He Came as a Thief in the Night

 Taking of Jerusalem by the Crusaders by Emile Signol So, what's wrong with this picture? Well! It's certainly not the technique. The technique is stunning: look at the masterfully blended visual fields and the wealth of realistic detail. But what else do we see? The thing that sort of jumps out at you is the smoking buildings in the background and the dead bodies everywhere. Wow! Is this a Holy War or what! But actually, there is nothing holy about it, and a true Holy War has nothing to do with painting the town red at all, let alone doing so literally. This is more what a Holy War looks like, but more collective in its scope:  Proverbs 16:32 - King James Version (KJV) <32> He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. Let me just share a few extracts from a several decades later account of the Jerusalem massacre:  "No mercy was shown to anyone, and the whole place was flooded with the blood of the vi...

  John 16:7 - King James Version (KJV) <7> Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. You put that alongside this: "That the veil of the temple was rent in twain when the Lord suffered the cross (Matt. 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45) signified His glorification; for when the Lord was in the world, He made His Human Divine truth; but when He departed out of the world, He made His Human Divine good, from which the Divine truth now proceeds" (Arcana Coelestia 9670). Mark 15:38 - King James Version (KJV) <38> And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Luke 23:45 - King James Version (KJV) <45> And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And you put this alongside that:  Luke 23:44-45 - King James Version (KJV) <44> And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a ...

Matthew 24:2 - King James Version (KJV) <2> And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. Jesus declared these words in context of the temple at Jerusalem, but they have a much broader significance; for the stones of a temple yet standing fit each other quite neatly, each in its place. One has arranged various correspondences over the last while so as to provide context for stones fitting each other neatly and a temple yet standing. Thus, references to brickkilns and bitumen which might otherwise have passed in a blur can be seen to hang together precisely; for God's intention involved these stones, these truths about love, being beautifully interrelated as the stones of a dome when understood and taught properly. Jesus declared these words on the Mount of Olives, basically on Mount Love; which underlines the meaning of what He says. For the holy truths about lo...

 We have touched on insects in the Word in the past, as in this verse from Numbers: Numbers 13:33 - King James Version (KJV) <33> And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. Much junk food has been written about the Nephilim; which has essentially more in common with Dungeons and Dragons than with the Word of God and the spiritual meanings which it throughout encodes. Here the salient point to take hold of is the tininess of those upon whom we gaze with contempt. As we read in Arcana Coelestia, the Nephilim "were possessed with the most enormous love of self, and supposed themselves to be as gods, and that whatever they thought was Divine" ; consequently, they looked upon other people as bugs (AC562). What is the modern-day equivalent? 'Out of ze vay, bug.'  Isaiah 40:22 - King James Version (KJV) <22> It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth...

We have seen* how the stranger in the Word, in its most positive sense -- there are reversed ones as usual with the Word's images -- is one who is willing to be instructed in the doctrines of charity and faith; and how the Word expresses this first from one camera angle then from another according to His custom:  Deuteronomy 10:16-18 - King James Version (KJV) <16> Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. <17> For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: <18> He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Luke 10:33-34 - King James Version (KJV) <33> But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, <34> And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own bea...

 Revelation 19:15 - King James Version (KJV) <15> And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Luke 2:35 - King James Version (KJV) <35> (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. These swords are one, the Word in person in the form of the text and the Word made flesh and Divine Human Jesus Christ, our Father, Lord and God. The soul is the will that chooses between fire and fire, good and evil, love and hate. The thoughts are the kind that choose between truth and falsehood, water and water.  The trial by fire and the trial by water are the sword of the Word in action, the process whereby God purifies your sun and moon, gold and silver, heart and mind. It is these we bake and seethe in the desert forty years. Psalms 66:12 Psalm 66:12 - King James Ver...

There are numerous explanations of glory, spiritual information shining from within the Word, and cloud, the outer or literal sense within which glory sits, throughout the Writings for the simple reason that God carefully writes cloud and glory into the Word precisely so and often; and He wants us to know why.  Exodus 24:16 - King James Version (KJV) <16> And the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The experience of glory cannot be distinguished from being informed by that glory. The goal is to get you to the point where you see the connection between His glory and spiritual information for yourself with spiritual eyes. The goal is for you to know power and glory within yourself with a clear connection between this awareness and the sections of the Word concerning it. 2 Kings 6:17 - King James Version (KJV) <17> And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee,...