New Christian Bible Study

Commentary

 

Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings

This list of Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings was originally compiled by W. C. Henderson in 1960 but has since been updated.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #622

Study this Passage

  
/ 853  
  

622. 1 The second experience.

All who have been prepared for heaven, a process which takes place in the world of spirits, half-way between heaven and hell, after some time has passed, sigh and long for heaven. Soon their eyes are opened, and they see a road leading towards some community in heaven. So they take this road and climb up; and on the ascent there is a gate with a guard at it. The guard opens the gate and so they go in.

Then an investigator comes to meet them, who gives them a message from the governor to go further in and search to see if anywhere there are houses which they recognise as their own; for there is a new house for every newly-arrived angel. If they find one, they report this and stay in it.

But if they do not find one, they come back and say they have not seen one. Then a wise man there checks to see whether the light that is in them agrees with the light in the community, and what is more important, whether their heat does. For the light of heaven is in its essence Divine truth, and the heat of heaven is in its essence Divine good, both of them proceeding from the Lord as the sun there. If the light and heat in them is different from that in the community, if, that is, the truth and good are different, they are not made welcome. So they go away and travel along roads which open up between communities in heaven; and they continue to travel until they find a community which exactly matches their affections, and there they live for ever. For there they are among their own people, as if among relations and friends, and they love them from the heart because they share the same affection. There they enjoy the whole bliss of their life and the pleasure which fills the whole breast coming from tranquillity of the soul. For the heat and light of heaven contain an inexpressible delight, which is shared. That is the lot of those who become angels.

[2] Those, however, who are subject to evils and falsities may get permission to go up to heaven, but on entering they begin to gasp and breathe with difficulty. Soon their sight becomes dim, their understanding is darkened and thought comes to a stop; it is as if death stared them in the face, and so they stand like blocks of wood. Then their heart begins to pound, their chest feels tight and their mind is desperately worried. Their pain becomes more and more severe, and in this condition they writhe like snakes placed on a hearth. So they roll away from this spot, and cast themselves over a precipice which then appears; and they do not rest until they are in hell with people like themselves, where they can draw breath and where their heart beats freely. After this they hate heaven and reject truth, in their hearts blaspheming against the Lord and believing Him responsible for the pain and torment they experienced in heaven.

[3] These few remarks will enable it to be seen what is the fate of those who treat as of no consequence the truths of faith that none the less constitute the light enjoyed by the angels of heaven, or the kinds of good which make up love and charity, despite the fact that they constitute the vital heat enjoyed by the angels of heaven. It can also be seen from this how erroneous is the view of those who believe that anyone can enjoy the blessedness of heaven, so long as he is allowed in. It is believed at the present time that it is nothing but mercy which secures admission to heaven, and that this is like someone in the world coming into a house where there is a wedding, and so at the same time joining in the joy and happiness there. They ought to know that in the spiritual world the affections of love and the thoughts they produce are shared with others, since a person is then a spirit, and the life of a spirit is the affection of love and the resulting thought. Affection of the same kind establishes a link, affection of different kinds causes separation. It is this difference in affection which causes torment to a devil in heaven, or an angel in hell. For this reason people are properly separated according to the diversities, varieties and differences in the affections which make up their love.

Footnotes:

1. This and the following section are repeated from Apocalypse Revealed 611.

  
/ 853  
  

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Conjugial Love #82

Study this Passage

  
/ 535  
  

82. After this a man came rushing from the northern zone in a rage, and looking at me with a threatening expression and speaking in a heated tone, he said, "You are the one who is trying to lead the world astray by establishing a New Church, which you take to be meant by the New Jerusalem that will come down out of heaven from God, and by teaching that people who embrace the doctrines of this church will be blessed by the Lord with truly conjugial love, whose delights and happiness you exalt to the sky! Is that not something you just made up? Are you not just saying it as a snare and inducement to get people to go along with your new ideas?

"Tell me in short, however, what these New Church doctrines are, and I will see whether they hang together or not."

So I replied, "The doctrines of the church that is meant by the New Jerusalem are as follows:

"1. There is one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and that God is the Lord Jesus Christ.

"2. Saving faith is to believe in Him.

"3. Evils must be abstained from because they are of the devil and from the devil.

"4. Good deeds must be done because they are of God and from God.

"5. These good deeds must be done by a person as though he were doing them from himself, but he must believe that they are from the Lord in him and by means of him."

[2] When he heard this, the man's rage subsided for several minutes. But after some consideration, he again looked at me with a fierce expression, saying, "These five precepts - are they doctrines of the faith and charity of the New Church?"

And I answered, "Yes."

Then he asked me gruffly, "How are you able to demonstrate the first one, that there is one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and that He is the Lord Jesus Christ?"

"I demonstrate it," I said, "in this way. Is God not one and indivisible? Is there not a Trinity? If God is one and indivisible, is He not one person? If He is one person, is the Trinity not in that person?

"That He is the Lord Jesus Christ I demonstrate by the following points: Jesus Christ was conceived by God the Father (Luke 1:34-35), so that in regard to His soul He was God. And therefore, as He Himself says, the Father and He are one (John 10:30). He is in the Father and the Father in Him (John 14:10-11). He who sees Him and knows Him, sees and knows the Father (John 14:7,9). No one sees and knows the Father but He who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18). All things belonging to the Father are His (John 3:35, 16:15). He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6), thus by Him, because the Father is in Him. And, according to Paul, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily (Colossians 2:9). And furthermore, He has authority over all flesh (John 17:2), and He has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).

"From all this it follows that He is God of heaven and earth."

[3] The man then asked how I demonstrate the second precept, that saving faith is to believe in Him.

"I demonstrate it," I said, "by these words of the Lord:

This is the will of the Father..., that everyone who...believes in (the Son) may have everlasting life. (John 6:39-40)

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16,15)

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; but he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)"

[4] After that he said, "Demonstrate as well the third precept, and the ones that follow."

Then I replied, "What need is there to establish that evils must be abstained from because they are of the devil and from the devil, that good deeds must be done because they are of God and from God, and that these good deeds must be done by a person as though he were doing them from himself, but that he must believe they are from the Lord in him and by means of him? The Holy Scripture from beginning to end attests throughout that these three precepts are true. What else does it teach in sum but to abstain from evils and do good deeds, and to believe in the Lord God?

"And besides, there is not any religion without these three precepts. Religion has to do with a way of life, does it not? And what is that life but to abstain from evils and do good deeds. How can a person do these things and believe in them unless he does so as though he were doing them from himself?

"If you dismiss these precepts from the church, therefore, you dismiss the Holy Scripture from the church, and you also dismiss religion. And if you dismiss these, the church is not a church."

On hearing these things, the man withdrew and considered them. But still he went away in annoyance.

  
/ 535  
  

Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

©2024 New Christian Bible Study Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed from newchristianbiblestudy.org