介绍：

在耶稣诞生在伯利恒的圣经故事中，他在地上的出生代表他在我们心中的出生。他在我们体内的诞生是在我们心中创造无私的爱。我们不能创建它；只有他能做到。

在他来我们之前，我们必须尽我们的本分-服从他的律法，回避十诫中所禁止的罪恶，尽我们最大的能力行善。他出生的故事跟随着我们生活中的这些行为。

路加福音2:1：“后来，凯撒·奥古斯都颁布了一项法令，要求全世界进行登记。这项普查最早是在奎里尼乌斯统治叙利亚时进行的。因此，所有人都被登记了，每个人都到了自己的城市。 ”

罗马是当时的世俗政府。它带来了秩序-受其异想天开。它代表了我们自己的推理能力的外部政府-一种有序的逻辑过程，可以聚集各种模式的思想，并以无情的力量解决问题。

皇帝进行了人口普查。他想知道他有多少人，以便可以更好地向他们征税。这说明了我们努力变得美好的生活。我们也聚集了自己的思想力量，使我们的思想更加合理，以便我们能够过上自己的生活。我们从一个相当世俗的角度来看这件事。我们认为自己是好人，而且我们有能力命令自己的生活。

考虑一下人口普查。想一想所有那些纵横交错的家庭，每个家庭都是从那里来的。请记住，当部落在几百年前进入迦南时，每个部落都获得了遗产，实际上，这些家庭的家谱保存在其原始城市中，记录着每个出生者和所有后代。罗马会在犹太和加利利进行这种人口普查是有道理的。

家庭的摇晃代表着我们在努力顺从上帝的美好生活中的精神秩序。

但是对于凯撒或希律王而言，未知的旅程正在发生，它将改变历史的进程。普查是根据上帝的旨意进行的，居住在拿撒勒而不是伯利恒的约瑟夫要踏上旅途。因为在我们试图整理思想，重新安排优先次序的同时，我们的一部分思想却被提升到一个新的领域。

路加福音2:4：“约瑟也从加利利，从拿撒勒城出来，进入犹太，到大卫城，被称为伯利恒，因为他是大卫的家和宗族。”

约瑟夫是个木匠-用铁工具在木头上工作，将木头制成有用的东西。他代表了人类的理解-也许尤其是对宗教和真正道德问题感兴趣的那部分理解。约瑟夫将木头雕刻成令人愉悦的形式，代表着我们如何利用我们的理解来塑造我们的善良，相信这将带给我们真正的幸福。

但是真正的幸福来自更多的奇迹。它来自主化身，从内部流入我们的心。

然而，当我们利用自己的理解去寻求生命和善意的意义时，我们就被提上了更高的思想。约瑟夫和玛丽从拿撒勒到犹大，尤其是伯利恒的旅程，代表着一种精神旅程-增进我们的理解，以了解生活的更深层真相。伯利恒的意思是“面包房”，代表了主圣言的最深层含义，是对真理的一种精神理解。因此，当约瑟夫上伯利恒时，我们的理解就被秘密地提出来了解更深的真理。我们认为这是因为我们正在努力理解生活。约瑟夫以为他听从了凯撒的命令，而正是上帝的天意将他带到了伯利恒。因此，是主偷偷地提振了我们的思想。

以色列伟大的国王大卫也代表了精神思想。约瑟是大卫的家。我们的理解似乎是非常实际和现实的，但是它拥有从身体之上和世界范围之外看到的力量。它是“大卫的房屋和宗族的”。

路加福音2:5：“要与已婚的已婚妻子玛丽（带孩子）注册。”

就像约瑟被应许给玛丽一样，我们的人类理解也被应许了对我们内心某种珍贵的爱。处女玛丽代表对真理的纯真情感。我们每个人内心深处都有一种理想主义。理解来自许多方面的冲动，但是当我们试图服从主时，它就向灵性的玛丽许诺-对更纯真的表面上的天真真理的爱。我们爱上理想和无私，值得的梦想。

我们所有人都有这种理想主义，因为主从我们出生的那一刻起就将它秘密地植入了我们的生命中，每一种可爱的感觉，每一种真正的思想都被我们爱的上帝储存在我们体内，成为我们的属灵玛丽。

约瑟夫自然地认为，他与玛丽的婚姻会产生一个孩子，给他们带来幸福。我们认为，如果我们将理解与理想结合起来，就会建立幸福。从某种意义上说是正确的。然而实际上，全能的上帝的力量流入我们的唯心主义才产生真正的爱。由于约瑟不是耶稣的父亲，而是他的天然监护人，因此我们的理解对我们未来的幸福起着一定的作用，但真正的爱是我们内心的神圣诞生。这是圣诞节的真实信息-来到世间的祂，只有祂才能以爱温暖人们的心灵。

