The Bible

 

Ezekiel 6

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1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

2 Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy to them,

3 and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places.

4 Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.

5 I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars.

6 In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.

7 The slain shall fall in the midst of you, and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

8 Yet will I leave a remnant, in that you shall have some that escape the sword among the nations, when you shall be scattered through the countries.

9 Those of you that escape shall remember me among the nations where they shall be carried captive, how that I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.

10 They shall know that I am Yahweh: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.

11 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas! because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

12 He who is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he who is near shall fall by the sword; and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my wrath on them.

13 You shall know that I am Yahweh, when their slain men shall be among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols.

14 I will stretch out my hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations: and they shall know that I am Yahweh.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

The Lord #27

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27. The Lord is called the Son of Humanity when the subject is redemption, salvation, reformation, and regeneration, as we can tell from the following:

The Son of Humanity came to give his life as a redemption for many. (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45)

The Son of Humanity has come to save and not to destroy. (Matthew 18:11; Luke 9:56)

The Son of Humanity has come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)

The Son of Humanity came so that the world would be saved through him. (John 3:17)

The one who sows good seed is the Son of Humanity. (Matthew 13:37)

Here the subject is redemption and salvation; and since they are effected by the Lord through the Word, he refers to himself as the Son of Humanity.

The Lord said that the Son of Humanity has power to forgive sins (Mark 2:10; Luke 5:24)-that is, power to save. He also said that he was Lord of the Sabbath because he was the Son of Humanity (Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5)-because he himself is the very Word that he is then teaching.

He also says in John,

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Humanity will give you. (John 6:27)

Food means everything true and good in the teaching drawn from the Word and therefore from the Lord. This is also the meaning of the manna and of the bread that comes down from heaven, as well as the meaning of these words in the same chapter:

Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Humanity and drink his blood, you will not have life within you. (John 6:53)

The flesh or bread is good actions done from love as a result of the Word, and the blood or wine is good actions done from faith as a result of the Word, both of which come from the Lord.

[2] “The Son of Humanity” means much the same in various other passages where it is found, such as the following:

Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Humanity has nowhere to lay his head. (Matthew 8:20; Luke 9:58)

This means that the Word had no place among the Jews, as the Lord also says in John 8:37, and that the Word was not abiding in them, because they did not acknowledge him (John 5:38).

The Son of Humanity means the Lord as the Word in Revelation as well:

In the midst of seven lampstands I saw one like the Son of Humanity, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. (Revelation 1:13 and following)

In this passage various images are used to represent the Lord as the Word, so he is also called “the Son of Humanity.” In David:

Let your hand be with the man of your right hand, with the Son of Humanity whom you have strengthened for yourself. Then we will not turn back from you. Bring us to life. (Psalms 80:17-19)

The man of your right hand in this passage is also the Lord as the Word, and so is the Son of Humanity. He is called “the man of your right hand” because the Lord has power from divine truth, which is also the Word; and he gained divine power when he fulfilled the whole Word. That is why he also said that they would see the Son of Humanity sitting at the right hand of the Father with power (Mark 14:62).

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

The Bible

 

Ezekiel 8:5-6

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5 Then he said to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and see, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

6 He said to me, Son of man, do you see what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel do commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you shall again see yet other great abominations.