"Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 3:3

Additional readings: Isaiah 1:1-20

In the childhood of the human race, before men had departed from right ways of life, heaven was near to them. They could be led directly by the Lord, for their hearts and minds were open to him. Of this Golden Age of the human race it is written, "Man walked with God." But we have all read in the history of the human race as revealed in the Scripture the account of how many departed from the way of life and, following the devices of his own heart, closed his mind to the direct reception of goodness and truth from the Lord, until finally he reached a state in which all true knowledge of God and heaven was lost.

Then the Lord came to bring salvation to mankind, and preparation for His reception was made through John the Baptist, the messenger sent in fulfillment of a prophecy given centuries before. John’s message is our text: "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And when John was put to death, and the Lord began His active ministry in the world, the words of our text were also His first message. For He came to make clear the way of life, and wrong ideas held possession of the minds of men then, as they do of many minds today.

It is not by chance that this first message turns our thoughts to heaven. The purpose of our creation is that we may so live that we shall find our homes in heaven. Belief in heaven had been lost, along with the knowledge about it. And today belief in heaven is for the most part vague, and many think that eternal life does not mean personal existence in the spiritual world, but only the persistence of one’s influence in this world. Great men like Homer, Plato, Moses, Shakespeare, Gladstone, Lincoln, Pasteur, and many others perpetuate themselves in the influence they exert in the minds of living men. This, they say, is what is meant by immortality, by everlasting life. But we should realize that this type of everlasting life is open to the evil as well as to the good. A Diocletian may be remembered forever as well as the beloved Apostle. We need to know the truth that men and women, as individuals, live forever after death in the spiritual world.

But this is not the implication of the text which I have chosen for consideration this morning." The kingdom of heaven is at hand." We know that heaven is not in some remote part of the natural sky, that we cannot say, "Lo, here, or Lo, there" (Luke 17:21). But we are still apt to think of it as far away. We are also inclined to think of it as remote in time. We speak commonly of the "future" world. In the thought of some even, it lies at the indefinitely remote time, when they expect a general resurrection along with others; death is the gateway of heaven, but heaven still seems too distant to be of much practical and present interest.

But the truth is that heaven is far away neither in space nor in time. It is here, it is now, it is "at hand." We live in it now, or we may do so. It is a present reality, the most real and the most important element of the life we are now living. When we speak of heaven, and of living for heaven, we are not, as some charge, setting our hearts on something far away, and despising the real world in which we now are. If one lives for a far-off heaven — and no doubt some have lived so — he may be careless of this world’s joys and sorrows, of opportunities for usefulness, keeping his eyes fixed on some vision of the future. But we may live for heaven and still live thoroughly in the present. We ought to value heaven as the most real of present realities. The Gospel is true: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand."

We are taught in the New Church that heaven is essentially a state of human feeling, thought and life, a state in which love to the Lord and love to the neighbor are the ruling motives. We are taught that no outward paradise which could be made by human or by Divine skill would be a heaven if those affections were absent from the heart, that there is no real or lasting satisfaction except in the exercise of these affections. It follows that we can come into heaven in this world, and live in heaven while we live on earth, for we may learn here to love the Lord and one another, and to find our chief enjoyment in the exercise of these heavenly loves.

But this is an abstract way of speaking. Concretely, heaven is not merely a heavenly state in ourselves; it is the great world of human beings who are living in that state, those people in whose hearts are heavenly affections, whose minds are bright with spiritual light, and whose hands are busy with heavenly works. There are many such people in this world. There are countless more who have gone from the earth to the spiritual world, and are there living the same good life under freer and happier conditions. All these people are heaven.

When we have love to the Lord and the neighbor in ourselves, we are brought spiritually near to those in like affections, both of this world and of the spiritual world. It is not a figure of speech when we say that heaven is about us when we are in heavenly states. It is a literal and positive fact. Heaven is so really around us at such times that if it were granted to us, as it was to Elisha’s servant and to others in Bible days to have our spiritual eyes opened, we should see the angels who are our companions and the beautiful land in which they dwell. Among them we should see and recognize some who were dear to us on earth, who still love and help us, and there would be some whom we had not known before but who would from the first glance seem to us as old friends, because they have similar desires and thoughts. And we should recognize them as the source of our happiness.

