Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
TRUTHS WHICH ARE OF FAITH LEAD TO GOOD WHICH IS OF CHARITY
Who hath wrought and done it , calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD , the first, and with the last; I am he. (Isaiah 41:4)
Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. (Isaiah 44:6)
Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. (Isaiah 48:12)
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.; I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.; And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: (Revelation 1:8; 11; 17)
And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; (Revelation 2:8)
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6)
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Revelation 22:13)All things both in general and in particular have relation to an end, and look to it, and those which do not look to an end cannot subsist. For the Lord has created nothing whatever except for the sake of an end; in so much that it may be said that the end is the all in all things that have been created; and all things that have been created are in such an order that as the end from the First through the intermediates looks to the last or ultimate, so the end within the last or ultimate has regard to the end in the First. Hence comes the connection of things.
In its first origin the end itself is nothing but the Divine good of the Divine love; thus it is the Lord Himself. Wherefore also in the Word He is called the "First and the Last," the "Alpha and Omega". This being the case, it is necessary that each and all things which pertain to the life with man should have relation to an end and should look to it.
He who has any rational ability can see that the memory-knowledges with a man look to truths as their end, and that the truths look to goods, and that the goods look to the Lord as the last and the first end; as the last end when they look at Him from truths, and as the first end when they look at Him from good. Such is the case with the truths of the church that they lead to good.
(from Arcana Coelestia 6044)