属天的奥秘 #9198
9198. “任何寡妇” 表那些拥有没有真理的良善, 却渴望真理的人. 这从 “寡妇” 的含义清楚可知,
“寡妇” 是指没有真理的良善, 却渴望真理.
“寡妇” 之所以具有这种含义, 是因为 “男人” 表示真理, 他的 “妻子” 表示良善; 因此, 当男人的妻子成为寡妇时, 她表示没有真理的良善. 不过, 就更内在的意义而言,
“寡妇” 表示没有良善的真理; 原因在于, 就这层意义而言,
“丈夫” 表示良善, 他的 “妻子” 表示真理 (参看3236, 4510, 4823节). 就这层意义而言, 主凭祂的神性良善而被称为 “丈夫” 和 “新郎”; 而祂的国度和教会则凭对从主发出的神性真理的接受而被称为 “妻子” 和 “新妇” (9182节). 但由于现在论述的主题不是主的属天教会, 而是祂的属灵教会, 所以 “寡妇” 表示拥有良善, 却没有真理, 却渴望真理的人.
“孤儿” 也是这样. 就至内在或属天意义而言,
“孤儿” 表示那些拥有良善, 渴望真理的人. 关于属天意义上的 “寡妇” 和 “孤儿”, 可参看前面所引用和解释的章节 (4844节). 对此, 补充主在路加福音中关于撒勒法的寡妇所说的话:
我实在告诉你们, 没有先知在自己家乡被人悦纳的. 我对你们说实话, 当以利亚的日子, 天闭塞了三年零六个月, 遍地有大饥荒, 那时, 以色列中有许多寡妇, 以利亚并没有奉差往她们一个人那里去, 只奉差往西顿的撒勒法一个妇人, 一个寡妇那里去.(路加福音 4:24-26)
由于主所说的一切话, 都是从神性说的, 所以祂的话有一个内义, 此处在内义上所论述的主题是主自己, 以及祂的国度和教会. 因此, 就这层意义而言, 主论及西顿撒勒法寡妇的话, 一旦被解开, 主的意思是什么就显而易见了.
“没有先知在自己家乡被人悦纳的” 表示主与来自祂的神性真理在教会之内还不如在教会之外被人从心里接受和热爱. 主的这些话是对犹太人说的, 那时, 教会就存在于他们当中; 众所周知, 主在那里还不如教会之外的外邦人受欢迎. 如今, 以祂而取名为基督教会的教会也是这种情形. 在这个教会, 主的确在教义上被人接受; 然而, 很少有人以内心的承认来接受祂, 更很少有人以爱和情感来接受祂. 已经皈依的教会之外的外邦人对祂的接受则不同. 这些人把祂当作自己的独一神来敬拜和崇拜; 他们既在嘴上宣称, 也在心里思想, 他们承认祂是他们的神, 因为祂以一个人的形式显现 (5256节). 教会里的情形正好相反. 在教会, 就因祂生而为一个人, 所以几乎没有人从心里承认祂是神. 他们认为祂的人性就像他们自己的人性, 尽管他们知道祂的父是耶和华, 并不是一个人. 由此明显可知,
“没有先知在自己家乡被人悦纳的” 在内义上表示什么. 就内义而言,
“先知” 表示神性真理, 因而教会教义方面的主.
“先知” 表示施行教导的人, 在抽象意义上表示教义, 当论及主时, 表示神性真理或圣言 (参看9188节的末尾节).
“当以利亚的日子, 以色列中有许多寡妇” 在内义上表示那时在教会, 对来自圣言的神之真理的承认状态. 因为如前所述,
“寡妇” 是指那些拥有没有真理的良善之人;
“以利亚” 是指圣言方面的主;
“以利亚的日子” 是指那时对来自圣言的神之真理的接受情况或状态.
“以利亚” 代表圣言方面的主 (参看创世记 18章序言2762, 5247节的末尾,8029节);
“日子” 是指状态 (893, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, 6110, 8426节);
“以色列” 是指教会 (4286, 6426, 6637, 8805节).
“天闭塞了三年零六个月” 表示内在教会完全荒废; 因为 “天” 表示教会的内在;
“三年零六个月” 表示完全.
“天” 表示教会的内在 (参看1733, 1850, 3355, 4535节); 当教会的内在被荒废, 不复存在时, 就说天 “关闭” 了.
“三年零六个月” 表示完全, 这一点从启示录 (11:3; 12:6) 中 “1260天 (这些天数等于三年零六个月)” 的含义清楚看出来,
“1260天” 是指完全, 或直到结束. 这一点同样从启示录 (11:9-11) 中 “三天半” 的含义, 以及启示录 (12:14) 和但以理书 (12:7) 书中的 “一载二载半载” 的含义清楚看出来, 它们是指完全, 或直到结束.
“遍地有大饥荒” 表示外在教会也荒废了; 因为 “饥荒” 是指真理和良善的缺乏和荒凉 (3364, 5277, 5279, 5281, 5300, 5360, 5376, 5415, 5576, 6110, 7102节);
“地” (land或earth) 是指外在教会 (1262, 1413, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118节的末尾,3355, 4535, 5577, 8011, 8732节).
“以利亚并没有奉差往她们一个人那里去” 表示圣言方面的主, 因而主的圣言, 并没有奉差到其他人那里去, 因为别的地方不会接待祂;
“以利亚” 是指圣言方面的主, 如前所述.
