"Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 3:3

Additional readings: Isaiah 1:1-20

In the childhood of the human race, before men had departed from right ways of life, heaven was near to them. They could be led directly by the Lord, for their hearts and minds were open to him. Of this Golden Age of the human race it is written, "Man walked with God." But we have all read in the history of the human race as revealed in the Scripture the account of how many departed from the way of life and, following the devices of his own heart, closed his mind to the direct reception of goodness and truth from the Lord, until finally he reached a state in which all true knowledge of God and heaven was lost.

Then the Lord came to bring salvation to mankind, and preparation for His reception was made through John the Baptist, the messenger sent in fulfillment of a prophecy given centuries before. John’s message is our text: "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And when John was put to death, and the Lord began His active ministry in the world, the words of our text were also His first message. For He came to make clear the way of life, and wrong ideas held possession of the minds of men then, as they do of many minds today.

It is not by chance that this first message turns our thoughts to heaven. The purpose of our creation is that we may so live that we shall find our homes in heaven. Belief in heaven had been lost, along with the knowledge about it. And today belief in heaven is for the most part vague, and many think that eternal life does not mean personal existence in the spiritual world, but only the persistence of one’s influence in this world. Great men like Homer, Plato, Moses, Shakespeare, Gladstone, Lincoln, Pasteur, and many others perpetuate themselves in the influence they exert in the minds of living men. This, they say, is what is meant by immortality, by everlasting life. But we should realize that this type of everlasting life is open to the evil as well as to the good. A Diocletian may be remembered forever as well as the beloved Apostle. We need to know the truth that men and women, as individuals, live forever after death in the spiritual world.

But this is not the implication of the text which I have chosen for consideration this morning." The kingdom of heaven is at hand." We know that heaven is not in some remote part of the natural sky, that we cannot say, "Lo, here, or Lo, there" (Luke 17:21). But we are still apt to think of it as far away. We are also inclined to think of it as remote in time. We speak commonly of the "future" world. In the thought of some even, it lies at the indefinitely remote time, when they expect a general resurrection along with others; death is the gateway of heaven, but heaven still seems too distant to be of much practical and present interest.

But the truth is that heaven is far away neither in space nor in time. It is here, it is now, it is "at hand." We live in it now, or we may do so. It is a present reality, the most real and the most important element of the life we are now living. When we speak of heaven, and of living for heaven, we are not, as some charge, setting our hearts on something far away, and despising the real world in which we now are. If one lives for a far-off heaven — and no doubt some have lived so — he may be careless of this world’s joys and sorrows, of opportunities for usefulness, keeping his eyes fixed on some vision of the future. But we may live for heaven and still live thoroughly in the present. We ought to value heaven as the most real of present realities. The Gospel is true: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand."

We are taught in the New Church that heaven is essentially a state of human feeling, thought and life, a state in which love to the Lord and love to the neighbor are the ruling motives. We are taught that no outward paradise which could be made by human or by Divine skill would be a heaven if those affections were absent from the heart, that there is no real or lasting satisfaction except in the exercise of these affections. It follows that we can come into heaven in this world, and live in heaven while we live on earth, for we may learn here to love the Lord and one another, and to find our chief enjoyment in the exercise of these heavenly loves.

But this is an abstract way of speaking. Concretely, heaven is not merely a heavenly state in ourselves; it is the great world of human beings who are living in that state, those people in whose hearts are heavenly affections, whose minds are bright with spiritual light, and whose hands are busy with heavenly works. There are many such people in this world. There are countless more who have gone from the earth to the spiritual world, and are there living the same good life under freer and happier conditions. All these people are heaven.

When we have love to the Lord and the neighbor in ourselves, we are brought spiritually near to those in like affections, both of this world and of the spiritual world. It is not a figure of speech when we say that heaven is about us when we are in heavenly states. It is a literal and positive fact. Heaven is so really around us at such times that if it were granted to us, as it was to Elisha’s servant and to others in Bible days to have our spiritual eyes opened, we should see the angels who are our companions and the beautiful land in which they dwell. Among them we should see and recognize some who were dear to us on earth, who still love and help us, and there would be some whom we had not known before but who would from the first glance seem to us as old friends, because they have similar desires and thoughts. And we should recognize them as the source of our happiness.

