"Seek ye first the kingdom of the heavens and its righteousness, and all these things (which are recounted), shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)

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Comparison of the kingdom of God:

1. With the human body from inmosts to outmosts; and therefore concerning that society wherein the Messiah is the Soul, and which shall form one body as one man.

2. With the kindred in the house of Abraham and Nahor.

3. With the land of Canaan and its bordering countries.

4. With the Paradise of Eden.

5. With a marriage and a feast.

[For the above comparisons, see:

(1) n. The Word Explained 596 seq.

(2) n. 567-568.

(3) n. 477 seq.

(4) n. 498 seq.,

(5) n. 586.]

Men are men only so far as they walk in the way of truth. But so far as they turn aside therefrom, they approach to the nature of a beast.

595. In the inmost sense, it is the churches that are treated of here. In order, therefore, that we may arrive at an understanding of this sense, inquiry must be made as to which church, the Christian or the Jewish, is to be called the first-born. This will never come to light unless it be known what the prior is and what the posterior, that is to say, what the first-born is and what the younger; for here the younger signifies the same as the one who is later by birth; and therefore, in a preceding chapter Jacob was called the younger and Esau the elder (chap. 27:1, 15, 42). But in order to learn what the prior is and what the posterior, inquiry must be made as to what the interior and exterior are; for the church of Christ is interior because it consists of internal things, while the Jewish church is exterior because it consists of external things.