The Bible

 

John 5:25-29 : The End is the New Beginning

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25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;

27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Commentary

 

The End is the New Beginning

By Junchol Lee


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We use a calendar that has 12 months and 365 days in it. As it nears December 31st, we feel as though something is getting close to an end, and yet on January 1st it feels like a new beginning. Our life is composed of many endings and beginnings. We may live one life, but within this one life we have many different journeys.

(References: Habakkuk 3:17)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3741

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3741. THE GRAND MAN AND CORRESPONDENCE WITH IT - continued

The heavenly kingdom resembles one human being since every specific thing in it corresponds to the only Lord - that is to say, to His Divine Human - who alone is Man, 49, 288, 565, 1894. By virtue of its correspondence with Him, and of its being the image and likeness of Him, heaven is called the Grand Man. The Lord's Divine is the source in heaven of everything celestial, which in essence is good, and of everything spiritual, which in essence is truth. Every angel there is a form, that is, every angel is substance taking a form that is determined by his reception of Divine qualities flowing from the Lord. These Divine qualities which are the Lord's and are received by the angels are called celestial and spiritual because Divine life, and from this Divine light, manifests itself and is modified in them as the recipients.

[2] In addition therefore the forms and material substances with man too are of a similar nature, though they exist in a lower degree since they are grosser and more composite. The fact that these too are recipient forms of celestial and spiritual qualities is quite evident from the plainly visible signs of them - for example, from thought which flows into the organic forms of the tongue and produces speech; from the feelings of mind which manifest themselves visibly in the face; or from the will which passes through the muscles of the body into actions; and so on. The thought and will which produce these activities are spiritual and celestial entities, whereas the forms or substances which receive them and carry them into effect are material. These material substances, it is clear, have been used to produce forms solely for the reception of those spiritual and celestial entities. From this it is evident that spiritual and celestial qualities are the source of the material forms, and that if they were not, such forms could not come into being at all.

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