For he is "as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods." Matthew 25:14

Additional readings: Zechariah 14, Matthew 25:14–30, Psalm 9, Psalm 10

The man spoken of in our text is the Lord. Our Heavenly Father in His dealings with us keeps Himself in a certain sense wholly out of our sight. With our natural eyes we never see Him. With our natural ears we never hear His voice. In consequence of this apparent removal of Himself many persons have denied that there is a God. Others, seeing that there must be some creative power and force back of nature, have thought of Him as this force but have denied His existence as a personal Being.

Various names have been given to the different kinds of belief about God. Those who identified God with nature have been called pantheists. Those who believe that nothing can be known about God and the supernatural are called agnostics. The term materialist has been used to designate the man who does not want to know about anything above matter. And last and lowest in this dismal series stands positive and defiant atheism. But all these are alike characterized by unwillingness to accept a God who is not visible and tangible.

Our text teaches that no such external manifestation of Deity can be expected. It is according to the order of His providence that the Lord is like "a man traveling into a far country." Nor are we left in ignorance as to why this is so. The parable, of which our text is a part, goes on to say that the man called to him his servants and "to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to every man according to his several ability." He left them to make such use as they would of the gifts entrusted to them. After a while he returned, and had a reckoning with them, rewarding each according to the use he had made of his gift.

This parable reveals a universal principle, namely, that the law of human life is freedom of choice and that, being free to choose, man is justly accountable for his actions. Men's happiness or their misery is in their own hands. If God were continually in sight before our physical eyes, there would be no freedom. The Lord hides Himself from us for our own good, for to take away our freedom would deprive us of everything that is human. Nor could we by any means be formed into the image and likeness of our Creator. By virtue of our freedom we can honor those who are wiser and better than we and worship the Lord, who is above all. Shunning evil and doing good because we so choose, we can conjoin ourselves to the Lord.

So the Lord makes Himself outwardly invisible. But He does not leave us without the means of learning and knowing about Him. He has given us His Word in which we can learn what is right and what is wrong. In His Word He is present with us to enlighten us and to give us power to overcome. And if our eyes are open, we can see the countless objects of nature as signs that the Lord cares for us. We did not create the sun, moon, and stars, or any of the things of this world, nor did they spring into spontaneous existence. So, even though we cannot see the Lord, we have innumerable tokens of His presence and of His ability to provide for all our needs.

It seems strange that those who doubt or deny the existence of God should complain that He does not reveal Himself to our physical senses. They should not expect that He who created and sustains the universe, whom the "heaven of heavens cannot contain," could be brought down to the perception of the gross physical senses so that they could see Him as they see a stone or a clod. If they could so see Him, they would have every reason to doubt His infinite power and greatness. Surely the fact that they cannot so see Him is the very worst reason that could be given for their lack of faith.

The truth is that the senses are not man's guides into knowledge. It is very little that they reveal to him—only a few impressions about his body and about the external world in which he lives. In the exercise of our senses something more than the body is implied. They make their report to the mind which sits within and above them. And when we speak of the mind, we speak of something that the eye has never seen nor the hand touched. We pass beyond material bounds even here into that region which is called spiritual; we come into an altogether different world, the world of spirit. And if our spiritual eyes were opened, we should become cognizant of another and greater world of which we are members.

In fact we are endowed with faculties adapted to our future as well as to our present existence. We are able to see and understand things which lie beyond the compass of the physical senses or of this earthly life. This does not mean that we can discover these things by our unaided reason. But when they are made known to us through revelation, there is something within us that can recognize and accept them.

There is a reason for much of the doubt in the world today. Traditions of men have been substituted for the Word of God. Irrational interpretations have been made by the church, interpretations that can by no means be reconciled nor even understood. But new truth has been revealed in the opening of the Scriptures; so the way is now opened to a clear understanding of spiritual things.

Man is primarily a spiritual being and is endowed with spiritual faculties by which he is able to acknowledge and receive spiritual truth when it is intelligibly presented to him. But these faculties have to be developed. He is not brought into them without effort on his part. There is one condition that must be fulfilled if we are to have our spiritual sight opened. We must realize our weakness and need of help. Those who are satisfied with themselves, who are proud of their own attainments, unconscious of any need of help from one mightier than they, are at heart materialists or skeptics.

Externally the Lord is and always will be invisible to us. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). So far as our spiritual nature is opened and developed, so far as we become regenerate, the Lord reveals Himself to us. We come to know and to depend upon His presence with us, when we pray to Him we do not seem to speak to empty air. We feel that He is with us, hears us, and can help us, and the reality of His presence grows more vivid as we advance in the way of His commandments—the way of eternal life.

But did not the Lord once dwell visibly upon the earth? Once indeed, as never before or since, He was present in the form of a man, as God incarnate, Jesus Christ. But He did not appear in His glory. His Deity was wonderfully and deeply veiled. He so accommodated Himself to our finiteness that no one's freedom was taken away. He came in such a humble guise that men did. not know Him. Those alone recognized Him who were interiorly attracted to Him by the spirit of His life and teachings. Others despised and rejected Him. Some even crucified Him.