路加福音2:6：“就是这样，当他们在那里的时候，她应该被释放的日子已经完成了。”

上帝在世上诞生了几个世纪。在那段时间里，他为人们的诞生作好了准备，由于这些应许，他们对此很期待。

我们很早就失去了清白，也许觉得我们是非常自私的人。主需要时间在我们心中创造爱。我们希望成为仁慈的人，瞬间就能完全爱上别人。那个出生需要时间和耐心。但是它的时间到了！

路加福音2:7：“她生了第一个儿子，用裹and的布包裹他，把他放在马槽里，因为在旅馆里没有他的空间。”

他可能出生在地球上任何地方-最辉煌的宫殿中，是世俗力量和威力的继承人。他选择了一个不起眼的马stable。部分原因是因为他没有成为尘世的力量。正如他说的那样：“谁更大？坐在桌子旁的人还是服务的人？不是坐在桌子旁的人吗？但是我作为你们中的一员在你们中间。” （路加福音22:27）。

但是原因远不止于此。即使在伯利恒，他也无法在旅馆里出生。客栈代表着一个授课的地方，是人们聚集和交流思想的地方。但是旅馆满座，即使在我们心中，我们经常认为我们知道这一切。

因此，他出生在马stable为食的马stable里。一匹马，将我们带到我们想去的地方，代表着对特定真理的理解，这些真理向我们展示了生活方式。它代表对属灵真理的理解。然后，他被包裹着的布包裹着，这些布代表着简单，纯真的真理，并被放置在马匹进食的地方。无辜的真理是我们极力嘲笑的真理-简单的想法，例如“做人好是好事”，“伤害别人是错的”或“我可以利用自己的能力为我所爱的人带来幸福”。这些是所有圣经中最基本的教导之一。

换句话说，当主降入我们的思想和心灵时，主发现在我们生活的许多部分中，我们的属灵“客栈”已满。我们认为我们非常了解如何过自己的生活方式。因此，他选择以自己的爱将我们带入我们心中的一个特殊部分-我们在其中寻求属灵的真理，而我们是出于纯真而这样做。

我们每个人都有一个精神上的管理者。每个人都有一个天真烂漫的地方，想要学习的地方，以及在学习思想方面谦卑的地方，这会使生活变得比现在好得多。

结论：我们的救主希望来到我们所有人身边。他为天堂创造了我们，为了让我们知道天堂的快乐，他教导我们他的律法。当我们回应时，他的爱就诞生在我们的心中，并且这种诞生遵循以下有序的模式：

1.我们头脑中所有的想法都变得整齐了-显然是我们自己的努力。 （人口普查）。

2.进行精神之旅。我们的理解从对世俗价值观的思考逐渐兴起。我们将理想主义（我们的属灵的玛丽）与我们一同带入了属灵的伯利恒。

3.上帝不是因我们以纯粹的世俗价值观（客栈）所充满和扭曲的真理而生。

4.取而代之的是，他从他的话语中诞生了那些天真无邪的真理，这些真理我们一直信任和喜爱，并且易于理解（我们的经理）。

5.它们被包裹在简单，清晰的观察物（包裹的布）中，当我们在我们心中成长时，可以保护我们新发现的爱。

7. VII. The spiritual sense of the Word; on correspondences.

Every single thing in nature has a correspondence with spiritual things. The same is true of every single part of the human body, as may be seen demonstrated in two chapters of my book on Heaven and Hell [87-115]. But today it is not known what correspondence is. However, in the most ancient times the knowledge of correspondences was the queen of sciences, so universally known that the most ancient people wrote all their tablets and books by means of correspondences. The myths of the earliest peoples were the same, as were the hieroglyphs of the Egyptians. The Book of Job, which was a book of the ancient church, is full of correspondences.

[2] All ancient churches were intended to represent heavenly things; all their rituals, and also all the laws for the establishment of their worship, were composed entirely of correspondences. The same was true of the church of the sons of Jacob; the whole burnt offerings and the sacrifices in all their details were correspondences. The same was true of the tabernacle and everything in it; as also their festivals, such as the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of tabernacles and the feast of first-fruits; so also were their laws and judgments. Since they were correspondences, they are things of the kind which come into existence at the ultimate level of nature; and since everything in nature has a correspondence, and such things also have a meaning, it follows that the literal sense of the Word is composed entirely of correspondences. The Lord too, since he spoke from His Divinity, also spoke the Word; and it also follows that He spoke by means of correspondences. That which comes down from the Divinity and is in itself Divine at the ultimate level passes into such things as correspond to what is Divine, celestial and spiritual, that is, those which hold at their inmost level celestial and spiritual things, and have this meaning.