The Lord created the world and all things in it. All things in the world were made for man to use and enjoy, from the very materials of the earth to all the myriad things of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, the beast of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea. For man’s needs of food, clothing, shelter, for gratification of his senses, and the improvement of his mind these things were made. All these were created and given to man for blessings. But they are subject to one important condition: man must indeed labor to make these things of service to himself, but he must also use them in the service of others. Only so can he have any security or peace. The world of nature and of human beings is not for one man, or a few men, or a nation to control or exploit. Indeed we cannot rightly claim sovereignty over ourselves. We need the guidance of the Lord. And whatever under the Divine Providence we have been able to acquire, whether of material wealth, or of skill, or of learning, we did not acquire it by our unaided efforts. Our daily knowledge of the happenings in the world, our libraries, our schools are made possible by the labor of mind and body of other men and women, great or humble, living or dead. We depend on others and they on us, and life and security today, as always, depend upon the honesty and good will of the community in which we live.

Yet we should also realize that behind the labors and sufferings and the honesty and good will of men stands the Lord. Through His power alone man achieves progress. It is a law of the Divine Providence that man must act in freedom according to reason. This applies to the life of nations as well as to the life of individuals. But the Lord is present and operative always.

For infinitely wise and good reasons, the Lord does not draw the veil aside for us and allow us to see the heavenly world. Some argue that if only they could see heaven, they would believe in it. But to see that world as an outward, objective reality would destroy our freedom. We should be lured by its outward attractiveness, and it would be less possible for us to come into its true spirit.

When we are living in selfish and evil affections, we are in hell. Not only is hell within us at such times but it is also about us, not by a figure of speech, but actually. We are breathing its poisoned atmosphere and, if our eyes were opened, we should see the forms and faces of those who find their life in evil and who exult in influencing others to evil. Why, at least then, does the Lord not draw the veil aside and show us the terribleness of evil? The sight might for the moment frighten us, but we should be less able to shun evil freely because it is evil, and our power to escape permanently from it would be greatly lessened.

If we are tempted to question the Lord’s Providence in not revealing to us more openly the conditions of the good and evil in the spiritual world, we do well to remember His words, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them….If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead" (Luke 16:29-31).

The Lord said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). We should seek those good things which endure forever, and should not sacrifice them for the sake of money or health or life itself. To acquire love to the Lord and to the neighbor is the only thing worth living for. Our business dealings should have as their motive the love of use, of service to others. The most necessary thing in making a home is having in it the sunshine of heaven. The only absolute requirement for our happiness as we go to and fro in the ways of the world is that heaven shall go with us. This is to live for heaven, and yet to live must fully in the present. This is the practical meaning of living for heaven.

It may be stated still more simply. Heaven is not heaven from locality, neither is it heaven from anything which belongs to the angels as their own. It is heaven from what is received from the Lord into the lives and hearts of the angels. To be near the Lord, not in place merely, but in heart, to feel the protection and peace of His presence is heaven. Heaven is being near to the Lord and keeping near to Him. There is no other heaven for men or angels.

"The kingdom of heaven is at hand." When John first spoke this message, the kingdom of heaven was in a special sense at hand, because the Lord had come to live with men and to make Himself accessible to them. A power to heal and bless went forth from the Lord during His life on earth. Men obsessed felt his saving power and sat at His feet clothed and in their right mind.

At the Transfiguration Peter said, "Lord, it is good for us to be here" (Matthew 17:4, Mark 9:5, Luke 9:33). In following the Lord, in hearing His Word and in doing His work, they were tasting of heaven. But we need to note that the mere physical nearness of the Lord did not make heaven. Some cried out with fear at His approach. It was not heaven to them. It was not heaven to those who followed Him to accuse and to betray Him. His presence was a blessing only to those who in some measure drew near to Him in spirit.

Even in the Lord’s coming on earth the kingdom of heaven was not forced on me. It was made accessible to them; it was brought within their reach.

It is brought within our reach. Just as there is no royal road to knowledge, there is no royal road to heaven. We must cease to do evil before we can learn to do well. Repentance, the willingness to recognize and acknowledge our faults and weaknesses and to struggle to overcome them opens the door. Heavenly life comes into the soul when selfish desires are replaced by kindly thoughts and the desire to serve. The Lord tell us to seek these heavenly virtues now, not for the sake of honor for ourselves, but that we may be really kind and helpful to others, that our lives may have something of the Lord’s love in them. Then we shall find that life here makes one with heavenly life, and that our Heavenly Father is the Source of happiness in both alike.

