Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 644Bless ye Jehovah, all His hosts; ye ministers of His that do Hisgood pleasure (Ps. 103:21).To “do the good pleasure of Jehovah God” signifies to liveaccording to His commandments; this is His good pleasure or Hiswill, because from Divine love He wills that all should be saved,and by it they are saved. Moreover, in the Hebrew expression“good pleasure” also means will; for whatever is done according tothe will is well pleasing, and the Divine love wills nothing else thanthat love from itself may be with angels and men, and His love iswith them when they love to live according to His commandments.That this is to love the Lord He teaches in John 14:15, 21, 23, 24;15:10, 14; 21:15–17).295d. [13] That “will” signifies love in a contrary sense, namely,the love of evil and the love of falsity, is evident in John:As many as received Jesus, to them gave He the power to becomethe sons of God, to them that believe in His name; who were born, notof bloods nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but fromGod (1:12, 13).“To believe in the Lord’s name” signifies to live according to thecommandments of His teaching; that “the Lord’s name” signifiesall things by which He is worshiped, thus all things of love andfaith, see above (n. 102a, 135). “Not of bloods” signifies not in alife contrary to good and truth; “not of the will of the flesh”signifies not in a love of evil; “not of the will of man (vir)” signifiesnot in the love of falsity. (That “flesh,” in reference to man, meansthe voluntary that is man’s own [proprium voluntarium], thus evil,see Arcana Coelestia, n. 148, 149, 780, 999, 3813, 8409, 10283;and that man [vir] means the intellectual that is man’s own[proprium intellectuale], which is falsity, see n. 4823.)