Today's Miracle
Sermon by Rev. Paul Booth
Genesis 3: 6-9, 13-19, 22-24, John 16: 1-8
The Coronis: Invitation to the New Church 46
Sermon by Rev. Paul Booth
Genesis 3: 6-9, 13-19, 22-24, John 16: 1-8
The Coronis: Invitation to the New Church 46
The manifestation of the Lord in person, and introduction by the Lord into the spiritual world, both as to sight and as to hearing and speech, surpasses all miracles; for nowhere in history do we read that such an intercourse with angels and spirits has been granted from the creation of the world. For I am there with the angels daily, even as I am in the world with men and now for twenty-seven years. Evidence of this intercourse is the books published by me concerning Heaven and Hell, and also the memorable relations in the last work, entitled The True Christian Religion.
(Invitation to the New Church 43)
(Invitation to the New Church 43)
This miracle is that the Lord, the Divine Human chose a man Swedenborg to write and publish such truths as he was instructed so that man could become regenerated, that is, saved. Having said that, it is pointed out that the name 'Swedenborg' in Heaven is not seen as the person of Swedenborg, but as the quality it signifies. This is the greatest miracle since the creation, yet few know of it and fewer still believe it. What is a miracle today is that man can live from his spiritual from the Lord. He does not have to live from his natural alone. First, life is the Lord and proceeds from the Lord. Now, it is from the Word spoken in Genesis known that mankind has turned away from Jehovah or Lord God and that lives now in the natural state and that the spiritual state is closed to him. Yet, it is also made known that God Himself came to earth and put on the natural in order to redeem and lead man out of death into life, for that is what it is to live in the natural separate from the spiritual. But how the Lord has done this is little known today and we see man still living 'as it were' in the natural state and knows nothing of the spiritual. Anyone, if he or she desires, may know that in the Lord's coming on earth He fought against the evils and their falsities in His Natural Human and was victorious over them, even overcoming death. This overcoming was the uniting of His Natural with His Spiritual, and the Lord's Spiritual is derived from His Celestial, which proceed from the Divine Itself. Thus, it was His glorification and He became the Divine Human. In this way man is regenerated.
How does this enable man to become saved? Does the Lord transfer and transfuse His life into us, as many of the old Christian churches would have us believe? Is it true that the only thing necessary is that man is to believe that God saves him and that somehow miraculously we receive life eternal? Can't it be seen that such a belief comes from our natural understanding and that such a faith is only a natural faith and is without anything spiritual? No, the Lord did not just come on earth and save man if he only believes that He did. He brought the evils into subjection in hell and He revealed to us the internal sense of the Word, though the latter is not well known, for most men do not know that the Lord has came again in the Word. What this means is that no longer is it necessary that man's spiritual mind remained closed. It means that there is, now, a correspondence between the spiritual things of Heaven and the natural of earth; this correspondence conjoins the man, who lives in the natural from his spiritual within and within that spiritual the celestial lives and, even, the Lord Himself. So, it is that God's love and His wisdom as celestial good and spiritual truth is in man as charity and faith. It is these in man that saves the man.
From this one sees that the Lord's truths and His goods can now flow 'as it were' into man and bring him true life, eternal life. This, then, is truly the Lord within man and is the Lord's abode and, even, His temple. What brings the Lord to make His abode and temple within is man knowing and acknowledging the Lord's qualities and appropriating them to use. One sees that no one has the Lord's presence unless he knows His quality. It is obvious that the person of Christ Jesus cannot enter in a man, but His qualities can when they become known and acted upon. How is the Lord known? He is known by the truths of the Word where these truths are learned enter the mind and will. For, is not the Lord the Word Itself and the Truth Itself as He says? And the truth we are to imbibe so as to make them ours 'as it were' that we may live.
Now, the Lord's qualities are of two kinds. One: what pertains to knowledge of the Lord and, the second: the knowledge that proceeds from Him. Thus, the truth that teaches that the Lord is God and is one, that He is one with the Father, that all things of the Father are in Him, that He is the Human of God the Father are the first kind of quality that we are to know. Again, what proceeds from Him is Himself. And, these are His teachings concerning charity, freedom of choice, repentance, regeneration, and many other things. This are the second kind of quality that we are to know. With such knowledge one may approach the Lord immediately, when the spiritual has been opened, because these qualities, when their correspondence is known, conjoins man with the Lord. For in them the spiritual sense of the Word is made manifest, and in this sense is the Lord Himself the Divine and in the natural sense is His Human. Thus, the Lord became conjoined with the man the natural of man with the spiritual of man.
