The White Horse and its Rider as read in the book of Revelation (2) The Internal or Spiritual Sense of the Word Revealed
Doctrine or teaching is needed to understand the Word of God, and unless one understands the Word according to doctrine it is as a candlestick without light and the one reading it remains in darkness and does not come into truth. A sincere person of any religion believes that the things that he or she learns are the truth and what is taught in their church is true doctrine. So, you might wonder what is the problem or how is true doctrine determined? For, from what one comes to understand what has been learned as doctrine is according to what his or her church and the Word teaches. The problem is that unless doctrine is derived out of a celestial origin it is not genuine. Such doctrine that comes from one's own rational is according to the person's natural rational thought, and as we know mankind has been separated from the Divine and is no longer conjoined with the Lord. Thus, the purpose for the Word is to bring us back again into a relationship with God.
Wasn't it in the Garden of Eden where God was together with man and was led by Him? There He taught from His love to man immediately or directly 'as it were'. You could say the Word was within his soul, within the will and understanding. You could say that then man had perception, that is, he knew God and so knew truth. This certainly was doctrine that comes from a celestial origin. After all, the Word 'Paradise' means 'Heavenly' and where God is there is Love and Wisdom, these are His attributes and with man they are good and truth, thus the knowledge of good and truth was with mankind in that beginning state. However, as we know from the story of Adam and Eve, that because of their desire to learn for themselves, they took or appropriated the knowledge of good and evil (they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil) and thus 'fell' from grace and from Paradise. They wanted to be 'intelligent' and 'wise' on their own.
The point is that man no longer accepts the truth or directly understands from the Lord, that is, from the celestial that makes Heaven with and in man, but only from his own natural rational understanding, which is no longer conjoined with the Lord. All that a man now comes to know is according to his own natural senses, which he has separated from his celestial and spiritual life, and which has been closed to him because of his sin. In fact, when the man, who knows only natural things according to his natural senses, reads the Word, he learns only natural things about God and, at best, formulates what is meant according to his own natural understanding. This, we have seen very often leads to fallacies and falsities, such as, that God is jealous, angers, that He destroys and condemns to hell, and many other things.
In an earlier doctrinal discussion we opened the spiritual or the internal sense of the text in Revelation 19: 11-16, which was concerning the 'white horse', but did not speak of the Lord, except to say that He was the 'Rider'. Anyone, who reads this text, unless he or she has access to the knowledge of correspondences between Heaven and earth, will not understand what the things said about the 'Rider' of the 'white horse' (the Lord Jesus Christ) means. So let us read this passage again particularly what is said about the Lord who 'as it were' is said to ride the 'white horse'.
It is said in the text that the Lord is called 'Faithful', and that He 'judges in justice.' First, didn't the Lord fight alone for the human race and didn't He do so from Divine Love, which is His love towards the human race? Can anyone save himself? So let us examine this. The Lord's coming to earth was in the human of man, born of a woman Mary, even as we are born. So, one learns here that He was not born Righteousness (Justice), but that He became Righteousness through combats of temptations admitted unto Him and by victories over them. We must see the Lord doing this from His own power. Here then, we come to see a continual increase of His righteousness until He became pure Righteousness or Justice Himself. Compare this with men, who are born of a human father, that is, of the 'seed' of a human father. We see that we only can fight from our love of self and not, as the Lord, who fights from Divine Love. We cannot save ourselves.
We can read from the prophets that this was true, even before the Lord came on earth. Jeremiah says, "In His (the Lord's) days Judah (representing the internal Church) shall be saved, and Israel (the external Church) shall dwell in confidence and this is His name whereby they shall call Him Jehovah our Righteousness" (23:6). Also in Isaiah "He saw, and there was no man; and He wonder that there was none to intercede; and His arm (own power) brought salvation unto Him, and His righteousness it upheld Him. And He put on righteousness as a coat of mail, and a helmet of salvation upon His head" (59:16,17). Can you see the Lord successfully defeating the evils and falsities as they attacked him in these verses?
Earlier it was stated, that looking at the Word of God, the Bible, from a natural understanding, one sees only the natural histories of various peoples and times and their relationship with religion and with God. Yet, there was said that the Word had also a spiritual sense, hidden within, and that it spoke primarily of the Lord, of Heaven, and of mankind's relationship with God, and that these are only seen from its spiritual sense. Thus, when the histories are read concerning the establishment of the nation of the Israelites through Abraham, there is meant something spiritual and these natural histories fall away 'as it were' and one sees or understands instead something concerning the Lord, who has come to save fallen man. In a historical sense, Abraham was their father, but isn't it true that God is their true Father? So, Abraham, in the spiritual sense, means something about the Lord, some attribute or state, and the subject here is the Lord as being Just or His becoming Righteousness.
