Arcana Coelestia #8868
8868. A brief statement must also be made about truths which come from a source other than the Lord. In general they are those which do not have the Lord within them. The truths a person knows do not have the Lord within them when he refuses to accept Him and His Divinity, or else when he does accept Him and yet believes that what is good and true does not begin in Him but in himself, as a result of which he claims righteousness for himself. Nor do those truths have the Lord within them which are taken from the Word, in particular from the sense of the letter there, and interpreted in favour of personal dominion and personal gain. In themselves these are truths because they come from the Word yet they are not truths because they are interpreted wrongly and thereby perverted. Such perversions of them are what the Lord means by the following in Matthew,
If anyone says, Behold, here is the Christ! or There! do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead into error, if possible, even the elect. Matthew 24:23-26.
See 3900. And in Luke,
See that you are not led astray. For many will come in My name, saying, I am He; The time is near. Therefore do not go after them. Luke 21:8.
[2] Truths which come from the Lord never cease to be truths from the Lord in their inward form. But truths which do not come from the Lord appear to be truths only in their outward form, not in their inward form - for inwardly they are either empty, false, or evil. To be the truth, truth must have life within it; for truth devoid of life is not the truth of faith with a person, and life comes from no other source than good, that is, from the Lord by way of good. If therefore the Lord is not within truth it is truth devoid of life, and so is not truth. And if there is falsity or evil within it the actual truth with a person is falsity or evil. For what exists inwardly constitutes its essential nature, and also in the next life shines through the outward appearance. From all this one may now see how to understand the explanation that there must be no thought about truths from any source other than the Lord.
[3] Since few know about the nature of truths which are truths in their inward form, and so which have life from the Lord, something will be said from experience regarding them. In the next life when anyone speaks there others perceive plainly what lies concealed in the words he utters, such as whether inwardly it is closed or open, and also what kind of affection there is within it. If there is an affection for good it is inwardly soft, if there is an affection for evil it is inwardly hard; and so on. With the angels of heaven the whole content of what they say is open all the way to the Lord. This is not only clearly perceived to be so but is audible from the softness of their speech, indeed from the particular nature of its softness. From this too what lies concealed inwardly in truths is known, whether it is the Lord or not. Truths which have the Lord within them are truths that have life, but truths which do not have the Lord within them are truths that have no life. Those which have life are truths of faith grounded in love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. Those which have no life are not truths, because inwardly they have self-love and love of the world in them. In this way spirits or angels in the next life can be told apart, for each individual's possession of truth is determined by the life he leads, that is, by that which reigns universally in him.
Ezekiel 29
1
In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
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"Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.
3
Speak and say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers, that has said, 'My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.'
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I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will make the fish of your rivers stick to your scales; and I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, with all the fish of your rivers which stick to your scales.
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I'll cast you forth into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. You'll fall on the open field. You won't be brought together, nor gathered. I have given you for food to the animals of the earth and to the birds of the sky.
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All the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am Yahweh, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
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When they took hold of you by your hand, you broke, and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke, and paralyzed all of their thighs."
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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Behold, I will bring a sword on you, and will cut off man and animal from you.
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The land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste; and they shall know that I am Yahweh. Because he has said, 'The river is mine, and I have made it;'
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therefore, behold, I am against you, and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower of Seveneh even to the border of Ethiopia.
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No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of animal shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
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I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be a desolation forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries."
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For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered;
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and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their birth; and they shall be there a base kingdom.
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It shall be the base of the kingdoms; neither shall it any more lift itself up above the nations: and I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.
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It shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to memory, when they turn to look after them: and they shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh."'"
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It came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first [month], in the first [day] of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
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Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was worn; yet had he no wages, nor his army, from Tyre, for the service that he had served against it.
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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.
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I have given him the land of Egypt as his recompense for which he served, because they worked for me, says the Lord Yahweh.
21
In that day will I cause a horn to bud forth to the house of Israel, and I will give you the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
