He Came as a Thief in the Night

Mention has often been made of the true, spiritual meaning of the Children of Israel being commanded to drive out the Canaanite and the Perizzite from the land of Canaan; and thus enter in to possess it. The correspondences Canaanite and Perizzite can actually mean good and truth respectively; but since these peoples fell from good and truth, the correspondence generally gets used in the reversed position and thus means sin and error. The use of the two terms alone as though they were nations and peoples but expressive of spiritual qualities stands as a symbol for all the sins and errors which we are to drive out of our lives inside and out in order to be allowed into the Heavenly Canaan. The book of Revelation uses a very similar arrangement when it refers to our Lord's being crucified "in that great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt" (Revelation 11:8); in that case, we may say more generally that He was crucified by sin and error and more specifically by

Of Revelation 8:17 the Word relates the following: ""The first angel sounded," signifies the exploration and manifestation of the quality of the state of the church with those who are interiorly in that faith, (398). "And there became hail and fire mingled with blood," signifies falsity from infernal love destroying good and truth, and falsifying the Word, (399). "And they were cast upon the earth, and the third part of the trees was burnt up," signifies that with them, every affection and perception of truth, which constitute the man of the church, had perished, (400). "And all green grass was burnt up," signifies thus every living thing of faith, (401)" (Apocalypse Revealed 387). Here is the verse in question: "The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up" (Revelation 8:17). We have r

We are brought into states of hardness of heart and bloody-mindedness, and it is then that we support or oppose these joy-inhibiting sins and errors of the Old Human. We pass through fire and water and enter a wealthy place, baking or seething the manna for six days.  And thus we gather double for the 7th day, the Sabbath rest when innocence so fuses with the ideation which supports us in innocency as to marry us in this life to the Lord and His Church; for we will not marry and give in marriage to the Lord in the life after death (notwithstanding that there are purifying trials in the life after death). We will either sear our consciences or we will not. We will either blow out our lamps, those spiritual knowledges lit by the oil of love to feed the inner flame of love, or we will not. Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision.  Thus is it written: "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven" (Matthew

In Nahum we read: "The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein" (Nahum 1:5). The correspondence "mountain" means love to the Lord, and is associated with angels of the highest aka inmost Heaven; and may be abbreviated simply love. The correspondence "hill" means love to the neighbor, and is associated with angels of the second inmost Heaven; and may be abbreviated simply truth. Thus the expression of the Heavenly marriage (if upright) or the infernal adultery (if reversed)  "mountain and hill" expresses the relationship between good and truth or sin and error as well simultaneously as the love of God and the neighbor or the love of self and the world. We have a very similar usage in Revelation: "And every island fled away, and the  mountains were not found" (Revelation 16:20). One first notes that both the passage in Nahum and that in Revelation make

Recently we covered the number 12, and 12 compounded as 144; which both mean the sum of all truths and goods of the Church and also those who know and practice them. This is why there were twelve tribes, why there were twelve disciples, and why the number twelve figures so prominently in the description of New Jerusalem. Today we are going to explore this notion of twelve further by demonstrating some connections which you might not otherwise notice; as always in the hope that this will enrich your reading and practice of the Word. We begin with a charming yet serious episode in the Gospel of John in which the Lord, so to speak, puts His money where His mouth is! For the Lord said that "the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). But here is the extract in question: "5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith h

Today there will be a brief lesson on the book of Job, which is essentially a book from the Bible before the Bible. The first few chapters of Genesis, the book of Jasher, the book of Job, the Wars of Jehovah, and the Pronouncements of Jehovah were all a part of this Word before the Word or Bible before the Bible; and some of it is contained in our Testaments, as we know. In a nutshell, the book of Job contains correspondences which are not, however, arranged in a perfect series. They are correspondences which are isolated from one another. And the meaning of Job involves a dramatization of the following concept described in this extract from Revelation:  "17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy na