The Bible

 

John 3

Study

   

1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.

23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.

24 For John was not yet cast into prison.

25 Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.

26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.

27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.

29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.

33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.

34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #520

Study this Passage

  
/ 962  
  

520. And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" This symbolizes celebrations on the part of angels, that heaven and the church had become the Lord's, as they had been from the beginning, and that they had now become those of His Divine humanity, thus that the Lord would reign over heaven and earth as regards both aspects of Him to eternity.

"There were loud voices in heaven" symbolizes celebrations on the part of angels. "Saying, 'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ,'" means, symbolically, that heaven and the church had become the Lord's, as they had been from the beginning, and now had become those of His Divine humanity. "And He shall reign forever and ever!" means, symbolically, that the Lord would reign over them as regards both aspects of Him.

Loud voices in heaven symbolize celebrations of the Lord for having now taken His great power, as is apparent from verse 17 following, where the substance of those great voices is presented.

The Lord here means the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, and the Christ here means His Divine humanity, which is the Son of God (Luke 1:32, 35).

[2] That the Lord will reign even as regards His Divine humanity is clearly apparent from the following passages:

The Father... has given all things into His (the Son's) hand. (John 3:35)

(The Father has) given (the Son) authority over all flesh... (John 17:2)

(Father,) all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine... (John 17:10)

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18)

In reference to His Divine humanity the Lord also says that the Father and He are one, and that He is in the Father, and the Father in Him (John 10:30, 38; 14:5-12).

Furthermore, if the Lord's humanity is not acknowledged to be Divine, the church perishes, since the Lord cannot then be in man and man in the Lord, as He teaches in John 14:20; 15:4-6; 17:21, 23; and it is this conjunction that makes a person a person of the church, thus that makes the church a church.

[3] The Christ means the Lord's Divine humanity because the Christ is the Messiah, and the Messiah is the Son of God whose coming into the world was awaited by the Jews.

That the Christ is the Messiah is apparent from the following passages:

We have found the Messiah, which, if you translate it, is the Christ. (John 1:41)

The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ." (John 4:25)

The reason is that Messiah in Hebrew means Anointed, as does Christ in Greek.

That the Messiah is the Son of God is apparent from the fact that the high priest asked Him whether He was "the Christ (i.e., the Messiah), the Son of God" (Matthew 26:63, Mark 14:61, cf. John 20:31). Also from the following:

...You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world. (John 11:27)

(Peter said,) "We believe and acknowledge that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (John 6:69)

That the Lord is the Son of God in respect to His Divine humanity:

(The angel said to Mary,) "You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son... He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest... The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born of you will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:31-32, 35)

And so on in many places elsewhere.

It is apparent from this what is symbolically meant by the statement that the kingdoms have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.

  
/ 962  
  

Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.