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Revelation 1

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1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him, to show to His servants what must quickly come·​·to·​·pass; and He signified, sending◦ by His angel to His servant John,

2 who gave by testimony the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatever▵ he saw◦.

3 Happy is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things written in it; for◦ the time is near.

4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be to you, and peace, from Him Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come*; and from the seven spirits who are before◦ His throne;

5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn from◦ the dead◦, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and washes◦ us from our sins in His blood,

6 and makes us kings and priests to God and His Father; to Him be the glory and the might for ages of ages. Amen.

7 Behold◦ He comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and those who◦ pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth shall wail over Him. Yes; amen.

8 I◦ am the Alpha and the Omega*, Beginning and End, says the Lord, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty.

9 I◦, John, who also am your brother, and companion in affliction, and in the kingdom and patient expectation* of Jesus Christ, came·​·to·​·be in the island called Patmos*, for·​·the·​·sake·​·of the Word of God, and for·​·the·​·sake·​·of the testimony of Jesus Christ.

10 I came·​·to·​·be in the spirit on▵ the Lord’s day; and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

11 saying, I◦ am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last; and what thou seest▫, write in◦ a book, and send it to the churches, those in Asia; to◦ Ephesus, and to◦ Smyrna, and to◦ Pergamos, and to◦ Thyatira, and to◦ Sardis, and to◦ Philadelphia, and to◦ Laodicea.

12 And I turned to look·​·to the voice that spoke with me; and, having turned, I saw◦ seven golden lampstands;

13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, wearing a garment down·​·to·​·the·​·foot, and girded at▵ the breast with a golden belt.

14 And◦ His head and hairs were white as white wool, as snow; and His eyes as a flame of fire;

15 and His feet like fine·​·brass, as if fired in a furnace; and His voice as the voice of many waters;

16 and having in His right hand seven stars; and out·​·of His mouth a sharp two-edged* sword◦ going·​·out; and His face◦ was as the sun appears in its power.

17 And when I saw◦ Him, I fell at▵ His feet as dead◦. And He laid· His right hand ·on me, saying to me, Fear not◦; I◦ am the First and the Last;

18 and I am He who is Living, and became dead◦, and behold◦, I am Living for◦ ages of ages. Amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death.

19 Write the things which thou hast seen◦, and the things which are, and the things which shall come·​·to·​·be after these·​·things:

20 the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest◦ in▫ My right·​·hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven lampstands which thou sawest◦ are the seven churches.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #53

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53. And His countenance as the sun shining in its power. This symbolizes the Divine love and wisdom which are the Lord and which emanate from Him.

The fact that the face of Jehovah or of the Lord means the Divine itself in its essence, which is Divine love and wisdom, thus Himself, will be seen in explanations below where the face of God is mentioned. "The sun shining in its power" has the same symbolic meaning.

In the sight of angels the Lord is seen as the sun in heaven, and it is His Divine love accompanied by Divine wisdom that so appears. This may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell (London, 1758), nos. 116-125 and in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, 83-172.

[2] It remains here simply to confirm from the Word that when the subject is the Lord, the sun is His Divine love and at the same time His Divine wisdom. This can be seen from the following passages:

...in (that) day... the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days... (Isaiah 30:25-26)

That day is the Lord's advent, when the old church has been destroyed and a new one is about to be established. The light of the moon is faith arising from charity, and the light of the sun is intelligence and wisdom arising from love emanating then from the Lord.

Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon wane; for Jehovah will be your everlasting light... (Isaiah 60:20)

The sun that will not go down is love and wisdom from the Lord.

...the Rock of Israel spoke to me... like the light of the morning when the sun rises... (2 Samuel 23:3-4)

The Rock of Israel is the Lord.

...his throne (shall be) as the sun... (Psalms 89:36-37)

This is said in reference to David, but David there means the Lord.