Looking at the Word in Genesis, chapter 17, we can read of Jehovah speaking with Abram establishing a covenant with him. Jehovah tells Abram that He will give to him and to his seed, the land of his sojourning. "I give to you and your descendants after you (your seed) all the land (of your sojournings) which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God" (Gen. 17:8). And, of course, we learn that Abram made these journeys throughout Canaan. But, this is only a natural historical understanding of the event and what have they to do with the Lord or say about the Lord? Is the meaning that we learn here that of Abram, who is a person that lived in ancient times, who was faithful to his belief that he was to gain wealth as told to him by an unknown God he called Jehovah? Abram must mean something else, something spiritual. This is not the spiritual sense of the Word. For that matter, does any name of any person mean the person himself in a spiritual sense? If it did, then what would be the need of knowing the spiritual sense at all and would not the angels understand as we do naturally? However, that would lead to all sorts of fallacies and falsities. So, let us come to understand and accept that what the Bible is really revealing to us the Lord so that we will come to love Him. In the natural sense, this is very limited and cannot be understood, except naturally, and this falls short.
Take the name Abram or Abraham for instance, don't the Jews see Him, as father of their faith, even of saving faith, which we should know is only from the Lord's Love? Yet, isn't the Lord the Father of true faith? The very attribute of love is celestial and is something that is therefore within each of us as the Lord is within us. Isn't Wisdom the attribute that teaches love even as love leads us to faith and is spiritual? Aren't these within us when the Lord is within us? Since that is so, then we can understand that by His 'seed' refers to all in the universe that are in His love. You can see we are speaking here of the Lord Himself, particularly, His Human essence and thus, what is spiritually meant is the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Abram signifies Jesus; Jehovah, who speaks to Abram, is the Divine essence, or that what is within Jesus as His Soul, which He calls His Father. Thus, of course, the Father or the Divine is in Him, even as the 'seed' of our father in within us.
So it is that the Lord acquired all things by His own power, that is, by His 'sojourns throughout the land' To help make this clear, we now look at what 'to sojourn' signifies. First, in a natural sense it means proceeding or migrating to another location, but in Heaven it is the progressing from one state to another until the goal Heaven is reached or if evil leads and not goodness hell. Now, relate this spiritual truth to a man on earth. Doesn't he travel 'as it were' towards his regeneration or salvation if he follows the Word of God even as Abram had follow Jehovah, who instructed him in covenanting with Him? And thus, the Israelites were established, and God was with them in their understanding and is seen represented in their worship. In this one sees the development of the natural Church with man on earth.
Thus it is that sojourning signifies being instructed and acquiring true life to one's self. Therefore, we see the Lord Jesus Christ being instructed in scientifics, in doctrinal matters, and in the cognition of faith as any man is who turns to the Lord and to His Truth and lives accordingly, that is, who covenants with Him. In this case, in Abram, we see the Lord procuring all things to Himself by His own power and, so, uniting His Human Essence with His Divine Essence and the contrary the Divine Essence with His Human Essence. He procured good and truth. Thus, He became Righteousness or Justice itself and, in fact, we can read this in Isaiah, "Who is this that comes from Edom, marching in the multitude of His strength? I have trodden the winepress alone, and the peoples there was none with Me; I looked around, and there was none to help; and I was amazed, and there was none to uphold; therefore Mine arm (power) brought salvation unto Me" (Isaiah 63:1,3,5).
The historical person Abram was given all the land that he sojourned on. What is that what was given to the Lord? Well, we only need look in Matthew 28:18 to learn what it was. "All authority has been given to Me in Heaven an on earth." We can also read in the Evangelists that the Father gave to Him all things that are in Heaven and on earth. This in its spiritual sense means that the Lord acquired truth for Himself, because Jehovah was in Him, and in everything belonging to Him. Here, you can understand that all creation is from God - His Truth and His Good that is, from His Love and Wisdom. These are the essence and the existence of creation, of life.
Finally, we need to know how this acquiring good and truth for one's self is done. How did the Lord acquire all things? Wasn't it by warring against evils that attacked Him when He was here on earth, and this done by combating against temptations admitted into Him and by victories over them? After all, has not evil claimed us for itself? Then, shouldn't we, too, fight against evils in like manner in our life? In examining this we see that it is like the interior or the rational, that is, the thought should say that the rational, the corporeal, to rest or to be tranquil and, thus, to resist from doing this or that evil. Does not the Lord's commandments teach us to shun evils? In the case of the Lord it is the same for both His Rational and Corporeal, for they belong to the same person, that is, He and His Father (or Soul) is one person, even as we are one body and soul. We see in all this that the Lord is Faithful, True, and so, judges righteously and justly makes war against evil and, so, reclaims His Kingdom on earth, that is, He claims us by establishing in us His Church.
