God is VERY MAN

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Without a proper idea of God, no communication with the heavens is possible.

In all the heavens there is no other idea of God than that He is a Man. This is because heaven as a whole and in part is in form like a man, and because it is the Divine which is with the angels that constitutes heaven and inasmuch as thought proceeds according to the form of heaven, it is impossible for the angels to think of God in any other way.

From this it is that all those in the world who are conjoined with heaven think of God in the same way when they think interiorly in themselves, that is, in their spirit. From this fact that God is a Man, all angels and all spirits, in their complete form, are men. This results from the form of heaven, which is like itself in its greatest and in its least parts. That heaven as a whole and in part is in form like a man may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 59-87); and that

Thoughts proceed according to the form of heaven: —

Since the interior things of man, which are of his will and understanding, are like the heavens in respect to degrees (for man, as to the interiors of his mind, is a heaven in least form), their perfections also are like those of the heavens. But these perfections are not apparent to any one so long as he lives in the world, because he is then in the lowest degree; and from the lowest degree the higher degrees cannot be known; but they are known after death, because man then enters into that degree which corresponds to his love and wisdom, for he then becomes an angel, and thinks and speaks things ineffable to his natural man; for there is then an elevation of all things of his mind, not in a single, but in a threefold ratio. Degrees of height are in threefold ratio, but degrees of breadth are in single ratio. But into degrees of height none ascend and are elevated except those who in the world have been in truths, and have applied them to life.

It seems as if things prior must be less perfect than things subsequent, that is, things simple than things composite; but things prior out of which things subsequent are formed, that is, things simple out of which things composite are formed, are the more perfect. The reason is that the prior or the simpler are more naked and less covered over with substances and matters devoid of life, and are, as it were, more Divine, consequently nearer to the spiritual sun where the Lord is; for perfection itself is in the Lord, and from Him in that sun which is the first proceeding of His Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and from that in those things which come immediately after; and thus in order down to things lowest, which are less perfect as they are farther removed. Without such preeminent perfection in things prior and simple, neither man nor any kind of animal could have come into existence from seed, and afterwards continue to exist; nor could the seeds of trees and shrubs vegetate and bear fruit. For the more prior anything prior is, or the more simple anything simple is, the more exempt is it from injury, because it is more perfect. (DLW 203, 204)

It is known from Genesis (1:26, 27), that men were created after the image and likeness of God. God also appeared as a man to Abraham and to others. The ancients, from the wise even to the simple, thought of God no otherwise than as being a Man; and when at length they began to worship a plurality of gods, as at Athens and Rome, they worshiped them all as men. What is here said may be illustrated by the following extract from a small treatise already published: —

The Gentiles, especially the Africans, who acknowledge and worship one God, the Creator of the universe, have concerning God the idea that He is a Man, and declare that no one can have any other idea of God. When they learn that there are many who cherish an idea of God as something cloud-like in the midst of things, they ask where such persons are; and on being told that they are among Christians, they declare it to be impossible. They are informed, however, that this idea arises from the fact that God in the Word is called "a Spirit," and of a spirit they have no other idea than of a bit of cloud, not knowing that every spirit and every angel is a man.

An examination, nevertheless, was made, whether the spiritual idea of such persons was like their natural idea, and it was found not to be so with those who acknowledge the Lord interiorly as God of heaven and earth. I heard a certain elder from the Christians say that no one can have an idea of a Human Divine; and I saw him taken about to various Gentile nations, and successively to such as were more and more interior, and from them to their heavens, and finally to the Christian heaven; and everywhere their interior perception concerning God was communicated to him, and he observed that they had no other idea of God than that He is a man, which is the same as the idea of a Human Divine (Cont. L.J. n. 74)

The common people in Christendom have an idea that God is a Man, because God in the Athanasian doctrine of the Trinity is called a "Person." But those who are more learned than the common people pronounce God to be invisible; and this for the reason that they cannot comprehend how God, as a Man, could have created heaven and earth, and then fill the universe with His presence, and many things besides, which cannot enter the understanding so long as the truth that the Divine is not in space is ignored. Those, however, who go to the Lord alone think of a Human Divine, thus of God as a Man.

