Session 19 Overview – The practice of the Word reveals the pestilence that is already present with us, this is the movement from truth to good (10 mins)

And afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said unto Pharaoh, Thus said Jehovah the God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, whose voice I should hear, to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and also I will not let Israel go. And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us; let us go, we pray, a way of three days into the wilderness, and let us sacrifice to Jehovah our God; lest He fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, draw away the people from their works? Go ye unto your burdens.

Exodus 5:1-4

Arcana Coelestia 7088. And afterward Moses and Aaron came,” signifies the Divine law and doctrine thence derived; “and said unto Pharaoh,” signifies exhortation thence to those who are against the truths of the church; “Thus said Jehovah the God of Israel,” signifies that it was from the Divine Human of the Lord; “Let My people go,” signifies that they should desist from infesting them; “that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness,” signifies that from a glad mind they may worship the Lord in the obscurity of faith in which they are; “and Pharaoh said,” signifies contrary thought; “who is Jehovah, whose voice I should hear?” signifies concerning the Lord, to whose exhortation they should hearken; “to let Israel go,” signifies that they should desist; “I know not Jehovah,” signifies that they care not for the Lord; “and also I will not let Israel go,” signifies that neither will they desist from infesting; “and they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us,” signifies that the God Himself of the church has commanded; “let us go we pray a way of three days into the wilderness,” signifies that they must be in a state quite removed from falsities, although in the obscurity of faith; “and let us sacrifice to Jehovah our God,” signifies that they may worship the Lord; “lest He fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword,” signifies to avoid damnation of evil and falsity; “and the king of Egypt said unto them,” signifies the answer from those who are in falsities; “wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, draw away the people from their works?” signifies that their Divine law and doctrine will not release them from sufferings; “go ye unto your burdens,” signifies that they must live in combats.

7080. THE DOCTRINE OF CHARITY. In what precedes it has been told what the neighbor is: it is now to be told what the charity or love is which there must be toward the neighbor.

7082. There are two things in the natural world which make the life there, namely, heat and light; and there are two things in the spiritual world which make the life there, namely, love and faith. Heat in the natural world corresponds to love in the spiritual world, and light in the natural world corresponds to faith in the spiritual world. Hence it is that when spiritual heat or fire is mentioned, love is meant; and when spiritual light is mentioned, faith is meant. Moreover, love is actually the vital heat of man, for it is known that man grows warm from love; and faith is actually the light of man, for it can be known that man is illumined from faith.

Truth as the neighbour

AC 2227. That ‘Abraham will certainly become a great and numerous nation’ means that from the Lord will come all good, and from this all truth, is clear from the representation of ‘Abraham’ as the Lord, dealt with often above, and also from the meaning of ‘nation’ as good, dealt with in 1159, 1258-1260, 1416, 1849 – here ‘a great and numerous nation’, by which good and truth deriving from it are meant. That ‘great’ has reference to good and ‘numerous’ to truth may become clear from other places in the Word, but I must refrain from quoting them here. Truth derived from good is in the genuine sense spiritual good, for there are two kinds of good, quite distinct and separate from each other, namely celestial good and spiritual good. Celestial good is the manifestation of love to the Lord, spiritual good the manifestation of love towards the neighbour. From the former, that is, celestial good, flows the latter, that is, spiritual good; for no one is able to love the Lord unless he also loves the neighbour. Love to the Lord embraces love towards the neighbour, for love to the Lord originates in the Lord, thus in Love itself towards the whole human race. Abiding in love to the Lord is the same as abiding in the Lord, and one who abides in the Lord must inevitably abide in His love which is directed towards the human race, and thus towards the neighbour, so that in him both kinds of good are present – both celestial and spiritual. Celestial good is indeed good itself, but spiritual good is in fact truth that goes with or is derived from that celestial good. This truth, as stated, is spiritual good. It is celestial good that is meant by ‘great’, but spiritual good by ‘numerous’.

AC 5595 Spiritual good is truth made into good; for truth is made into good when a person leads a life in keeping with that truth. When he does this, truth passes into his will and from there into action and becomes part of his life; and when truth becomes part of his life it is no longer called truth but good. But the will which transforms truth into good is the new will formed in the understanding part of his mind; and that good is called spiritual good. Spiritual good differs from celestial good in that celestial good is implanted in the will part of a person’s mind. But this matter has been dealt with quite a number of times before.

AC 10296 with the spiritual all the will has been destroyed, but the understanding is preserved entire by the Lord, and in it there is implanted by the Lord a new will by means of regeneration. This will is the conscience with them, which is a conscience of truth. For whatever is implanted in the understanding and proceeds from the understanding, is truth, because man’s understanding has been allotted to the reception of the truths of faith; but the will to the reception of the goods of love. From this it is evident that in its essence spiritual good is truth.

Third Round posts are short audio clips taken from Round 3 comments offered in the online Logopraxis Life Group meetings. The aim is to keep the focus on understanding the Text in terms of its application to the inner life along with reinforcing any key LP principles that have been highlighted in the exchanges.

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