness of hands under the wings signifies the power of Divine truth.

[14] From these considerations it may also be seen what was signified by the wings of the cherubim which were upon the mercy-seat which was over the ark, concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

"Make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end; even of the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubim on the two ends thereof. And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings upwards, covering with their wings upon the mercy-seat, and their faces of a man to his brother; towards the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat upon the ark from above; and to the ark thou shalt give the testimony that I shall give thee" (Exodus 25:19-21).

By the cherubim here mentioned is in like manner signified the providence of the Lord as to guardianship, lest the highest heaven, or the celestial kingdom, should be approached except by the good of love from the Lord and to the Lord. By the testimony, or law, placed in the ark, is signified the Lord Himself; by the ark, the inmost or highest heaven; by the mercy-seat, the hearing and reception of all things of worship which are from the good of love, and expiation at the time; by the wings of the cherubim is signified the spiritual Divine in that heaven, or in that kingdom. By the wings being stretched forth upwards, and by their covering the mercy-seat, and their faces being toward it is signified reception itself and hearing (but these things may be seen more fully explained in Arcana Coelestia, from n. 9506-9546).

Because by the wings of the cherubim and their extremities is signified the Divine truth heard and received from the Lord, it therefore follows in Moses:

"And there I will meet thee; and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the sons of Israel" (verse 22 in the same chapter, and Numbers 7:89).

[15] Because most expressions in the Word have also an opposite meaning, so also have wings, in which they signify falsities and reasonings from them; as in the Apocalypse:

"Out of the smoke of the pit of the abyss went forth locusts. And the voice of their wings was as the voice of chariots of many horses running to battle" (9:2, 3, 9).

Locusts signify falsities in extremes, and horses reasonings from them, and battle signifies the combat of falsity against truth; hence it is said, the voice of the wings of the locust was as the voice of chariots of many horses running to battle.

[16] In Hosea:

"Ephraim is joined to idols. Their wine is sour; in whoring they have committed whoredom. The wind hath bound her up in its wings, and they shall be ashamed of their sacrifices" (4:17-19).

By Ephraim is signified the Intellectual, such as it is with those within the church who are enlightened when they read the Word. By idols are signified falsities of doctrine, hence by Ephraim being joined to idols is signified the Intellectual perverted, and seizing on falsities; by their wine being sour is signified the quality of the truth of the church, wine denoting that truth; by their committing whoredom is signified their falsifying truths, whoredom denoting the falsification of truth; by the wind binding her up in its wings is signified reasonings from fallacies, whence come falsities. (What fallacies in spiritual things are may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 53). The same is signified by the wind in the wings of the women mentioned in Zechariah 5:9.