“只奉差往西顿的撒勒法一个妇人, 一个寡妇那里去” 表示只到那些拥有良善并渴望真理的人那里去. 经上之所以说 “西顿的撒勒法”, 是因为 “西顿” 表示关于良善和真理的认知或知识 (1201节).
“一个妇人, 一个寡妇” 是指一个拥有良善并渴望真理的人, 这一点从刚才所述, 尤其从列王纪上中关于她的记载明显看出来:
以利亚往西顿的撒勒法去, 到一个妇人, 一个寡妇那里, 她供养以利亚. 以利亚对她说, 取点水来给我喝, 也随手拿点饼来给我. 她说, 她坛内只有一把面, 瓶里只有一点油, 要为她和她儿子做糕饼. 以利亚说, 先为我做一个小糕饼, 拿来给我, 然后为你和你的儿子做糕饼. 妇人就照行; 坛内的面没有用完, 瓶里的油也不缺短.(列王纪上 17:9-16)
她照先知的吩咐给先知水, 然后用自己仅有的一点面先为先知做糕饼, 然后为她自己和儿子来做, 就表示顺服, 以及良善对真理的渴望;
“坛内的面没有用完, 瓶里的油也不缺短” 表示她由此而富有真理之良善; 因为就内义而言,
“水” 是指真理 (2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, 8568节);
“面” 是指源于良善的真理 (2177节);
“油” 是指爱之良善 (886, 4582, 4638节); 用这些原料所做的 “糕饼” 是指与自己的良善结合的真理 (7978节). 由此清楚可知,
“寡妇” 表示拥有良善, 渴望真理的人. 良善及其对真理的渴望通过她对先知的仁爱来描述, 这仁爱比对她自己和她儿子的还要大.
“先知” 是指真理的教义, 如前所示.
由此明显可知圣言是何性质, 即: 它隐藏了天堂的奥秘在自己里面, 这奥秘在文字上是看不到的. 然而, 主在世时所说的话, 以及降世之前通过先知所说的话, 其每一个细节都包含完全在字义之上的一个层级上的天上神性事物. 不仅每句话都包含这些事物, 而且这些话的每一个字, 甚至每一个字的一点一划都是如此. 但有谁相信这是真的呢? 然而, 这是一个千真万确的事实; 对此, 我已经拿走充分且无可置疑的证据, 蒙主的神性怜悯, 我将在别处说明这一点.
Apocalypse Explained #1
1. APOCALYPSE. CHAPTER 1.
[Note: The text from the Book of Revelation is shown first, followed by an explanation of its meaning.]
1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave Him to show unto His servants the things which must quickly come to pass, and signified, sending by His angel, unto His servant John.
2. Who bare witness to the Word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatsoever things he saw.
3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear, the words of the prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein; for the time is near.
4. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you, and peace, from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven spirits which are in sight of His throne;
5. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the Firstborn from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loveth us, and washeth us from our sins in His blood;
6. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father: to Him be the glory and the might unto the ages of the ages. Amen.
7. Behold, He cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth shall lament over Him. Even so; Amen.
8. I am the Alpha and the Omega, Beginning and End, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
9. I, John, who also am your brother and partaker in the affliction and in the kingdom and patient expectation of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, 1 for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
10. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day; and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
11. Saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last; and what thou seest write in a book, and send to the churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and Smyrna, and Pergamum, and Thyatira, and Sardis, and Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
12. And I turned to see the voice which spake with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands,
13. And in the midst of the seven lampstands one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at the paps with a golden girdle.
14. And His head and hairs white as white wool, as snow: and His eyes as a flame of fire.
15. And His feet like unto burnished brass, as if glowing in a furnace; and His voice as the voice of many waters.
16. And having in His right hand seven stars; and out of His mouth a sharp two-edged sword going forth; and His face as the sun shineth in his power.
17. And when I saw Him I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the First and the Last;
18. And the Living One; and I became dead; and behold I am alive unto the ages of the ages, Amen: and I have the keys of hell and of death.
19. Write the things which thou sawest, and the things which are, and the things which are to be hereafter.
20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven lampstands which thou sawest are the seven churches.
1. Many have expounded this prophetical book called Revelation, but none of them understood the internal or spiritual sense of the Word. They have therefore applied the particular things in the book to the successive states of the church, which they have learned from histories; many things, moreover, they have applied to civil affairs. For this reason those expositions are for the most part conjectures, which can never appear in such light that they can be affirmed as truths. As soon, therefore, as they are read, they are put aside as speculations. The expositions of Revelation now extant are of this character, because, as has been said, their authors had no knowledge of the internal or spiritual sense of the Word. Yet, in fact, all things recorded in Revelation are written in a style similar to that of the Old Testament prophecies, and to the style, in general in which everything in the Word is written. The Word in the letter is natural, but in its bosom it is spiritual; and being such, it contains within it a sense that is not at all apparent in the letter. How the one sense differs from the other may be seen from what is said and shown in the small work on the The White Horse and in the appendix there from the Arcana Coelestia. 2
Voetnoten:
1. The Photolithograph has in every case "Parmos" for "Patmos."
2. [NCBS note: We have added links to the beginnings of the works referred to by Swedenborg in the last sentence of this section. The link to the "appendix" appears to be a reference to the appendix in The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, which begins at section n. 255. See Heaven and Hell 73, 305 as places where similar, and more specific, references are made.