5897. 'To establish for you a remnant on the earth' means the middle and inmost part of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'a remnant' as forms of good coupled with truths and inwardly stored away by the Lord in a person, dealt with in 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 1050, 1906, 2284, 5135, 5342; in this case the middle and inmost part of the Church is meant. The description 'middle and inmost part' is used because what is inmost in a person occupies the middle of the natural, where inmost things and relatively internal ones coexist. In general, where there is a series of things following one another consecutively, and another series in which they spread out and coexist, as they do in the natural, the inmost of that series are one and the same as those in the middle or centre of the second series. Such is the way that inmost things arrange themselves within more external ones. 'To establish for you a remnant on the earth 'implies that an inmost part of the Church will exist among the sons of Jacob. Not that they themselves were to be in that inmost part but that a representative of the Church, to all outward appearance a real Church, was to be established among them, where also the Word was to exist. These are the things that are meant by 'a remnant' when the expression refers to the Church understood separately from the nation.

[2] Reference is made in various places in the Word to 'the remnant', and also to 'the ones who are left'; but so far these two expressions have been taken in a purely literal way to mean a remnant or those that are left of a people or nation. The fact that forms of good and truth stored away by the Lord in the interior man are meant in the spiritual sense has remained totally unknown till now. Examples of this meaning occur in the following places:

In Isaiah,

On that day the branch of Jehovah will be honour and glory, and the fruit of the land will be magnificence and an adornment for the escape of Israel. And it will happen, that he who remains in Zion, and he who is left in Jerusalem, will be called holy, everyone who has been written for life in Jerusalem. Isaiah 4:2-3.

Those who remained in Zion and those who were left in Jerusalem were never made holy, nor were they 'written for life' any more than anyone else. Plainly therefore 'those who remained' and 'those who were left' mean things that are holy and that have been 'written for life'; and these things are forms of good joined to truths that have been stored away by the Lord in the interior man.

[3] In the same prophet,

On that day, the remnant of Israel and those of the house of Jacob that escaped will no more lean on him that smote them; but they will lean on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the God of power. Isaiah 10:20-22.

'The remnant' is not used to mean the remnant of any people or nation, as may be recognized from the fact that in the Word, especially the prophetical part, 'Israel' has not been used to mean Israel, or 'Jacob' to mean Jacob; both are used to mean the Church and what constitutes the Church. This being so, 'the remnant' is not used to mean a remnant of Israel and Jacob but the truths and forms of good that constitute the Church. When the expressions 'remnant of the people' and 'those left of the nation' are used they do not mean a remnant of any people or those that are left of any nation, for 'people' in the internal sense means truths, 1259, 1260, 3295, 3581, and 'nation' forms of good, 1259, 1260, 1416. The reason why this has remained unknown and seems strange - that 'a remnant' means truths and forms of good - is that the literal sense, especially where it takes the form of history, draws the mind away and powerfully withholds it from contemplating such ideas.

[4] In the same prophet,

Then there will be a highway for the remnant of the people, which will be left from Asshur, as there was for Israel through the sea when they came up out of the land of Egypt.

In a similar way 'those left from Asshur' are people who have not been corrupted by means of perverted reasonings; for 'Asshur' means such reasonings, see 1186. In the same prophet,

On that day Jehovah Zebaoth will be a crown of adornment and a tiara of beauty for the remnant of His people. Isaiah 18:5.

In the same prophet,

Moreover, those that are left of the house of Judah and who escape will take root downwards and bear fruit upwards. For out of Jerusalem will go a remnant, and those who escape from Mount Zion. Isaiah 37:31-32.

In the same prophet,

He will eat butter and honey, everyone that is left in the midst of the land. Isaiah 7:22.

In Jeremiah,

I will gather the remnant of My flock from all lands where I have scattered them, and I will bring them back to their fold to give birth and to multiply. Jeremiah 23:3.

In the same prophet,

The people which were left from the sword found grace in the wilderness, when He went to give rest to him, to Israel. Jeremiah 31:2.

'The people which were left from the sword in the wilderness' were those who were called the young children - those who were led into the land of Canaan after all the rest had died. These 'young children' were those who were left', by whom were meant forms of good embodying innocence; and the leading of those people into Canaan represented incorporation into the Lord's kingdom.

[5] In Ezekiel,

I will cause some to be left, in that you will have some who will have escaped the sword among the nations when you are dispersed in the earth Then those of that escape will remember Me among the nations where they will be captives. Ezekiel 6:8-9.

The reason why the forms of good and the truths stored away by the Lord in a person interiorly were represented by the ones who were left or were a remnant among the nations where they were dispersed and made captives is that a person is constantly among evils and falsities, held in, captivity by them; for evils and falsities are what is meant by 'the nations'. When separated from the internal man the external man is altogether among them, and unless the Lord gathered forms of good and truth together, which are instilled into a person at various stages during the course of his life, he could not possibly be saved. Without remnants salvation comes to none.

[6] In Joel,

It will happen, that everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will escape. For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be an escape, as Jehovah has said, and among those that are left whom Jehovah is calling. Joel 2:32.

