Concerning The Word (series) Pt. 18

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

There is successive order and there is simultaneous order. In successive order things pure and perfect appear above, and those less pure and perfect appear below. The three heavens are in successive order, one above another; and in the higher heavens all things are pure and perfect, while in the lower they are less pure and perfect. Simultaneous order exists in lower things, and fully in the lowest; for higher things let themselves down and place themselves in the order that is called simultaneous, in which the pure and perfect things, which were the higher, are in the middle or center, and the less pure and perfect, which were the lower, are in the circumferences. Therefore all things that have existed in successive order are together in ultimates in their order.

And as all higher things place themselves in what is lowest in simultaneous order, it follows that in the ultimates of the Word, which constitute the sense of its letter, are all things of the Divine truth and of the Divine good, even from their firsts. And as all things of the Divine truth and the Divine good are together in their ultimate, which is the sense of the letter of the Word, there evidently is the power of Divine truth, yea, the omnipotence of the Lord in saving man. For when the Lord operates He operates not from first things through mediates into ultimates, but from first things through ultimates and thus into mediates. This is why the Lord is called in the Word the First and the Last; and this is why the Lord assumed the Human, which in the world was the Divine truth or the Word, and glorified it even to the ultimates, which are the bones and the flesh, in order that He might operate from first things through ultimates, and not as before from man, but from Himself. This power in ultimates was represented by the hair with the Nazirites, as with Samson, for the hair corresponds to the ultimates of the Divine truth. And for this reason, to produce baldness was regarded in ancient times as disgraceful.

The boys who called Elisha "bald head" were torn in pieces by bears, because Elisha and Elijah represented the Word; and the Word without the sense of the letter, which is like a head without hair, is without any power, and thus is no longer the Word. "Bears" signify those that have strength from the ultimates of truth. The power of the Word in the sense of the letter is the power to open heaven, whereby communication and conjunction are effected, and also the power to fight against falsities and evils, thus against the hells. A man who is in genuine truths from the sense of the letter of the Word can disperse and scatter the whole diabolical crew and their devices in which they place their power, which are innumerable, and this in a moment, merely by a look and by an effort of the will. In brief, in the spiritual world nothing can resist genuine truths confirmed by the sense of the letter of the Word.

(to be continued)
(Apocalypse Explained 1086:4-6)

Concerning The Word (series) Pt. 17

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

As there are three senses in the Word - the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial - and as its natural sense, which is the sense of the letter, is a containant of the two senses - the spiritual and the celestial - it follows that the sense of the letter of the Word is the basis of those senses.

As the angels of the three heavens receive their wisdom from the Lord through the Word with them, and as their Words make one with our Word by correspondences, it also follows that the sense of the letter of our Word is the basis, support, and foundation of the wisdom of the angels of heaven. For the heavens rest upon the human race as a house rests upon its foundation — so the wisdom of the angels of heaven rests in like manner upon the knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom of men from the sense of the letter of the Word, for as has been said [in previous articles], communication and conjunction with the heavens are effected through the sense of the letter of the Word.

Thence it is, that of the Lord's Divine Providence it has come to pass, that the Word as to the sense of the letter from its first revelation has not been mutilated, not even as to an expression and letter in the original text, for every expression is a support, and in some measure the letters.

From all this it is clear what a profanation it is to falsify the truths and adulterate the goods of the Word, and how infernal it is to deny or to weaken its holiness.  As soon as that is done, for that man of the church, heaven is closed.

The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which cannot be forgiven, is the blasphemy of the Word by those who deny its holiness. Since the Word is the basis of the heavens, and since the Word has been wholly falsified and adulterated by the Jewish nation by traditions and by applications of the sense of the letter to favor their evil loves, lest the heavens should be endangered and the wisdom of the angels there should become foolishness, it has pleased the Lord to come down from heaven and to put on the Human and to become the Word, as is evident from John 1:14: -

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

and thus to restore the state of heaven.

(to be continued)
(Apocalypse Explained 1085:2)

Concerning The Word (series) Pt. 16

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Since it is from creation that end, cause, and effect shall together make one, so it is from creation that the heavens shall make one with the church on the earth, but by means of the Word, when it is read by man from the love of truth and good. For the Word was given by the Lord to this end, that there might be a perpetual conjunction of the angels of heaven with men on the earth, and a perpetual communication according to conjunction. Without this medium there would not be any conjunction and communication with heaven on this earth. The conjunction and communication are instantaneous, and for the reason that all things of the Word in the sense of the letter are as effects, in which the cause and the end exist together, and the effects, which are in the Word, are called uses, their causes truths, and their ends goods; and the Divine love, which is the Lord, unites these three together in the man who is in the affection for uses from the Word. How a man draws and calls forth from the Word in the letter the natural sense, a spiritual angel the spiritual sense, and a celestial angel the celestial sense, and this instantly, from which there is communication and conjunction, shall be illustrated by comparisons:

• first by something in the animal kingdom
• afterwards by something in the vegetable kingdom
• finally by something in the mineral kingdom.

From the Animal Kingdom: From the food, when it has become chyle, the vessels draw and call forth their blood, the fibers of the nerves their fluid, and the substances that are the origins of fibers their spirit, which is called the animal spirit; and this is done through the vital heat, which in its essence is love. The vessels, the fibers, and the substances which are their origins, are distinct from each other, and yet they act as one throughout the body, and they act together and in an instant.

From the Vegetable Kingdom: The tree, with its trunk and branches, leaves and fruits, stands upon its root, and from the soil where its root is draws and calls forth its sap, a coarser sap for the trunk and branches, a purer for the leaves, and a still purer and also nobler for the fruits and for the seeds in them; and this is done by means of heat from the sun. Here the branches, leaves, and fruit although they are distinct, yet they extract together and instantly and from the same soil foods of such different purity and nobleness.

From the Mineral Kingdom: In the bosom of the earth in certain places there are minerals impregnated with gold, silver, copper, and iron. From vapors stored up in the earth the gold attracts its element, silver its element, copper and iron theirs, distinctly together and on the instant, and this by means of some power of unknown heat.

As it is allowable to illustrate spiritual things by means of comparisons drawn from natural things, these will serve to illustrate how interior things, which are spiritual and celestial, and by which a man of the church has communication and conjunction with the heavens, can be drawn and called forth and extracted and eliminated from the Word in its ultimates, which is, the sense of the letter.

Comparisons can be made with these, because all things in the three kingdoms of nature - animal, vegetable, and mineral - correspond to the spiritual things that are the three heavens, as the food of the body, with which a comparison has been made, corresponds to the food of the soul, which is knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom; a tree, with which also a comparison has been made, corresponds to man, the tree to man himself, the wood to his good, the leaves to his truths, and the fruits to his uses; so, too, gold, silver, copper, and iron correspond to goods and truths, gold to celestial good, silver to spiritual truth, copper to natural good, and iron to natural truth.

Moreover, these things have these significations in the Word. And what is wonderful, the purer are contained in the grosser and are drawn from them, as the animal spirit and the nerve fluid are contained in the blood from which the original substances and nerve fiber draw and extract their distinct portions.

So, again, fruits and leaves draw theirs from the gross fluid that is brought up from the soil by the wood and its bark, and so on. Thus comparatively, as has been said, the purer senses of the Word are drawn and called forth from the sense of the letter.

(to be continued)
(Apocalypse Explained 1084:2-6)