2760. Preface

WHEN people stay with Scripture’s literal meaning alone and do not seek out an inner meaning from other passages in the Word to explain it, they are delusional. The extent of their delusion can be plainly seen from the number of heresies that exist, each of which uses the Word’s literal meaning to prove its own dogma. Consider especially the major heresy generated by self-love and materialism (in all their insanity and hellishness) on the basis of the Lord’s words to Peter:

"I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail over it. And I will give you the keys to the kingdom of the heavens; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in the heavens, and whatever you unbind on earth will be unbound in the heavens." (Matthew 16:15, 16, 17, 18, 19)

[2] People who stress the literal meaning think that these words have to do with Peter and that he was personally given this immense power. Yet they know that Peter lived an extremely simple life, that he never exercised this kind of power, and that to do so would be an assault on God’s divinity. Even so, self-love and materialism in all their insanity and hellishness prompt them to claim for themselves the highest power on earth and in heaven, and to make themselves gods. They therefore interpret the passage according to its literal meaning and vehemently defend their interpretation. In reality, the inner meaning of the words is that true faith in the Lord has this power (and such faith exists only in people who love the Lord and show kindness to their neighbor). Even at that, it is not faith but the Lord, the source of faith, who has the power. The rock here means this faith, just as it does everywhere else in the Word. It is on this rock that the church is built, and against it the gates of hell cannot prevail. Faith in the Lord has the keys to the kingdom of the heavens. It closes heaven to keep out evil and falsity, and it opens heaven to what is good and true. That is the inner meaning of the words.

[3] Like the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve apostles actually represented all aspects of faith in the Lord (§§577, 2089, 2129, 2130 at the end). Peter represented faith itself; James represented neighborly love; and John represented the good done by neighborly love (see the preface to Genesis 18). Their representation resembled that of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi (Jacob’s first children in the representative Jewish and Israelite religion), as can be seen from a thousand places in the Word. The words above were addressed to Peter because he presented an image of faith.

This shows what thick darkness people plunge into—dragging others with them—by interpreting everything literally, as we see from this declaration to Peter, which they use in denying the Lord the power to save the human race and usurping it for themselves.

2760. ² In John - in the Book of Revelation - the Word as to its internal sense is described as follows,

I saw heaven standing open, and, behold, a White Horse; and He who sat on it was called faithful and true, and in righteousness He judges and goes into battle. His eyes a flame of fire, and on His head many jewels, He has a name written which nobody knows but He Himself, and He is clothed in a garment dyed with blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies that are in heaven were following Him on white horses and were clothed in linen, white and clean. And on His garment and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Revelation 19:11-14, 16.

What each individual part of this description embodies nobody can know except from the internal sense. Plainly, each one is representative and carries a spiritual meaning, such as 'heaven standing open'; 'the horse which was white'; 'He who sat on it was called faithful and true, and in righteousness He judges and goes into battle'; 'His eyes a flame of fire'; 'on His head many jewels'; 'He has a name which nobody knows but He Himself'; 'He is clothed in a garment dyed with blood'; 'the armies in heaven following Him on white horses'; 'clothed in linen, white and clean'; 'on His garment and on His thigh He has a name written'. It is stated openly that the One sitting on the White Horse is the Word, and that He is the Lord who is the Word, for it is said, 'His name is called the Word of God', and after that, 'on His garment and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords'.

[2] From the interpretation of each individual expression it is evident that the Word as to the internal sense is described here. 'Heaven standing open' represents and means that the internal sense of the Word is not seen except in heaven and by those to whom heaven stands open, that is, those in whom love to the Lord and faith in Him-derived from that love are present. 'The horse which was white' represents and means the understanding of the Word as regards its interior contents. The next paragraph shows that 'a white horse' has this representation and meaning. 'He who sat on it' is, it is clear, the Word and the Lord who is the Word. He is called 'faithful' and 'one who judges out of righteousness' by virtue of good, and 'true' and 'one who goes into battle out of righteousness' by virtue of truth; for the Lord Himself is righteousness. 'His eyes a flame of fire' means Divine Truth glowing from the Divine Good that issues from His Divine Love. 'On His head many jewels' means all things of faith. 'He has a name written which nobody knows but He Himself' means that nobody sees the essential nature of the Word in the internal sense except the Lord Himself and he to whom He reveals it. 'Clothed in a garment dyed with blood' means the Word in the letter. 'The armies in heaven that were following Him on white horses' means people who have an understanding of the Word as regards its interior contents. 'Clothed in linen, white and clean' means that in these same persons love and faith derived from love are present. 'On His garment and on His thigh a name written' means truth and good. From these verses in Revelation and from those which come before and after them it is evident that around the last period [of the Church] the internal sense of the Word will be opened. But what is going to happen in that last period is also described in verses 17-21 of that chapter.

