293. (Verse 11) Saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power. That this signifies merit and justice pertaining to the Divine Human of the Lord, and that from it is all Divine truth, Divine good and salvation, is evident from the signification of thou art worthy, O Lord, as being the merit and justice pertaining to the Lord's Divine Human, concerning which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of glory and honour, when said of the Lord, as being Divine truth and Divine good which are from Him (concerning which see above, n. 288); and from the signification of power as being salvation. The reason why power here signifies salvation is that all Divine power respects salvation as an end; for a man is reformed, and afterwards introduced into heaven, and is there withheld from evil and falsity and held in good and truth, from the Divine power; and this no one can do but the Lord alone. Those who claim that power to themselves, are entirely ignorant of what salvation means, for they do not know what reformation is, nor what constitutes heaven with man; and to claim to themselves the Lord's power, is to claim power over the Lord Himself, which power is called the power of darkness (Luke 22:53).

[2] That power, when said of the Lord, has chiefly respect to salvation, is evident from the following passages, as in John:

Jesus said, "Father thou hast given" to the Son "power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him" (17:2).

Again:

"As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (1:12).

Again:

"I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing" (15:5).

In Mark:

"They were astonished at his doctrine; for he taught them as one having authority" (1:22).

And in Luke:

"With authority and power he commandeth the unclean Spirits, and they come out" (4:36).

The same may be seen in many other passages.

The Lord also has power over all things, because He is God alone; but the salvation of the human race is the principal object of power, because for the sake of that the heavens and all worlds were created, and salvation is the reception of the Divine proceeding.

[3] The reason why by thou art worthy, O Lord, is signified the merit and justice which pertain to the Lord's Divine Human is that the words signify that He merited; and the merit of the Lord consists in the circumstance that when He was in the world He subjugated the hells and reduced to order all things in the heavens, and that He glorified His Human, and this from His own power, and thus saved all the human race who believe in Him, that is, who love to do His precepts (see John 1:12, 13). This merit is also called justice in the Word, and the Lord as to His Divine Human is thence called Jehovah our Justice (Jeremiah 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16). (Concerning this merit, or this justice of the Lord, more may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 293, 294; and in the references to Arcana Coelestia there, n. 300-306).

246. FROM THE ARCANA COELESTIA.

The church exists specifically where the Word is, and where the Lord is thereby known, and thus where Divine truths are revealed (n. 3857, 10761). Still they who are born where the Word is, and where the Lord is thereby known, are not of the church, but they who are regenerated by the Lord by the truths of the Word, that is, they who live the life of charity (n. 6637, 10143, 10153, 10578, 10645, 10829). They who are of the church, or in whom the church is, are in the affection of truth for the sake of truth, that is, they love truth because it is truth; and they examine from the Word whether the doctrinals of the church in which they were born are true (n. 5432, 6047). Otherwise the truth possessed by everyone would be derived from another, and from his native soil (n. 6047).

The church of the Lord is with all in the whole world who live in good according to their religious principles (n. 3263, 6637, 10765). All who live in good wherever they are, and acknowledge one God, are accepted by the Lord and come into heaven; since all who are in good acknowledge the Lord, because good is from the Lord, and the Lord is in good (n. 2589-2604, 2861, 2862, 3263, 4190, 4197, 6700, 9256). The universal church on earth before the Lord is as one man (n. 7396, 9276). As heaven is, because the church is heaven or the kingdom of the Lord on earth (n. 2853, 2996, 2998, 3624-3629, 3636-3643, 3741-3745, 4625). But the church, where the Lord is known and where the Word is, is like the heart and lungs in man in respect to the other parts of the body, which live from the heart and lungs as from the fountains of their life (n. 637, 931, 2054, 2853). Hence it is, that unless there were a church where the Word is, and where the Lord is thereby known, the human race could not be saved (n. 468, 637, 931, 4545, 10452). The church is the foundation of heaven (n. 4060).

The church is internal and external (n. 1242, 6587, 9375, 9680, 10762). The internal of the church is love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbor. Thence they who are in the affection of good and truth from love to the Lord and from charity towards the neighbor, constitute the internal church; and they who are in external worship from obedience and faith, constitute the external church (n. 1083, 1098, 4288, 6380, 6587, 7840, 8762). To know truth and good, and to act from thence, is the external of the church, but to will and love truth and good, and to act from thence, is the internal of the church (n. 4899, 6775). The internal of the church is in the worship of those who are of the external church, although in obscurity (n. 6775). The internal and external church make one church (n. 409, 10762). Man has an internal and an external, an internal after the image of heaven, and an external after the image of the world; and therefore, in order that the man may be a church, his external must act in unity with his internal (n. 3628, 4523-4524, 6057, 6314, 9706, 10472). The church is in the internal of man and at the same time in the external, but not in the external without the internal (n. 1795[1-2], 6580, 10691). The internal of the church is according to truths and their quality, and according to their implantation in good by life (n. 1238).

