Revealing and approaching the Lord God through the Spiritual Sense
of the Word:
The Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg revealed as the Word of God
By Rev. Paul Booth
of the Word:
The Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg revealed as the Word of God
By Rev. Paul Booth
Part 3
Now, if it is the actual willingness, or one's love to be good, that we confirm for ourselves where the Word of the Old and New Testaments are true and it has effected our believe that it is true, then shouldn't the same principle be applied when reading the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg - the Word of Third Testament - in light of the fact that the Lord has said that those who follow Him will be taught, and that there were more truths to be revealed and known, and that what is not understood naturally will be revealed? It is a fact that there are many things in the Old and New Testaments that remain mysteries to the Jew and the Christian and that what is understood from the Word is only naturally understood, and is often taken literally. Yet, the Word, the Truth and the Good, are for both angels as well as for man on earth and that the Word is One Truth, even as God is one.
I would like to put before us two examples of what the writers say about themselves. One, John, who wrote the book Revelation in the New Testament and the other, Emanuel Swedenborg, who wrote the book called Invitation to the New Church found in the Third Testament. First, from Revelation, John writes about a revelation from Jesus Christ - and Christian's accept these words as revealing that the Lord is to come in a last judgment. In fact, he says it is from him from Jesus Christ. He quotes Jesus and says 'He is to come'. And, today, Christians look at John's writing - the book of Revelation - as keeping the hope alive that the Lord will come again and judge the Church. In his writing he speaks about himself - about his experiences that have enabled him to see and to write about the Lord's coming and His Last Judgment upon the Church. Of course, most learn and believe that what he saw was what will come to happen, though we understand very little of its true meaning, it having been written in symbols. John says of himself that he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and that he heard a voice behind him, and quotes what he heard, and says that he was told him to write what he saw to the angels of seven Churches. (Note: He did not write and send it to the seven churches or to any churches in Asia.) The account goes on telling all what he saw and we see that what he wrote is told mainly in symbolic language that mostly, today, remains a mystery as to their true meaning.
Now, do not Christians believe the book 'Revelation' is God's Word and what one grasps from it is only the natural sense causing him to look for a time in the future when there will be a Last Judgment, though, still, what is said there remains a mystery? Yet, Christians still wait for the Lord to come and to establish a new Heaven and Church, but how that is understood is but man's imagination and of his own rationalization.
Now let us turn to what Swedenborg says about his experiences. In the book called 'Invitation to the New Church' , Swedenborg writes 'This Church is not instituted and established through miracles, but through the revelation of the spiritual sense of the Word, and through the introduction of my spirit, and at the same time of my body, into the spiritual world, so that I might imbibe from the Lord immediately in light the truths of faith, whereby man is led to eternal life'. We first note that it was Swedenborg's spirit and body that was in the spiritual world, while it was only John's spirit that was raised into the spiritual world. We see that John wrote in symbolic language. You might wonder why it was that he did this. It is because when he saw spiritually, he understood spiritually, but when he returned to his natural body the things he saw there in the spiritual world, the spiritual truths he was told to write, could not be described in natural language except through symbols. This was also the case with the prophets of Israel who also wrote about the future of the Church. What John saw was still to come, which was the end of the Church just as the prophets who saw the end of the Church, the Israelitish Church that was then on earth and of a new one being instituted and established, and until that happened those spiritual truths could not be revealed to man, for if they were they would have been profaned. Thus, man could not have been saved, so, it remained a mystery. Here, you can understand that the Lord defends and protects the truth within man from profanation, until the Lord subjugated the evil spirits in hell in His coming again; this time to the spiritual world. Thus, they cannot attack or influence the person coming from earth into the spiritual world and so prevent him from regeneration or from being born again spiritually. Why else is man to be born again spiritually unless his spirit has been separated from God by evil spirits and he is tempted and even is evil? In what Swedenborg wrote these mysteries no longer remain, but are revealed. In the case before us the Lord's Coming and His Last Judgment is revealed to be in the spiritual world, not on earth.
The words that Swedenborg wrote, Swedenborg being both on earth and in the spiritual world when the Lord came there in His Judgment and when the Lord established a New Church, (seen in John seeing a new Heaven and earth descending from God out of Heaven) had enabled him to write so that it is understood today by man naturally through correspondences. It can be seen that when Swedenborg was reading the Word, he was granted to be in Heaven that he learn the spiritual signification of the literal sense and could see the correspondences between Heaven and earth and, thus, reveal the internal sense to man. Swedenborg tells us that the reason he was granted this experience was so that he could learn directly or immediately from the Lord the truths of faith that lead and guide man to eternal life, that man may act accordingly and, so, live the life of good, and that the Lord's Good enter him and be there conjoined with His Truth.
