Spiritual Life and the Word of God Part 7

And in Luke from these words:

The angel said to Mary, "Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus; He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High." . . . Then Mary said unto the angel, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" The angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; wherefore also the Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of G.o.d" (i. 30-35).

It was because He was conceived of Jehovah that He is so frequently called in the Word "the Son of G.o.d," and Jehovah is called His "Father."

Jehovah in respect to His Esse (being) is Divine love, and in respect to His Existere (outgo) He is Divine good united to Divine truth.

From this it can be seen what is meant by:

The Word that was with G.o.d and that was G.o.d, and also was the light that enlighteneth every man (John i. 1-10), namely, that it was Divine truth going forth from the Lord, thus the Lord in respect to His Existere (outgo). That the Lord in respect to His Existere was Divine truth, and that this was His Divine Human, because this came forth from His Divine Esse as a body from its soul, these words in John clearly certify:

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father (i. 14).

"The Word" is the Divine truth, which also is "glory"; "flesh" means the Divine Human; "the only begotten of the Father" means the springing forth or going forth from the Divine Esse in Him. (A.E., n. 1069.)

But as the world does not know how the words in John (i. 1, 2, 14) that the Lord is the Word, are to be understood, this shall be further explained. It is known in the church that G.o.d is good itself and truth itself, and thus that all the good that an angel has and that a man has is from G.o.d, and likewise all truth. Now since the Lord is G.o.d He is also Divine good and Divine truth; and this is what is meant by "the Word, that was with G.o.d, and was G.o.d," and also was "the light that enlighteneth every man," and that also "became flesh," that is, Man in the world.

That when the Lord was in the world He was the Divine truth, which is the Word, He Himself teaches in many pa.s.sages where He calls Himself "the Light," also where He calls Himself "the Way, the Truth, and the Life"; and where He says that "the Spirit of truth" goes forth from Him.

"The Spirit of truth" is the Divine truth. When the Lord was transfigured He represented the Word, "His face that shone as the sun"

represented its Divine good; and His garments, which were "bright as the light" and "white as snow," represented its Divine truth. "Moses and Elijah," who then talked with the Lord, also signified the Word, "Moses"

the historical Word and "Elijah" the prophetic Word. Moreover, all things of the Lord's pa.s.sion represented the kind of violence that the Jewish nation offered to the Word. Again, the Lord from Divine truth, which He is, is called "G.o.d," "King," and "Angel," and is meant by "the rock in h.o.r.eb," and "the rock" where Peter is spoken of. All this makes clear that the Lord is the Word, because He is Divine truth. The Word in the letter, which is with us, is the Divine truths in outmosts.

(A.E., n. 1070.)

As it cannot but transcend the comprehension that the Lord in relation to His Human in the world was the Word, that is, Divine truth; according to these words in John,

"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father" (i. 14), it shall be explained, as far as possible, to the comprehension. It can be said of every regenerate man that he is his own truth and his own good, since the thought which belongs to his understanding is from truths, and the affection which belongs to his will is from goods. Whether you say, therefore, that a man is his own understanding and his own will, or that a man is his own truth and his own good, it amounts to the same thing.

The body is mere obedience; for it speaks that which man thinks from the understanding, and does that which he wills from affection. Thus these things and the body mutually correspond and make one, like an effect and its effecting cause; and these taken together const.i.tute the human.

As it can be said of the regenerate man that he is his own truth and his own good, so it can be said of the Lord as Man, that He is truth itself or Divine truth, and good itself or Divine good. All this makes evident the truth that the Lord in relation to His Human in the world was Divine truth, that is the Word; and that everything that He then said was Divine truth, which is the Word; and that since the time when he went to the Father, that is, became one with the Father, the Divine truth going forth from Him is the Spirit of truth, which goes out and goes forth from Him, and at the same time from the Father in Him. (A.E., n. 1071.)

