Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 522the church; “those called who excused themselves” mean the Jewswith whom the church then was; for the church specifically iswhere the Word is, and where the Lord is known through theWord. “The poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind,” meanthose who are spiritually such, and who were then outside thechurch. Heaven and the church are here likened to “a supper” andto “a wedding,” because heaven is the conjunction of angels withthe Lord by love, and their consociation among themselves bycharity, and the consequent communication of all delights andfelicities the like is true of the church, since the church is the Lord’sheaven on the earth. (That heaven is the conjunction of the angelswith the Lord by love, and also their mutual consociation bycharity, see in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 13–19, and aconsequent communication of all delights and felicities, n.396–400.)[3] In the Word it is said in many places that in heaven they will“eat together;” and this means in the spiritual sense that they are toenjoy blessedness and felicity; thus “eating together” has here a likesignificance as “supping.” Thus in Luke:They shall come from the east and the west, and from the northand the south, and shall recline to eat in the kingdom of God (13:29).And in Matthew:Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline toeat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of the heavens(8:11).Those who are to “come from the east, the west, the north and thesouth,” are all who are in the good of love, and in the truths of faiththerefrom. (That the “four quarters” in the Word have such asignification, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, n.141–153; that “Abraham. Isaac, and Jacob,” mean the Lord inrespect to the Divine Itself and the Divine Human, ArcanaCoelestia, n. 1893, 4615, 6098, 6185, 6276, 6804, 6847;consequently “to recline to eat with them” means to be conjoinedwith the Lord, and to be consociated one to another by love, and