Arcana Coelestia #34
34. Love and faith cannot possibly be separated for they constitute one and the same thing. This is why, when first the [great] lights are dealt with and they are taken to be one, it is said [using a singular verb with a plural noun], 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens'. Let some marvels relating to this be mentioned here. Since celestial angels possess from the Lord that kind of love, they possess by virtue of that love every cognition of faith, and by virtue of that love the kind of life and light of understanding that almost defies description altogether. On the other hand spirits who without love have a knowledge of the doctrinal matters concerning faith live such cold lives and are in such dull light that they cannot approach even the outer gateway to heaven before running off in the opposite direction. Some claim to have believed in the Lord, but they have not lived according to His teaching. The Lord refers to these people in Matthew as follows,
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does My will. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? and so on. Matthew 7:21-22-end.
[2] From this is clear that those who have love have faith as well, and so heavenly life, whereas those who claim to have faith and yet have none of the life inherent in love do not. The life of faith devoid of love is like sunlight devoid of warmth, as is the case in wintertime when nothing grows and every single thing is inactive and dies off. But faith deriving from love is like the sunlight in springtime when everything grows and blossoms, for it is the warmth of the sun that brings it out. It is similar with spiritual and celestial things, which are normally represented in the Word by the things found in the world and on earth. An absence of faith, and faith devoid of love, are also compared by the Lord to winter where He foretold the close of the age in Mark,
Pray that your flight may not happen in winter, for those will be days of affliction. Mark 13:18-19.
'Flight' means the final period, also the time when a person dies; 'winter' is life which is destitute of love, 'days of affliction' his wretched condition in the next life.
Genesis 35
1
God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there. Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother."
2
Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, change your garments.
3
Let us arise, and go up to Bethel. I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went."
4
They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
5
They traveled, and a terror of God was on the cities that were around them, and they didn't pursue the sons of Jacob.
6
So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.
7
He built an altar there, and called the place El Beth El; because there God was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
8
Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.
9
God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him.
10
God said to him, "Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be Jacob any more, but your name will be Israel." He named him Israel.
11
God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body.
12
The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and to your seed after you will I give the land."
13
God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him.
14
Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it.
15
Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him "Bethel."
16
They traveled from Bethel. There was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and Rachel travailed. She had hard labor.
17
When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid, for now you will have another son."
18
It happened, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.
19
Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem).
20
Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. The same is the Pillar of Rachel's grave to this day.
21
Israel traveled, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
22
It happened, while Israel lived in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.
23
The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
24
The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
25
The sons of Bilhah (Rachel's handmaid): Dan and Naphtali.
26
The sons of Zilpah (Leah's handmaid): Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
27
Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac lived as foreigners.
28
The days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years.
29
Isaac gave up the spirit, and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.
