The Bible

 

Matthew 6

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1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #1217

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1217. Saying, Alleluia for the Lord God, the Almighty reigneth, signifies joy and gladness that the Lord has now a kingdom on the earth as in the heavens. This is evident from the signification of "Alleluia," as being an expression of glorification of the Lord from joy of heart (See n. 1197, 1203). The two expressions, joy and gladness, are used because in the Word "joy" is predicated of good, and "gladness" of truth, and here both the angels that were in truths and those that were in goods said "Alleluia." It is evident also from the signification of "the Lord God, the Almighty, reigneth" as being that His kingdom is on the earth as in the heavens, which means that when the good have been separated from the evil, and the evil have been cast into hell, all the good came into a better state for receiving truth and good from the Lord, a state in which they had not been before. For so long as they were held in connection with the evil, if they had received goods and truths they would have defiled and perverted them. For the same reason interior truths were not revealed on the earth until that separation had been effected by means of the Last Judgment.

[2] This, too, is the meaning of the words in the Lord's Prayer:

Thy kingdom come on earth as in the heavens (Matthew 6:10).

The Lord's kingdom existed before the Last Judgment, for the Lord always rules both heaven and earth; but after the Last Judgment the state of the Lord's kingdom became different from the state before it, for after it the reception of Divine truth and good became more universal, more interior, more easy, and more distinct. It is said, "the Lord God, the Almighty," for the Lord is called "Lord" from good, and "God" from truth, "Almighty" from the separation of the good from the evil by the Last Judgment, and also from His power to save those who receive Him.

(Continuation)

[3] How the Lord can be present with all who are in heaven and throughout the whole earth, and can know all things, even the most particular things connected with them, both present and future, can be comprehended only by means of the following truths: 1. In the natural world there are spaces and times, but in the spiritual world these are appearances.

2. Spaces and times must be removed from the ideas before the Lord's omnipresence with all and with each individual, and His omniscience of things present and things future connected with them, can be comprehended.

3. All angels of heaven and all men of the earth who constitute the church are as one man, and the Lord is the life of that man.

4. Consequently as there is life in the particular and most particular things of man and it knows the entire state of these, so the Lord is in the particular and most particular things of the angels of heaven and of the men of the church.

5. The Lord, by the intellectual faculty that each man has, or by its opposite, is also present with those who are out of heaven and out of the church, that is, those who are in hell or who are to come into hell, and knows their whole state.

6. From the omnipresence and omniscience of the Lord thus perceived it can be understood how the Lord is the all and is in all things of heaven and the church, and that we are in the Lord and He is in us.

7. The omnipresence and omniscience of the Lord can be comprehended also from the creation of the universe; for it was so created by Him that He is in things first and in things last, in the center and at the same time in the circumferences, and that the things in which He is are uses.

8. As the Lord has the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, so from these He has the Divine omnipresence and the Divine omniscience; but omnipresence is chiefly from the Divine love, and omniscience chiefly from the Divine wisdom.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.