How important it is to have a correct idea of God can be known from the truth that the idea of God constitutes the inmost of thought with all who have religion, for all things of religion and all things of worship look to God. And since God, universally and in particular, is in all things of religion and of worship, without a proper idea of God no communication with the heavens is possible. From this it is that in the spiritual world every nation has its place allotted in accordance with its idea of God as a Man; for in this idea, and in no other, is the idea of the Lord. That man's state of life after death is according to the idea of God in which he has become confirmed, is manifest from the opposite of this, namely, that the denial of God, and, in the Christian world, the denial of the Divinity of the Lord, constitutes hell.

(Divine Love and Wisdom 10-13)

The Divine is Not in Space

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

That the Divine, that is, God, is not in space, although omnipresent and with every man in the world, and with every angel in heaven, and with every spirit under heaven, cannot be comprehended by a merely natural idea, but it can by a spiritual idea.

It cannot be comprehended by a natural idea, because in the natural idea there is space; since it is formed out of such things as are in the world, and in each and all of these, as seen by the eye, there is space. In the world, everything great and small is of space; everything long, broad, and high is of space; in short, every measure, figure and form is of space. This is why it has been said that it cannot be comprehended by a merely natural idea that the Divine is not in space, when it is said that the Divine is everywhere. Still, by natural thought, a man may comprehend this, if only he admit into it something of spiritual light. For this reason something shall first be said about spiritual idea, and thought therefrom.

Spiritual idea derives nothing from space, but it derives its all from state. State is predicated of love, of life, of wisdom, of affections, of joys therefrom; in general, of good and of truth. An idea of these things which is truly spiritual has nothing in common with space; it is higher and looks down upon the ideas of space which are under it as heaven looks down upon the earth. But since angels and spirits see with eyes, just as men in the world do, and since objects cannot be seen except in space, therefore in the spiritual world where angels and spirits are, there appear to be spaces like the spaces on earth; yet they are not spaces, but appearances; since they are not fixed and constant, as spaces are on earth; for they can be lengthened or shortened; they can be changed or varied. Thus because they cannot be determined in that world by measure, they cannot be comprehended there by any natural idea, but only by a spiritual idea. The spiritual idea of distances of space is the same as of distances of good or distances of truth, which are affinities and likenesses according to states of goodness and truth.

From this it may be seen that man is unable, by a merely natural idea, to comprehend that the Divine is everywhere, and yet not in space; but that angels and spirits comprehend this clearly; consequently that a man also may, provided he admits into his thought something of spiritual light; and this for the reason that it is not his body that thinks, but his spirit, thus not his natural, but his spiritual.

But many fail to comprehend this because of their love of the natural, which makes them unwilling to raise the thoughts of their understanding above the natural into spiritual light; and those who are unwilling to do this can think only from space, even concerning God; and to think according to space concerning God is to think concerning the expanse of nature. This has to be premised, because without a knowledge and some perception that the Divine is not in space, nothing can be understood about the Divine Life, which is Love and Wisdom ... and hence little, if anything, about Divine Providence, Omnipresence, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Infinity and Eternity.

(from Divine Love and Wisdom 7-9)

Omnipotence, Omnipresence and Omniscience

Selection from Apocalypse Revealed ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
All Things Which Angel and Man Can Ever Think, Spiritually and Naturally, Concerning the Divine

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. (Revelation 1:8)

And I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, signifies Who is the Self-existing and the Only from firsts to ultimates, from Whom all things are, thus —

Who is Love Itself and the Only Love

Wisdom Itself and the Only Wisdom

Life Itself and the Only Life in Himself

thus —

the Creator Himself and the Only Creator, Saviour and Enlightener from Himself, and thence the All in all of heaven and the church.

These and many more things besides are contained in the above words, by which the Lord is described. That they are spoken of the Lord, and, indeed, of His Human, is very evident, for it follows that John heard a voice, saying:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last; and He turned to see the voice that spake with him, and saw the Son of man in the midst of seven lampstands (Rev. 1:10-13).