The Lord created the world and all things in it. All things in the world were made for man to use and enjoy, from the very materials of the earth to all the myriad things of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, the beast of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea. For man’s needs of food, clothing, shelter, for gratification of his senses, and the improvement of his mind these things were made. All these were created and given to man for blessings. But they are subject to one important condition: man must indeed labor to make these things of service to himself, but he must also use them in the service of others. Only so can he have any security or peace. The world of nature and of human beings is not for one man, or a few men, or a nation to control or exploit. Indeed we cannot rightly claim sovereignty over ourselves. We need the guidance of the Lord. And whatever under the Divine Providence we have been able to acquire, whether of material wealth, or of skill, or of learning, we did not acquire it by our unaided efforts. Our daily knowledge of the happenings in the world, our libraries, our schools are made possible by the labor of mind and body of other men and women, great or humble, living or dead. We depend on others and they on us, and life and security today, as always, depend upon the honesty and good will of the community in which we live.

Yet we should also realize that behind the labors and sufferings and the honesty and good will of men stands the Lord. Through His power alone man achieves progress. It is a law of the Divine Providence that man must act in freedom according to reason. This applies to the life of nations as well as to the life of individuals. But the Lord is present and operative always.

For infinitely wise and good reasons, the Lord does not draw the veil aside for us and allow us to see the heavenly world. Some argue that if only they could see heaven, they would believe in it. But to see that world as an outward, objective reality would destroy our freedom. We should be lured by its outward attractiveness, and it would be less possible for us to come into its true spirit.

When we are living in selfish and evil affections, we are in hell. Not only is hell within us at such times but it is also about us, not by a figure of speech, but actually. We are breathing its poisoned atmosphere and, if our eyes were opened, we should see the forms and faces of those who find their life in evil and who exult in influencing others to evil. Why, at least then, does the Lord not draw the veil aside and show us the terribleness of evil? The sight might for the moment frighten us, but we should be less able to shun evil freely because it is evil, and our power to escape permanently from it would be greatly lessened.

If we are tempted to question the Lord’s Providence in not revealing to us more openly the conditions of the good and evil in the spiritual world, we do well to remember His words, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them….If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead" (Luke 16:29-31).

The Lord said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). We should seek those good things which endure forever, and should not sacrifice them for the sake of money or health or life itself. To acquire love to the Lord and to the neighbor is the only thing worth living for. Our business dealings should have as their motive the love of use, of service to others. The most necessary thing in making a home is having in it the sunshine of heaven. The only absolute requirement for our happiness as we go to and fro in the ways of the world is that heaven shall go with us. This is to live for heaven, and yet to live must fully in the present. This is the practical meaning of living for heaven.

It may be stated still more simply. Heaven is not heaven from locality, neither is it heaven from anything which belongs to the angels as their own. It is heaven from what is received from the Lord into the lives and hearts of the angels. To be near the Lord, not in place merely, but in heart, to feel the protection and peace of His presence is heaven. Heaven is being near to the Lord and keeping near to Him. There is no other heaven for men or angels.

"The kingdom of heaven is at hand." When John first spoke this message, the kingdom of heaven was in a special sense at hand, because the Lord had come to live with men and to make Himself accessible to them. A power to heal and bless went forth from the Lord during His life on earth. Men obsessed felt his saving power and sat at His feet clothed and in their right mind.

At the Transfiguration Peter said, "Lord, it is good for us to be here" (Matthew 17:4, Mark 9:5, Luke 9:33). In following the Lord, in hearing His Word and in doing His work, they were tasting of heaven. But we need to note that the mere physical nearness of the Lord did not make heaven. Some cried out with fear at His approach. It was not heaven to them. It was not heaven to those who followed Him to accuse and to betray Him. His presence was a blessing only to those who in some measure drew near to Him in spirit.

Even in the Lord’s coming on earth the kingdom of heaven was not forced on me. It was made accessible to them; it was brought within their reach.

It is brought within our reach. Just as there is no royal road to knowledge, there is no royal road to heaven. We must cease to do evil before we can learn to do well. Repentance, the willingness to recognize and acknowledge our faults and weaknesses and to struggle to overcome them opens the door. Heavenly life comes into the soul when selfish desires are replaced by kindly thoughts and the desire to serve. The Lord tell us to seek these heavenly virtues now, not for the sake of honor for ourselves, but that we may be really kind and helpful to others, that our lives may have something of the Lord’s love in them. Then we shall find that life here makes one with heavenly life, and that our Heavenly Father is the Source of happiness in both alike.

