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Exodus第33章

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1 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, `Go, ascend from this [place], thou and the people, whom thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I have sworn to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, To thy seed I give it,'

2 (and I have sent before thee a messenger, and have cast out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite,)

3 unto a land flowing with milk and honey, for I do not go up in thy midst, for thou [art] a stiff-necked people -- lest I consume thee in the way.'

4 And the people hear this sad thing, and mourn; and none put his ornaments on him.

5 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Say unto the sons of Israel, Ye [are] a stiff-necked people; one moment -- I come up into thy midst, and have consumed thee; and now, put down thine ornaments from off thee, and I know what I do to thee;'

6 and the sons of Israel take off their ornaments at mount Horeb.

7 And Moses taketh the tent, and hath stretched it out at the outside of the camp, afar off from the camp, and hath called it, `tent of Meeting;' and it hath come to pass, every one seeking Jehovah goeth out unto the tent of meeting, which [is] at the outside of the camp.

8 And it hath come to pass, at the going out of Moses unto the tent, all the people rise, and have stood, each at the opening of his tent, and have looked expectingly after Moses, until his going into the tent.

9 And it hath come to pass, at the going in of Moses to the tent, the pillar of the cloud cometh down, and hath stood at the opening of the tent, and He hath spoken with Moses;

10 and all the people have seen the pillar of the cloud standing at the opening of the tent, and all the people have risen and bowed themselves, each at the opening of his tent.

11 And Jehovah hath spoken unto Moses face unto face, as a man speaketh unto his friend; and he hath turned back unto the camp, and his minister Joshua, son of Nun, a youth, departeth not out of the tent.

12 And Moses saith unto Jehovah, `See, Thou art saying unto me, Bring up this people, and Thou hast not caused me to know whom Thou dost send with me; and Thou hast said, I have known thee by name, and also thou hast found grace in Mine eyes.

13 `And now, if, I pray Thee, I have found grace in Thine eyes, cause me to know, I pray Thee, Thy way, and I know Thee, so that I find grace in Thine eyes, and consider that this nation [is] Thy people;'

14 and He saith, `My presence doth go, and I have given rest to thee.'

15 And he saith unto Him, `If Thy presence is not going -- take us not up from this [place];

16 and in what is it known now, that I have found grace in Thine eyes -- I and Thy people -- is it not in Thy going with us? and we have been distinguished -- I and Thy people -- from all the people who [are] on the face of the ground.'

17 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Even this thing which thou hast spoken I do; for thou hast found grace in Mine eyes, and I know thee by name.'

18 And he saith, `Shew me, I pray Thee, Thine honour;'

19 and He saith, `I cause all My goodness to pass before thy face, and have called concerning the Name of Jehovah before thee, and favoured him whom I favour, and loved him whom I love.'

20 He saith also, `Thou art unable to see My face, for man doth not see Me, and live;'

21 Jehovah also saith, `Lo, a place [is] by Me, and thou hast stood on the rock,

22 and it hath come to pass, in the passing by of Mine honour, that I have set thee in a cleft of the rock, and spread out My hands over thee, until My passing by,

23 and I have turned aside My hands, and thou hast seen My back parts, and My face is not seen.'

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

True Christianity#370

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370. (b) It is impossible for us to have a partnership with God the Father. What is possible is a partnership with the Lord, and through the Lord, with God the Father. Scripture teaches this and reason sees it. Scripture teaches that God the Father never has been seen or heard, and never could be. As a result, nothing from him such as he is in his own essential underlying reality could have an effect on us. The Lord says,

No one has seen God except the One who is with the Father. He has seen the Father. (John 6:46)

No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son is willing to reveal him. (Matthew 11:27)

You have never heard the voice of the Father or seen what he looks like. (John 5:37)

The reason for this is that God the Father is in the first principles and beginnings of all things. Therefore he transcends the entire reach of the human mind. He is in the first principles and beginnings of all things related to wisdom and all things related to love. No partnership is possible between those first principles and us. Therefore if he were to come near us or we were to go near him, we would be consumed and liquefied like a piece of wood at the focus of a huge burning mirror; or better yet like a carved statue thrown into the sun itself. This is why Moses, who longed to see God, was told that we cannot see God and live (Exodus 33:20).

[2] The passages that I just quoted make it clear that we form a partnership with God the Father through the Lord. It was not the Father, it was the only begotten Son who is close to the Father's heart and has seen the Father, who disclosed and revealed the things that are of God and from God. The following passages also show that we form a partnership with God the Father through the Lord: "On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me and I am in you" (John 14:20). "The glory that you gave me, I have given them so that they may be one as we are one - I in them and you in me" (John 17:22-23, 26). Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. " Then Philip wanted to see the Father, but the Lord replied, "Those who see me also see the Father, and those who know me also know the Father" (John 14:6-7, and following). Elsewhere we read, "Those who see me see the One who sent me" (John 12:45).

In addition, the Lord says that he is the door, and that those who enter through him are saved, but those who climb up some other way are thieves and robbers (John 10:1, 9). He also says, "Those who do not live in me will be thrown out and put in the fire like a withered branch" (John 15:6).

[3] The reason is that the Lord our Savior is Jehovah the Father himself in human form. Jehovah came down and became human so that he could come close to us and we could come close to him, and a partnership could be forged, through which we could have salvation and eternal life. When God became human and then a human became God, he became able to draw near us in this adapted form and, as a human God and a divine Human, forge a partnership with us.

There are three stages to this that follow in sequence: adjusting to one another, coming closer together, and then forging a partnership. The adjustment has to happen before the two parties can come closer together, and both the adjustment and the coming closer have to happen before a partnership can be forged. The adjustment on God's part was to become human. God is perpetually coming closer to the extent that we are coming closer to him. And as this takes place, a partnership is forged. For each and every set of things that become one and share their existence, these three stages happen in this sequence and proceed in this order.

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