Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 114Manoah said unto his wife, Dying we shall die, because we haveseen God (Judg. 13:22);and this was also attested to the sons of Israel, when the Lord wasseen from Mount Sinai, of which it is thus written in Moses:Be ready against the third day; for the third day Jehovah will comedown in the eyes of all the people, upon Mount Sinai. And thou shaltset bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed toyourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the extremity ofit; whosoever toucheth the mount dying he shall die. And because terrorseized upon them, they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us and wewill hear; but let not God speak with us lest perchance we die (Exod.19:11–12; 20:19).(That by “Mount Sinai” is signified heaven, where the Lord is, andthat by “touching” is signified to communicate, to transfer, and toreceive, and for this reason it was forbidden to touch the extremityof that mountain, see in the explanation of those chapters in ArcanaCoelestia.) Jehovah has been seen by many, as recorded in theWord, but this was because they were encompassed at the time by acolumn of spirits, and thus were preserved, as was said above. Inthis way the Lord has also been seen at different times by me. Butthe state of spirits in the Divine presence is different from the stateof men; spirits cannot die, consequently if they are evil they die aspiritual death in the Divine presence, the nature of which will bespoken of presently; but those who are good are conveyed intosocieties, where the sphere of the Divine presence is tempered andaccommodated to reception. On account of this there are threeheavens, and in each heaven many societies, and those who are inthe higher heavens are nearer to the Lord, and those who are in thelower are more remote from him (see Heaven and Hell, n. 20–28,29–40, 41–50, 206–209). What the spiritual death is that evilspirits die in the Divine presence, shall be briefly stated. Spiritualdeath is a turning away and removal from the Lord. When evilspirits, however, who have not yet been vastated, that is, have notyet become fixed in their ruling love, enter any angelic society, thenbecause the Divine of the Lord is there present they are direfullytormented, and not only turn away but even cast themselves downinto the depths, where no light from heaven enters; some into dark