You may think, hasn't the Christian Churches already such truths of faith? Yet, we know that today these churches have differing doctrines and the question is: which is the true Church, for all claim they have the true doctrine? Or does it even matter? Are they all the True Church? The reason for this is because of their understanding of the Word. One says that it means this, another says that it mean something else and both wait for the Lord to come and save them, some to live again in this world, others, to live on in other worlds, and some to live in Heaven. It seems impossible to see one genuine truth from the Word which is not crowded and defiled with falsities. All those mysteries of the Word become clear when they are understood in their spiritual sense, which was promised by the Lord. Thus, Swedenborg writes, "Wherefore, in order that the true Christian religion might be opened up, it was absolutely necessary that some one should be introduced into the spiritual world, and derive from the Lord's mouth genuine truths out of the Word."
Can anyone come into Heaven who has not approached the Lord directly or immediately and acknowledged Him as the God of Heaven? Unless one does this, the Word cannot enlighten him. From a natural understanding he cannot know God, for his knowledge is distorted even as was the celestial man's when he desired the knowledge of good and evil and, so, fell from Paradise. Thus, man today approaches God indirectly or mediately or through intermediaries through the natural sense, while the Lord's presence is in the spiritual sense not the natural sense of the Word. Thoughts enter the mind; they come there from both good and evil influences and when we read or hear the Word of God those thoughts could and may influence the understanding. However, since the Lord has, in His Coming and Last Judgment, subjugated the evil spirits in hell and they no longer can influence man's spirit, then angels and the Lord who is now the Divine Human can influence our spirit when coming to the spiritual world and, so, our understanding of the Word can no longer be distorted. The Lord who is the Truth and the Good can then be approached immediately and good and truth need no longer to come through mediators - through angels, good and evil spirits and devils.
In the Third Testament Swedenborg says "I speak with angels and spirits in the spiritual world" and he describes the states of Heaven and hell, the life after death, and he has laid open the spiritual sense of the Word. These writings, these words, are proofs for the sake of the New Church, that it is the crown of all Churches. To show that the Lord is present in the spiritual sense one needs only to believe that the Lord is the Word, that He is all Divine Truth in the Word, that He alone is the Light which enlightens all men, even as He alone teaches. It is the spiritual sense which is the light. If you believe the Word it is the Lord who is that 'light'. Thus, that light is to be in your understanding. Likewise, the Lord is also that 'good' as well as the light which is 'Truth'; His 'Good' is to be in your will as His Truth in your understanding. Therefore, if a man has not this light, he has no spiritual understanding, but only what is natural, and in the natural understanding a man see falsities instead of truths, for his human natural mind - his will and understanding - is in the things that pertain to the world and to one's self and, therefore, the Lord's Good is not in him, but only man's own good or the good that comes from himself, not from the Lord.
End.
I would like to put before us two examples of what the writers say about themselves. One, John, who wrote the book Revelation in the New Testament and the other, Emanuel Swedenborg, who wrote the book called Invitation to the New Church found in the Third Testament. First, from Revelation, John writes about a revelation from Jesus Christ - and Christian's accept these words as revealing that the Lord is to come in a last judgment. In fact, he says it is from him from Jesus Christ. He quotes Jesus and says 'He is to come'. And, today, Christians look at John's writing - the book of Revelation - as keeping the hope alive that the Lord will come again and judge the Church. In his writing he speaks about himself - about his experiences that have enabled him to see and to write about the Lord's coming and His Last Judgment upon the Church. Of course, most learn and believe that what he saw was what will come to happen, though we understand very little of its true meaning, it having been written in symbols. John says of himself that he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and that he heard a voice behind him, and quotes what he heard, and says that he was told him to write what he saw to the angels of seven Churches. (Note: He did not write and send it to the seven churches or to any churches in Asia.) The account goes on telling all what he saw and we see that what he wrote is told mainly in symbolic language that mostly, today, remains a mystery as to their true meaning.
Now, do not Christians believe the book 'Revelation' is God's Word and what one grasps from it is only the natural sense causing him to look for a time in the future when there will be a Last Judgment, though, still, what is said there remains a mystery? Yet, Christians still wait for the Lord to come and to establish a new Heaven and Church, but how that is understood is but man's imagination and of his own rationalization.
