The morning cometh, and also the night

We read in Matthew 4:11 "Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him". This verse marks the Lord's victory over temptation after having been tempted for "forty days and forty nights", a number whose equivalence with the great flood of the Noah's ark story in Genesis is not an accident. For "'forty days and nights' means the duration of temptation" (AC730), and the Church known as Noah experienced just such a duration of temptation, much as Jesus Christ experienced just such a flood of passions and falsities (SE4155).

We read immediately subsequent to this victory over temptation that "leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim 4:16 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esais the prophet, saying 4:17 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephtalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles (4:15-17). We read of this Naphtali in Genesis that "Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words" (49:21).

In the New Church, Naphtali specifically represents a state of expansiveness often associated with eloquence subsequent to victory over temptation, which as we see from Matthew 4:11 had in fact occurred, when the "angels came and ministered to Him" (victory). Similarly, we read in Matthew 4:17 that "...Jesus began to preach , and to say Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (eloquence). This corresponds, as expected from the inner meaning of Naphtali, to the eloquence which succeeds victory over temptation. Besides which the Lord would soon after deliver His Sermon on the Mount.

We read in <<Apocalypse Explained>> that "'Zebulun and Naphtali' signify in the highest sense the union of the Divine Itself and the Lord's Divine Human by means of temptations admitted into Himself, and victories gained by His own power" (AE447:6). As to Zebulon in particular, it involves the conjunction of good and truth; this occurs side by side with the "victory gained by His power" represented by Naphtali, as well as Jesus' eloquence subsequent to this point. For it is written, "He opened His mouth and taught them", this not long after the temptation period. The "mouth" (or "lips" in some translations), by the way, represents "doctrine", which He unlocked (AC1286).

You may well wonder why Zebulon would represent the union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord. The fact of the matter is that the Lord "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man", a process which inevitably culminated in a union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord, subsequent to which victory over temptation His ministry proceeded to unfold (Luke 2:52). Notice the way that this verse concludes: "God and man". In the New Church we often refer to the Divine Human or the God Man as a synonym for Jesus Christ.

Thus we can see how even a small extent of the Word apparently about geographical details -- "Galilee", "Zabulon", "Nephtali", "Jordan" -- can contain a great deal about the Lord and the stages of His union with the Divine, His "increase in wisdom and stature" (Luke 2:52). Consider what the Lord did subsequent to His resurrection: "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27). It bears to point out here that the Jewish Church did not have this understanding of the verses in question.

In effect, Jesus gave His disciples a special access key to the Old Testament which unlocked its inner meaning for them, an inner meaning not accepted by the Jewish Church. This inner meaning always did lie occluded in the literal sense of the Old Testament, but only Jesus could confer the special access key which unlocked the contents of the verses. For we read in Revelation that "they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof" (5:9). Just as with the early Christians, only Jesus could unlock terms like "Zebulon" and "Naphtali" for us.

Jesus likewise identified Jacob's Ladder as being Himself, for we read in John "...Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man", which deliberately echoes Genesis, where Jacob "dreamed, and behold a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it" (28:12). Jesus performs precisely the same procedure of unlocking the inner meaning when He refers to the bronze serpent known as Nehushtan: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up (John 3:14).

Besides which the Lord did not only unlock the inner meaning of Old Testament verses but also of one Parable in particular, that of the Sower. For "his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field" (Matthew 13:36). Whereupon the Lord identified the various components of the parable as to their inner meaning, such as the following: "The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one" (Matthew 13:38).

We read also "But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples" (Mark 4:34). The more of "all things" that He expounds as to their inner meaning, the easier it is to understand the Bible. For instance, the New Church frequently relates positive pairs of Biblical images (eg bread and wine, the voice of the bride and the bridegroom) to good and truth, while it relates negative pairs of Biblical images (eg bread of iniquity and wine of violence, the voice of the bride and bridegroom ceasing) to evil and falsity. This allows anyone familiar with these relationships to tease forth much meaning from the Biblical text which could not otherwise be accessed if it were not unlocked by Jesus.

