Power From the Lord Against Evils and Falsities

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

For thou hast some power, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name . . . (Revelation 3:8)

This signifies that they have power from the Lord against evils and falsities, in the measure in which they make truths from the Word to be of the life, and acknowledge the Divine of the Lord in His Human.

This is evident from the signification of "having power," as being power from the Lord against evils and falsities; and as those who are in faith from charity are treated of, it is said that they "have some power" (of which presently). It is evident also from the signification of "to keep My word," as being to make truths from the Word to be of the life; for to keep truths or commandments means not only to know and perceive them but also to will and do them, that is to keep them. Those who will and do, make the truths that they know and perceive from the Word to be of their life.

And keep the things which are written therein, signifies from the love of truth. This is evident from the signification of "observing" and "keeping," as being to perceive, to will, and to do according thereto, here according to the doctrine of heaven; and from the signification of "the things which are written therein," as being, from the love of truth, or from the delight of that love; for what is done from love is done from delight; delight is from no other source. This is signified by "the things which are written therein," because the things contained in the doctrine of heaven are written on the heart, and thus on the life, of those here described; and things written on the heart and life are written on the love; for "heart" in the Word signifies love (Arcana Coelestia, n. 7542, 9050, 10336). The love of truth is meant, because these things are said of the doctrine of heaven, and the doctrine of heaven is from truths. In the Word frequent mention is made of observing and keeping the precepts, the commandments, the words, and the law: and by observing and keeping is there signified to understand, to will, and to do, as in Matthew:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you (Matt. 28:20);

in Luke:

Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it (Luke 11:28);

in John:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, if anyone keep My word he shall never see death (John 8:51);

in the same:

If any one love Me he will keep My word: He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words (John 14:15, 23-24);

and in the same:

If ye keep My commandments ye shall abide in My love. Ye are My friends if ye do the things which I command you (John 15:10, 14).

To do is to will, and to will is to do; because in deeds the will is everything.
(Apocalypse Explained 15).

It is evident also from the signification of "not denying My name," as being to acknowledge the Divine of the Lord in His Human.

And thou holdest My name, signifies the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Human of the Lord, as well as all things of love to Him and faith in Him. This is evident from what has been shown above about the signification of the "name" of Jehovah, Lord, and Jesus Christ (n. 102). By the Lord's "name" in the Word is meant primarily the acknowledgment of the Divine in His Human, because all things of love and faith are from that; for Divine goods which are of love, and Divine truths which are of faith, proceed from no other source than from the Lord alone; and these cannot flow in with man unless he thinks of the Lord's Divine at the same time that he thinks of His Human; nor is His Divine separate from the Human, but it is in the Human. ... I can aver, from all experience of the spiritual world, that no one is in the truths of faith and in the goods of love except he who thinks of the Lord's Divine at the same time that he thinks of His Human; as also that no one is spiritual, or is an angel, unless he has been in that thought and consequent acknowledgment in the world. Man must needs be conjoined to the Divine by his faith and love in order to be saved; and all conjunction is with the Lord; and to be conjoined to His Human only, and not to His Divine at the same time, is not conjunction; for the Divine saves, but not the Human apart from the Divine.  (Apocalypse Explained 135).

It should be known that there are two principal things of the church, namely, the acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine in His Human, and making the truths from the Word to be of one's life.  Moreover, no one can be in the one of these unless he is at the same time in the other; for all truths that are made to be of the life are from the Lord, and this is done with those who acknowledge the Divine in His Human. For the Lord flows in with all, as well in the heavens as on the earth, from His Divine Human, and not from the Divine separately. Consequently those who in their thought separate the Divine of the Lord from His Human, and look to the Divine of the Father not as in the Human but as beside it or above it, thus separated from it, receive no influx from the Lord nor thus from heaven, for all who are in the heavens acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human (see concerning this in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 2-12, 59-72, 78-86 seq., 212). From this it is clear that all truths that are made of the life are from the Lord with those who acknowledge the Divine in His Human, that is the Divine Human. Truths become of the life when man loves them, thus when he wills them and does them, for he who loves, wills and does; in a word, truths are made of the life when man from affection lives according to them. Such truths are from the Lord because the Lord flows into the love with man, and through the love into truths and thus makes them to be of the life.

Something shall now be said about the power that man has from the Lord against evils and falsities.

All power that angels have and also that men have is from the Lord; and the measure in which they receive the Lord is the measure of their power.

