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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

 

True Christian Religion #252

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252. It is similar with many other expressions, as, for instance, when joy is mentioned, there is also a mention of gladness. This is clear in the following passages:

Look, joy and gladness, the slaughtering of an ox, Isaiah 22:13.

Joy and gladness will escort them; sorrow and groaning will flee away, Isaiah 35:10; 51:11.

Cut off from the house of our God are gladness and joy, Joel 1:16.

The sound of joy and the sound of gladness shall be banished, Jeremiah 7:34; 25:10.

The fast of the tenth [month] will become joy and gladness for the house of Judah, Zechariah 8:19.

Be glad in Jerusalem, rejoice in her, Isaiah 66:10.

Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, Lamentations 4:21.

The heavens will be glad, and the earth will rejoice, Psalms 96:11. 1

You 2 will make me hear joy and gladness, Psalms 51:8.

Joy and gladness will be found in Zion, confession and the sound of song, Isaiah 51:3.

There will be gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth, Luke 1:14.

I shall cause to cease the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9; 25:10.

There will still be heard in this place the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, Jeremiah 33:10-11.

There are other passages too.

The reason why both joy and gladness are mentioned is that joy is used referring to good and gladness referring to truth, in other words joy is used of love and gladness of wisdom. For joy is an emotion of the heart, gladness of the spirit, in other words, joy is of the will and gladness of the understanding. It is plain that there is a marriage of the Lord and the church also in these, because it is said:

The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9; 25:10; 33:10-11.

The Lord is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. For the Lord as bridegroom see Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19-20; Luke 5:34-35; and for the church as bride, Revelation 21:2, 9; 22:17. This is why John the Baptist said of Jesus:

He who has the bride is the bridegroom, John 3:29.

Footnotes:

1. Reference corrected in the author's copy from 68:4.

2. The Latin has 'they.'

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

The Bible

 

Psalms 90:1

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1 LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.