1. Dat het Woord van het Oude Testament verborgenheden van de hemel bevat, en dat zowel het geheel als elke bijzonderheid daarvan op de Heer betrekking heeft, op Zijn hemel, op de Kerk, op het geloof en de dingen van het geloof, kan geen sterveling uit de letter opmaken. Uit de letter of uit de letterlijke zin ziet niemand iets anders, dan dat het in het algemeen gaat over de uiterlijke dingen van de Joodse Kerk, terwijl er overal een innerlijke zin is, dat nergens in het uiterlijke aan het licht komt, behalve dan het zeer weinige dat de Heer onthuld heeft en aan de apostelen heeft ontvouwd; zo bijvoorbeeld, dat de offeranden de Heer betekenen, het land Kanaän en Jeruzalem en ook het Paradijs, de hemel betekenen, waarom dan ook van het hemelse Kanaän en Jeruzalem gesproken wordt.

Ouvir o áudio em uma nova janela

This week we introduce a new filter into the program which is, "Is it useful?" Something can be true, and can even be kind, but not actually useful to say. That's the focus - can we refrain from saying things that aren't actually useful? This filter is important as we try to bring heaven to earth because the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of uses. Things only exist if they have a use. There are no frivolous creations! When we speak, we too create, so let's make sure the things we create have a purpose.

(Referências: Arcana Coelestia 1, 4730; Ephesians 4:22-29; James 3:1-12; Matthew 12:33-37)

2176. 'Take quickly three measures of meal of fine flour, knead it, and make cakes' means the celestial existence of His love in that state. This is clear from the meaning of 'meal', 'fine flour', and 'a cake', dealt with in the paragraph immediately after this. That such matters are embodied here no one can possibly believe who fixes his mind on the literal sense, or sense of the words, even less if he fixes it on the historical events described by them; for he will be thinking not only about what Sarah was told to prepare but also about the men who came to Abraham and not about there being deeper things hidden within these descriptions. This is the reason why he is able to believe still less that arcana lie concealed in the historical sections of the Word as much as they do in prophetical parts. For historical descriptions draw the attention of the mind very much to themselves and obscure the things that are interior. Nevertheless the fact that arcana are present within those descriptions, hidden deeply within them, becomes clear from the single consideration that it is the Lord's Word, which has been written not only for man's benefit but at the same time for heaven's as well. Indeed it has been written in such a way that when man reads it, angels at the same time gain heavenly ideas from it; so that by means of the Word heaven is joined to the human race. What 'meal', 'fine flour', and 'cakes' are used to mean in the internal sense follows next.