And yet by this manifestation, so humble and lowly, so carefully guarded against all danger of compelling men against their wills to believe and obey Him, the infinite Father revealed Himself anew.

Men had lost all true knowledge of God. Spiritual darkness had come upon the earth. The Word had become falsified through the traditions of men. By means of His Advent He was again reinstated in the hearts and minds of all who freely loved Him and kept His precepts. From such His glory was not hidden. They saw His human nature filled more and more with the indwelling life of the Father until in the Ascension it became itself Divine and He could truly say, "All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18).

Today there are those who do not believe this. For He still is, as He always really has been, outwardly invisible. He is still like a man traveling into a far country. He conceals Himself naturally that we may know Him spiritually, and that by means of such knowledge we may, in the fullness of freedom and rationality, make that use of our talents which will enable us to "enter into the joy of our Lord."

193.I will come on thee as a thief. That this signifies an unexpected time of death, when all knowledges procured from the Word which have not acquired spiritual life will be taken away, is evident from the signification of I will come as a thief, when it is said of those who are not wakeful, that is, who do not procure for themselves spiritual life, as being that all such knowledges will be taken away from them. The reason why an unexpected time of death is also signified by the same words is, that death comes unexpectedly, and yet man, after death, remains in that state of life to eternity which he had procured for himself in the world; therefore he must be wakeful. Because it is known but to few, that all knowledges (cognitiones) procured from the Word which have not acquired spiritual life are taken away, it is therefore expedient to say how this is effected. All the things that are in a man's spirit remain with him to eternity; but the things that are not there, after death, when he becomes a spirit, are dissipated. Those things remain in his spirit which he had thought from himself, consequently which, when he was alone, he had thought from his own love; for then his spirit thinks from itself, and not from the things in his bodily memory which do not make one with his love.

There are two states of man, one when he thinks from his spirit, and the other when he thinks from his bodily memory; if these two states do not make one, a man can think one thing with himself, and think and speak another thing with others.

[2] For example, a preacher who loves himself and the world above all things, and lightly esteems the Divine, so that he even denies it in heart, and consequently devises evils of every kind with the crafty and deceitful of the world, nevertheless, when he speaks with others, especially when he is preaching, can speak as it were from zeal for the Divine and for Divine truths, and indeed on such occasions he can think in like manner; but this is a state of his thought from the bodily memory, which is evidently separated from the state of his thought from the spirit; for when he is left alone he thinks against them. This is the state which remains with man after death, whereas the former does not remain, because it belongs to his body and not to his spirit. Wherefore, when he becomes a spirit, as is the case when he dies, all the knowledge, which he had acquired from the Word, and which do not agree with the life of the love of his spirit, he rejects; but the case is different with those who, when left to themselves, think justly concerning the Divine, concerning the Word and the truths of the church therefrom, and love them, so as to desire to live according to them. The thoughts in the spirit of such persons make one with their thoughts from the bodily memory, thus one with the knowledges of truth and good which they have obtained from the Word; and so far as they do so, so far those knowledges obtain spiritual life; for they are raised up by the Lord from the external or natural man into the internal or spiritual man, and constitute the life of the latter, that is, of the understanding and will. The truths in the internal man are those which live, because they are Divine, and hence man has life in his internal from them. That this is the case, I have known from much experience; if I were to adduce the whole of it, it would fill many pages (something concerning it may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 491-498, 499-511; and above, n. 114).

[3] From these considerations it is now evident what is meant in the spiritual sense by I will come on thee as a thief, namely, that after death all knowledges procured from the Word which have not acquired spiritual life will be taken away. The same is also meant in the Apocalypse, where it is said,

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked" (16:15).

It is said as a thief, because evils and the falsities thence derived in the natural man take away and cast out the knowledges of truth and good which are therein from the Word; for the things which are not loved are cast out. There is in every man either the love of evil, and thence of falsity, or the love of good, and thence of truth; these two loves are opposed to each other, wherefore he who is in the one cannot be in the other;

"For no one can serve two masters," but will love the one and hate the other (Matthew 6:24).

[4] Because evils and falsities thence penetrate from the interior, and, as it were, break through the wall which is between the state of man's thought from the spirit and the state of his thought from the body, and cast out the knowledges of good and truth which have their abode outwardly in man, therefore those evils and falsities are what are meant by thieves. So also in the following passages. In Matthew:

"Lay not up treasures upon earth, but in heaven, where thieves do not break through nor steal" (6:19, 20).

Treasures are knowledges of truth and good; to lay them up in heaven is in the spiritual man, for the spiritual man is in heaven. (That treasures signify knowledges of truth and good, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 1694, 4508, 10227; and that the internal spiritual man is in heaven, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 36-50.)

