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John 1:33

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33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize in water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding Upon him, the same is he that baptizeth in the Holy Spirit.

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Arcana Coelestia #10053

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10053. 'It is a burnt offering to Jehovah' means the glorification of the Lord's Human. This is clear from the representation of 'a burnt offering' as the glorification of the Lord's Human. The Jewish nation had sacrifices and burnt offerings; the sacrifices served to mean purification from evils and falsities and the implantation of truth, but burnt offerings served to mean the joining of truth to good, thus complete regeneration. In the highest sense however, in which the Lord is the subject, sacrifices meant the ejection of evils and falsities from His Human derived from the mother and the implantation of Divine Truth from the Divine Good that was within Him, while the burnt offerings meant the uniting of Divine Truth to Divine Good. This uniting is what should be understood by glorification. For when He was in the world the Lord made His Human Divine Truth, and also, by uniting this in stages to the Divine Good that was within Him and was the Essential Being (Esse) of His life, He also made His Human Divine Good, thus one with Jehovah. The Essential Being of His life was that which as it exists with others is called the soul from the father; and it was Divine Good itself or Divine Love. But regarding these matters, see what has been shown in the places referred to in 9194, 9315(end), 9528(end). As regards the Lord's expulsion of everything human derived from the mother, till at length He was not her son, see 9315 (end); and as regards 'the Son of Man', which the Lord calls Himself, that He is not Mary's son but Divine Truth, 9807.

[2] Glorification, where the Lord is the subject, means uniting His Human to Divinity itself that was within Him, thus to Jehovah His Father; and by uniting them He also made His Human Divine Good. This is clear from places in the Word which use the terms 'glory' and 'glorification' in reference to Jehovah or the Lord, as in Isaiah,

The glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Isaiah 40:5.

In the same prophet,

I Jehovah have called You in righteousness, to open the blind eyes, to bring the bound out of prison. I am Jehovah, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another. Isaiah 42:6-8.

And in the same prophet,

Jehovah will arise over You, and His glory will be seen over You. Nations will walk to Your light. Isaiah 60:2-3.

In these places the Lord is the subject, 'the glory of Jehovah' being used to mean the Lord in respect of Divine Truth; for Jehovah's glory is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, 9429. That Divine Truth does not come from any other source is the Lord's teaching in John,

You have never heard the Father's voice nor seen His shape. John 5:37.

And since He is the Lord He is Jehovah Himself, for He says, 'I am Jehovah, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another'.

[3] For this reason also the Lord is called 'the King of glory' in David,

Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors 1 , and the King of glory will come in. Who is this King of glory? Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle. Psalms 24:7-10.

Here the Lord is called 'the King of glory' by virtue of Divine Truth, with which He fought against, overcame, and subdued the hells. This was accomplished by His Human when He was in the world, see 9715, 9809, 10019. This is why He is called 'Jehovah strong and mighty in battle', and also a mighty one or 'hero' in Isaiah,

To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given; His name is God, Hero, Father of Eternity. Isaiah 9:6.

[4] The Lord Himself teaches that Jehovah's glory is the Lord in respect of Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good, which is Jehovah or the Father, in John,

The Word became flesh, and we saw His glory, glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father. John 1:14.

Here, where it is self-evident that the Lord is meant by the Word which became flesh, 'the Word' is Divine Truth, and so too is 'glory'. In Matthew,

The Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father. Matthew 16:27.

And in Luke,

Jesus said to the disciples, Ought not the Christ to have suffered this and to enter into His glory? Luke 24:26.

'Entering into His glory' means being united to Divine Good which was within Him, thus to Jehovah or His Father. For Jehovah the Father is God's Essential Being (Esse), and God in His Essential Being is Divine Love, thus also Divine Good; and the uniting of the Human to that Good is meant by 'entering into His glory'.

[5] From this it is evident what 'being glorified' means in the following places:

In John,

The Holy Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:39.

And in the same gospel,

These things Jesus' disciples did not know, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered ... . Jesus said, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. And He said, Father, glorify Your name. [Then] a voice came from heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. John 12:16, 23, 27-28.

And in the same gospel,

After Judas went out Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. And God will glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him at once. John 13:31-32.

From these places it is evident that glorification is the uniting of the Lord's Human to Divinity itself which was within Him and is called Jehovah the Father, for it is said that 'God will glorify Him in Himself'. It is also evident from those places that the uniting was fully accomplished by the passion of the Cross, which was the last of His temptations. For the Lord glorified His Human by means of conflicts with hell, which are temptations, see the places referred to in 9528, 9937.

[6] The Lord Himself teaches that when He has been glorified Divine Truth emanates from Him, in John,

The Holy Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:39.

And in the same gospel,

The Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, whom I will send to you will not speak from Himself. He will glorify Me, for He will receive from what is Mine and declare it to you; all things whatever that the Father has are Mine. John 16:13-15, 28.

'The Spirit of truth' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, 9818. The uniting of the Human to the Divine within Him is also described here by the declaration that all things the Father has are His, and elsewhere by the declarations that the Father and He are one and that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father, John 10:30; 14:10-11; see 3704. Thus the glorification or uniting was reciprocal, which too is the Lord's teaching in John,

Father, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. John 17:1.

'Father' is the Divinity itself that was within Him, and 'Son' is the Divine Human.