It is from a new Revelation that this has been accomplished and communication has been opened between man and angels of Heaven. The conjunction of the two worlds spiritual and natural has been effected. That New Revelation has revealed such correspondences. It is they that have the force and strength of the Divine Omnipotence so that the spiritual acts together with the natural and the natural with the spiritual when men come into the internal knowledge of the Word. An appropriation of this new Revelation is as the Lord entering a man's will and his understanding and making His abode within. Thus, God, in creating us, in making us a living soul, forms us into a human. The breath that God breathed into man giving him life, making him a living soul, can now flow into man, forming within him a new will and understanding, making within him a new spiritual.
Therefore, today it is allowable to confirm the truths of the Church through reason. However, these confirmations do not come from one's natural understanding unless the Lord is approached immediately, for unless they come from Divine Truth and Divine Good man's reasoning is natural, and evils adhere to such reason. This one sees only spiritually. This spiritual Truth and Good has now descended to man in the form of the Word of the Divine Human. What the Word of the Divine Human means here is the Truth that is taught from the glorified Lord. We know that God brought the Word of the Old Testament to the Israelites through Moses and other prophets. We know that the New Testament was inspired of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Evangelists and others. We also know that from these words or Testaments Churches have been established, but in time they all came into consummation and ended, even, as the Lord God was rejected by the Jews and their Church ended and a new Church was raised up that became the Christian.
This failure to lift men up out of their natural understanding and into a spiritual understanding in Heaven, out of eternal death, is because spiritual truths and goods were not known. However, if they were, men would have profaned them, for the Lord had not come into the world, fought and defeated and held them in hell. At that time, there was no conjunction between a man's natural mind and his spiritual mind; these had been separated in man, because of sin. So, even though the Word of the Old and New Testaments teach and lead to salvation, a man, unless he sees and is taught the spiritual sense of the Word, is lead by him self, not the Lord, for in such a man his proprium rules, not the Lord. A new Word must come to man from which spiritual truths can be learned and from which the internal sense is revealed. And, spiritual truths become revealed only through correspondences between Heaven and the earth when the Lord teaches them to a man who has written them down as were the Old and New Testaments. The Word of the Old and New Testaments were, indeed, revealed to men Moses, Isaiah, John, and others by the Lord to write down. However, these men were in natural light and as such could not see any correspondence between Heaven and the earth, for all what could be understood from these Testaments comes from one's natural understanding. For the Lord had, not at this time, combated against the evils to where they are now held captive in hell. Let us be reminded, here, that until the Lord came on earth and glorified His Human, and until He subjugated the evils in hell, all the prior Churches on earth, in time, has rejected the Lord. They had closed their minds to God and had accepted only what come from their own their proprium, that is, what comes from self. However, the Lord has come; He has become the Divine Human. He has subjugated evils in hell and has brought order to the spiritual world and thus, a man's spirit is in, now, freedom to will. Man can now choose good and its truths, for the evils are now subjugated in hell and do not attack the spirits of men there.
Today, the Lord in His Divine Human has revealed to a man Swedenborg - these Divine truths. This man was both in natural light and in spiritual light at the same time. He was inspired to write these truths down for mankind to have, even, as were those who wrote the Old and New Testaments. A man's mind can now be opened and he can become enlightened as to see goods and their truths in the spiritual sense. He can begin to rationalize, not from his self, but from the Lord, for the Lord can, now, flow or proceed immediately into him and into his natural mind. Have we not learned that the Lord was to come again and would teach all truth as the 'spirit of truth'? Has not the Lord said through John that the truth, if they were numbered, could not be held in books that would fill the world? Yet, churches teach that there cannot be anything added or taken away from the Bible and so, they reject the Lord, who is this Truth, even as the Jews rejected the Lord at His first Coming. Do they not know that within one word or jot in the Word that there are many more truths than can be known? And, thus, that a new Revelation does not add or delete what the Lord teaches in the Old and New Testaments. Who has not, who studies the Word, known that he comes to see something new from what he had understood before when he studies the same passage again? Does this new understanding add anything? Rather doesn't it only open one to a better understanding, even to be enlightened 'as it were'? This is only from the natural understanding? What if the person could see internal things within the Word? How much more truths could be seen? How much better would he understand and is he not then truly enlightened?
