The Bible

 

Revelation 22

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1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.

9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst Come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #309

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309. Behold, the Lion hath overcome, signifies that the Lord from His own power subjugated the hells, and reduced all things there and in the heavens to order. This is evident from the signification of "overcoming," when predicated of the Lord, namely, that when He was in the world He subjugated the hells, and reduced all things there and in the heavens to order, and this by temptations admitted into His Human, and then by continual victories (of which see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 293, 294, 301-302). This therefore is signified by "overcoming," when predicated of the Lord; and as the Lord had done these things from His own power, He is called a "Lion;" for "lion" signifies power (See above, n. 278). That the Lord did these things from His own power is known from the Word; but as few are aware of this, I wish to say something respecting it. The Lord did this from the Divine that was in Him from conception; this Divine He had as a man has a soul from his father; and the soul of everyone works by means of the body, for the body is the soul's obedience. The Divine that was in the Lord from conception was His own Divine, which in the Athanasian Creed is said to be equal to the Divine that is there called "the Father;" for it is said that:

As is the Father so also is the Son, infinite, uncreate, eternal, omnipotent, God, Lord, and that neither of them is greatest or least, nor first or last, but altogether equal.

It is also said that:

The Divine and Human of the Lord are not two, but one person, and that as the soul and body make one man, so the Divine and the Human are one Christ.

From this also those who have faith in Athanasius may know that the Lord did these things from His own power, because from His Divine. From this it can clearly be seen what is meant by what the Lord says in John:

The Father that abideth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:10-11).

And elsewhere in the same:

Verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, except what He seeth the Father doing; for whatever things He doeth, these also the Son doeth in like manner. As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. As the Father hath life in Himself, so also gave He to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:19, 21, 26).

As the Divine, which the Lord calls "the Father," was His Divine, and not another Divine, it can be seen that whatever He did from the Father, as well as whatever He did from the Human which He calls "the Son," He did from Himself; and thus that He did all things by His own power, since He did them from what was His.

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

The Bible

 

Revelation 4

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1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,

10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.