For a further demonstration of what correspondences are, see my Arcana Caelestia, in which the correspondences in Genesis and Exodus are explained, and in addition see what has been collected from that source on the subject in my Teaching of the New Jerusalem ¹ and Heaven and Hell. The spiritual or internal sense of the Word is nothing but the literal sense unfolded by means of correspondences, for it teaches the spiritual lesson which the angels in heaven perceive, when a person in the world thinks in a natural fashion about what he reads in the Word.

[3] I have heard and perceived from heaven that the people of the most ancient church, who are those meant in the spiritual sense in the first chapters of Genesis by Adam and Eve, were in such close contact with angels that they could speak with them by means of correspondences. Consequently their state of wisdom was such that whatever they saw on earth they perceived at the same time spiritually, that is, jointly with angels. I was told that Enoch, who is mentioned in Genesis [5:21-24], together with his companions made a collection of correspondences from the angels' lips, and transmitted the knowledge of them to their descendants. As a result the knowledge of correspondences was not only widespread, but prized in many kingdoms of Asia, especially in Egypt, Assyria and Babel, Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, and also Canaan. From there it spread to Greece, but there it was converted into myths.

This can be established merely by considering Olympus, Helicon and Pindus near Athens, ² and also from the winged horse named Pegasus using its hoof to make a spring burst forth, by which the nine maidens ³ made their dwelling. For a mountain, such as Helicon, by correspondence means the higher heaven, the hill beneath the mountain of Pindus the heaven below that, the winged horse Pegasus means the intellect enlightened by the spiritual, a spring intelligence and learning, the nine maidens the knowledge of truth and sciences. The rest of the stories known as myths written by the earliest peoples in Greece are similar; these have been collected and described by Ovid in his Metamorphosis. ⁴

[4] But when with the passage of time the representative practices of the church became idolatrous, the Lord's Divine Providence ensured that this knowledge was progressively blotted out, and with the Israelite and Jewish race it was completely destroyed and became extinct. Certainly the worship of this people was entirely representative, but still there was no knowledge of what any representation meant. For they were utterly natural people, so that they were neither able nor willing to know anything about the spiritual man, and his faith and love, and so nothing about correspondence.

[5] The reason why the idolatrous practices of peoples of antiquity originated from their knowledge of correspondences was that everything to be seen upon the earth has a correspondence; so not only trees, but also cattle and birds of every kind, as well as fishes and other things. The ancients, possessing the knowledge of correspondences, made themselves images corresponding to spiritual ideas, and took pleasure in them, because they meant things to do with heaven and the church. Thus they placed such images not only in their temples but in their homes, not for them to be worshipped, but as a reminder of their heavenly meaning. So in Egypt there were erected calves, oxen, snakes, boys, old men, girls and many more things; because a calf meant the innocence of the natural man, oxen his affections, snakes the prudence of the sensual man, ⁵ a boy innocence, old men wisdom, girls affections for truth, and so on. After the knowledge of correspondences had been blotted out, their descendants in ignorance of their meanings began to worship as holy and finally as deities the images and likenesses set up by the ancients, because they were placed in or near temples.

The hieroglyphs of the Egyptians are of the same origin. ⁶ It was much the same with other peoples, as Dagon among the Philistines at Ashdod; he was above like a man, below like a fish, ⁷ an image devised because a man means rational intelligence and a fish natural knowledge. This too is why the ancients worshipped in gardens and groves arranged according to the species of the trees; and also why their sacred rituals were held on mountains. For gardens and groves meant spiritual intelligence, and each kind of tree some detail of this. For instance, the olive -Translatore meant the good of love for it, the vine the truth of faith, the cedar its rational, and so on; and a mountain meant heaven. This is why the ancients worshipped on mountains.

The knowledge of correspondences lasted among many eastern peoples down to the Lord's coming, as may be proved from the wise men from the east who came to the Lord on His birth. So a star went before them, and they brought with them gold, frankincense and myrrh. And the shepherds were told, as a sign that they should know He was the Lord, that they would see Him in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes, because there was no place at the inn. For the star which went before them meant knowledge coming from heaven, since stars in the Word mean pieces of knowledge. Gold meant celestial good, frankincense spiritual good, and myrrh natural good, all worship being from these three sources. The manger in which the baby Lord was found by the shepherds means spiritual nourishment, because horses which feed from a manger mean matters of the intellect. The inn, where there was no place, meant the Jewish church, where at that time there was no spiritual nourishment, because everything in the Word and thus every detail of their worship was adulterated and perverted. This is why it is said that this should be a sign for them that it was the Lord (Luke 2:12).