Now let us turn to what Swedenborg says about his experiences. In the book called 'Invitation to the New Church' , Swedenborg writes 'This Church is not instituted and established through miracles, but through the revelation of the spiritual sense of the Word, and through the introduction of my spirit, and at the same time of my body, into the spiritual world, so that I might imbibe from the Lord immediately in light the truths of faith, whereby man is led to eternal life'. We first note that it was Swedenborg's spirit and body that was in the spiritual world, while it was only John's spirit that was raised into the spiritual world. We see that John wrote in symbolic language. You might wonder why it was that he did this. It is because when he saw spiritually, he understood spiritually, but when he returned to his natural body the things he saw there in the spiritual world, the spiritual truths he was told to write, could not be described in natural language except through symbols. This was also the case with the prophets of Israel who also wrote about the future of the Church. What John saw was still to come, which was the end of the Church just as the prophets who saw the end of the Church, the Israelitish Church that was then on earth and of a new one being instituted and established, and until that happened those spiritual truths could not be revealed to man, for if they were they would have been profaned. Thus, man could not have been saved, so, it remained a mystery. Here, you can understand that the Lord defends and protects the truth within man from profanation, until the Lord subjugated the evil spirits in hell in His coming again; this time to the spiritual world. Thus, they cannot attack or influence the person coming from earth into the spiritual world and so prevent him from regeneration or from being born again spiritually. Why else is man to be born again spiritually unless his spirit has been separated from God by evil spirits and he is tempted and even is evil? In what Swedenborg wrote these mysteries no longer remain, but are revealed. In the case before us the Lord's Coming and His Last Judgment is revealed to be in the spiritual world, not on earth.
The words that Swedenborg wrote, Swedenborg being both on earth and in the spiritual world when the Lord came there in His Judgment and when the Lord established a New Church, (seen in John seeing a new Heaven and earth descending from God out of Heaven) had enabled him to write so that it is understood today by man naturally through correspondences. It can be seen that when Swedenborg was reading the Word, he was granted to be in Heaven that he learn the spiritual signification of the literal sense and could see the correspondences between Heaven and earth and, thus, reveal the internal sense to man. Swedenborg tells us that the reason he was granted this experience was so that he could learn directly or immediately from the Lord the truths of faith that lead and guide man to eternal life, that man may act accordingly and, so, live the life of good, and that the Lord's Good enter him and be there conjoined with His Truth.
You may think, hasn't the Christian Churches already such truths of faith? Yet, we know that today these churches have differing doctrines and the question is: which is the true Church, for all claim they have the true doctrine? Or does it even matter? Are they all the True Church? The reason for this is because of their understanding of the Word. One says that it means this, another says that it mean something else and both wait for the Lord to come and save them, some to live again in this world, others, to live on in other worlds, and some to live in Heaven. It seems impossible to see one genuine truth from the Word which is not crowded and defiled with falsities. All those mysteries of the Word become clear when they are understood in their spiritual sense, which was promised by the Lord. Thus, Swedenborg writes, "Wherefore, in order that the true Christian religion might be opened up, it was absolutely necessary that some one should be introduced into the spiritual world, and derive from the Lord's mouth genuine truths out of the Word."
Can anyone come into Heaven who has not approached the Lord directly or immediately and acknowledged Him as the God of Heaven? Unless one does this, the Word cannot enlighten him. From a natural understanding he cannot know God, for his knowledge is distorted even as was the celestial man's when he desired the knowledge of good and evil and, so, fell from Paradise. Thus, man today approaches God indirectly or mediately or through intermediaries through the natural sense, while the Lord's presence is in the spiritual sense not the natural sense of the Word. Thoughts enter the mind; they come there from both good and evil influences and when we read or hear the Word of God those thoughts could and may influence the understanding. However, since the Lord has, in His Coming and Last Judgment, subjugated the evil spirits in hell and they no longer can influence man's spirit, then angels and the Lord who is now the Divine Human can influence our spirit when coming to the spiritual world and, so, our understanding of the Word can no longer be distorted. The Lord who is the Truth and the Good can then be approached immediately and good and truth need no longer to come through mediators - through angels, good and evil spirits and devils.
In the Third Testament Swedenborg says "I speak with angels and spirits in the spiritual world" and he describes the states of Heaven and hell, the life after death, and he has laid open the spiritual sense of the Word. These writings, these words, are proofs for the sake of the New Church, that it is the crown of all Churches. To show that the Lord is present in the spiritual sense one needs only to believe that the Lord is the Word, that He is all Divine Truth in the Word, that He alone is the Light which enlightens all men, even as He alone teaches. It is the spiritual sense which is the light. If you believe the Word it is the Lord who is that 'light'. Thus, that light is to be in your understanding. Likewise, the Lord is also that 'good' as well as the light which is 'Truth'; His 'Good' is to be in your will as His Truth in your understanding. Therefore, if a man has not this light, he has no spiritual understanding, but only what is natural, and in the natural understanding a man see falsities instead of truths, for his human natural mind - his will and understanding - is in the things that pertain to the world and to one's self and, therefore, the Lord's Good is not in him, but only man's own good or the good that comes from himself, not from the Lord.
End.
| About |
| Doctrine
Site Content Copyright 2001 by The Lord's New Chapel All Rights Reserved
Site Concept and Creation Copyright 2001 by Stealth Media Solutions All Rights Reserved