III. The Lord's Words Spirit and Life

That the Word is holy and Divine from inmosts to outermosts is not evident to the man who leads himself, but is evident to the man whom the Lord leads. For the man who leads himself sees only the external of the Word, and forms his opinion of it from its style; but the man whom the Lord leads forms his opinion of the external of the Word from the holiness that is in it.

The Word is like a garden, that may be called a heavenly paradise, in which are delicacies and charms of every kind, delicacies from the fruits, and charms from the flowers; and in the middle of it trees of life, and near them fountains of living water, and round about trees of the forest, and near them rivers. The man who leads himself forms his opinion of that paradise, which is the Word, from its circ.u.mference, where the trees of the forest are; but the man whom the Lord leads forms his opinion of it from the middle of it, where the trees of life are.

The man whom the Lord leads is actually in the middle of it, and looks to the Lord; but the man who leads himself actually sits down at the circ.u.mference, and looks away from it to the world.

Again, the Word is like fruit within which there is a nutritious pulp, and in the middle of it seed vessels, in which inmostly is a living germ that germinates in good soil. Again, the Word is also like a most beautiful infant, about which, except the face, there are wrappings upon wrappings; the infant itself is in the inmost heaven, the wrappings are in the lower heavens, and the general covering of the wrappings is on the earth. As the Word is such it is holy and Divine from inmosts to outermosts. (A.E., n. 1072.)

The Word is such because in its origin it is the Divine itself that goes forth from the Lord, and is called Divine truth; and when this descended to men in the world it pa.s.sed through the heavens in their order according to their degrees, which are three; and in each heaven it was recorded in accommodation to the wisdom and intelligence of the angels there. Finally it was brought down from the Lord through the heavens to men, and there it was recorded and made known in adaptation to man's understanding and apprehension. This, therefore, is the sense of its letter, and in this lies Divine truth such as it is in the three heavens, stored up in distinct order.

From this it is clear that the entire wisdom of the angels in the three heavens has been imparted by the Lord to our Word, and in its inmost there is the wisdom of the angels of the third heaven, which is incomprehensible and ineffable to man, because full of mysteries and treasures of Divine verities. These lie stored up in each particular and in all the particulars of our Word. And as Divine truth is the Lord in the heavens, so the Lord Himself is present, and may be said to dwell in all the particulars and each particular of His Word, as He does in His heavens; and in the same way as He has said of the ark of the covenant, in which were deposited only the Ten Commandments written on the two tables, the first-fruits of the Word, for He said that He would speak there with Moses and Aaron, that He would be present there, that He would dwell there, and that it was His holy of holies, and His dwelling place as in heaven. (A.E., n., 1073.)

As the Divine truth, in pa.s.sing from the Lord Himself through the three heavens down to men in the world, is recorded and becomes the Word in each heaven, so the Word is a bond of union of the heavens with each other, and a bond of union of the heavens with the church in the world.

For the Word is the same everywhere, differing only in perfection of glory and wisdom according to the degrees in which the heavens are; consequently the holy Divine from the Lord flows in through the heavens into the man in the world who acknowledges the Lord's Divine and the holiness of the Word whenever he reads the Word; and so far as such a man loves wisdom he can be instructed and can imbibe wisdom from the Word as from the Lord Himself, or from heaven itself, and can thus be nourished with the food with which the angels themselves are nourished, and in which there is life; according to these words of the Lord:

"The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life" (John vi. 63).

"The water that I will give you shall become . . . a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life" (John iv. 14). "Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of G.o.d"

(Matt. iv. 4). "Work . . . for the meat that abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you" (John vi. 27).

Such is the Word. (A.E., n. 1074.)

It has been said that the Divine truth goes forth from the Lord, and that the Word is from that, and that through the Word angels and men have wisdom. But so long as it is unknown how Divine truth goes forth from the Lord, this may be said but it cannot be understood. Divine truth, which is the same as Divine wisdom, goes forth from the Lord as light and heat do from the sun. The Lord is Divine love itself, and love appears in the heavens from correspondence as fire, and the Lord's Divine love as a sun, glowing and resplendent like the sun of the world.