Footnotes:

576. The following places establish the fact that ten, like a tenth, symbolizes a remnant. In Isaiah:

Many houses will become desolate — large, beautiful ones — without any inhabitant, since ten acres of vineyard will yield a single bath, and the sowing of a homer will yield an ephah. ¹ (Isaiah 5:9-10)

This concerns the devastation of spiritual and heavenly qualities. "Ten acres of vineyard will yield a bath" stands for the fact that so few traces of any spiritual quality remain. "The sowing of a homer will yield an ephah" stands for the fact that so few traces of any heavenly quality remain. In the same author:

And a great [portion] will be abandoned in the middle of the land, but a tenth will remain there and be converted; yet they are destined for eradication. (Isaiah 6:12-13)

The middle of the land stands for the inner self, and the tenth part, for so small a remnant. In Ezekiel:

You shall have honest scales and an honest ephah and an honest bath. The measure of an ephah and of a bath will be the same, so that a bath may hold a tenth of a homer, and an ephah a tenth of a homer. Their measure will be according to the homer. And the statute for the oil — the bath for oil — is a tenth of a bath out of a kor, ² ten baths being a homer; for ten baths are a homer. (Ezekiel 45:10-11, 14)

This discusses holy attributes of Jehovah in terms of measures, which symbolize different categories of sacred qualities. Ten here symbolizes a remnant of heavenly traits and of the spiritual traits that grow out of them. What would be the point of all these measures and the numbers that specify them if they did not contain some hidden, sacred significance? This applies to chapter 45 of Ezekiel and earlier chapters dealing with the heavenly Jerusalem and the new temple, to other prophets as well, and to various rituals in the Jewish religion.

[2] In Amos:

The virgin of Israel has fallen; she will not rise again. This is what the Lord Jehovih has said: "The city going out as a thousand will leave a remnant of one hundred, and the one going out as a hundred will leave a remnant of ten for the house of Israel." (Amos 5:2-3)

Here a remnant is mentioned, of which the smallest part will remain, since it is only a tenth part, or in other words, a remnant of a remnant. In the same author:

Jacob's pride and his palaces I hate, and I will shut up the city and its abundance. And it will happen that if ten men have been left in one house they will die. (Amos 6:8-9)

Ten stands for the remnant, which will hardly last. In Moses:

Neither an Ammonite nor a Moabite will come into Jehovah's assembly; not even the tenth generation of them shall ever come into Jehovah's assembly. (Deuteronomy 23:3)

The Ammonite and Moabite stand for profanation of the heavenly and spiritual attributes of faith, the remnants of which were discussed earlier [§§468, 530, 560-561].

[3] The fact that tithes represent remaining traces can be seen from the discussion above. They are treated of this way in Malachi:

Bring all tithes to the treasure house to be plunder in my House, and let them test me, please, in this: if I do not open to you the floodgates of heaven and pour out on you a blessing. (Malachi 3:10)

"To be plunder in my House" stands for the remnant in our inner self. The remnant is compared to plunder because it is tucked away among all our evils and falsities, so to speak. Through the remnant come all blessings.

All feeling of charity in us, too, comes by way of the remnant in our inner self. This was represented in the religion of the Jews by their giving to the Levite, the immigrant, the orphan, and the widow after they had paid their tithes (Deuteronomy 26:12 and following verses).

[4] Since the remnant is the Lord's alone, tithes are described as "holy to Jehovah," as in Moses:

All tithes of the land — from the seed of the land, from the fruit of the tree — they will be Jehovah's, holy to Jehovah. All tithes of herd and flock, everything that passes under the [shepherd's] ³ crook — a tithe will be holy to Jehovah. (Leviticus 27:30, 32)

The Decalogue was the Ten Commandments, or the Ten Words, ⁴ which Jehovah wrote on tablets (Deuteronomy 10:4), and they symbolize a remnant. The fact that they were written by Jehovah's hand symbolizes that the remnant is the Lord's alone. The fact that they reside in the inner self was represented by the tablets.

Footnotes: