Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 534Ye who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children; howmuch more shall your Father who is in the heavens give good things tothem who ask Him (7:11).He that doeth the win of the Father who is in the heavens shallenter into the kingdom of the heavens (7:21).Every plant which the heavenly Father hath not planted shall berooted up (15:13).Also in other places (as in Matt. 5:16; 6:1, 6, 8; 12:50; 16:17;18:14, 19, 35; Mark 11:25, 26; Luke 11:13).[4] That “Father” means the Divine good can be seen also fromthis passage in Matthew:Despise not one of these little ones; for their angels do alwaysbehold the face of My Father who is in the heavens (18:10);that “they behold the face of the Father who is in the heavens”signifies that they receive Divine good from the Lord; that they donot see His face is evident from the Lord’s words in John:That no one hath ever seen the Father (1:18; 5:37; 6:46).The same can be seen from this passage in Matthew:Call no man your Father on the earth, for one is your Father whois in the heavens (23:9).It is plain that no one is forbidden to call his father on the earth“father,” nor is this here forbidden by the Lord; but this was saidbecause “Father” means the Divine good, and:No one is good except the one God (Matt. 19:17).(The Lord spoke thus because “Father” in the Word of bothTestaments means in the spiritual sense good, see Arcana Coelestia,n. 3703, 5902, 6050, 7833, 7834; and also heaven and the church