Arcana Coelestia #1607
1607. That 'for all the land which you see I will give to you' means the heavenly kingdom which was to be the Lord's is clear from the meaning of 'land' - the land of Canaan in this context since the words used are 'the land which you see' - as the heavenly kingdom. Indeed the land of Canaan represented the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, which is heaven, and also the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the Church. This meaning of 'land' has been discussed frequently already. That the kingdom in heaven and on earth was given to the Lord is clear from various places in the Word, as in Isaiah,
A Boy is born, a Son is given to us; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6.
In Daniel,
I saw in the night visions, and behold with the clouds of the heavens One like the Son of Man was coming, and He came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and languages will serve Him. His dominion is an eternal dominion which will not pass away, and His kingdom one that will not perish. Daniel 7:13-14.
The Lord Himself also says the same: in Matthew,
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father. Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22.
Elsewhere in Matthew,
[All] power in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Matthew 28:18.
In John,
You have given to the Son power over all flesh in order that all You have given Him, to them He may give eternal life. John 17:2-3.
And 'sitting on the right hand' has the same meaning, as in Luke,
From now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Luke 22:69.
[2] As regards all power in heaven and on earth being given to the Son of Man, it should be recognized that the Lord already had power over all things in heaven and on earth before He came into the world, for He was God from eternity and He was Jehovah, as He Himself plainly declares in John,
Now, Father, glorify Me in Your Own Self with the glory I had with You before the world was. John 17:5.
And in the same gospel,
Truly, Truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. 1 John 8:58.
In fact He was Jehovah and God to the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood, and was seen by them. He was also Jehovah and God to the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood; and He was the One whom all the religious observances of the Jewish Church represented, and the One they worshipped. The reason the Lord says that all power in heaven and on earth has been given to Him, as though it had not been His till then, is that 'the Son of Man' is used to mean His Human Essence which became Jehovah as well after it had been united to His Divine Essence. Power was given to Him at that point, which would not have been possible until He was glorified, that is, until His Human Essence as well, through union with the Divine Essence, had life in Itself and likewise became Divine and Jehovah, as He Himself declares in John,
As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26.
[3] It is His Human Essence or External Man that is named 'the Son of Man' in the passage quoted from Daniel, and 'a Boy born, a Son given to us' in the passage quoted from Isaiah. The fact that the heavenly kingdom would be given to Him, and all power in heaven and on earth, was shown and promised to Him then, and is the meaning of the statement 'all the land which you see I will give to you, and to your seed after you for ever'. This was before His Human Essence had been united to His Divine Essence, a union which took place when He had overcome the devil and hell, that is to say, when by His own strength and powers He had cast out all evil, which alone causes the severance.
Imibhalo yaphansi:
1. The Latin means I was, but the Greek means I am, which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse.
John 3
1
But there was a man from among the Pharisees, his name Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;
2
he came to him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art come a teacher from God, for none can do these signs that thou doest unless God be with him.
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Jesus answered and said to him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except any one be born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God.
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Nicodemus says to him, How can a man be born being old? can he enter a second time into the womb of his mother and be born?
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Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except any one be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
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That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
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Do not wonder that I said to thee, It is needful that *ye* should be born anew.
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The wind blows where it will, and thou hearest its voice, but knowest not whence it comes and where it goes: thus is every one that is born of the Spirit.
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Nicodemus answered and said to him, How can these things be?
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Jesus answered and said to him, Thou art the teacher of Israel and knowest not these things!
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Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and we bear witness of that which we have seen, and ye receive not our witness.
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If I have said the earthly things to you, and ye believe not, how, if I say the heavenly things to you, will ye believe?
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And no one has gone up into heaven, save he who came down out of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.
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And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up,
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that every one who believes on him may [not perish, but] have life eternal.
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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal.
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For God has not sent his Son into the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him.
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He that believes on him is not judged: but he that believes not has been already judged, because he has not believed on the name of the only-begotten Son of God.
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And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than light; for their works were evil.
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For every one that does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light that his works may not be shewn as they are;
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but he that practises the truth comes to the light, that his works may be manifested that they have been wrought in God.
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After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he abode with them and baptised.
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And John also was baptising in Aenon, near Salim, because there was a great deal of water there; and they came to [him] and were baptised:
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for John was not yet cast into prison.
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There was therefore a reasoning of the disciples of John with a Jew about purification.
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And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, he baptises, and all come to him.
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John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it be given him out of heaven.
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Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him.
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He that has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices in heart because of the voice of the bridegroom: this my joy then is fulfilled.
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He must increase, but I must decrease.
31
He who comes from above is above all. He who has his origin in the earth is of the earth, and speaks [as] of the earth. He who comes out of heaven is above all,
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[and] what he has seen and has heard, this he testifies; and no one receives his testimony.
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He that has received his testimony has set to his seal that God is true;
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for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives not the Spirit by measure.
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The Father loves the Son, and has given all things [to be] in his hand.
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He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.