581. For their tails were like serpents, and had heads, signifies that from sensual knowledges [scientifica] which are fallacies, they reason craftily. This is evident from the signification of "tails," here, the tails of horses, as being knowledges [scientifica] which are called sensual because they are the ultimates of the understanding (See above, n. 559); from the signification of "serpent," as being the craftiness of the sensual man (of which presently); and from the signification of "having heads," as meaning to reason by means of such knowledges; for the "head" signifies intelligence, therefore "to have a head" signifies to be intelligent. To reason by means of such knowledges is meant, because the "head," in reference to the sensual man, signifies knowledge [scientia] and fatuous thought therefrom (See above, n. 577), and accordingly also reasonings by means of sensual knowledges. From this it can be seen that "the tails of the horses were like serpents, and had heads," signifies that from sensual knowledges which are fallacies they reason craftily. These are called fallacies because sensual knowledges become fallacies when man reasons from them concerning spiritual things; as for example, that dignities and wealth are real blessings; that glory, such as belongs to the great in the world, is that in which heavenly blessedness consists; and that the Lord desires adoration from man for His own glory, and other like things; these are fallacies when applied to things spiritual, since the sensual man thinks in this way, and cannot know otherwise because he is not endowed with intelligence.

[2] That "serpents" signify in the Word the sensual man in respect to craftiness and in respect to prudence, can be seen from the following passages. In Moses:

The serpent was more crafty than any wild beast of the field which Jehovah God had made (Genesis 3:1).

"Serpent" here does not mean a serpent, but the sensual man, and in a general sense the sensual itself, which is the ultimate of the human understanding; "the man and his wife" signify the Most Ancient Church, which fell away when the men of that church began to reason from sensual knowledges [scientifica] respecting Divine things, which is signified by "eating of the tree of knowledge;" their craftiness in reasoning respecting Divine things from the sensual is described by the reasoning of the serpent with Adam's wife, by which they were deceived. The serpent is said to have been "more crafty than any wild beast of the field," because it is poisonous and its bite is therefore deadly, and because it hides itself in lurking places. "Poison" signifies craft and deceit, and therefore the "bite" of the serpent signifies deadly hurt; and the lurking places from which it bites, and in which it conceals itself, signify craftiness.

[3] It is to be known that all beasts signify affections such as are in man, and "serpents" signify the affections of the sensual man, for the reason that they creep on the belly upon the ground as does the sensual of man, for this is in the lowest place, and creeps as it were upon the ground beneath all the other faculties. Moreover, sensual men in the spiritual world dwell in the lower parts, and cannot be elevated towards the higher parts, since they are in externals, and from these they judge and form conclusions respecting everything. Again, the evil who are in the hells are mostly sensual, and many of them crafty; when, therefore, they are looked at from the light of heaven they appear like serpents of various kinds; and this is why the devil is called a "serpent." The infernals are also crafty because evil conceals in itself all craftiness and malice, as good does all prudence and wisdom. (On this see the work on Heaven and Hell 576-581, where The Malice and Wicked Arts of Infernal Spirits are treated of.)

[4] This, then, is why the devil or hell is called "a serpent" in the following passages. In Revelation:

The dragon, the old serpent, the devil and Satan, which seduceth the whole world (Revelation 12:9, 14, 15; 20:2).

In David:

They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent; adder's poison is under their lips (Psalms 140:3);

which signifies their crafty and delusive deception. In the same:

Their poison is like the poison of a serpent (Psalms 58:4).

In Job:

He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper's tongue shall slay him (Job 20:16)

And in Isaiah:

They hatched adder's eggs, and wove spider's webs; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and when one is crushed there breaketh out a viper (Isaiah 59:5).

This is said of evil men, who by deceit and craft seduce others in spiritual things; the hidden evils to which they allure by their craftiness are signified by "adder's eggs, which they are said to hatch;" their deceitful falsities are signified by "the spider's webs which they weave;" the deadly hurt when they are received is signified by "he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and when one is crushed there breaketh out a viper."

[5] Because the Pharisees were such they are called by the Lord:

Serpents, a generation of vipers (Matthew 23:33).

That the craftiness and malice of such can do no harm to those whom the Lord protects is signified by the following in Isaiah:

The suckling shall play on the hole of the adder, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the basilisk's den (Isaiah 11:8).

The "suckling" and the "weaned child" signify those who are in the good of innocence, that is, those who are in love to the Lord; and "the hole of the adder" and the "basilisk's den" mean the hells in which are deceitful and crafty spirits, and the entrances into these appear like gloomy holes, and within they are like dens.

[6] That the craft and malice of infernal spirits can do no harm to those whom the Lord protects is signified also by these words of the Lord:

That the disciples would have power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19).

Also that they would have power to take up serpents, and to drink any deadly thing, and it would not hurt them (Mark 16:18).

"To tread on serpents" signifies to despise and make light of the deceits, craft, and wicked arts of the infernal crew; therefore it is added, "and over all the power of the enemy;" "the enemy" is that crew, and "his power" its craftiness.