In Micah,

The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest. Micah 5:8.

In Zephaniah,

The remnant of Israel will not do iniquity or speak any lie; nor will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth. They will feed and rest, with none making them afraid. Zephaniah 3:13.

These words describe the character of the remnant, a character which the people who were called Israel never possessed, as is well known. From this also it is evident that 'the remnant' has some other meaning, and this, it is plain, is forms of good and truth since these are what 'do not do iniquity, do not speak any lie, and no deceitful tongue is found in their mouth'.

[7] In Zechariah,

The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. This will be a marvel in the eyes of the remnant of My people. Now I will not be as in former days to the remnant of this people. For this will be the seed of peace; the vine will give its fruit, and the land will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew. I will make the remnant of this people the heirs of all those things. Zechariah 8:5-6, 11-12.

'The remnant' here is called 'the seed of peace' and they are ones in possession of truths derived from good, the fruitfulness of which truths is described by the statement that the vine will give its fruit, the land its increase, and the heavens their dew.

[8] The remnants that are meant in the spiritual sense become so sealed off through evil living and false convictions that they cease to be seen any longer. And they are destroyed when from affection truth has first been accepted and then from affection afterwards denied; for when this happens truth and falsity become mixed together, and this is called profanation. Such remnants are referred to in the Word in the following places: In Isaiah,

He will remove man (homo); and the wilderness will be multiplied in the midst of the land. Scarcely any longer will there be a tenth part in it; it will be however an uprooting. Isaiah 6:12-13.

'Ten' means remnants, see 576, 1906, 2284. In the same prophet,

I will kill your root with famine, and it will kill the ones of you who are left. Isaiah 14:30.

'This refers to the Philistines, meaning those who have a knowledge of cognitions but do not live in accordance with them, 1197, 1198, 3412, 3413. The ones who are left are called a 'root' because forms of good and truth which make man truly human spring from remnants as their root. Therefore 'He will remove man', as stated in the quotation from Isaiah immediately above, means a destroying of remnants.

[9] In Jeremiah,

The young men will die by the sword; their sons and their daughters will die by famine, and they will not have any remnant. Jeremiah 11:22-23.

This has to do with the men of Anathoth. In the same prophet,

I will take the remnant of Judah, who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt, to sojourn there, so that all are consumed; and none will escape, nor will any of the remnant of Judah be left, who have gone to dwell in the land of Egypt. Jeremiah 44:12, 14, 28.

The reason why people from Judah could not sojourn in Egypt or reside there, and why they were so strictly forbidden to do so, was that the tribe of Judah represented the Lord's celestial Church, and celestial people have no desire at all to know facts meant by 'Egypt'. For everything they know grows out of celestial good present with them and that good would perish if they were to resort to factual knowledge. Indeed since celestial good is present with members of the Lord's celestial kingdom, and celestial truth is charity whereas spiritual truth is faith, they refuse even to speak of faith, for fear that they may come down from good and look back, see, 202, 337, 2715, 3246, 4448. These matters are also what is meant by the prohibition,

He who is on the housetop must not go down to take anything out of his house, and he who is in the field must not turn back to take his clothes. Matthew 24:17, 18.

See just above in 5895. Those same matters are likewise meant by the words in Luke 17:32, 'Remember Lot's wife' - she looked back and became a pillar of salt. About looking and turning back, see 2454, 3652.

[10] The utter destruction of nations with not a single person left represented the condition among them when iniquity was so complete that no goodness or truth at all, nor thus any remnant, was surviving, as in Moses,

They struck down Og the king of Bashan, and all his sons, and all his people, until they did not leave him any remainder. Numbers 21:35; Deuteronomy 3:3.

[11] In the same author,

They took all Sihon's cities, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, and the women, and the young children; they did not leave any remainder. Deuteronomy 2:34.

And there are other places where one reads about the utter destruction of nations.

The situation with remnants - or forms of good and truth stored away by the Lord in a person interiorly - is this: Goodness and truth are implanted in a person when he seeks them with affection and so in freedom. When this happens angels from heaven draw nearer and link themselves to that person. Their link with him is what causes the forms of good coupled with truths to come to exist in the person interiorly. But when external interests occupy the person's attention, as when he is engaged in worldly and bodily pursuits, the angels depart; and once they have departed not a trace of those forms of good and truth is apparent. Nevertheless because such a link has been effected once, this person now has the capability of being linked to angels and so to the goodness and truth residing with them. But this linking does not take place any more often or fully than the Lord pleases, who controls the situation as is entirely best for that person's life.