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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 #482

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482. Man would have no free will in political, moral and natural matters, did he not have free will in spiritual ones. This is evident from the fact that spiritual matters, what is called theology, occupy the highest region in the human mind, like the soul in the body. The reason they occupy that place is that it contains the gateway through which the Lord enters a person. At a lower level are the political, moral and natural matters, which in a person take all their life from the spiritual ones which have their seat above them. And because life from the Lord flows in from the highest levels, and man's life consists in the ability freely to think, will and thus to speak and act, it follows that this and no other is the source of free will in political and natural matters. That spiritual freedom allows a person to perceive good and truth, justice and fairness in social matters; and that ability is what the understanding itself is in essence.

[2] A person's free will in spiritual matters is, to use a comparison, like the air in the lungs; it is drawn in, held and released as his thoughts constantly change. Without it he would be worse off than if he suffered from a nightmare, angina or asthma. Again it is like the blood in the heart; any failure of the blood would make the heart first palpitate, then after convulsions become totally still. Or it might be like a body in motion, which travels so long as it has any energy, and comes to rest when its energy is exhausted. So too it is with the freedom man's will enjoys; both of these, freedom of choice and will, can in man be called active energy, for if the will ceases to operate, so does the power to act, and if freedom of choice ceases to operate, so does the will.

[3] If man's spiritual freedom were taken away from him, it would be, to use a comparison, like taking the wheels away from a machine, the arms that catch the wind from a mill, or the sails from a ship. In fact, it would be like a man parting with his spirit when he dies; for the life of man's spirit consists in his free will in spiritual matters. The angels groan at the mere mention of the fact that this free will is denied by many ministers of the church at the present time; they call this denial madness on top of madness.

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

The Bible

 

Psalms 43:3

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3 O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.