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 #796

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796. 18:23 "The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore." This symbolically means that those caught up in the Roman Catholic religion because of its doctrine and a life in accordance with it are without any enlightenment from the Lord and so without any perception of spiritual truth.

The light of a lamp symbolizes enlightenment by the Lord and a consequent perception of spiritual truth. That is because the light means the light of heaven, which is the light angels have, and people, too, as regards their intellect, because the light in its essence is Divine wisdom. For it emanates from the Lord as the sun of the spiritual world, which in its essence is the Divine love in Divine wisdom, and the only light that can emanate from it is the light of Divine wisdom, and the only warmth the warmth of Divine love. The reality of this is something we showed in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 83-172.

Since that light comes from the Lord, and the Lord is omnipresent in it and by means of it, therefore it is the means of all enlightenment and the consequent perception of spiritual truth, a perception that those people have who love Divine truths spiritually, that is, who love Divine truths because they are true, thus because they are Divine. Plainly this is what it is to love the Lord. For the Lord is omnipresent in that light, inasmuch as Divine love and wisdom do not exist in space, but are present wherever they are received, in accordance with their reception.

[2] That people caught up in the Roman Catholic religion are without any enlightenment and so without any perception of spiritual truth, can be seen from the fact that they have no love for any spiritual light. For as we said, spiritual light originates from the Lord, and the only people who can receive and accept that light are people conjoined with the Lord, and conjunction with the Lord is achieved solely by an acknowledgment and worship of Him, and at the same time by a life in accordance with His commandments from the Word. An acknowledgment and worship of the Lord and reading the Word bring about the Lord's presence, but it is these two things combined at the same time with a life in accordance with His precepts that bring about a conjunction with Him.

The opposite is the case in Roman Catholicism. The Lord is acknowledged in it, but without His having any dominion, and the Word is acknowledged without its being read. Instead of the Lord they worship the Pope, and instead of the Word they acknowledge papal bulls, and live according to those bulls, and not according to the commandments in the Word. The bulls, moreover, have as their goal the dominion of the Pope and his ministers over heaven and the world, while the commandments in the Word have as their goal the dominion of the Lord over heaven and the world. These two goals are as diametrically opposed to each other as heaven and hell.

We have said this much for it to be known that people caught up in the Roman Catholic religion because of its doctrine and a life in accordance with it are without the least light of a lamp, that is to say, without any enlightenment from the Lord and so without any perception of spiritual truth.

[3] That the Lord is the light that produces all enlightenment and perception of spiritual truth is apparent from the following:

He was the true light which enlightens every person coming into the world. (John 1:4-12)

This in reference to the Lord.

This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world... Whoever does the truth comes to the light... (John 3:19, 21)

Jesus said..., "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you... While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be children of light." (John 12:35-36)

(Jesus said,) "I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness." (John 12:46)

(Jesus said,) ."..I am the light of the world." (John 9:5)

(Simeon said,) ."..my eyes have seen Your salvation..., a light for revelation to the Gentiles...." (Luke 2:30-32)

The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light; upon those sitting in the region and shadow of death, light has arisen. (Matthew 4:16, Isaiah 9:2)

I have given You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6)

The city (New Jerusalem) has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb. (Revelation 21:23, cf. 22:5)

It is apparent from this that the Lord is the light that produces all enlightenment and the consequent perception of spiritual truth. And because the Lord is the light, the Devil is darkness. The Devil is also the love of exercising dominion over all the Divine sanctities belonging to the Lord, and over the Lord Himself; and to the extent it achieves that dominion, it darkens, extinguishes, sets on fire and burns up the Divine sanctities belonging to the Lord.

  
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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.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8269

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8269. '[This is my God,] and I will establish a dwelling-place for Him' means that when He is within good, which originates in Himself, He will be as if in His heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'a dwelling-place', when it has reference to Jehovah or the Lord, as good. The reason why 'the Lord's dwelling-place' means good is that all good has its origin in the Lord; thus good is the Lord's, so completely that one may say it is the Lord. When the Lord dwells within it He dwells within His Divinity. Nor can He dwell anywhere else, according to the Lord's words in John,

Jesus said, If anyone loves Me He keeps My word, and My Father loves him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. John 14:23.

Good that springs from God is what 'loving the Lord and keeping His word' describes here; for good comes from love. 'With him', it says, 'They would make Their home', which means within good residing with him. The expression 'as in His heaven' is used because heaven is called God's dwelling-place; and it is called this because good, which originates in the Lord, exists there and constitutes heaven. The Lord is also within the individual person as in His heaven when He is within good there; for the heaven within a person is good, and through good a person is present with angels in heaven. From all this it is now evident that 'I will establish a dwelling-place for Him' means that when He is within good, which originates in Himself, He will be as if in His heaven.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.