Apocalypse Revealed #949
949. 22:12 "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work." This symbolically means that the Lord will surely come, and His presence is heaven and the felicity of eternal life for everyone in accordance with his faith in the Lord and his life in obedience to the Lord's commandments.
"Behold, I am coming quickly" symbolically means that the Lord will surely come, namely, to execute judgment and to establish a new heaven and a new church. That immediacy in time means certainty may be seen in nos. 4, 943, 944, 947. "My reward is with Me" symbolically means that the Lord's very presence is heaven and the felicity of eternal life. That the reward is heaven and eternal happiness may be seen in no. 526. That it is the Lord's very presence will be seen below.
To give to everyone according to his work means, symbolically, to do so in accordance with a person's conjunction with the Lord through faith in the Lord and living in obedience to His commandments. This is the symbolic meaning because good works symbolize charity and faith internally, and at the same time the effects of these outwardly. And because charity and faith come from the Lord, and are received in accordance with a person's conjunction with Him, it is apparent that these are what are symbolically meant. The meaning here thus coheres as well with what has been said before.
That good works are charity and faith inwardly and at the same time the effects of these outwardly may be seen in nos. 641, 868, 871 above.
[2] People know that charity and faith come not from man, but from the Lord. And because they come from the Lord, they are received in accordance with a person's conjunction with Him, and a conjunction with Him is formed through faith in Him and living in accordance with His commandments. Faith in Him means a confidence that He will save, and this confidence is found in people who turn to Him directly and refrain from evils as being sins. Such a faith is not possible in others.
We said that "My reward is with Me" symbolically means that the Lord's very presence is heaven and the felicity of eternal life, for the reward is an inward bliss, called peace, and a consequent outer joy. This is possible only from the Lord, and whatever comes from the Lord not only emanates from Him, but also constitutes His very presence. For the Lord cannot emit anything from Himself without His being present in it. Indeed, He is omnipresent in everyone in accordance with some conjunction, and the conjunction depends on reception, and the reception on love and wisdom, or if you please, on charity and faith, and charity and faith on the person's way of life, and the person's way of life on an aversion to evil and falsity, and an aversion to evil and falsity on knowing what evil and falsity are, and on repenting then and at the same time looking to the Lord.
[3] That the reward not only comes from the Lord but also constitutes His very presence is apparent from passages in the Word where we are told that those people who are conjoined with Him are in Him and have Him in them, as may be seen in John 14:20-24, 1 15:4, 15:5ff., 2 17:19, 17:21-22, 17:26, 3 and elsewhere (see no. 883 above). And also where we are told that the Holy Spirit is in them 4 - the Holy Spirit being the Lord, for it is His Divine presence. So, too, when we pray that God may dwell in people, teaching them, leading them, giving them a tongue to preach and a body to do what is good, and other like things as well.
The Lord, indeed, is love itself and wisdom itself. These two do not exist in some location, but are present wherever they are received, in accordance with the character of the reception.
But this arcanum can be understood only by people who are wise owing to their receiving the light of heaven from the Lord. It is for them what we wrote in two works, one being Divine Providence and the other Divine Love and Wisdom, where we showed that the Lord Himself is present in people in accordance with their reception, and not some Divine quality apart from Him. This is the concept that angels have when they conceive of the Divine omnipresence, and I do not doubt that some Christians have a similar concept.
Footnotes:
1. "At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me."
2. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."
3. "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth..., that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one... And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
4. E.g., John 20:22
Revelation 6
1
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
3
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4
And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
5
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
7
And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
9
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11
And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
12
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13
And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14
And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16
And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17
For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