Who, also, a little further on, says:

I am the First and the Last, I am He that liveth and was dead (Rev. 2:8).

But that all the particulars above enumerated are contained in these words cannot be confirmed briefly, for to confirm them fully would require many sheets; still they are in part confirmed in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, recently published in Amsterdam, which see. The Lord calls Himself "the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," because "Alpha and Omega" refer to His Divine love, and "Beginning and End," to His Divine wisdom; for there is, in every particular of the Word, a marriage of love and wisdom, or of good and truth; on which subject, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 80-90).

The Lord is called "the Alpha and the Omega," because Alpha is the first letter and Omega the last in the Greek Alphabet, and therefore they signify all in the aggregate. The reason is, that every letter of the alphabet, in the spiritual world, signifies something; and a vowel, because it is serviceable for sound, something of affection or love. From this origin, spiritual and angelic speech, and, also, the Scriptures, are derived; but this is an arcanum hitherto unknown. For there is a universal language in which all angels and spirits are; and this has nothing in common with any language of men in the world. Every man comes into this language after death; for it is implanted in every man from creation, therefore they all can understand each other in the whole spiritual world. It has been granted me frequently to hear that language, and also to speak it; and I have compared it with the languages in the world, and have found that it does not, even in the smallest particular, make one with any natural language on the earth. It differs from these in its first principle, which is, that each letter of every word has a sense and signification peculiar to itself, as well in speaking as in writing. Therefore it is that the Lord is called the Alpha and the Omega, which signifies that He is the All in all of heaven and the church; and as these two letters are vowels, they have relation to love, as was said above. Concerning this language, and the writing of it, flowing from the spiritual thought of the angels, something may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom (n. 295).

Saith the Lord, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come. That this signifies who is eternal and infinite, and Jehovah: —

it is the Lord ... where it is said that he heard a voice from the Son of man, saying:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last (Rev. 1:11-13);

and afterwards:

I am the First and the Last (Rev. 1:17);

and in (Rev. 1:8) and (Rev. 21:6; 22:12); and in Isaiah:

Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer Jehovah of Hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last, and besides Me there Is no God (Isa. 44:6);

also (48:12); and He who is the First and the Last, is He who is, and who was, and who is to come.

This also is meant by Jehovah; for the name Jehovah signifies is; and He who is, or who is Esse itself, the same is also He who was, and is to come, for in Him the past and the future are present; hence He is without time eternal, and without place infinite. This also is acknowledged by the church in the Doctrine of the Trinity, called Athanasian, in which are these words: "The Father is eternal and infinite, the Son is eternal and infinite, and the Holy Spirit is eternal and infinite, but yet there are not three eternals and infinites, but one;" that this one is the Lord, is demonstrated in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord.

(from Apocalypse Revealed 13)

The Almighty, signifies who is, lives, and has power from Himself, and who rules all things from firsts by ultimates. Since all things are from the Lord, and are created from the firsts which are from Him; and nothing is given which does not exist therefrom, as is abundantly shown in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, it follows, that He is omnipotent.

Suppose One from whom are all things; are not all things of that One, upon whom they depend in order, like the links of a chain upon their hook; or like the blood vessels of the whole body upon the heart; or as each and everything in the universe on the sun? Thus do all things depend on the Lord, who is the sun of the spiritual world, from whom is all the essence, life, and power, with those who are under that sun. In a word, "from Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). This is the Divine omnipotence.

That the Lord rules all things from firsts by ultimates, is an arcanum never before revealed; but it is now explained in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord and Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture in many places; and also in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence (n. 124); and Divine Love and Wisdom (n. 221). It is known that the Divine because it is infinite, does not fall into the ideas of the thought of any man nor of any angel, because they are finite, and the finite does not have the capacity of perceiving the infinite; still, that it may in some manner be perceived, it has pleased the Lord to describe His infinity by these words:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End; Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty.

These words, therefore, include all things which angel and man can ever think, spiritually and naturally, concerning the Divine; which things, in general, are what were adduced above universally.

(from Apocalypse Revealed 29-31)