New Christian Bible Study

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #791

Study this Passage

  
/ 853  
  

791. NOTE

After the completion of this book, the Lord called together His twelve disciples, who had followed Him in the world; and a day later He sent them all forth throughout the spiritual world to preach the Gospel, that the Lord God Jesus Christ is king, and His kingdom shall be for ever and ever, as foretold by Daniel (Daniel 7:13-14) and in Revelation (Revelation 11:15):

Blessed are they who come to the wedding supper of the Lamb, Revelation 19:9.

This happened on the nineteenth of June in the year 1770. This was meant by the Lord's saying:

He will send his angels, and they will gather together His chosen people from the bounds of the heavens on one side as far as the bounds of the heavens on the other, Matthew 24:31.

  
/ 853  
  

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

The Bible

 

Matthew 24:31

Study

       

31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

On the Athanasian Creed #2

  
/ 220  
  

2. It is the doctrine of the Church that the above passage treats of the Coming of the Lord. Thence it is that there have been opened, by the Lord, arcana 1 concerning heaven and hell, man's life after death, the Word and the last judgment. All these things have been written down in the Latin language and sent to all the Archbishops and Bishops of this kingdom [of Great Britain] and to the Nobility. So far, not a voice has been heard. This is a sign that the things which pertain to heaven and the Church do not affect them interiorly. It also shows that it is now the very end of the Church and indeed that the Church no longer exists. For the Church exists where the Lord is worshipped and the Word is read with enlightenment. 2 . . . Summaries of the truth presented in the little works referred to may be seen at the end of this work.

Footnotes:

1. Secret; hidden things: from Latin, arcanum (plural, arcana).

2. Similar passages in the Writings referring to the Church being "where the Lord is worshipped and the Word is read" are to be found, for example in:

Arcana Coelestia 10761: "That is called the Church where the Lord is acknowledged and where the Word is."

Apocalypse Explained 252:2: "The Church specificially is where the Word is and where the Lord is known through the Word."

The Last Judgment 55: "... for the Church exists where the Lord is worshipped and the Word is read."

The meaning of the last phrase in the Latin text, however, is obscure. It may have been a note written by Swedenborg to remind himself of a point to be amplified when he came to write the work in full, perhaps a reference to the need for self-examination as the fundamental of actual repentance (True Christian Religion 528), repentance being the first thing of the Church with man (True Christian Religion 510), and the need for regular self-examination (Conjugial Love 529 and Apocalypse Revealed 224:6). - Tr.

  
/ 220  
  

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

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