The Bible

 

John 7

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1 And after these·​·things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was not willing to walk in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill Him.

2 And the festival of the Jews, the Festival of Tabernacles, was near.

3 His brothers then said to Him, Pass·​·on hence, and go into Judea, that Thy disciples may behold Thy works which Thou doest.

4 For no·​·one does anything in secret, and himself seeks to be in the open. If Thou do these·​·things, manifest Thyself to the world.

5 For neither did His brothers believe in Him.

6 Then Jesus says to them, My time is· not·​·yet ·here, but your time is always ready.

7 The world cannot hate you, but Me it hates, because I testify about it, that its works are wicked.

8 You go·​·up to this festival; I am not·​·yet going·​·up to this festival, because My time has not·​·yet been fulfilled.

9 And having said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.

10 And when His brothers went·​·up, then He Himself also went·​·up to the festival, not openly, but as in secret.

11 Then the Jews sought Him at the festival, and said, Where is He?

12 And there was much murmuring about Him in the crowds; indeed some said, He is good; but others said, No, but He deceives the crowd.

13 However no·​·one spoke openly about Him for fear of the Jews.

14 And it·​·being· already ·the·​·midst of the festival, Jesus went·​·up into the temple and taught.

15 And the Jews marveled, saying, How knows this man letters, not having learned?

16 Jesus answered them, and said, My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.

17 If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know about the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak from Myself.

18 He who speaks from himself seeks his·​·own glory, but He who seeks the glory of Him who sent Him, He is true, and injustice is not in Him.

19 Did not Moses give you the Law, and none of you does the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?

20 The crowd answered and said, Thou hast a demon; who seeks to kill Thee?

21 Jesus answered and said to them, I have done one work, and you all marvel.

22 On·​·account·​·of this Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on a Sabbath you circumcise a man.

23 If a man on a Sabbath receive circumcision, that the Law of Moses should not be broken*, are you bitter toward Me because I have made the whole man well on a Sabbath?

24 Judge not according·​·to the face, but judge the just judgment.

25 Then some of the Jerusalemites said, Is this not He whom they seek to kill?

26 And see! He speaks openly, and they say nothing to Him. Therefore· have ·not the rulers truly recognized that this is truly the Christ?

27 But this Man, we know whence He is, but when the Christ comes, no one knows whence He is.

28 Then cried·​·out Jesus in the temple teaching, and saying, You both· know ·Me, and you know whence I am! And I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you know not.

29 But I know Him, because I am with Him, and·​·He has sent Me.

30 Therefore they sought to lay·​·hold of Him, and no·​·one cast a hand on Him, for His hour had not·​·yet come.

31 And many of the crowd believed in Him and said, When Christ comes, will He do greater signs than these which this Man has done?

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these·​·things concerning Him; and the Pharisees and the chief·​·priests sent·​·out attendants to lay·​·hold of Him.

33 Then Jesus said to them, Yet a little time I am with you, and I go to Him who sent Me.

34 You shall seek Me, and shall not find; and where I am, you cannot come.

35 Then the Jews said among themselves, Whither is· He ·about to go, that we shall not find Him? Is· He ·about to go to the dispersed among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?

36 What word is this that He said, You shall seek Me, and shall not find, and where I am, you cannot come?

37 And in the last day, the great day of the festival, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If anyone thirst, let him come to Me, and drink!

38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

39 But this said He of the Spirit, which they who believe in Him were about to receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not·​·yet glorified*.

40 Many of the crowd, then, hearing the word, said, This is truly the Prophet.

41 Others said, This is the Christ. But others said, No, for does the Christ come out·​·of Galilee?

42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes out of the seed of David, and out of Bethlehem, the village where David was?

43 So there was a schism among the crowd, because of Him.

44 And some of them willed to lay·​·hold of Him, but no·​·one cast their hands on Him.

45 Then the attendants came to the chief·​·priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, Why did ye not bring Him?

46 The attendants answered, Never a man spoke like this Man.

47 Then the Pharisees answered them, Are you not also deceived?

48 Has anyone of the rulers believed in Him, or of the Pharisees?

49 But this crowd, who know not the Law, are cursed.

50 Nicodemus says to them, he who came to Him by night, being one of them,

51 Does our law judge a man, unless it first hear from him and know what he does?

52 They answered and said to him, Art thou also out of Galilee? Search and look; for out of Galilee no prophet has arisen.

53 And each went to his own house.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Conjugial Love #316

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316. The second account:

Walking once with tranquil heart in a pleasantly peaceful state of mind, I saw in the distance a wood, which had in the midst of it an enclosed path leading to a little palace; and I saw young women and men and husbands and wives going in. I, too, in the spirit went over there, and I asked one of the keepers standing at the entrance of the path whether I might go in as well. He stared at me; and so I asked, "Why are you staring at me?"

"I am examining you," he replied, "to see whether the pleasant state of peace reflected in your face draws any of its character from a pleasant delight in conjugial love. After this path there is a little garden, and in the middle of it a house with a newly married couple in it. Their friends are coming here today to wish them happiness and joy. I do not know the people I am allowing to enter, but I was told I would recognize them from their faces. If I saw in them a delight in conjugial love, I was to let them in, and no one else."

Every angel can see from others' faces what the delights of their heart are; and because I was thinking about conjugial love, it was a delight in that love that he saw in my face. This contemplation of mine shone from my eyes and lent an inner glow to my face, so that he told me I might go in.