[5] Again:

"Be wakeful, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord will come. Know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up" (24:42, 43).

By this is meant, that if a man knew the hour of his death, he would prepare himself, not indeed from the love of truth and good, but from the fear of hell; and whatever a man does from fear remains not with him, but what he does from love remains; therefore he must prepare himself continually (see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 143, 168).

[6] In Obadiah:

"If thieves come to thee, if destroyers by night, how wilt thou be cut off, will they not steal till they have enough?" (verse 5).

Here also falsities and evils are called thieves, and are said to steal; falsities are signified by thieves, and evils by destroyers by night; it is said by night, because night signifies a state in which there is neither love nor faith.

[7] In Joel:

"They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up into the houses, they shall enter in at the windows like a thief" (2:9).

The subject here treated of is the vastation of the church by falsities from evil; a city and a wall signify things of doctrine; houses and windows, things of the mind that receives; houses, that part of the mind which is called the will, where good is, and windows that part of the mind which is called the understanding, where truth is. (That city in the Word signifies doctrine, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 402, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493; that wall denotes the truth of doctrine protecting, n. 6419; that house denotes that part of the mind which is called the will, where good is, n. 2231, 2233, 2559, 3128, 5023, 6690, 7353, 7910, 7929, 9150; and that windows denote that part of the mind which is called the understanding, where truth is, n. 655, 658, 3391.) Hence it is evident what is signified by running on the wall, climbing up into the houses, and entering in at the windows like a thief.

[8] In Hosea:

"I healed Israel; then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the evils of Samaria; for they commit falsehood, and the thief cometh in, and the troop spreadeth itself without" (7:1).

The iniquity of Ephraim signifies the falsities of the understanding; and the wickedness of Samaria, the evils of the will; to commit falsehood, is to think and will falsity from evil; the thief signifies falsity taking away and dissipating truth; and the troop spreading itself without signifies evil casting out good. (That Ephraim is the understanding of such things as pertain to the church, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3969, 5354, 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267, 6296; that a lie denotes falsity from evil, n. 8908, 9248; that a troop denotes good casting out evil, and, in the opposite sense, evil casting out good, n. 3934, 3935, 6404, 6405.)

[9] These things are adduced, in order that it may be known that a thief in the Word signifies falsity laying waste, that is, taking away and destroying truth. It was shown above that after death all knowledges of truth and good from the Word, which have not been used to acquire spiritual life, are taken away, consequently from those who have not become spiritual by knowledges from the Word. The same thing is also signified by many passages in the historical parts of the Word; still no one can see this, unless he is acquainted with the spiritual sense of the Word. This is signified by the sons of Israel borrowing from the Egyptians vessels of gold, and vessels of silver, and garments, and thus taking them away as it were by theft; concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

They were commanded to borrow "of the Egyptians vessels of gold, and vessels of silver, and raiment. And Jehovah gave the people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them; and thus they spoiled the Egyptians" (Exodus 12:35, 36).

By the Egyptians are represented those who are merely natural, although they possess many knowledges (cognitiones); by the sons of Israel those who are spiritual; by vessels of silver and of gold, and also by raiment, are signified the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good which those who are spiritual apply to good, but which the natural apply to evil and thus destroy.

Similar things are signified by the nations being given up to the curse, and at the same time all things pertaining to them being either burnt with fire or pulled down, which are frequently treated of in the book of Joshua, and in the books of Samuel and of the Kings; for the nations of the land of Canaan represented those who are in evils and falsities, and the sons of Israel those who are in truths and goods.

[10] That the knowledges of good and truth derived from the Word are to be taken away from those who have not procured for themselves spiritual life, is also meant in the Lord's parables concerning the talents and pounds, given to the servants, with which to trade and make gain, and concerning the servant who traded not and gained nothing; of this one it is thus said:

To him who hid his talent in the earth, the lord said, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away that which he hath, and cast the useless servant into outer darkness (Matthew 25:14-30).

And in another place:

He came who had received one pound saying, "Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin." The Lord said, "Wherefore then gavest thou not my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? And he said, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. I say unto you, That unto every one that hath shall be given; but from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him" (Luke 19:13-26).

In these passages, talents, pounds, and money signify knowledges of truth and good from the Word. To trade with these, to gain by them, to give them to the exchangers, or into the bank, signifies, to procure to themselves spiritual life and intelligence by them; putting them away in the earth, and in a napkin, signifies that they are only in the memory of the natural man; of these it is therefore said that what they have shall be taken away from them, according to what has been explained in the beginning of this article.

[11] This is the case with all in the other life who have procured to themselves knowledges from the Word, and have not committed them to life, but only to memory. Those who have knowledges from the Word in the memory only, however numerous such knowledges may be, and have not committed them to life, remain still natural as before. To commit to life knowledges from the Word is to think from them when man, left to himself, thinks from his spirit, and to will them and do them; for this is to love truths because they are truths; and those who thus act, are those who become spiritual by means of knowledges from the Word.