[7] The malice and craftiness of infernal spirits, who, taken together, are called "the devil" and "Satan," are also meant by "serpents" in the following passages. In Moses:

Jehovah God led thee through the great and fearful wilderness of the serpent, the fiery serpent, and the scorpion (Deuteronomy 8:15).

The journeyings of the sons of Israel in the wilderness represented and thence signified the temptations of the faithful; the infestations at such times from the hells by evil spirits and genii are signified by "serpents, fiery serpents, and scorpions."

[8] In Isaiah:

Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of thee, because the rod that smiteth thee is broken; for from the serpent's root shall come forth a basilisk, whose fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent (Isaiah 14:29).

"Philistia" signifies faith separate from charity; the misleading of many by the sophistries by which that faith is confirmed is signified by "from the serpent's root shall come forth a basilisk, whose fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent." In Jeremiah:

Behold I send among you serpents, basilisks, against which there shall be no charm, and they shall bite you (Jeremiah 8:17).

The voice thereof shall go like that of a serpent (Jeremiah 46:22).

In Amos:

Although they hide themselves ¹ before My eyes in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent to bite them (Amos 9:3).

Craftiness is signified also in Isaiah by:

Leviathan the crooked serpent (Isaiah 27:1).

[9] That "serpents" signify craftiness, and also the prudence with sensual men, is evident from the words of the Lord in Matthew:

Be ye prudent as serpents and simple as doves (Matthew 10:18).

Those who are in good are called "prudent," and those who are in evil are called "crafty," for prudence is of truth from good, and craftiness is of falsity from evil; and as this was said to those who were in good, "serpents" here mean prudence.

[10] Because the craftiness of the evil is diabolical those who are in it are said "to eat the dust." In Moses:

It was said to the serpent, Be thou accursed above all beasts, and above all the wild beasts of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life (Genesis 3:14).

In Isaiah:

Dust shall be the serpent's bread (Isaiah 65:25).

And in Micah:

They shall lick the dust like a serpent (Micah 7:17);

"dust" signifying what is damned, and "to go upon the belly" signifying the sensual, which is the ultimate of life in man; and as this is the ultimate of life, it is in no intelligence or wisdom, but in craftiness and cunning, which are contrary to intelligence and wisdom.

[11] In Moses:

Dan shall be a serpent upon the way, an arrow serpent on the path, biting the horse's heels, and his rider ² shall fall backwards (Genesis 49:17).

What this prophecy respecting Dan signifies no one can know unless he knows what is signified by a "horse" and its "heels," also by a "serpent;" a "horse" signifies the understanding of truth, and a "rider" intelligence; a "serpent" signifies the sensual, which is the ultimate of the intellectual life; "the heels of a horse" signify truths in ultimates, which are sensual knowledges; that the sensual by means of reasonings from fallacies, does harm to and leads astray the understanding is signified by "the serpent biteth the horse's heels and his rider shall fall backwards." This is said of Dan, because the tribe named from him was the last of the tribes, and thence signified the last things (ultimates) of truth and good, consequently the ultimates of the church (See Arcana Coelestia 1710, 3923, 6396, 10335, where this prophecy is explained).

[12] The sensual, which is the ultimate of the intellectual life, is signified also by:

The stretched-serpent (Isaiah 27:1; Job 26:13);

also by:

The serpent into which the rod of Moses was changed (Exodus 4:3, 4; 7:9-12).

(See Arcana Coelestia 6949, 7293.) Again, sensual things which are the ultimates of man's life are signified by:

The fiery serpents sent among the people who wished to return to Egypt (Numbers 21:6);

while the healing of the bite of such serpents by the Lord's Divine sensual is signified by:

The brazen serpent set upon a standard, by looking upon which they revived (Numbers 21:5-9).

The expression, the Lord's Divine sensual, is used, because the Lord when He was in the world glorified, that is, made Divine, His whole Human even to its ultimates, as can be seen from the fact that He left nothing in the sepulcher, and that He said to the disciples:

That He hath bones and flesh, which a spirit doth not have (Luke 24:39, 40).

The ultimate sensual, which was also glorified or made Divine by the Lord, is signified by that "brazen serpent" set upon a standard, respecting which the Lord Himself thus spake in John:

As Moses lifted up the serpent, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life (John 3:14, 15).

The Lord was represented before the Israelitish and Jewish people by such a sign, because they were merely sensual, and the sensual man in looking to the Lord is unable to elevate his thought beyond and above the sensual; for everyone looks to the Lord according to the elevation of his understanding, the spiritual man looking to the Divine rational, and so on. This makes evident that "the brazen serpent" signifies also the sensual, but the glorified or Divine sensual of the Lord.

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