[2] The enclosed path through which I went was lined with fruit trees joined together by interlocking branches, thus forming an unbroken wall of trees on either side. Through this pathway I entered the little garden, which exhaled a pleasant fragrance from its bushes and flowers. The bushes and flowers grew in pairs; and I learned that gardens of this sort appear around houses where weddings are being or have been celebrated, on which account they are called wedding gardens.

After that I went into the house, and there I saw the married couple holding each other by the hand and speaking to each other out of truly conjugial love. Moreover, from their faces I was given to see then an image of conjugial love, and from their conversation, its vibrancy.

Later, when I among many others had expressed my prayers for them and wished them happiness and joy, I went out into the wedding garden; and I saw on the right side of it a group of young men, to which all who left the house went hurrying over. They all hurried over there because they were having a conversation about conjugial love, and this conversation drew the hearts of all with a kind of hidden force to it. I listened then to a wise person in the group speaking about that love, and what I heard was in summary the following:

[3] "The Lord's Divine providence is most specific and therefore most universal in connection with marriages and in its operation in marriages in heaven, because all blessings of heaven flow from the delights of conjugial love, like sweet waters from a sweetly gushing spring. It is therefore provided by the Lord that conjugial pairs be born, and they are raised and continually prepared for their marriages, neither the boy nor the girl being aware of the fact. Then, after a period of time, the girl - now a marriageable young woman - and the boy - now a young man able to marry - meet somewhere, as though by fate, and notice each other. And they immediately recognize, as if by a kind of instinct, that they are a match, thinking to themselves from a kind of inner dictate, the young man, 'she is mine,' and the young woman, 'he is mine.' Later, after this thought has for some time become settled in the minds of each, they deliberately talk about it together and pledge themselves to each other in marriage.

"We say as though by fate and as if by instinct, when we mean by Divine providence, because when one is unaware that it is Divine providence, that is how it appears."

With respect to his statement that conjugial pairs are born, raised and prepared for their marriages without their knowing, the speaker supported it by the conjugial similarity visible in the faces of a couple, also by the innermost and eternal union of their hearts and minds, neither of which would be possible the way they are in heaven unless foreseen and provided by the Lord.

[4] Having said this - to which the group responded with applause - the wise person speaking went on to say that there is a conjugial element in the smallest particulars in every person, both male and female; only that the conjugial element in the male and the conjugial element in the female are not the same, but the conjugial element of the male possesses a capacity for conjunction with the conjugial element of the female, and vice versa, even in the least particulars.

This he showed by the marriage of will and understanding in every individual, the two of which operate together in the least constituents of the mind and in the least constituents of the body; from which it can be seen that there is a conjugial element in each component, even the least. "This is also made evident," he said, "from the composite organs of the body which are formed from its elemental constituents. We find, for example, two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two cheeks, two lips, two arms and hands, two legs, two feet; and inside the body, two hemispheres of the brain, two ventricles of the heart, two lungs, two kidneys, two testicles. Even when an organ is not paired, still it exhibits a division into two parts. The reason there are these sets of two is that one is connected with the will and the other with the intellect, which operate in conjunction with each other so marvelously that they give the appearance of being one. Thus the two eyes produce one power of sight, the two ears one power of hearing, the two nostrils one sense of smell, the two lips one speech, the two hands one labor, the two feet one gait, the two hemispheres of the brain one habitation of the mind, the two chambers of the heart one life of the body through the blood, the two lungs one respiration, and so on. Only that in the case of a married couple, the masculine element and feminine element united by truly conjugial love produce one life that is fully human."

[5] As he was saying this, a shaft of lightning appeared in the sky to our right having a red color, and another shaft of lightning to our left that was white, neither of them very intense. These entered through our eyes into our minds and illumined them as well. Then, following these, we heard the sound of thunder - in actuality a low murmur coming from the angelic heaven and growing louder in its descent.

Hearing it, and having seen the lightning, the wise person speaking said, "These are meant for me as a signal and admonition to add to my discussion something further, that in the twinned pairs of organs I have mentioned, the one on the right symbolizes the good connected with the two, and the one on the left the truth connected with them; and that this is owing to the marriage of good and truth engraved on each person in his whole being and in his every least part, good having relation to the will and truth to the understanding, and the two together to a union of these. For this reason, in heaven 'the right eye' means the good connected with sight, and 'the left eye' the truth connected with it. So, too, 'the right ear' means the good connected with hearing, and 'the left ear' the truth connected with it. Similarly, 'the right hand' means the good connected with a person's strength, and 'the left hand' the truth connected with it. And so on with the rest of these twinned pairs.

"Moreover, because 'right' and 'left' have these symbolic associations, the Lord said:

If your right eye causes you to slip, pluck it out.... And if your right hand causes you to slip, cut it off.... 1

"He meant by this that if something good is turned to evil, it should be cast away.

"For the same reason He also told His disciples to cast their net on the right side of the boat, and when they did so, they caught a great number of fish. 2 And by this He meant they should teach the good of charity, and by doing so would gather in people."

[6] Following these remarks, the two shafts of lightning appeared again, still less intense than before. And we saw then that the lightning on the left drew the whiteness of its light from the reddish fire of the lightning on the right.

Seeing this, the speaker said, "It is a sign from heaven confirming what I have said, because something fiery in heaven means something good, and something white there means something true. As for our having seen that the lightning on the left drew the whiteness of its light from the reddish fire of the lightning on the right, this is visible evidence that the whiteness of light or light itself is nothing other than the luminance of fire."

At the end of this discourse, all in the group were fired with a joyful state of goodness and truth inspired by the shafts of lightning and what they had been told concerning them, and in this state they departed for home.

Footnotes:

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.