From that sun, which is high above the heavens where the angels are, and which is Divine love, heat and light go forth; the heat therefrom is Divine good, and the light therefrom is Divine truth. The heat is Divine good, because all heat of life going forth from love is felt as good, for it is spiritual heat; and the light is Divine truth because all light going forth from love is felt as truth, for it is spiritual light; consequently it is from that light that the understanding sees truths, and it is from that heat that the will is sensible of goods; and this is why in the Word love is meant by heavenly fire and wisdom by heavenly light.

It is the same with a man and with an angel. Every angel and man is his own love, and a sphere flowing out from his love encompa.s.ses every man and angel. That sphere consists of the good of his love and of the truth of his love, for love gives forth both, as fire gives forth both heat and light; from the will of a man or angel it gives forth good, and from his understanding it gives forth truth. This sphere, when the man or angel is good, has an extension into the heavens in every direction according to the character and amount of the love, and into the h.e.l.ls in every direction when the man or angel is evil. But the sphere of the love of a man or an angel has a finite extension into a few societies only of heaven or h.e.l.l, while the sphere of the Lord's love, being Divine, has an infinite extension, and creates the heavens themselves.

(A.E., n. 1076.)

The Word of the Lord is wonderful in this respect, that in every particular of it there is a reciprocal union of good and truth, which testifies that the Word is the Divine that goes forth from the Lord, which is Divine good and Divine truth reciprocally united; and also testifies that in the Word there is a marriage of the Lord with heaven and the church, which also is reciprocal. There is a marriage of good and truth, also of truth and good, in every particular of the Word, in order that it may be a source of wisdom to angels and of intelligence to men, for from good alone no wisdom or intelligence is born, neither from truth alone, but from their marriage when the love is reciprocal. This reciprocal love the Lord sets forth in John:

"He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him" (vi. 56).

In the same,

"In that day ye shall know, that . . . ye are in Me and I in you. He that hath My commandments and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me; . . .

and I will love him" (xiv. 20, 21).

The reciprocality is that such are in the Lord and the Lord is in them, also that whoever loves the Lord, the Lord also will love him. "To have His commandments" is to be in truths, and "to do them" is to be in good.

Reciprocality is also described by the Lord in His union with the Father, in these words,

"Philip, . . . How sayest thou, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? . . . Believe Me, that I am in the Father and the Father in Me" (John xiv. 9-11).

From this reciprocal union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord the reciprocal union of Divine good and Divine truth goes forth; and this goes forth from the Lord's Divine love; and the same is true of the Lord's reciprocal union with heaven and the church, and in general the reciprocal union of good and truth in an angel of heaven and in a man of the church. And as good is of charity and truth is of faith, and as charity and faith make the church, it follows that the church is in a man when there is a reciprocal union of charity and faith in him.

Again, as good is of the will and truth is of the understanding, and as the will and understanding make man, it follows that a man is a man according to the union of the will and all things belonging to it with the understanding and all things belonging to it, and this reciprocally.

This union is what is called marriage, which from creation is in every particular of heaven and in every particular of the world; and from this is the production and the generation of all things. That in every particular of the Word there is such a marriage that good loves truth and truth loves good, thus mutually and in turn, is disclosed in the spiritual sense of the Word; and it is from this marriage that good and truth are one and not two, and are one when good is of truth and truth is of good. (A.E., n. 1077).

The Word in the sense of the letter appears very simple, and yet there is stored up in it the wisdom of the three heavens, for each least particular of it contains interior and more interior senses; an interior sense such as exists in the first heaven, a still more interior sense such as exists in the second heaven, and an inmost sense such as exists in the third heaven. These senses are in the sense of the letter, one within the other, and are evolved therefrom one after the other, each from its own heaven, when the Word is read by a man who is led by the Lord. These interior senses differ in a degree of light and wisdom according to the heavens, and yet they make one by influx, and thus by correspondences. How they thus make one shall be told in what follows.

