Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
THE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD IS NOT A COMING IN PERSON, BUT IN THE WORD
WHICH IS FROM HIM, AND IS HIMSELF
There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun who rideth in the heaven, and in magnificence upon the clouds (Deut. 33:26-27).
Sing unto God, praise His name; extol Him that rideth upon the clouds (Ps. 68:4).
Jehovah rideth upon a light cloud (Isa. 19:1)."To ride" signifies to instruct in Divine truths from the Word, for "a horse" signifies understanding of the Word (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 298). Who does not see that God does not ride upon the clouds? Again:
God rode upon cherubs. He made His pavilion thick clouds of the heavens (Ps. 18:10, 11)."Cherubs" also signify the Word (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 239, 672).
Jehovah bindeth up the waters in His clouds; Him spreadeth His cloud over His throne (Job 26:8, 9).
Give ye strength unto God; His strength is in the clouds (Ps. 68:34).
Jehovah will create over every dwelling of Mount Zion a cloud by day; for over all the glory shall be a covering (Isa. 4:5).The Word in the sense of the letter was also represented by the cloud in which Jehovah descended upon Mount Sinai, when He promulgated the law; the principles of the law that were then promulgated were the first fruits of the Word.
As further proof, the following may also be added: In the spiritual world as well as in the natural world there are clouds, but from a different origin. In the spiritual world there are sometimes bright clouds over the angelic heavens, but dusky cloud over the hells. The bright clouds over the angelic heaven signify obscurity there arising from the literal sense of the Word; but when these clouds are dispersed, it signifies that they are in the clear light of the Word from the spiritual sense; while the dusky clouds over the hells signify the falsification and profanation of the Word. This signification of "clouds" in the spiritual world has its origin in the fact that the light which there goes forth from the Lord as a sun, signifies Divine truth; for which reason He is called "the Light" (John 1:9; 12:35). And for the same reason the Word itself there which is kept in the sacred recesses of the temples, appears surrounded by a clear white light, and its obscurity is induced by clouds.
That the Lord is the Word can be clearly seen from the following in John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word was made flesh (John 1:1, 14)."The Word" means here Divine truth because Divine truth among Christians is from no other source than the Word, which is the fountain from which all churches bearing the name of Christ draw living waters in their fullness; and yet a church accepting the Word in its natural sense is, as it were, in a cloud, but one accepting it in its spiritual and celestial senses is in glory and power. That there are three senses in the Word, a natural, a spiritual, and a celestial, one within the other, has been shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture, and in the chapter on the Decalogue or Catechism. From all this it is clear that "the Word" in John means Divine truth. John also bears testimony to this in his first Epistle:
We know that the Son of God hath come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ (5:20).This is why the Lord so frequently said, "Verily I say unto you," verily [amen] in the Hebrew language meaning truth (That He is "the Amen" see Apoc. 3:14, and "the Truth" John 14:6.) Moreover, when the learned men of the present day are asked what they understand by "the Word" in John (1:1), they say that it means the Word in its preeminence; yet what is the Word in its preeminence but Divine truth? From all this it is evident that the Lord is now to appear in the Word. He is not to appear in Person, because since He ascended into heaven He is in His glorified Human, and in this He cannot appear to any man unless the eyes of his spirit are first opened; and this cannot be done in anyone who is in evils and consequent falsities, thus not in any of the goats whom He sets on His left hand. Therefore when He showed Himself to His disciples, He first opened their eyes, for it is written:
And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him and He vanished out of their sight (Luke 24:31).The same took place with the women who were at the sepulchre after the resurrection, and in consequence they also saw angels sitting in the sepulchre and talking with them, and angels cannot be seen with the material eye. Neither did the apostles before the resurrection see the Lord in His glorified Human with their bodily eyes, but in spirit, which seems, after one is awakened from it, like the state of sleep. This is evident from the Lord's transfiguration before Peter, James, and John, for it is said, That they were heavy with sleep (Luke 9:32).
It is idle therefore, to believe that the Lord will appear in the clouds of heaven in Person; but He is to appear in the Word, which is from Him and therefore is Himself.
Every man is his own love and his own intelligence, and whatever proceeds from him derives its essence from those two essentials or properties of his life. Therefore the angels, from a brief interaction with a man, recognize what he is essentially; they know his love from the tone of his voice, and his intelligence from his speech.
This is because there are two universals of life belonging to every man, the will and the understanding. The will is the receptacle and abode of his love, and the understanding the receptacle and abode of his intelligence. Therefore all things whatever, whether action or speech, that proceed from man, constitute the man and are the man himself. In like manner, but in a preeminent degree the Lord is Divine love and Divine wisdom, or what is the same thing, Divine good and Divine truth; for His will is of the Divine love and the Divine love is of His will, while His understanding is of the Divine wisdom and the Divine wisdom is of His understanding; the Human form is their containant. From this some idea may be formed of how the Lord is the Word. But on the contrary, he who is antagonistic to the Word, that is, to the Divine truth therein, consequently, to the Lord and His church, is his own evil and his own falsity, both in reference to his mind and in reference to the effects thereof, relating to actions and words, which proceed from the body.
(True Christian Religion 776-778)