"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.

596. THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND THE OLD CREATION OR PARADISE.

THE CREATION OF THE OLD MAN AND OF THE NEW4

4 This heading is taken from the inside of the back cover of Codex 69.

It can be known to everyone that, in respect to God the Creator and Former, the inmost is the first; consequently that interiors are prior. In inmosts lies the Divine itself, the heavenly itself, the truly spiritual, the holy and the pure, the very soul and life. But let us illustrate this matter by example. The inmost in man is his soul or veriest life; this also is his first; for the soul is infused through the seed of the parent, and from this, is produced the body. The inmost in every human society is divine worship, which is the very soul of such society. The inmost in the Divine Word is the Messiah, his kingdom, and the church, this inmost being also the life or soul of all the other senses, as said above [n. 505, 509]. The inmost in that great society, which constitutes the kingdom of God, is the Messiah; for he is the soul of that society, and consequently the verimost life of that kingdom. The inmost in the church is the Messiah, who is thus its soul and its one only Life; and the same is true of all things of the church, these being comparable to a body.