Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 188[2] Let it be known, moreover, that as all goods and truths arefrom the Lord out of the heavens, so all evils and falsities are out ofthe hells. He is greatly deceived who believes that goods and truthshave any other source than out of the heavens from the Lord, orthat evils and falsities have any other source than out of the hells.Man is simply a receptacle of these, and to whichever he turnshimself of that he is a recipient. If he turns himself towards heaven,which is effected by the goods of love and the truths of faith, hereceives goods and truths from the Lord; but if he turns himselftowards hell, which is effected by the evils of love and falsities offaith, he receives evils and falsities from the hells. Now as all evilsand falsities are from the hells, and as the hells are called, in oneword, either devil or satan, it follows that by devil are also signifiedall evils, and by satan all falsities. From this it is that by a“synagogue of satan” the doctrine of all falsities is signified.[3] By “synagogue” doctrine is signified, because in thesynagogues there was instruction, and differences in matters ofdoctrine were also adjusted. That there was instruction in thesynagogues is evident from Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 13:54; Mark 1:21, 22,29, 39; 6:2; Luke 4:15, 16, 44; 13:10, 14; John 18:20. Thatdifferences in matters of doctrine were adjusted in the synagoguesmay be inferred from what is said in Matt. 10:17; Mark 13:9; Luke12:11; 21:12; John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2, 3. That with the Jewishnation there was the doctrine of all falsities can be seen from manythings known as to that nation; namely, that they denied the Lord;that they wish for a messiah whose kingdom will be upon the earth,and who will exalt them above all other nations in the world; thatthey place all worship in externals, and reject the internals ofworship, which are of faith in the Lord and of love to him; thatthey apply all things in the Word to themselves; and falsify it bytraditions of their own invention (see Matt. 15:6–9; Mark 7:1–13).Again, what the quality of that nation in respect to their interiorshas been from the beginning can be seen from the song of Moses(Deut. 32), and elsewhere in many passages (see also the quotationsfrom Arcana Coelestia in Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n. 248).