He who believes that any power against evils and falsities comes from what is man's own [proprium] is greatly mistaken; for it is evil spirits, conjoined to the hells, that induce evils and falsities thence with men, and these spirits are numerous, and each one of them is conjoined to many hells, in each of which also there are many spirits, and no one except the Lord can turn these away from man, for the Lord alone has power over the hells, and man has no power at all from himself or from what is his own [proprium]; therefore man has power to the extent that he is conjoined to the Lord by love.

There are two loves that reign in the heavens and constitute the heavens, namely, love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; love to the Lord is called celestial love, and love toward the neighbor is called spiritual love. Those who are in celestial love have much power, but those who are in spiritual love have some power; and because what is written to the angel of this church, treats of those who are in love towards the neighbor, or in charity and in faith therefrom, which love is spiritual love, it is said, "Thou hast some power."

But it is to be noted, that all the power that angels and men have from the Lord is from the good of love; and since the good of love does not act from itself but through truths, therefore all power is from the good of love through truths, and with those who are spiritual, from the good of charity through the truths of faith. For good takes on a quality through truths, good without truths having no quality and where there is no quality there is neither force nor power.

From this it is clear, that good has all power through truths, or charity through faith, and neither charity apart from faith nor faith apart from charity has any power. This is meant also by the keys given to Peter, for "Peter" there means, in the spiritual sense, truth from good which is from the Lord, thus faith from charity; and the "keys" given to him the power over evil and falsities. These things were said to Peter when he acknowledged the Divine of the Lord in His Human; which means, that those have power who acknowledge the Divine of the Lord in His Human, and from Him are in the good of charity, and in the truths of faith. That these things were said to Peter when he acknowledged the Lord is shown in Matthew:

Jesus said to the disciples, Who say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering said unto him, Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah; for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but My Father who is in the heavens. But I also say unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of the hells shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 16:15-19).

(Apocalypse Explained 209)

The Two Essentials of the New Church

Selection from Apocalypse Revealed ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And I will give power unto my two witnesses . . . Revelation 11:3

Those who confess and acknowledge from the heart that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine, and who are conjoined to Him by a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue.

The reason why these are here meant by "the two witnesses," is, because these two are the two essentials of the New Church.

That the first essential, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine, is "a testimony," and consequently, that they are "witnesses" who confess and acknowledge it in the heart — the good of life, or good in act; consequently all in the aggregate who are in that good. These "testify," that is, see, acknowledge, receive from the heart in the light, and confess the truths of the Word, especially that truth therein that the Lord's Human is Divine (from Apocalypse Revealed 6); and likewise from the following passages:-

I am the fellow servant of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:10).

The angels of Michael overcame the dragon by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of His testimony: and the dragon went away to make war with the rest of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev 12:11, 17).

The souls of them that were smitten with the axe for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God (Rev. 20:4).

These are they who acknowledged the Lord. This is called "the testimony of Jesus," because the Lord testifies it from His Word, thus from Himself; on which account He is called:

The Faithful and True Witness (Rev. 1:5; 3:14).

And He says:

I testify of Myself, and My testimony is true; because I know whence I come, and whither I go (John 8:14).

Also:

When the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall testify of Me (John 15:26).

That the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, which is also the Holy Spirit, is the proceeding Divine, and that this is the Lord Himself, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord (n. 46-54.)

Now because the Lord Himself is the Witness, therefore those also are meant by "witnesses" who testify this from the Lord, as John did:

Jesus said, Ye sent unto John, and he was a witness to the truth; yet I receive not testimony from man (John 5:33-34).

John came for a testimony, that he might testify concerning the light: he was not the Light, but that he might testify of the Light. The Word, which was with God, and which was God, was the true Light (John 1:1-14, 34).

That the second essential of the New Church, which is conjunction with the Lord by a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue, is "a Testimony," is manifest from the fact that the Decalogue is called "the Testimony;" as in these passages:

Thou shalt put into the ark the Testimony which I will give thee (Exod. 25:16).

Moses put the Testimony into the Ark (Exod. 40:20).

The mercy-seat which is over the Testimony (Lev. 16:13).

Leave the staffs of the tribes before the Testimony (Num. 17:4. Besides other places, as Exod. 25:22; 31:7, 18; 32:15; Ps. 78:5; 132:12).

Something shall here be said concerning conjunction with the Lord by a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue.

There are two tables upon which those precepts are written, one for the Lord, the other for man.

• The first table, teaches that many gods are not to be worshiped, but one
• The second table, that evils are not to be done

Therefore, when one God is worshiped, and man does not do evils, conjunction takes place; for so far as a man desists from evils, that is, does the work of repentance, so far he is accepted by God, and does good from Him.

