January 5, 2018

Enlightenment from the Lord

Selection from Doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Genuine truth, which is to be the source of doctrine, is manifest in the sense of the letter of the Word only to those who are enlightened by the Lord.

Enlightenment comes from the Lord alone and is granted to those who love truths because they are truths, and who apply them to the uses of life; with others, there is no enlightenment in the Word.

Enlightenment comes from the Lord alone, because the Lord is in all things of the Word.

Enlightenment is granted to those who love truths because they are truths, and who apply them to the uses of life because they are in the Lord, and the Lord in them. For the Lord is His own Divine Truth; and when this is loved because it is Divine Truth — and this is loved when it is applied to use — then the Lord is present in it with man. These things the Lord also teaches in John:
At that day ye shall know ... that ye are in me, and I in you.
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he is it that loveth me ... and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him ... And I will come to him and make my abode with him
.
  John 14:20, 21, 23
And in Matthew:
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.  Matt. 5:8
These are they who are enlightened when they read the Word, and with whom the Word is lucid and transparent.
(Doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures 57)