Look at it from another view. Would the Lord leave man in his ignorance not knowing genuine truths? Would He leave man in such a state denying that the Lord is his life? Would He keep man in the appearances of truths and not shown him genuine truths? Would not He rather teach man spiritual truths? Are not truths and goods spiritual things? Do they not come from the Lord and not from man? In the past, in the Israelitish Church, miracles were shown to them, yet they could not prevent that Church from rejecting the Lord. The Lord Himself teaches that in the Christian Church miracles would be shown and they would deceive and lead astray the Church. Miracles close a man's spiritual mind and do not open Heaven to him. Truth opens man's spiritual mind when it is known what are the correspondences between the spiritual and the natural truths. For, through correspondences there is communication and conjunction of the earth with Heaven, and of the spiritual with the natural. Miracles prevent free will in spiritual things. The Lord became the First and the Last when He became the Divine Human. Thus, He can, now, enter within man into his natural mind and teach him from the Word of the Divine Human and lead him. Could this be possible unless His Natural was made Divine?
Thus, is not the Lord present with us always and causes us to live as a man? Is not He in us truth and good? Therefore, is not the Kingdom of Heaven within us as the Lord teaches, even His Church, for the Church on earth is His Kingdom on earth? In this, we may see our redemption and when we live from these spiritual truths that have now been revealed we come into regeneration; we become saved.
Amen.
How does this enable man to become saved? Does the Lord transfer and transfuse His life into us, as many of the old Christian churches would have us believe? Is it true that the only thing necessary is that man is to believe that God saves him and that somehow miraculously we receive life eternal? Can't it be seen that such a belief comes from our natural understanding and that such a faith is only a natural faith and is without anything spiritual? No, the Lord did not just come on earth and save man if he only believes that He did. He brought the evils into subjection in hell and He revealed to us the internal sense of the Word, though the latter is not well known, for most men do not know that the Lord has came again in the Word. What this means is that no longer is it necessary that man's spiritual mind remained closed. It means that there is, now, a correspondence between the spiritual things of Heaven and the natural of earth; this correspondence conjoins the man, who lives in the natural from his spiritual within and within that spiritual the celestial lives and, even, the Lord Himself. So, it is that God's love and His wisdom as celestial good and spiritual truth is in man as charity and faith. It is these in man that saves the man.
From this one sees that the Lord's truths and His goods can now flow 'as it were' into man and bring him true life, eternal life. This, then, is truly the Lord within man and is the Lord's abode and, even, His temple. What brings the Lord to make His abode and temple within is man knowing and acknowledging the Lord's qualities and appropriating them to use. One sees that no one has the Lord's presence unless he knows His quality. It is obvious that the person of Christ Jesus cannot enter in a man, but His qualities can when they become known and acted upon. How is the Lord known? He is known by the truths of the Word where these truths are learned enter the mind and will. For, is not the Lord the Word Itself and the Truth Itself as He says? And the truth we are to imbibe so as to make them ours 'as it were' that we may live.
Now, the Lord's qualities are of two kinds. One: what pertains to knowledge of the Lord and, the second: the knowledge that proceeds from Him. Thus, the truth that teaches that the Lord is God and is one, that He is one with the Father, that all things of the Father are in Him, that He is the Human of God the Father are the first kind of quality that we are to know. Again, what proceeds from Him is Himself. And, these are His teachings concerning charity, freedom of choice, repentance, regeneration, and many other things. This are the second kind of quality that we are to know. With such knowledge one may approach the Lord immediately, when the spiritual has been opened, because these qualities, when their correspondence is known, conjoins man with the Lord. For in them the spiritual sense of the Word is made manifest, and in this sense is the Lord Himself the Divine and in the natural sense is His Human. Thus, the Lord became conjoined with the man the natural of man with the spiritual of man.
It is from a new Revelation that this has been accomplished and communication has been opened between man and angels of Heaven. The conjunction of the two worlds spiritual and natural has been effected. That New Revelation has revealed such correspondences. It is they that have the force and strength of the Divine Omnipotence so that the spiritual acts together with the natural and the natural with the spiritual when men come into the internal knowledge of the Word. An appropriation of this new Revelation is as the Lord entering a man's will and his understanding and making His abode within. Thus, God, in creating us, in making us a living soul, forms us into a human. The breath that God breathed into man giving him life, making him a living soul, can now flow into man, forming within him a new will and understanding, making within him a new spiritual.
Therefore, today it is allowable to confirm the truths of the Church through reason. However, these confirmations do not come from one's natural understanding unless the Lord is approached immediately, for unless they come from Divine Truth and Divine Good man's reasoning is natural, and evils adhere to such reason. This one sees only spiritually. This spiritual Truth and Good has now descended to man in the form of the Word of the Divine Human. What the Word of the Divine Human means here is the Truth that is taught from the glorified Lord. We know that God brought the Word of the Old Testament to the Israelites through Moses and other prophets. We know that the New Testament was inspired of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Evangelists and others. We also know that from these words or Testaments Churches have been established, but in time they all came into consummation and ended, even, as the Lord God was rejected by the Jews and their Church ended and a new Church was raised up that became the Christian.
