Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 182who continually long for truths, and long to be perfected by meansof truths. These two classes are meant by the “poor,” the “needy,”the “hungry,” and the “thirsty,” in the following passages:Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of theheavens. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness; forthey shall be filled (Matt. 5:3, 6).Blessed are the poor; for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.Blessed are ye that hunger; for ye shall be filled (Luke 6:20, 21).To the poor the gospel shall be preached, and the poor hear thegospel (Luke 7:22; Matt. 11:5).The master of the house said to the servant that he should go outinto the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor (Luke14:21).Then the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall liedown with confidence (Isa. 14:30).I was an hungered and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gaveme to drink (Matt. 25:35).The poor and the needy seek water, and there is none, their tonguefaileth for thirst, I, Jehovah, will answer them. I will open rivers on theheights, and fountains will I place in the midst of the valleys (Isa.41:17–18).From this last passage it is clear that the “poor and needy” are thosewho long for the knowledges of good and truth, for the “water”that such seek is truth. (That “water” is the truth of faith, seeabove, n. 71.) Their longing is here described by “their tonguefainting for thirst,” and the abundance they are to have by “riversbeing opened on the heights, and fountains in the midst of thevalleys.”[4] Those who do not know that by the “rich” are signified thosewho have the Word and who thence can be in the knowledges oftruth and good, and that by the “poor” are signified those who have