But who now is the one God?

A trine or triune God is not one God when this trine and triune is in three Persons; but He, in whom the trine or triune is in one Person, is one God, and that God is the Lord. Entangle the ideas as far as you can, yet you will never be able to extricate the idea that God is one, unless He is also one Person. That this is so, the whole Word teaches, both in the Old Prophetic, and in the New Apostolic Word.

(from Apocalypse Revealed 490)

Once Falsity Has Been Confirmed

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

How Man's State is Changed by Confirmations and Consequent Persuasions

There is nothing that cannot be confirmed, and falsity is confirmed more readily than the truth.

What is there that cannot be confirmed, when it is confirmed by atheists:-

• that God is not the Creator of the universe, but that nature is the creator of itself
• that religion is merely a restraint, and for the simple and the common people
• that man is like a beast, and dies like one
• that adulteries are allowable, likewise clandestine thefts, frauds, and deceitful contrivances
• that cunning is intelligence and shrewdness is wisdom

Does not everyone confirm his own heresy? Are there not volumes filled with the confirmations of the two heresies that reign in the Christian world? Make up ten heresies, however abstruse, ask an ingenious man to confirm them, and he will confirm them all. If afterwards you look at them solely from the confirmations, will you not see the falsities as truths? As all falsity is visible in the natural man from its appearances and fallacies, and truth is visible in the spiritual man only, it is clear that falsity can be confirmed more readily than truth.

To make clear that every falsity and every evil can be so confirmed as to make the falsity appear like truth and the evil like good, let it be proved, for example, that light is darkness and darkness light. May it not be asked, What is light in itself? Is it anything more than a something that appears to the eye according to its state? What is light to the closed eye? Have not bats and birds of night such eyes that they see light as darkness and darkness as light? I have been told that some men see in this way; and that the infernals, although they are in darkness, still see each other. Does not man have light in his dreams in the middle of the night? Thus is not darkness light, and light darkness? But it may be answered: What of this? Light is light as truth is truth; and darkness is darkness as falsity is falsity.

Take another example: It is to be proved that a raven is white. May it not be said that its blackness is only a shade that is not its real self? Its feathers are white within, so is its body; and these are the substances of which the bird is formed. As its blackness is a shade, so the raven grows white when it gets old-such have been seen. What is black in itself but white? Pulverize black glass, and you will see that the powder is white; therefore when you call the raven black you speak from the shadow and not from the reality. But the reply may be, What of this? In this way all birds might be called white. Although all this is contrary to sound reason it has been presented to show how confirmations can be found for falsity that is directly opposite to the truth, and for evil that is wholly opposite to the good.

When falsity has been confirmed the truth is not seen, but from confirmed truth falsity is seen.

All falsity is in darkness, and all truth is in light, and in darkness, nothing is seen, and what anything is is known only by handling it; in light, it is otherwise. For this reason, in the Word falsities are called darkness, and thus those that are in falsities are said to walk in darkness and in the shadow of death. On the other hand, truths are there called light, and therefore those who are in truths are said to walk in the light and are called children of light.

There are many things to show that when falsity has been confirmed truth is not seen, and that from confirmed truth falsity is seen. For example, who could see any spiritual truth if it were not taught in the Word? Would there not be merely thick darkness that could be dispelled only by means of the light in which the Word is, and only in him who is willing to be enlightened? What heretic can see his falsities unless he admits the genuine truths of the church? He does not see them before. I have spoken with those who have confirmed themselves in faith separate from charity; and when asked whether they saw how much is said in the Word about love and charity, about works and deeds, and keeping the commandments, and that he is called blessed and wise who does them, and foolish who does them not, they said, that while reading all this they saw it only as a matter of faith, and thus they passed it by with their eyes shut, as it were.

Those that have confirmed themselves in falsities are like those who see cracks in a wall; and in the shades of evening, they see them in their fancies as a horseman or a man, but this fanciful image is dispelled by the inflowing light of day. Who can have a sense of the spiritual uncleanness of adultery except one who is in the spiritual cleanness of chastity? Who can have a sense of the cruelty of revenge except one who is in good from love of the neighbor? Who that is an adulterer, or that is eager for revenge, does not sneer at those who call the delights of such things infernal, and on the other hand, call the delights of conjugial love and of love for the neighbor heavenly? And so on.

An ability to confirm whatever one pleases is not intelligence, but only ingenuity, which may exist even in the worst of men.

