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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 Revealed #692

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692. 16:9 And people were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues. This symbolically means that owing to the delight of the love of self arising from their grievous lusts for evils, they did not acknowledge the Divinity of the Lord's humanity, even though from it flows every goodness of love and truth of faith.

Heat symbolizes the lusts for evils present in self-love and its accompanying delight (nos. 382, 691). Therefore to scorch with great heat means, symbolically, to be caught up in grievous lusts and so in the delight accompanying the love. To blaspheme the name of God means, symbolically, to deny or to refuse to acknowledge the Divinity of the Lord's humanity and the holiness of the Word (nos. 571, 582). To blaspheme is to deny or to refuse to acknowledge, and the name of God is the Lord's Divine humanity and at the same time the Word (no. 584). To have power over the plagues means symbolically that from the Lord flow every goodness of love and truth of faith by which evils and falsities are removed (nos. 673, 680, 690). And because the seven angels having the seven plagues came out of the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony (Revelation 15:5-6), and the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony symbolizes the inmost of heaven where the Lord is present in His holiness in the Word and in the Law contained in the Ten Commandments (no. 669), and because the influx symbolized by pouring out the plagues came from there (no. 676), it follows that God's having power over the plagues means the Lord from whom springs all else.

[2] We will briefly describe the nature of self-love. Its accompanying delight surpasses every other delight in the world, for it consists of nothing but lusts for evils, and every one of the lusts produces its own delight. Every person is born into this delight, and because it impels the person's mind to focus its thought continually on itself, it draws the mind away from thinking about God and the neighbor except from the perspective of self and with a focus on self. As a consequence, if God does not favor the person's lusts, he becomes angry with God, as he becomes angry with the neighbor who does not favor them.

As this delight grows, it causes the person to be unable to elevate his thought above himself, but instead draws it down to a level beneath him, for it immerses the mind in the inherent nature of his body. As a result the person becomes gradually sensual, and a sensual person speaks in a lofty and elevated tone about worldly and civic matters, but he can speak about God and Divine matters only from memory. If he is a politician, he acknowledges nature as responsible for creation, his own prudence as his guide, and denies God's existence. If he is a priest, he speaks about God and Divine matters from memory, even in a lofty and elevated tone; but at heart he little believes them.

  
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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.

The Bible

 

Revelation 15

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1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:

6 And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.

7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.

8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

   

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