Week 2    Day 2

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The Word in the Spiritual World

TCR 209. Wonderful things in regard to the Word arising from its spiritual sense. In the natural world no wonderful things arise from the Word, because the spiritual sense is not apparent there, and such as it is in itself, it is not inwardly received by man. But in the spiritual world wonderful things from the Word appear, because all there are spiritual beings, and a spiritual man is affected by spiritual things as a natural man is by natural things. The wonderful things arising from the Word in the spiritual world are many, a few of which I will mention here.

In the shrines of the temples there the Word itself shines before the eyes of the angels like a great star, sometimes like a sun; and also, from the bright radiance all around it there are seen as it were most beautiful rainbows. This happens as soon as the shrine is opened.

[2] That each truth and all truths of the Word shine has been made evident to me by the fact that when any least sentence from it is written out upon paper, and this is thrown into the air, the very paper shines in the form in which it has been cut. Thus by means of the Word spirits can produce a variety of shining forms, and also birds and fishes. Again, what is still more wonderful, when anyone rubs his face, his hands, or the clothing he has on with the open Word, touching them with the writing, the face itself, the hands, and the clothing shine as though he were standing in a star encompassed by its light. I have seen this very often and wondered at it. Thus it was made clear to me how it was that Moses’ face shone when he brought the tables of the covenant down from Mount Sinai.

TCR 162:6. And a voice then came to them from the southern quarter, saying, “Come this way, and you will see something still more wonderful.”

And they went, and entered a room, the walls of which shone like gold, and there also they saw a table on which the Word lay, encircled with precious stones arranged in a heavenly form.

And the angel guard said, “When the Word is opened, a light of ineffable brightness shines forth from it; and at the same time there is from the precious stones the appearance of a rainbow above and all around the Word. When an angel from the third heaven comes here, there appears above and around the Word a rainbow on a red background. When an angel from the second heaven comes and looks, a rainbow on an azure background appears. When an angel from the lowest heaven comes and looks, a rainbow on a white background appears. When any good spirit comes and looks, a variegation of light like marble appears.” That this was so, was also shown to them visibly.

The angel guard said further, “When anyone who has falsified the Word approaches, at first the splendor is dissipated, and then if he comes near and fixes his eyes on the Word, there arises an appearance of blood about it; and he is admonished to withdraw because there is danger.”

[7] But a certain person, who in the world had been a leading writer on the doctrine of justification by faith alone, came up boldly and said, “When I was in the world, I did not falsify the Word. Together with faith I exalted charity, and I taught that a man in a state of faith, in which he practices charity and its works, is renewed, regenerated, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Also I taught that faith does not exist alone, that is, separated from good works, as there can be no good tree without fruit, no sun without light, no fire without heat. I also rebuked those who said that good works are not necessary; and even obedience to the commandments of the Decalogue is not necessary. And I made repentance of great importance. And thus in wonderful manner I applied everything in the Word to the subject of faith; and yet I made it clear and demonstrated that faith alone is saving.”

Confident in this assertion that he had not falsified the Word, this man approached the table, and in spite of the warning of the angel he touched the Word. And suddenly out of the Word there went forth fire and smoke, and there was an explosion and a crash which hurled him to a corner of the room, where he lay like one dead for nearly an hour.

The angelic spirits were astonished at this; but they were told that although this leader had exalted more than others the goods of charity as proceeding from faith, yet he had meant nothing more than political, social works, which are also called moral and civil, and which were to be done for the sake of the world and worldly prosperity, but by no means for the sake of salvation. Also, he had assumed some hidden works of the Holy Spirit, of which man knows nothing, but which are generated in the act of faith in a state of faith.

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