We should know and believe that the Lord wants us to have spiritual and celestial understanding of truth and good. (He wants us to have intelligence and wisdom. He wants us to have love and charity.) And, He had provided all this to man in the beginning. He wants mankind to receive His Love in the fullest. We should know and believe that in order to do that, He has provided us a way and that way, of course, we see, is the Lord come into our life. He Himself has said He is the Way and the Truth and the Life. In fact, many Christians talk of God's plan of man's salvation and quote may passages that teach this plan as they understand it. Unfortunately, it seems the plan did not immediately bring peace to the world. Nonetheless, we see that it went by way of wars, tribulations or troubled times. Thus, today, many Christians look for the Lord to come again and to set up His Kingdom here on earth, bringing men salvation and peace, saying it was in God's plan.
If the Lord wants us to have His Love and to understand His Word and to receive true life, then would not the Lord also provide us with a way to understand as when the Lord revealed to the disciples what He meant by speaking in parables, and thus, spiritually? Wouldn't He inspire someone to write a new Word that reveals the correspondences between Heaven and earth, between the literal and the spiritual sense? This, however, would not be by a key that is discovered by man that uncovers hidden truths 'as it were' in order to relate it to history today as it unfolds, trying to indicate the nearness of the Lord's Coming to earth again. However, a new Word from the Lord would make it possible for a man to receive spiritual truths into his will and understanding and, indeed, could make within man a new will and understanding where the Lord truly abides or lives. Remember, a man's life - his will and understanding - has been distorted because of his hereditary nature to sin.
We know that the Lord ascended to His Father above the Heavens and that He is in the Heavens with angels. The truth is the Lord said the Father was in Him and, what is in Him is Divine, even Divine Love and Wisdom. The truth is the Lord said that Heaven was within us in our mind, which is meant our will and understanding. Now, therefore, to enter Heaven we must come into a spiritual and or celestial understanding. That is where the Lord's kingdom is in Heaven where His abode with angels is and on earth among men in whom the Lord makes His abode with. "And, I saw a new Heaven and a new earth." This is what the Lord came on earth for: to take back His kingdom with man, which is signified by a new earth, and to prepare for them their abode in Heaven, which is signified by a new Heaven.
To take back His kingdom here on earth or with and in man, that is, with the Church, the Lord needed to subjugate the evils in hell and evils are spiritual which also want their abode to be in man. They, like the good of God, manifest themselves in this natural world through men. Since, they are spiritual, the combat, the war against them, is fought in the spiritual world where the Lord could and has subjugate them in hell, where they cannot attack new spirits that now come to the spiritual world. We can all see how these battles were fought and how the Lord was victorious and subjugated the evils in hell in the book Revelation, though most Christians are still waiting for this to happen here on earth. They reject that this war has already taken place, and expect it to happen sometime in the future on earth. Nonetheless, the Final Judgment has taken place and evil spirits are now held captive in hell and the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit that now comes to man from the Lord whose Human is united with His Divine having becoming the Divine Human can open the spiritual eyes of a man as the Spirit of Jehovah opened the eyes of all those who were chosen to write God's Word, though in Power, for mankind to have and to read. This is the Lord's Coming again. It is His coming in Spirit and in Truth through the written Word of the Divine Human, the one Lord of Heaven and earth as a man comes to love the Lord, and follows His teachings in their life. Since evils are now held in hell, then when man comes into the next world, into the spiritual world, man is no longer attacked by them and thus, he is saved and enters the new Heaven that has been prepared for him.
The Lord's coming to earth had not changed those on earth, except if they had follow what He taught. Neither will it change man if He comes again in the flesh, unless man follows and lives from the Lord's spirit - the spirit of truth - that now come within those who accept it. Man still needs to live from the truths taught in the Word. His coming again on earth would not change that. He would still have to receive goods and truths into his will and understanding and acknowledge them as life from the Lord and thus, do them. Before, the Lord came the first time, evil and falsity adhered to the goods and truths that men learned and, we see, because of man's hereditary evil, man sinned. Now, after the Lord came on earth and fought the evils and falsities that wanted to rule in His life as they do in a man's life and He defeated them. A man can accept the Lord's Spirit - the Holy Spirit - into his life and he, too, with the Lord's help, can defeat the evils within him. That Power that overcomes evil can now enter man if he chooses and lives according to the Lord's commandments. Such a man has true faith.
You might wonder why the Spirit of God before the Lord's glorification, before He united His Divine with His Human, could not enter and a man, and have that power to be saved. If it could, then the Lord would not then have to come on earth. Recall that the Spirit of God entered and opened the spiritual eyes of the Prophets and that they wrote the Old Testament. Yet, what they saw and taught was that the Lord would come to save them. In truth, that Word could only be understood literally, not spiritually; man could not then be enlightened to see the spiritual sense of that Word. It took the Lord's coming and defeating the evils that then reigned over mankind before man was able to again be enlightened and see spiritually. Evil attacks a man's thoughts, so the spiritual truths and goods that come from the Lord had to be protected from being profaned, therefore, man had to die as to his spiritual and celestial degree of life, but he 'as if' now lives in the natural degree and in the natural life evils rule man not the Lord, whom he rejected. Therefore, we see the Lord putting on man's humanity in order that the evils could attack Him and thus, that He could defeat them and become victorious over them. He took back His Kingdom with man on earth, that is, the natural degree of man could now receive the Spirit of Truth, which is the Holy Spirit that now proceeds from the Lord in power to overcome the evils and to right the falsities that lead man astray and into hell.
