The Bible

 

Mark 9

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1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

2 And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.

3 And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

4 And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.

5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

6 For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.

7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

8 And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.

9 And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.

10 And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.

11 And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come?

12 And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought.

13 But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.

14 And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them.

15 And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.

16 And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them?

17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;

18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.

19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.

20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.

21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.

22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.

23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.

27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

30 And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it.

31 For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.

32 But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

33 And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?

34 But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.

35 And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.

36 And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,

37 Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

38 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.

39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.

40 For he that is not against us is on our part.

41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.

42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:

48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

49 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.

50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #618

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618. And no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand. This symbolically means that no other Christians could understand and so acknowledge out of love and faith that the Lord alone is God of heaven and earth but those received by the Lord into this new heaven.

The song symbolizes an acknowledgment and glorification of the Lord as being God of heaven and earth (nos. 279, 617). To learn means, symbolically, to perceive inwardly in oneself that something is the case, which is to understand and so to accept and acknowledge. Someone who learns without perceiving learns and does not learn, because he does not retain what he has learned. The hundred and forty-four thousand mean people who acknowledge the Lord alone as God of heaven and earth (no. 612:1-4).

Other Christians were unable to learn that song, that is, to acknowledge that the Lord alone is God of heaven and earth, because from early childhood they had had impressed on them that there were three persons in the Godhead, each distinct from the others. For the doctrine of the trinity 1 contains the statement, "There is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit," and also, "The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God." And even though they find it added there that the three are one, still in their thinking they divide the Divine essence into three, despite the fact that it cannot be divided.

For that reason they also approach the Father, because He is first in order. And church leaders moreover taught them to pray to the Father to send the Holy Spirit for the sake of the Son. This entrenched in their thinking the idea of three persons, and they could not then think of the Son as God, on a par with the Father and one with the Father, but thought of the Son as being on a par with any other person, even though He alone as to His humanity is the embodiment of righteousness and is called "Jehovah our Righteousness" (Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16).

[2] Because of that idea in their thinking, it came about that they could not comprehend how the Lord as one born in the world could be God of heaven and earth, and still less be alone God, despite how often they heard and read all those passages we cited in no. 613 above, including the following there:

"All things that the Father has are Mine." (John 16:15)

"He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me." (John 12:45)

...the Father had given all things into (the Son's) hands... (John 13:3)

"Father..., ...You have given (Me) authority over all flesh... All that is Mine are Yours, and what are Yours are Mine...." (John 17:1-3, 10)

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

There is the further fact that He was conceived of Jehovah as His Father, and therefore that His soul came from Him (Luke 1:34-35, 38). He possesses therefore the Divine essence. Many similar statements are found in addition elsewhere. That these statements are said in reference to the Lord born in the world is something everyone can see. As for example, that He and the Father are one, and that He is in the Father and the Father in Him. Or that whoever sees Him, sees the Father. (See John 10:28-38; 14:6-11.)

Even though those Christians hear and read these things, still they cannot let go of the idea they have conceived from childhood and later had affirmed by teachers - an idea that so closed up their rationality that they could not see, that is, could not understand these words of the Lord:

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)

He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber... I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved... (John 10:1, 9)

[3] They also could not see that the Lord glorified His humanity, that is, that He united it to the Divinity of the Father, namely to the Divinity that He had in Him from conception, in order that the human race might be united to God the Father in Him and through Him. This was the reason for the Lord's advent into the world, and for the glorification of His humanity, as is plainly taught in John 14, 15, 17. For He says,

In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)

He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch... withered... into the fire... (John 15:5-6)

For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth... that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You..., I in them and You in Me... (John 17:19, 21, 23, 26)

See also John 6:56, and elsewhere.

It is clearly apparent from these passages that the Lord's advent into the world and the glorification of His humanity had as a goal the conjunction of people with God the Father in the Lord and through Him, thus that it is He who is to be approached.

This the Lord also confirmed by His saying so many times that people must believe in Him to have eternal life (see no. 553 above).

[4] Who cannot see that the Lord said all these things about Himself in His humanity, and that He never would have said, or could have said, that He was in people and people in Him, and that they must believe in Him to have eternal life, unless His humanity was Divine?

To ask the Father in the Lord's name 2 does not mean to go directly to God the Father, neither does it mean to ask for the sake of the Son, but it means to go to the Lord, and to the Father through Him, because the Father is present in the Son, and they are one, as the Lord Himself teaches. This is the symbolic meaning of "in His name," as can also be seen from the following:

...he who does not believe (in the Son) is judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:17-18)

...these things are written that you may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:31)

(Jesus) said..., "Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me." (Luke 9:48)

"Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do...." (John 14:13-14)

And so on in other places, where something in the name of the Lord is mentioned: Matthew 7:22; 18:5, 20; 19:29; 23:39; Mark 9:37; 16:17; Luke 13:35; 19:38; 24:47; John 1:12; 2:23; 5:43; 12:13; 15:16; 16:23-24, 26-27; 17:6.

The symbolism of the name of God, and that the Father's name is the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, may be seen in nos. 81, 165, 584 above.

Footnotes:

1. I.e., the Athanasian Creed.

2John 15:16; 16:23

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