The Bible

 

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

Study

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


To continue browsing while you listen, play the audio in a new window.

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

 

The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine #304

Study this Passage

  
/ 325  
  

304. The Lord united the Divine truth to the Divine good, thus His Human to the Divine itself.

The Lord was instructed as another man (n. 1457, 1461, 2523, 3030). The Lord successively advanced to union with the Father (n. 1864, 2033, 2632, 3141, 4585, 7014, 10076). So far as the Lord was united with the Father, so far He spoke as with himself; but at other times as with another (n. 1745, 1999, 7058). The Lord united His Human with the Divine from His own power (n. 1616, 1749, 1752, 1813, 1921, 2025-2026, 2523, 3141, 5005, 5045, 6716). The Lord united the Divine truth, which was Himself, with the Divine good which was in Himself (n. 10047, 10052, 10076). The unition was reciprocal (n. 2004, 10067). The Lord, when He went out of the world, made His Human the Divine good (n. 3194, 3210, 6864, 7499, 8724, 9199, 10076). Thus He came forth from the Father, and returned to the Father (n. 3194, 3210). Thus He became one with the Father (n. 2751, 3704, 4766). The Lord, in His unition with the Divine itself which was in Him, regarded the conjunction of Himself with the human race (n. 2034). After the unition, the Divine truth proceeds from the Lord (n. 3704, 3712, 3969, 4577, 5704, 7499, 8127, 8241, 9199, 9398). How the Divine truth proceeds, illustrated (n. 7270, 9407).

Unless the Divine had been in the Lord's Human from conception, the Human could not have been united with the Divine itself, on account of the ardor of the infinite love in which the Divine itself is (n. 6849). Therefore no angel can ever be united with the Divine itself except at a distance, and by means of a veiling; for otherwise he would be consumed (n. 6849). The Divine love is of such a quality (n. 8644). Hence it may appear that the Human of the Lord was not like the human of another man (n. 10125, 10826). His union with the Father, from whom was His soul, was not like a union between two, but like that between soul and body (n. 3737, 10824). Union is said of the Lord's Human and the Divine, but conjunction between man and the Divine (n. 2021).

  
/ 325  
  

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