Thus, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Divine Human of the glorified Lord Jesus Christ, opened the eyes of one man, Swedenborg like the eyes of the Prophets and Evangelists were opened by the Spirit of God, that he could write a new Word from the Lord for man to read and to be lead to know the Lord spiritually and not just naturally. Thus, today, a man can receive through his natural senses, and be enlightened with the spiritual sense of the Word with power to overcome the evils in his life when he lives 'as if' of him self accordingly, but he knows that it is the Lord's life within him that overcomes the evils and that does well, that is, that does good which is the works of charity, which leads to true happiness.
End.
If the Lord wants us to have His Love and to understand His Word and to receive true life, then would not the Lord also provide us with a way to understand as when the Lord revealed to the disciples what He meant by speaking in parables, and thus, spiritually? Wouldn't He inspire someone to write a new Word that reveals the correspondences between Heaven and earth, between the literal and the spiritual sense? This, however, would not be by a key that is discovered by man that uncovers hidden truths 'as it were' in order to relate it to history today as it unfolds, trying to indicate the nearness of the Lord's Coming to earth again. However, a new Word from the Lord would make it possible for a man to receive spiritual truths into his will and understanding and, indeed, could make within man a new will and understanding where the Lord truly abides or lives. Remember, a man's life - his will and understanding - has been distorted because of his hereditary nature to sin.
We know that the Lord ascended to His Father above the Heavens and that He is in the Heavens with angels. The truth is the Lord said the Father was in Him and, what is in Him is Divine, even Divine Love and Wisdom. The truth is the Lord said that Heaven was within us in our mind, which is meant our will and understanding. Now, therefore, to enter Heaven we must come into a spiritual and or celestial understanding. That is where the Lord's kingdom is in Heaven where His abode with angels is and on earth among men in whom the Lord makes His abode with. "And, I saw a new Heaven and a new earth." This is what the Lord came on earth for: to take back His kingdom with man, which is signified by a new earth, and to prepare for them their abode in Heaven, which is signified by a new Heaven.
To take back His kingdom here on earth or with and in man, that is, with the Church, the Lord needed to subjugate the evils in hell and evils are spiritual which also want their abode to be in man. They, like the good of God, manifest themselves in this natural world through men. Since, they are spiritual, the combat, the war against them, is fought in the spiritual world where the Lord could and has subjugate them in hell, where they cannot attack new spirits that now come to the spiritual world. We can all see how these battles were fought and how the Lord was victorious and subjugated the evils in hell in the book Revelation, though most Christians are still waiting for this to happen here on earth. They reject that this war has already taken place, and expect it to happen sometime in the future on earth. Nonetheless, the Final Judgment has taken place and evil spirits are now held captive in hell and the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit that now comes to man from the Lord whose Human is united with His Divine having becoming the Divine Human can open the spiritual eyes of a man as the Spirit of Jehovah opened the eyes of all those who were chosen to write God's Word, though in Power, for mankind to have and to read. This is the Lord's Coming again. It is His coming in Spirit and in Truth through the written Word of the Divine Human, the one Lord of Heaven and earth as a man comes to love the Lord, and follows His teachings in their life. Since evils are now held in hell, then when man comes into the next world, into the spiritual world, man is no longer attacked by them and thus, he is saved and enters the new Heaven that has been prepared for him.
The Lord's coming to earth had not changed those on earth, except if they had follow what He taught. Neither will it change man if He comes again in the flesh, unless man follows and lives from the Lord's spirit - the spirit of truth - that now come within those who accept it. Man still needs to live from the truths taught in the Word. His coming again on earth would not change that. He would still have to receive goods and truths into his will and understanding and acknowledge them as life from the Lord and thus, do them. Before, the Lord came the first time, evil and falsity adhered to the goods and truths that men learned and, we see, because of man's hereditary evil, man sinned. Now, after the Lord came on earth and fought the evils and falsities that wanted to rule in His life as they do in a man's life and He defeated them. A man can accept the Lord's Spirit - the Holy Spirit - into his life and he, too, with the Lord's help, can defeat the evils within him. That Power that overcomes evil can now enter man if he chooses and lives according to the Lord's commandments. Such a man has true faith.
You might wonder why the Spirit of God before the Lord's glorification, before He united His Divine with His Human, could not enter and a man, and have that power to be saved. If it could, then the Lord would not then have to come on earth. Recall that the Spirit of God entered and opened the spiritual eyes of the Prophets and that they wrote the Old Testament. Yet, what they saw and taught was that the Lord would come to save them. In truth, that Word could only be understood literally, not spiritually; man could not then be enlightened to see the spiritual sense of that Word. It took the Lord's coming and defeating the evils that then reigned over mankind before man was able to again be enlightened and see spiritually. Evil attacks a man's thoughts, so the spiritual truths and goods that come from the Lord had to be protected from being profaned, therefore, man had to die as to his spiritual and celestial degree of life, but he 'as if' now lives in the natural degree and in the natural life evils rule man not the Lord, whom he rejected. Therefore, we see the Lord putting on man's humanity in order that the evils could attack Him and thus, that He could defeat them and become victorious over them. He took back His Kingdom with man on earth, that is, the natural degree of man could now receive the Spirit of Truth, which is the Holy Spirit that now proceeds from the Lord in power to overcome the evils and to right the falsities that lead man astray and into hell.
Thus, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Divine Human of the glorified Lord Jesus Christ, opened the eyes of one man, Swedenborg like the eyes of the Prophets and Evangelists were opened by the Spirit of God, that he could write a new Word from the Lord for man to read and to be lead to know the Lord spiritually and not just naturally. Thus, today, a man can receive through his natural senses, and be enlightened with the spiritual sense of the Word with power to overcome the evils in his life when he lives 'as if' of him self accordingly, but he knows that it is the Lord's life within him that overcomes the evils and that does well, that is, that does good which is the works of charity, which leads to true happiness.
End.