The church like heaven is in man, and thus the church in general consists of the men in whom the church is (n. 3884). In order that a church may exist, there must be the doctrine of life, that is, the doctrine of charity (n. 3445, 10763-10764). Charity makes the church, and not faith separated from charity (n. 916). Consequently, not the doctrine of faith separated from charity, but the doctrine of faith conjoined therewith, and a life conformable to it (n. 809, 1798-1799, 1834, 1844, 4468, 4672, 4689, 4766, 5826, 6637). The church is not with man, unless the truths of doctrine are implanted in the good of charity with him, thus in the life (n. 3310, 3963, 5826). There is no church with man, if he is only in the truths, which are called the truths of faith (n. 5826). How much good would be in the church, if charity were in the first place and faith in the second (n. 6269). And how much evil, if faith is in the first place (n. 6272). In the ancient churches charity was the principal and essential of the church (n. 4680). The church would be like heaven, if all had charity (n. 2385, 2853). If good were the characteristic of the church, and not truth without good, thus if charity were its characteristic, and not faith separate, the church would be one, and differences with respect to the doctrinals of faith, and external worship, would be accounted as nothing (n. 1285, 1316, 2982, 3267, 3445, 3451).

Every church begins from charity, but declines therefrom in process of time (n. 494, 501, 1327, 3773, 4689). Thus to falsities from evil, and at length to evils (n. 1834-1835, 2910, 4683, 4689). A comparison of the church at its beginning and decline with the infancy and old age of man (n. 10134). And also with the rising and the setting of the sun (n. 1837). Concerning the successive states of the Christian Church even to its last state; wherein are explained the particulars which the Lord foretold concerning "the consummation of the age," and His "coming," in Matt. chap. 24 from the beginning to the end (n. 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3751-3757, ¹ 3897-3901, 4057-4060, 4229-4231, 4332-4335, 4422-4424, 4635-4638, 4807-4810, 4954-4959, 5063-5071). The Christian church is at this day in its last states, there being no faith therein because there is no charity (n. 3489, 4689). The Last Judgment is the last time of the church (n. 2118, 3353, 4057, 4333, 4535). Of the vastation of the church (n. 407-411). The consummation of the age and the coming of the Lord is the last time of the old church and the beginning of the new (n. 2243, 4535, 10622). When the old church is vastated, interior truths are revealed for the service of the new church which is then established (n. 3398, 3786). Concerning the establishment of the church with the Gentiles (n. 1366, 2986, 4747, 9256).

Footnotes:

2861. That 'so it was, after these events' means the things that had been accomplished in regard to those within the Church is clear from the meaning of 'words' as real things. In the original language real things are called 'words', so that 'after these events' means the things that had been accomplished. The subject in what has gone before, from verse 13 to the present verse, has been the salvation of those who are spiritual by the Lord's Divine Human, and indeed of those who are endowed with good within the Church. These are ones who are able to be truly spiritual because they possess the Word and so the truths of faith. It is by means of the truths of doctrine joined to goodness of life that a person becomes spiritual. Everything spiritual originates in these when joined together. But gentiles outside the Church, because they do not possess the Word nor thus the truths of faith as long as they are in the world, even though the good of charity exists with them, are not truly spiritual until they have been taught the truths of faith. And because most gentiles in the world are not able to be taught, those who have led charitable and obedient lives one with another are, in the Lord's providence and mercy, taught in the next life. At that time they accept the truths of faith without difficulty and become spiritual. For such is the state and condition of gentiles in the next life, see 2589-2604.

[2] Since those within the Church who are saved by the Lord's Divine Human have been the subject in what has gone before, the subject in what follows from here to the end of the chapter is therefore those outside the Church who are saved. These are meant by the sons who were born to Nahor, Abraham's brother, by Milkah his wife and by Reumah his concubine. This also follows in the sequence of thought. Anyone who is unacquainted with the internal sense of the Word would imagine that these words merely presented the family-tree of the house of Terah, given on account of Rebekah, who became the wife of Isaac, and also on account of Bethuel, whose two granddaughters, Leah and Rachel, became the wives of Jacob. But in fact, as has often been stated and shown, all names in the Word mean real things, 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888. And unless they meant real things the Word would not be Divine but worldly. From this it may also become clear that the words which follow have regard in the train of thought to the Lord's spiritual Church, but that Church as it exists among gentiles. It was traced back through Nahor, Abraham's brother, so as to mean those who exist in a brotherly relationship by virtue of good, as shown below in 2863.