Title: Daily and Yearly Preparation for Heaven
Topic: Salvation
Summary: The daily sacrifices, weekly sabbaths, and three annual feasts prescribed in the Old Testament are a picture of how to prepare for heaven.
Use the reference links below to follow along in the Bible as you watch.
References:
2 Peter 2:22, 10
Numbers 28:1
Exodus 23:14, 17
Leviticus 23:1, 5, 10, 33
Deuteronomy 16:1, 9, 13-14
Luke 6:1
Acts of the Apostles 2:1; 20:16
Nehemiah 8:13-14
Ezekiel 45:21, 25
Zechariah 14:16
John 7:2, 37
261 - Daily and Yearly Preparation for Heaven
By Jonathan S. Rose
Spirit and Life Bible Study broadcast from 5/4/2016. The complete series is available at: www.spiritandlifebiblestudy.com
Deuteronomy 15
1
At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.
2
And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it;he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD's release.
3
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;
4
Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it:
5
Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.
6
For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations,but they shall not reign over thee.
7
If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:
8
But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.
9
Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
10
Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.
11
For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
12
And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman , be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.
13
And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:
14
Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.
15
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.
16
And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee;
17
Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.
18
It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.
19
All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep.
20
Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thy God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, thou and thy household.
21
And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God.
22
Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart.
23
Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.
Arcana Coelestia #1607
1607. That 'for all the land which you see I will give to you' means the heavenly kingdom which was to be the Lord's is clear from the meaning of 'land' - the land of Canaan in this context since the words used are 'the land which you see' - as the heavenly kingdom. Indeed the land of Canaan represented the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, which is heaven, and also the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the Church. This meaning of 'land' has been discussed frequently already. That the kingdom in heaven and on earth was given to the Lord is clear from various places in the Word, as in Isaiah,
A Boy is born, a Son is given to us; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6.
In Daniel,
I saw in the night visions, and behold with the clouds of the heavens One like the Son of Man was coming, and He came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and languages will serve Him. His dominion is an eternal dominion which will not pass away, and His kingdom one that will not perish. Daniel 7:13-14.
The Lord Himself also says the same: in Matthew,
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father. Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22.
Elsewhere in Matthew,
[All] power in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Matthew 28:18.
In John,
You have given to the Son power over all flesh in order that all You have given Him, to them He may give eternal life. John 17:2-3.
And 'sitting on the right hand' has the same meaning, as in Luke,
From now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Luke 22:69.
[2] As regards all power in heaven and on earth being given to the Son of Man, it should be recognized that the Lord already had power over all things in heaven and on earth before He came into the world, for He was God from eternity and He was Jehovah, as He Himself plainly declares in John,
Now, Father, glorify Me in Your Own Self with the glory I had with You before the world was. John 17:5.
And in the same gospel,
Truly, Truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. 1 John 8:58.
In fact He was Jehovah and God to the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood, and was seen by them. He was also Jehovah and God to the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood; and He was the One whom all the religious observances of the Jewish Church represented, and the One they worshipped. The reason the Lord says that all power in heaven and on earth has been given to Him, as though it had not been His till then, is that 'the Son of Man' is used to mean His Human Essence which became Jehovah as well after it had been united to His Divine Essence. Power was given to Him at that point, which would not have been possible until He was glorified, that is, until His Human Essence as well, through union with the Divine Essence, had life in Itself and likewise became Divine and Jehovah, as He Himself declares in John,
As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26.
[3] It is His Human Essence or External Man that is named 'the Son of Man' in the passage quoted from Daniel, and 'a Boy born, a Son given to us' in the passage quoted from Isaiah. The fact that the heavenly kingdom would be given to Him, and all power in heaven and on earth, was shown and promised to Him then, and is the meaning of the statement 'all the land which you see I will give to you, and to your seed after you for ever'. This was before His Human Essence had been united to His Divine Essence, a union which took place when He had overcome the devil and hell, that is to say, when by His own strength and powers He had cast out all evil, which alone causes the severance.
Footnotes:
1. The Latin means I was, but the Greek means I am, which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse.