But there was no knowledge of correspondences at all among the Israelite and Jewish people, despite the fact that the whole of their worship and all the laws and judgments given to them, and everything in the Word, were nothing but correspondences. The reason was that that people was at heart idolatrous, and such that it did not even want to know that any detail of their worship had any celestial or spiritual meaning. For they wanted all these things to be holy in themselves, and to be concerned with outward matters as they were. If therefore spiritual and celestial matters had been revealed to them, they would not only have rejected but also profaned them. On this account heaven was so closed to them that they hardly knew they would live after death.

The truth of this is plain from their failure to acknowledge the Lord, although the whole of the Sacred Scripture contains prophecies and predictions about Him. The sole reason for their rejection of Him was that He taught them about a heavenly kingdom, not one on earth. For they wanted a Messiah to raise them above all peoples throughout the world, not a Messiah to look after their eternal salvation. They say, moreover, that the Word contains many secrets which they call mysteries; but they do not want to know them, because they concern the Lord and His kingdom. But they want to know, if they are told they concern gold and alchemy.

[6] The reason why that knowledge was not revealed after that period was that the Christians of the primitive church were so exceedingly simple, that it could not be revealed to them. For if it had been, it would have been no use to them, nor would it have been grasped. Following this period the whole Christian world was plunged in darkness arising from the Popish religion, which eventually became Babylonia. Those from Babel, who had convinced themselves of its false beliefs, are mostly natural people who rely on their senses. These are neither able nor willing to grasp what is spiritual, that is, what is meant by the correspondence of natural with spiritual things. ⁸

However, after the Reformation, because people began to make a distinction between faith and charity, and to worship the one God in three persons, so as to make three gods, whom they merely named as one, heavenly truths were hidden from them. This was to prevent people, if they had been revealed, falsifying them and applying them to the teaching of faith alone, and none of them to charity and love. If therefore the spiritual sense of the Word had then been revealed, they would also have closed heaven against themselves by falsifying these truths.

[7] For anyone is allowed to understand the literal sense of the Word simply, so long as he does not convince himself so firmly of the appearances of truth it contains as to destroy the real truth. For interpreting the Word in its spiritual sense from the falsities of teaching closes heaven, and cannot open it. But interpreting the spiritual sense from the truths of teaching opens heaven, because this is the sense which the angels possess. Therefore this sense enables a person to think together with angels, thus linking them to himself in his intellectual faculty. But if a person has been taught falsities, and wants to explore the spiritual sense from some knowledge of correspondences, he falsifies it. On the other hand, if a person first possesses real truths, that sense agrees with the truths and is made clear by them, because it is in the light of heaven. But it does not at all agree ⁹ with falsities, and if anything of that truth were to become visible, the light of heaven would be replaced by thick darkness. For the angels turn away from him, and so close heaven to him.

The spiritual sense of the Word is to be understood by the Lord's tunic, which was all of a piece, and the soldiers were not allowed to divide it. However, the natural sense of the Word is meant by the clothes which the soldiers divided among themselves. Clothes in the Word mean truths, and the Lord's clothes Divine truths. That is why when the Lord was transfigured before Peter, James and John, his clothes were seen shining like light.

[8] The reason why the Lord has at the present time revealed the spiritual sense of the Word is that the teaching concerning real truth has now been revealed. This teaching is partly contained in my Teaching of the New Jerusalem, and now in the minor works which are being published. ¹⁰ Since that teaching and no other is in agreement with the spiritual sense of the Word, that sense, together with a knowledge of correspondences, has now for the first time been disclosed. That sense is also meant by the Lord's appearing in the clouds of the sky with glory and power (Matthew 24:30-31). This chapter deals with the ending of the age, by which is to be understood the last period of the church. A cloud of the sky there and elsewhere in the Word means the Word in its literal sense, which is like a cloud compared to the spiritual sense. Glory, however, there and also elsewhere in the Word means the Word in its spiritual sense, which is also Divine Truth in light; power means the power it possesses in the Word.

The revelation of the Word in its spiritual sense is also promised in the Book of Revelation. That sense is there to be understood by the white horse (Revelation 19:11-14), and by God's great banquet, to which He invited and assembled everyone (Revelation 19:17 to the end). The fact that that sense would not be acknowledged for a long time (something that only happens to those who have received false teaching, especially about the Lord) is to be understood by the beast and the kings of the earth, who were going to make war on Him who sits on the white horse (Revelation 19:19). The beast is to be understood as the Roman Catholics, as in 17:3, and the kings of the earth as the Reformed Christians, who have received false teaching.

The mysteries which some people look for in the Word are simply its spiritual and celestial senses.

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