There are some who are very skilful in confirming, who have no knowledge of any truth and yet are able to confirm both truth and falsity; and some of them ask, What is truth? Is there any? Is not that true that I make true? And yet such are believed in the world to be intelligent; although they are but wall plasterers. Only those who perceive truth to be truth are intelligent, and they confirm truth by verities continually perceived. There is little discernible difference between these two classes, because there is little discernible difference between the light of confirmation and the light of the perception of truth; and those who are in the light of confirmation seem to be also in the light of the perception of truth, and yet the difference between them is like that between illusive light (light in the night) and genuine light (light of the day); and illusive light is such that in the spiritual world it is turned into darkness when genuine light flows in. Such illusive light prevails with many in hell, and when these are brought into genuine light they see nothing at all. From all this it is clear that the ability to confirm whatever one pleases is mere ingenuity, and may exist even in the worst of men.

There is confirmation that is intellectual and not at the same time volitional; but all volitional confirmation is also intellectual.

This may be illustrated by examples. Those who confirm the doctrine of faith separate from charity and yet live a life of charity, or in general those who confirm falsity of doctrine and yet do not live according to it, are those that are in intellectual confirmation and not at the same time in volitional, while those that confirm falsity of doctrine and live according to it are those that are in both volitional and intellectual confirmation. The reason of this is that the understanding does not flow into the will, but the will flows into the understanding. This also shows what falsity of evil is, and what falsity not of evil is. Falsity not of evil can be conjoined with good, but falsity of evil cannot, for the reason that falsity not of evil is falsity in the understanding and not in the will; while falsity of evil is falsity in the understanding from evil in the will.

The confirmation of evil that is volitional and also intellectual causes man to believe that his own prudence is everything and the Divine providence nothing; but this is not true of intellectual confirmation alone.

There are many who by worldly appearances confirm in themselves, their own prudence and yet do not deny the Divine providence; with such there exists only intellectual confirmation. While with those who at the same time deny the Divine providence there exists also volitional confirmation; but this, together with persuasion, exists chiefly with those who are worshipers of nature and also worshipers of self.

Everything confirmed by the will and also by the understanding remains to eternity, but not what has been confirmed by the understanding only.

For that which pertains to the understanding alone (intellectual) is not within the man but is outside of him; it is merely in the thought; and nothing enters into man and is appropriated to him except what is accepted by the will (volitional), for it then comes to be of his life's love. That this remains to eternity.

Everything confirmed by the will and also by the understanding REMAINS TO ETERNITY, because everyone is his own love, and his love belongs to his will

Because every man is his own good or his own evil, for everything that is called good, and likewise evil, belongs to the love. As man is his own love, he is also a form of his love and may be called the organ of his life's love.

The affections of the love and consequent thoughts of man are changes and variations of the state and form of the organic substances of his mind. What these changes and variations are and their nature shall now be explained.

Some idea of them may be gathered from the heart and lungs, where there are alternate expansions and compressions or dilations and contractions, which in the heart are called systole and diastole and in the lungs respirations. These are a reciprocal distension and retraction or reciprocal stretching apart and closing together of their lobes. Such are the changes and variations of the state of the heart and lungs. There are like changes in the other viscera of the body, and changes more similar in their parts, by which the blood and the animal juice are received and carried onward.

Like things are to be found in the organic forms of the mind, which are the subjects of man's affections and thoughts; with the difference that their expansions and compressions, or reciprocations, are relatively in such higher perfection as cannot be expressed in the words of natural language, but only in those of spiritual language, and these can be defined in no other way than that they are vortex-like circlings inward and outward, after the manner of perpetual and incurving spirals wonderfully bundled together into forms receptive of life.

The nature of these purely organic substances and forms in the evil and in the good shall now be stated.

In the good these spiral forms are turned forward, but in the evil backward; and the spiral forms turning forward are turned towards the Lord and receive influx from Him, while those turning backward are turned towards hell and receive influx therefrom. It is to be known that so far as they are turned backward they are open behind and closed in front; and on the other hand, so far as they are turned forward they are opened in front and closed behind.

From all this it is evident what kind of a form or organ an evil man is, and what kind of a form or organ a good man is, namely, that they are turned in contrary directions; and as the turning when once fixed cannot be reversed it is clear that such as man is when he dies such he REMAINS TO ETERNITY.

It is the love of man's will that makes the turning, that is, that converts and inverts, for, as has been said above, every man is his own love. It is from this that every man after death goes the way of his own love - he that is in a good love to heaven, and he that is in an evil love to hell, and he finds rest only in that society where his reigning love is; and what is wonderful, everyone knows the way; it is like following a scent with the nose.

(Divine Providence 318-319)