Neighbours, a distinct feature of New Christianity is the expounding of "all things". You do not need more burdens but illuminated information about spiritual life matters like temptation. Take the "40 days and 40 nights" of the great flood and the "40 days and 40 nights" of Jesus' temptation with which we began, for instance, and their equivalence with the flood that beat upon but did not destroy that house built upon a rock. These are the flood of evil desires and evil thoughts, and not some continent-submerging cataclysm. As for the "rain" which beats upon the houses, that is temptation (AC843).

That same flood of passions and falsities does destroy the Old Church -- in the case of Noah the pre-flood Church and in the case of Christianity the Jewish Church -- for these are houses which culminated, ultimately, in being built upon sand. Gradually they departed from the practice of charity -- doing good because it is good and not for a reward -- and by degrees fell in associated understanding, until at last there was no more good and no more truth in that Church in such wise as to render them powerfully susceptible; this to the flood of passions and falsities which Noah's ark and Jesus weathered just fine.

For that same flood does not destroy the house built upon the rock, or Noah's ark, or Christianity. The situation is equivalent to the drowning of Pharaoh's army in that same Red Sea which the Israelites were successfully able to traverse. Or again, it is equivalent to the way that "the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego", whereas those three not only survived the experience but "nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them (Daniel 3:27).

All right, one is kind of tired and it's almost dawn. This will continue and conclude tomorrow.

Right, my mount is rested. Perhaps this passage will make a bit more sense now: "The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? 12 The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come" (Isaiah 21:11-12). This superficially banal response, inspected more closely, reveals nothing less than the historical truth that Pharisees and Sadducees did not spread the Gospel in <<Acts>>; for the Jewish Church had arrived at its "night", and the Christian Church had arrived at its "morning".

If you do not know about the cuckoo clock of Biblical prophecy, the watchman's response will not make sense to you and, as said before, will even come across as superficially banal: of course morning cometh, and also the night! But we expect more of prophecy than that; and of course we receive it too, but you need to have the key. The watchman's response makes the most sense when you plug in the charity life cycle of the Church from "head of gold / white horse / dawn" to "feet of iron and clay / pale horse / night"; and armed with this key you can place many another verse and similar image into its proper context.

But let us immediately deploy this tool in relation to one such image mentioned above: Seir. Mention was made that "He calleth to me out of Seir", the internal meaning of which is "celestial-natural good" (AC4240). In another mention of Seir, "The LORD came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran" (Deuteronomy 33:2). Notice the identicality of Seir/morning in <<Isaiah>> and dawned/Seir in <<Deutoronomy>>; this identicality is deliberate, and inculcating the capacity to pick up on and tease meaning from such instances is one of the principle reasons that our Writings exist.

Now, you may wonder about this "celestial-natural good" that Seir is supposed to signify, so let us zoom in on this concept. In Arcana Coelestia we read that "it is in natural things that spiritual and celestial things are terminated", which in many articles receives the description of terminating in "ultimates" (AC4240). Lest this seem obscure, the terminating point or "ultimate" of your body is the skin. Indeed, and for this reason, "skin" itself represents "truth in ultimates", or if reversed falsity in ultimates (AC10036). The terminating point or "ultimate" of your personal life is the stuff that other people can perceive with their physical senses. The terminating point or ultimate of the Lord's celestial influence over us occurs in our everyday, natural lives, where it is in other words "celestial-natural good"; which is why you would have an image like "Mount Seir" or "Seir" in a spiritual textbook like the Bible in the first place.

This brings us to the terminating point or ultimate of temptation, in which wilderness "goods and truths are shut in by the evils and falsities that come forth and are presented to the mind" (AC4240). Let us take a glimpse of what a great flood looks like in ultimates, this being from the Lord's Sermon on Evil Thoughts: "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a man" (Mark 7:21-23). As we read in <<Spiritual Experiences>>: "When a person is being held by the Lord in such a way that companies of evil spirits do not enter, then he is free of, and lifted above the inflow of those companies. The moment one is plunged into such societies, it is a kind of flood, for one becomes like they are, in like manner becoming indignant, angry, pensive, despairing, desiring, whereas insofar as one is withheld from them, so far one is more or less on the bank or the shore, in safety, or within an ark - thus either at the left side of the head devoted to matters of understanding or thought, or at the right side of the head devoted to matters of the will, or passions. Thus the more one is immersed in them, the more one is inundated. It is like a flood, for it takes place in the same way, so it is compared to waters."