All this makes clear how the Word was inspired by the Divine, and that it was written from an inspiration to which nothing else in the world can in anywise be compared. The mysteries of wisdom of the three heavens contained in it are the mystical things of which many have spoken. (A.E., n. 1079.)

IV. Influx and Correspondence

It has been said that there is a Word in each heaven and that these Words are in our Word in their order, and that they thus make one by influx and consequent correspondences. Here, therefore, it shall be told what correspondence is and what influx is; otherwise what the Word is inwardly in its bosom, thus in respect to its life from the Lord, which is its soul, cannot be understood.

But what correspondence is and what influx is shall be ill.u.s.trated by examples. The changes of the face that are called expressions correspond to the affections of the mind; consequently the face changes in respect to its expressions just as the affections of the mind change in respect to their states. These changes in the face are correspondences, as consequently the face itself is; and the action of the mind into it, that the correspondences may be exhibited, is called influx. The sight of man's thought, which is called the understanding, corresponds to the sight of his eyes; and consequently the quality of the thought from the understanding is made evident by the light and flame of the eyes. The sight of the eye is a correspondence, as consequently the eye itself is; the action of the understanding into the eye, by which the correspondence is exhibited, is influx. Active thought, which belongs to the understanding, corresponding to speech, which belongs to the mouth. The speech is a correspondence, likewise the mouth and everything belonging to it, and the action of thought into speech and into the organs of speech is influx. The perception of the mind corresponds to the smell of the nostrils. The smell and the nostrils are correspondences, and the action is influx. For this reason a man who has interior perception is said to have a keen nose, and perceiving a thing is called scenting it out. Hearkening, which means obedience, corresponds to the hearing of the ears; consequently both the hearing and the ears are correspondences, and the action of obedience into the hearing, that a man may raise his ears and attend, is influx; therefore hearkening and hearing are both significative, hearkening and giving ear to anyone meaning to obey, and hearkening and hearing anyone meaning to hear with the ears. The action of the body corresponds to the will, the action of the heart corresponds to the life of the love, the action of the lungs, which is called respiration, corresponds to the life of the faith, and the whole body in respect to all its members, viscera, and organs, corresponds to the soul in respect to all the functions and powers of its life.

From these few examples it can be seen what correspondence is and what influx is; and that when the spiritual, which belongs to the life of man's understanding and will, flows into the acts which belong to his body, it exhibits itself in a natural effigy, and there is correspondence; also that thus the spiritual and the natural act as one by correspondences, like interior and exterior, or like prior and posterior, or like the effecting cause and the effect, or like the princ.i.p.al cause which belongs to man's thought and will, and the instrumental cause which belongs to his speech and action. There is such a correspondence of natural things and spiritual not only in each and every thing of man, but also in each every thing of the world; and the correspondences are produced by an influx of the spiritual world and all things of it into the natural world and all things of it. From all this it can be seen in some measure how our Word, as to the sense of the letter, which is natural, makes one by influx and correspondences with the Words in the heavens, the senses of which are spiritual. (A.E., n.

1080.)

What the Word is in respect to influx and correspondences can now be shown. It is said in John:

"He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and should turn themselves and I should heal them" (xii. 40).

The "eyes" that are blinded signify the understanding of truth and belief in it; the "heart" that is hardened signifies the will and love of good; and "to be healed" signifies to be reformed. They were not permitted "to turn themselves and be healed" lest they should commit profanation; for a wicked man who is healed and who returns to his evil and falsity commits profanation; and so it would have been with the Jewish nation. In Matthew:

"Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear"

(xiii. 16).

Here, too, the "eyes" signify the understanding of truth and belief in it; so "to see" signifies to understand and believe, and the "ears"