'The Father' is Divine Good which is within the Lord, see 3704, 7499.

Jehovah in the Word is the Lord, 2921, 6303, 8865.

The Lord is Divinity itself, or Jehovah, in a Human form, see the places referred to in 9315.

Примітки:

1. literally, doors of the world

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

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Arcana Coelestia #4585

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4585. 'They travelled on from Bethel, and there was still a stretch of land to go to Ephrath' means the spiritual of the celestial at this point. This is clear from the meaning of 'travelling on from Bethel' as a continuation of the progress of the Divine from the Divine Natural - 'travelling on' meaning a continuation, see 4554, and here in the highest sense a continuation of the progress made by the Divine, while 'Bethel' means the Divine Natural, 4559, 4560; from the meaning of 'a stretch of land to go' as that which exists in between, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'Ephrath' as the spiritual of the celestial within the initial state, dealt with below where Bethlehem is the subject. 1 'Bethlehem' means the spiritual of the celestial within the new state, and this is why the phrase 'Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem' is used in verse 19 below.

[2] In these verses progress made by the Lord's Divine towards aspects more interior is the subject, for when the Lord made His Human Divine His progress involved a similar order to that employed by Him when He makes man new through regeneration. That is to say, it was a progression from external things to more interior ones, and so from truth as this exists in the ultimate degree of order to good which is more interior and is called spiritual good, and from this to celestial good. But ideas about these things do not come within the mental grasp of anyone unless he knows what the external man is and what the internal man is, and that the former is distinct and separate from the latter, though the two seem to be one and the same while a person lives in the body. Nor do those ideas come within his grasp unless he knows that the natural constitutes the external man, and the rational the internal man, and above all unless he knows what the spiritual is, and what the celestial is.

[3] These matters, it is true, have been explained several times already. Even so, those who have not previously had any idea concerning them - for the reason that they have not had any desire to know the things which belong to eternal life - are incapable of having any such idea. These people say, 'What is the internal man? How can it be anything different from the external man?' They also say, 'What is the natural, or the rational? Are these not one and the same thing?' Then they ask, 'What is the spiritual and the celestial? Isn't this some new distinction? We've heard about the spiritual, but not that the celestial is something different'. But the fact of the matter is that these are people who have not previously acquired any idea of these matters. They have failed to do so either because the cares of the world and of the body occupy their whole thought and take away all desire to know anything else, or because they suppose that no one needs to know anything beyond what the common people are taught and that there is nothing to be gained if their thought goes any further. For these say, 'The world we see, but the next life we do not see. Maybe it exists, maybe it doesn't'. People like these push those ideas away from themselves, for at heart they reject them the moment they see them.

[4] All the same, because such ideas are contained in the internal sense of the Word, though they cannot be explained without suitable terms to depict them, and as no terms more suitable exist than 'natural' to express exterior things and 'rational' to express interior, or 'spiritual' to express matters of truth and 'celestial' matters of good, the use of words like these is unavoidable. For without the right words nothing can be described. Therefore so that some idea may be formed by those who have a desire to know what the spiritual of the celestial is, which 'Benjamin' represents and which 'Bethlehem' means, a brief reference to it must be made here. The subject so far in the highest sense has been the glorification of the Lord's Natural, and in the relative sense the regeneration of man's natural. It was shown above, in 4286, that 'Jacob' represented the external man of one who belongs to the Church, and 'Israel' his internal man, thus that 'Jacob' represented the exterior aspect of the natural and 'Israel' the interior aspect; for the spiritual man develops out of the natural, but the celestial man out of the rational. It was also shown that the Lord's glorification advanced, even as the regeneration of man advances, from external things to more interior ones, and that for the sake of such a representation Jacob received the name Israel.

[5] But now the subject is further progress towards aspects more interior still, that is, towards the rational, for as stated immediately above, the rational constitutes the internal man. The part which exists between the internal of the natural and the external of the rational is what the term 'the spiritual of the celestial' - meant by 'Ephrath' and 'Bethlehem', and represented by 'Benjamin' - is used to denote. This intermediate part is derived to some extent from the internal of the natural, meant by 'Israel', and to some extent from the external of the rational, meant by 'Joseph'; for that intermediate part must be derived to some extent from each one, or else it cannot serve as an intermediary. So that anyone who is already spiritual can be made celestial he must of necessity make progress by means of this intermediate part. Without it no advance to higher things is possible.

[6] The nature of the progress made therefore by means of this intermediate part is described here in the internal sense by the statements that Jacob went to Ephrath, and that Rachel gave birth to Benjamin there. From this it is evident that 'they travelled on from Bethel, and there was still a stretch of land to go to Ephrath' means a continuation of the progress of the Lord's Divine from the Divine Natural to the spiritual of the celestial, meant by 'Ephrath' and 'Bethlehem', and represented by 'Benjamin'. The spiritual of the celestial is the intermediate part about which something is said above; it is spiritual insofar as it is derived from the spiritual man, which regarded in itself is the interior natural man, and it is [celestial] insofar as it is derived from the celestial man, which regarded in itself is the rational man. 'Joseph' is the exterior rational man, and therefore he is spoken of as the celestial of the spiritual derived from the rational.

Примітки:

1. i.e. in 4594

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