They shall fear You as long as the sun endures... In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more... Before the sun He will have the name of Son, and all nations shall be blessed in Him... (Psalms 72:5, 7, 17)

These statements, too, are made in reference to the Lord.

[3] Because the Lord appears in heaven to angels as the sun, therefore when He was transfigured,

His face shone like the sun, and His garments became... as the light. (Matthew 17:1-2)

Moreover, in Revelation 10:1 it is said of the mighty angel coming down from heaven that he was "clothed with a cloud," and "his face was like the sun," and of the woman in Revelation 12:1 that she appeared "clothed with the sun." The sun there is love and wisdom emanating from the Lord. The woman there is the church called the New Jerusalem.

[4] Since the sun means the Lord with respect to love and wisdom, it is apparent what the sun symbolizes in the following places:

Behold, the day of Jehovah is coming, cruel... The sun will be darkened at its rising, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. I will visit upon the world its wickedness, and upon the impious their iniquity. (Isaiah 13:9-11)

...Jehovah will visit [punishment] in the high place upon the host of the high place, and on the earth upon the kings of the earth... Then the moon will blush and the sun be ashamed. (Isaiah 24:21, 23)

When I put out your light, I will cover the heavens, and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine... and I will... bring darkness upon your land. (Ezekiel 32:7-8)

...the day of Jehovah is coming..., a day of darkness... The sun and moon (will not cause their light to shine), and the stars have diminished their brightness. (Joel 2:1-2, 10)

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great... day of Jehovah. (Joel 2:31)

...the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon have grown dark... (Joel 3:14-15)

The fourth angel sounded: and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars..., and a third of the day did not shine... (Revelation 8:12)

...the sun became as black as sackcloth of goat's hair, and the moon became as blood... (Revelation 6:12)

...the sun was... darkened because of the smoke of the pit. (Revelation 9:2)

The sun in these places does not mean the world's sun, but the sun of the angelic heaven, which is the Lord's Divine love and wisdom. These are said to be obscured, darkened, covered, or become black when falsities and evils are present in a person.

[5] It is apparent, therefore, that something similar is meant by the Lord's words when speaking of the end of the age, which is the final period of the church:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven... (Matthew 24:29, cf. Mark 13:24-25)

So, too, in the following places:

The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them. (Micah 3:6)

...in that day... I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight. (Amos 8:9)

She... who has borne seven... will breath her last; her sun will go down while it is yet day. (Jeremiah 15:9)

The subject here is the Jewish Church, which will breathe its last or perish. The sun's going down means that there will no longer be any love or charity.

[6] It is said in Joshua that the sun stood still in Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Aijalon (Joshua 10:12-13). This seems to be an historical statement, but in fact it is prophetic, for it comes from the book of Jasher, which was a prophetic book; for in verse 13 it says, "Is this not written in the Book of Jasher?" The same book is called a prophetic one by David in 2 Samuel 1:17, 18.

A similar statement is found in Habakkuk:

The mountains... were shaken... The sun and moon stood still in their habitation. (Habakkuk 3:10-11)

[In Isaiah:]

Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon wane. (Isaiah 60:20)

For to cause the sun and moon to stand still would be to destroy the universe.

[7] Since the sun means the Lord with respect to Divine love and wisdom, therefore in their holy worship ancient peoples turned their faces to the rising sun, and their temples also, a practice that continues to this day.

That the sun in these passages does not mean the world's sun is clear from the fact that it was profane and an abomination for people to worship the world's sun and moon (see Numbers 25:1-4, Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3, 5, Jeremiah 8:1-2; 43:10, 13; 44:17-19, 25). For the world's sun means self-love and a conceit in one's own intelligence, and self-love is diametrically opposed to Divine love, while a conceit in one's own intelligence is opposed to Divine wisdom. To worship the world's sun is also to accept nature as the creator of all things and one's own prudence as the effecter of all things, which entails a denial of God and a denial of Divine providence.

  
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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.

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