The Bible

 

John 14

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1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else Believe me for the very works' sake.

12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.

26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

27 Peace I leave with you, my Peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.

30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9305

Study this Passage

  
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9305. 'To bring you to the place which I have prepared' means being brought into heaven by Him according to goodness of life and of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'bringing to the place', that is, into the land of Canaan, as bringing into heaven, for 'the land of Canaan' means the Church, and also heaven, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705, 3686, 4447, 5136, 6516 (bringing the children of Israel into that land represented the bringing of faithful believers into heaven); and from the meaning of 'preparing', when it refers to heaven, meant by 'the land of Canaan', as granting it in mercy to those with whom goodness of life and of faith is present, for it is they for whom heaven is said to have been prepared, as in Matthew,

Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, O blessed of My Father, take possession, as an inheritance, of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matthew 25:34.

In Mark,

To sit at My right hand and at My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. Mark 10:40.

And in John,

I go away to prepare a place for you. And if I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. John 14:2-3.

'Preparing heaven' means preparing those who are to be brought into heaven; for heaven is granted according to their degree of preparation, that is, of their reception of good. Heaven exists within a person, and the place a person has in heaven is determined by the state of life and faith that is his. For people's place there corresponds to their state of life, and therefore also a place seen in the next life is in accord with a state of life, and in itself is a state, 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381.

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