The Bible

 

Matthew 6:24-34 : Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God

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24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #903

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903. Verses 14-16. And I saw, and behold a white cloud; and on the cloud one sitting like unto the Son of man, having upon his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel went out from the temple, crying with a great voice to him who sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap; for the hour is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle upon the earth; and the earth was reaped.

"And I saw," signifies prediction concerning the separation of the good from the evil: "and behold a white cloud," signifies Divine truth in ultimates, such as the Word is in the sense of the letter, which contains the spiritual sense: "and on the cloud one sitting like unto the Son of man," signifies the Lord in the heavens in Divine truth, or the Word which is from Him; "having upon his head a golden crown," signifies Divine good girded for judgment: "and in his hand a sharp sickle," signifies Divine truth minutely exploring and separating.

"And another angel went out from the temple," signifies exploration by the Lord concerning the state of the Church in general: "crying with a great voice to him who sat upon the cloud," signifies annunciation after exploration or visitation; "Thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the hour is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe," signifies that it is time to collect the good and separate them from the evil, because it is the end of the church.

"And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle upon the earth, and the earth was reaped," signifies the collection of the good from the evil, and that thus the church was laid waste.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.