Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 32have compassion, in whom, according to the universal doctrine ofthe church, the Divine is such as the Father has; for that doctrineteaches, that as the Father, so also the son is uncreate, infinite,eternal, almighty, God, and Lord; and neither is before or after theother, nor greater or less than the other (from the AthanasianCreed). This also is in accordance with the doctrine given by theLord himself, which is: that he and the Father are one; and that hewho seeth him seeth the Father, because he is in the Father and theFather in him; that he is the way, the truth, and the life; and thatno one cometh to the Father but by him. From this it is clear howmuch they turn aside from the way and the truth who pass by theLord and approach the Father. But as I have conversed much onthis subject with angels, and also with spirits, who, when they livedas men in the world, were of the reformed church and of the papalreligion, I shall be pleased to relate these conversations in thefollowing pages; from which it will appear in what light the churchwould be respecting the Divine, which is the first and primaryprinciple of the church, if it would acknowledge and believe in theDivine human of the Lord.27. The faithful witness signifies from whom is all truth in heaven.This is evident from the signification of “faithful witness,” as being,in reference to the Lord, the acknowledgment of the Divine humanfrom whom is all truth in heaven (of which in what follows). It issaid in heaven, because Divine truth, proceeding from the Lord’sDivine good, makes heaven in general, and with each angel there inparticular. (This may be seen in Heaven and Hell, n. 13, 126–140;and that this is from the Lord’s Divine human, n. 7–12, 78–86.)The Lord as to the Divine human is called the “faithful witness,”because Divine truth proceeding from him, bears witness in heavenconcerning him.This testimony is universally in the Divine truth in heaven; asmay be seen from this, that angels of the interior heaven can thinkof the Divine in no other way than under a human form, thus asthe Divine human, and for the reason that the Divine human ofthe Lord fills the universal heaven and forms it, and the thoughts ofangels proceed and flow according to the form of heaven (see