This failure to lift men up out of their natural understanding and into a spiritual understanding in Heaven, out of eternal death, is because spiritual truths and goods were not known. However, if they were, men would have profaned them, for the Lord had not come into the world, fought and defeated and held them in hell. At that time, there was no conjunction between a man's natural mind and his spiritual mind; these had been separated in man, because of sin. So, even though the Word of the Old and New Testaments teach and lead to salvation, a man, unless he sees and is taught the spiritual sense of the Word, is lead by him self, not the Lord, for in such a man his proprium rules, not the Lord. A new Word must come to man from which spiritual truths can be learned and from which the internal sense is revealed. And, spiritual truths become revealed only through correspondences between Heaven and the earth when the Lord teaches them to a man who has written them down as were the Old and New Testaments. The Word of the Old and New Testaments were, indeed, revealed to men Moses, Isaiah, John, and others by the Lord to write down. However, these men were in natural light and as such could not see any correspondence between Heaven and the earth, for all what could be understood from these Testaments comes from one's natural understanding. For the Lord had, not at this time, combated against the evils to where they are now held captive in hell. Let us be reminded, here, that until the Lord came on earth and glorified His Human, and until He subjugated the evils in hell, all the prior Churches on earth, in time, has rejected the Lord. They had closed their minds to God and had accepted only what come from their own their proprium, that is, what comes from self. However, the Lord has come; He has become the Divine Human. He has subjugated evils in hell and has brought order to the spiritual world and thus, a man's spirit is in, now, freedom to will. Man can now choose good and its truths, for the evils are now subjugated in hell and do not attack the spirits of men there.
Today, the Lord in His Divine Human has revealed to a man Swedenborg - these Divine truths. This man was both in natural light and in spiritual light at the same time. He was inspired to write these truths down for mankind to have, even, as were those who wrote the Old and New Testaments. A man's mind can now be opened and he can become enlightened as to see goods and their truths in the spiritual sense. He can begin to rationalize, not from his self, but from the Lord, for the Lord can, now, flow or proceed immediately into him and into his natural mind. Have we not learned that the Lord was to come again and would teach all truth as the 'spirit of truth'? Has not the Lord said through John that the truth, if they were numbered, could not be held in books that would fill the world? Yet, churches teach that there cannot be anything added or taken away from the Bible and so, they reject the Lord, who is this Truth, even as the Jews rejected the Lord at His first Coming. Do they not know that within one word or jot in the Word that there are many more truths than can be known? And, thus, that a new Revelation does not add or delete what the Lord teaches in the Old and New Testaments. Who has not, who studies the Word, known that he comes to see something new from what he had understood before when he studies the same passage again? Does this new understanding add anything? Rather doesn't it only open one to a better understanding, even to be enlightened 'as it were'? This is only from the natural understanding? What if the person could see internal things within the Word? How much more truths could be seen? How much better would he understand and is he not then truly enlightened?
Look at it from another view. Would the Lord leave man in his ignorance not knowing genuine truths? Would He leave man in such a state denying that the Lord is his life? Would He keep man in the appearances of truths and not shown him genuine truths? Would not He rather teach man spiritual truths? Are not truths and goods spiritual things? Do they not come from the Lord and not from man? In the past, in the Israelitish Church, miracles were shown to them, yet they could not prevent that Church from rejecting the Lord. The Lord Himself teaches that in the Christian Church miracles would be shown and they would deceive and lead astray the Church. Miracles close a man's spiritual mind and do not open Heaven to him. Truth opens man's spiritual mind when it is known what are the correspondences between the spiritual and the natural truths. For, through correspondences there is communication and conjunction of the earth with Heaven, and of the spiritual with the natural. Miracles prevent free will in spiritual things. The Lord became the First and the Last when He became the Divine Human. Thus, He can, now, enter within man into his natural mind and teach him from the Word of the Divine Human and lead him. Could this be possible unless His Natural was made Divine?
Thus, is not the Lord present with us always and causes us to live as a man? Is not He in us truth and good? Therefore, is not the Kingdom of Heaven within us as the Lord teaches, even His Church, for the Church on earth is His Kingdom on earth? In this, we may see our redemption and when we live from these spiritual truths that have now been revealed we come into regeneration; we become saved.
Amen.
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