The Bible

 

Ezekiel 30

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1 The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying,

2 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Wail, Alas for the day!

3 For the day is near, even the day of Yahweh is near; it shall be a day of clouds, a time of the nations.

4 A sword shall come on Egypt, and anguish shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt; and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.

5 Ethiopia, and Put, and Lud, and all the mixed people, and Cub, and the children of the land that is allied with them, shall fall with them by the sword.

6 Thus says Yahweh: They also who uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Seveneh shall they fall in it by the sword, says the Lord Yahweh.

7 They shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted.

8 They shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and all her helpers are destroyed.

9 In that day shall messengers go forth from before me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid; and there shall be anguish on them, as in the day of Egypt; for, behold, it comes.

10 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

11 He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought in to destroy the land; and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.

12 I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men; and I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I, Yahweh, have spoken it.

13 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause the images to cease from Memphis; and there shall be no more a prince from the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.

14 I will make Pathros desolate, and will set a fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments on No.

15 I will pour my wrath on Sin, the stronghold of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.

16 I will set a fire in Egypt: Sin shall be in great anguish, and No shall be broken up; and Memphis [shall have] adversaries in the daytime.

17 The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword; and these [cities] shall go into captivity.

18 At Tehaphnehes also the day shall withdraw itself, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt, and the pride of her power shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity.

19 Thus will I execute judgments on Egypt; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.

20 It happened in the eleventh year, in the first [month], in the seventh [day] of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

21 Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and behold, it has not been bound up, to apply [healing] medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it be strong to hold the sword.

22 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong [arm], and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.

23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

24 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.

25 I will hold up the arms of the king of Babylon; and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am Yahweh, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out on the land of Egypt.

26 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #689

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689. The reason why John's baptising prepared the way was that by this means, as shown above, people were introduced into the coming church of the Lord, and brought into the company of those in heaven who were awaiting and longing for the Messiah. They were thus protected by angels to prevent devils breaking out of hell and destroying them. This is why it says in Malachi, 'Who will endure the day of his coming' and 'so that Jehovah may not come and strike the land with a curse' (Malachi 4:6). Likewise in Isaiah:

Look, the cruel day of Jehovah is coming, a day of wrath and an explosion of anger. I shall make the heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place on the day of the explosion of His anger, Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22; 22:5, 12.

Also in Jeremiah that day is called a day of laying waste, of revenge and ruin (Jeremiah 4:9; 7:32; 46:10, 21; 47:4; 49:8, 26). In Ezekiel it is called a day of wrath, of cloud and thick darkness (Ezekiel 13:5; 30:2-3, 9; 34:11-12; 38:14, 16, 18-19). Equally in Amos (Amos 5:13, 18, 20; 8:3, 9, 13); in Joel, the great and terrible day of Jehovah, and who will endure it? (Joel 2:1-2, 11; 3:2, 4). In Zephaniah:

On that day there will be a shout. The great day of Jehovah is at hand, the day of the explosion of His anger is that day, the day of anguish and affliction, the day of laying waste and devastation. On the day of the explosion of Jehovah's anger the whole earth will be consumed, and He will bring about an ending with all the inhabitants of the earth, Zephaniah 1:7-18.

There are other passages too.

[2] From these it is plain that if the way had not been prepared by baptism for Jehovah to come down into the world, the effect of which in the heavens was to shut off the hells and to protect the Jews from total extinction, [all there would have been struck with a curse and would have perished] 1 . Jehovah also says to Moses:

In a single moment, if I were to go up in your midst, I should consume the people, Exodus 33:5.

The truth of this is clearly to be seen from John's words to the crowds who came out to be baptised by him:

You brood of vipers, who has warned you to run away from the wrath to come? Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7.

For John also teaching about Christ and His coming when he baptised, see Luke 3:16; John 1:25-26, 31-33; 3:26. These passages make it plain how John prepared the way.

Footnotes:

1. The sentence is incomplete; the words in brackets are restored from 688.

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