We also read in <<James>> that "every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed" (1:14). You see, the "evil things" that "come from within" "defile" us when we delight in them, when we pour the gasoline of our assent on the fire of their evil. New Church doctrine refers to this assent or non-assent as the appropriation or non-appropriation of evil, the latter being the appropriation of good instead. If a person shuns an evil passion, then they have appropriated good rather than evil, writing their refusal to delight in the evil in question on their inner human, the one which embodies the true extent of their love and understanding and of course their eternal destination in some society or other of Heaven or Hell.

Let us consider Christ's stilling of the tempest relative to all that has been aforesaid, including particularly temptation, victory over temptation, and eloquence subsequent to victory over temptation: "And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him" (Matthew 8:23). Neighbours, it is when you "enter... a ship" with Jesus that you lay yourself open, voluntarily and for your ultimate good, to the trial of temptation in the wilderness which, as the Writings have already informed us, involves an inundation in evil societies associated with particular evil thoughts and evil passions. As we read in <<Apocalypse Explained>>, "a ship signifies doctrine from the Word" (AE514:2).

You may particularly understand this necessity of entering a ship, therefore, in relation to something spiritually congruent which Paul said in <<Romans>>: "I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (7:7). Notice what "Thou shalt not covet" and "the law" actually are here: they are precisely the doctrine in question, and therefore the ship which we enter -- by knowing about things like "Thou shalt not covet -- prior to the tempest. For that is what happens next: "And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep" (Matthew 8:24). By the way, notice how "the ship was covered by the waves"? Sound familiar? Right, the ship was no more literally "covered by the waves" than the "mountains" were literally "covered" in <<Genesis>> (7:20)...

"And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish" (Matthew 8:25). It is the Lord, as we know, who is our Saviour and our Redeemer. It is He, therefore, who orchestrates the process whereby temptations -- the storm, the great flood, the waters of Jordan whether crossed successfully or not -- serve to fructify us, tempering us in the fire. This fructification or tempering is not optional -- for those who enter the ship with the Lord, at any rate, His disciples -- but intimately related to our second birth, our regeneration, the reason we are here and the meaning of our lives. For as we read in <<1st Peter>>, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you (1 Peter 4:12). In modern terms, an astronaut had better expect turbulence when clearing the atmosphere.

As we read in <<Arcana Coelestia>>, "People uninformed about human regeneration suppose that a person can be regenerated without temptation, and some that he has been regenerated after he has undergone a single temptation. But let it be known that no one can be regenerated without temptation, and that he suffers very many temptations, following one after another. The reason for this is that regeneration takes place to the end that the life of the old man may die and a new, heavenly life may be instilled. From this one may recognize that conflict is altogether inevitable; for the life of the old man stands its ground and refuses to be snuffed out, and the life of the new man cannot enter except where the life of the old has been snuffed out. From this it is evident that fierce conflict takes place between mutually hostile sides, since each is fighting for its life" (AC8403:2).

"And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!" Neighbour, can you see Naphtali? There it is, in the Lord's rebuking the winds and then the men eloquently "saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!" For it is the Lord who orchestrates our deliverance from temptation and the state of expansive calm as well as any eloquence which succeeds it. If the Lord does not orchestrate that deliverance from temptation, then someone effectively drowns in the great flood or the Jordan or dies from the heat while putting Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the fiery furnace or suffers the fall of their house if that were built upon the sand rather than upon the rock.

Neighbours, let us not drown in the great flood. Let us rather cross the Jordan on dry land. Let us not die as those did who put Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the fiery furnace. Let us not be among those who "revile" rather than those who are "blessed" (Matthew 5:11). Let us rather be among those who are fructified, not those who serve for fructification but themselves perish  (Matthew 5:11). Let us not suffer the fall of our houses either but cleave to Jesus Christ, who stills the storm and tempest and uses even the evil and falsity in this world for our fructification and our regeneration, our conjunction with the Lord. For as we read in <<Divine Providence>>, "The Lord's Divine providence causes evil and its accompanying falsity to be of service in providing an equilibrium, contrast, and means of purification, and thus in promoting the union of goodness and truth in others" (DP21). Let us take the truths of the New Jerusalem and put them into practice, being not "hearers" only but "doers" of the Word.

Amen.