End.
Wasn't it in the Garden of Eden where God was together with man and was led by Him? There He taught from His love to man immediately or directly 'as it were'. You could say the Word was within his soul, within the will and understanding. You could say that then man had perception, that is, he knew God and so knew truth. This certainly was doctrine that comes from a celestial origin. After all, the Word 'Paradise' means 'Heavenly' and where God is there is Love and Wisdom, these are His attributes and with man they are good and truth, thus the knowledge of good and truth was with mankind in that beginning state. However, as we know from the story of Adam and Eve, that because of their desire to learn for themselves, they took or appropriated the knowledge of good and evil (they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil) and thus 'fell' from grace and from Paradise. They wanted to be 'intelligent' and 'wise' on their own.
The point is that man no longer accepts the truth or directly understands from the Lord, that is, from the celestial that makes Heaven with and in man, but only from his own natural rational understanding, which is no longer conjoined with the Lord. All that a man now comes to know is according to his own natural senses, which he has separated from his celestial and spiritual life, and which has been closed to him because of his sin. In fact, when the man, who knows only natural things according to his natural senses, reads the Word, he learns only natural things about God and, at best, formulates what is meant according to his own natural understanding. This, we have seen very often leads to fallacies and falsities, such as, that God is jealous, angers, that He destroys and condemns to hell, and many other things.
In an earlier doctrinal discussion we opened the spiritual or the internal sense of the text in Revelation 19: 11-16, which was concerning the 'white horse', but did not speak of the Lord, except to say that He was the 'Rider'. Anyone, who reads this text, unless he or she has access to the knowledge of correspondences between Heaven and earth, will not understand what the things said about the 'Rider' of the 'white horse' (the Lord Jesus Christ) means. So let us read this passage again particularly what is said about the Lord who 'as it were' is said to ride the 'white horse'.
- "&…;.and He who sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in justice (righteousness) He does judge and make war" (Revelation 19: 11).
It is said in the text that the Lord is called 'Faithful', and that He 'judges in justice.' First, didn't the Lord fight alone for the human race and didn't He do so from Divine Love, which is His love towards the human race? Can anyone save himself? So let us examine this. The Lord's coming to earth was in the human of man, born of a woman Mary, even as we are born. So, one learns here that He was not born Righteousness (Justice), but that He became Righteousness through combats of temptations admitted unto Him and by victories over them. We must see the Lord doing this from His own power. Here then, we come to see a continual increase of His righteousness until He became pure Righteousness or Justice Himself. Compare this with men, who are born of a human father, that is, of the 'seed' of a human father. We see that we only can fight from our love of self and not, as the Lord, who fights from Divine Love. We cannot save ourselves.
We can read from the prophets that this was true, even before the Lord came on earth. Jeremiah says, "In His (the Lord's) days Judah (representing the internal Church) shall be saved, and Israel (the external Church) shall dwell in confidence and this is His name whereby they shall call Him Jehovah our Righteousness" (23:6). Also in Isaiah "He saw, and there was no man; and He wonder that there was none to intercede; and His arm (own power) brought salvation unto Him, and His righteousness it upheld Him. And He put on righteousness as a coat of mail, and a helmet of salvation upon His head" (59:16,17). Can you see the Lord successfully defeating the evils and falsities as they attacked him in these verses?
Earlier it was stated, that looking at the Word of God, the Bible, from a natural understanding, one sees only the natural histories of various peoples and times and their relationship with religion and with God. Yet, there was said that the Word had also a spiritual sense, hidden within, and that it spoke primarily of the Lord, of Heaven, and of mankind's relationship with God, and that these are only seen from its spiritual sense. Thus, when the histories are read concerning the establishment of the nation of the Israelites through Abraham, there is meant something spiritual and these natural histories fall away 'as it were' and one sees or understands instead something concerning the Lord, who has come to save fallen man. In a historical sense, Abraham was their father, but isn't it true that God is their true Father? So, Abraham, in the spiritual sense, means something about the Lord, some attribute or state, and the subject here is the Lord as being Just or His becoming Righteousness.
Looking at the Word in Genesis, chapter 17, we can read of Jehovah speaking with Abram establishing a covenant with him. Jehovah tells Abram that He will give to him and to his seed, the land of his sojourning. "I give to you and your descendants after you (your seed) all the land (of your sojournings) which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God" (Gen. 17:8). And, of course, we learn that Abram made these journeys throughout Canaan. But, this is only a natural historical understanding of the event and what have they to do with the Lord or say about the Lord? Is the meaning that we learn here that of Abram, who is a person that lived in ancient times, who was faithful to his belief that he was to gain wealth as told to him by an unknown God he called Jehovah? Abram must mean something else, something spiritual. This is not the spiritual sense of the Word. For that matter, does any name of any person mean the person himself in a spiritual sense? If it did, then what would be the need of knowing the spiritual sense at all and would not the angels understand as we do naturally? However, that would lead to all sorts of fallacies and falsities. So, let us come to understand and accept that what the Bible is really revealing to us the Lord so that we will come to love Him. In the natural sense, this is very limited and cannot be understood, except naturally, and this falls short.
Take the name Abram or Abraham for instance, don't the Jews see Him, as father of their faith, even of saving faith, which we should know is only from the Lord's Love? Yet, isn't the Lord the Father of true faith? The very attribute of love is celestial and is something that is therefore within each of us as the Lord is within us. Isn't Wisdom the attribute that teaches love even as love leads us to faith and is spiritual? Aren't these within us when the Lord is within us? Since that is so, then we can understand that by His 'seed' refers to all in the universe that are in His love. You can see we are speaking here of the Lord Himself, particularly, His Human essence and thus, what is spiritually meant is the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Abram signifies Jesus; Jehovah, who speaks to Abram, is the Divine essence, or that what is within Jesus as His Soul, which He calls His Father. Thus, of course, the Father or the Divine is in Him, even as the 'seed' of our father in within us.
So it is that the Lord acquired all things by His own power, that is, by His 'sojourns throughout the land' To help make this clear, we now look at what 'to sojourn' signifies. First, in a natural sense it means proceeding or migrating to another location, but in Heaven it is the progressing from one state to another until the goal Heaven is reached or if evil leads and not goodness hell. Now, relate this spiritual truth to a man on earth. Doesn't he travel 'as it were' towards his regeneration or salvation if he follows the Word of God even as Abram had follow Jehovah, who instructed him in covenanting with Him? And thus, the Israelites were established, and God was with them in their understanding and is seen represented in their worship. In this one sees the development of the natural Church with man on earth.
Thus it is that sojourning signifies being instructed and acquiring true life to one's self. Therefore, we see the Lord Jesus Christ being instructed in scientifics, in doctrinal matters, and in the cognition of faith as any man is who turns to the Lord and to His Truth and lives accordingly, that is, who covenants with Him. In this case, in Abram, we see the Lord procuring all things to Himself by His own power and, so, uniting His Human Essence with His Divine Essence and the contrary the Divine Essence with His Human Essence. He procured good and truth. Thus, He became Righteousness or Justice itself and, in fact, we can read this in Isaiah, "Who is this that comes from Edom, marching in the multitude of His strength? I have trodden the winepress alone, and the peoples there was none with Me; I looked around, and there was none to help; and I was amazed, and there was none to uphold; therefore Mine arm (power) brought salvation unto Me" (Isaiah 63:1,3,5).
The historical person Abram was given all the land that he sojourned on. What is that what was given to the Lord? Well, we only need look in Matthew 28:18 to learn what it was. "All authority has been given to Me in Heaven an on earth." We can also read in the Evangelists that the Father gave to Him all things that are in Heaven and on earth. This in its spiritual sense means that the Lord acquired truth for Himself, because Jehovah was in Him, and in everything belonging to Him. Here, you can understand that all creation is from God - His Truth and His Good that is, from His Love and Wisdom. These are the essence and the existence of creation, of life.
Finally, we need to know how this acquiring good and truth for one's self is done. How did the Lord acquire all things? Wasn't it by warring against evils that attacked Him when He was here on earth, and this done by combating against temptations admitted into Him and by victories over them? After all, has not evil claimed us for itself? Then, shouldn't we, too, fight against evils in like manner in our life? In examining this we see that it is like the interior or the rational, that is, the thought should say that the rational, the corporeal, to rest or to be tranquil and, thus, to resist from doing this or that evil. Does not the Lord's commandments teach us to shun evils? In the case of the Lord it is the same for both His Rational and Corporeal, for they belong to the same person, that is, He and His Father (or Soul) is one person, even as we are one body and soul. We see in all this that the Lord is Faithful, True, and so, judges righteously and justly makes war against evil and, so, reclaims His Kingdom on earth, that is, He claims us by establishing in us His Church.
End.
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