The Bible

 

Daniel 4:17

Study

       

17 The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will, and sets up over it the lowest of men.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #60

Study this Passage

  
/ 962  
  

60. "And behold, I am alive forevermore." This symbolically means that He is eternal life.

Since the declaration, "I am He who lives," symbolically means that the Lord alone is life and the only source of life (see no. 58 above), it follows that saying, "Behold, I am alive forevermore," symbolically means that He alone is life to eternity, and thus that He is the only source of eternal life. For He has eternal life in Him, and He is therefore its source. Forevermore means to eternity.

That the Lord is the only source of eternal life is clear from the following passages:

(Jesus said,) ."..whoever believes in (Me) shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, while he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36, cf. 6:40)

Assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. (John 6:47-48)

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, shall live. ...whoever... believes in Me shall never die. (John 11:25-26)

And elsewhere.

This, now, is why the Lord is also called He who lives forever and ever in the following verses in the book of Revelation: 4:9-10; 5:14, and 10:6. And also in Daniel 4:34.

  
/ 962  
  

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 1

Study

1 This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John,

2 who testified to God's word, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.

3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.

4 John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne;

5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood;

6 and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.

8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

9 I John, your brother and partner with you in oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God's Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet

11 saying, "What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea."

12 I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.

13 And among the lampstands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest.

14 His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.

15 His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters.

16 He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, "Don't be afraid. I am the first and the last,

18 and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.

19 Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter;

20 the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lampstands are seven assemblies.