Angelic Wisdom about Divine ProvidenceSwedenborg, Emanuel
Religion
Angelic Wisdom about Divine Providence
Swedenborg, Emanuel
Providence and government of God -- Christianity
[2] From this it is plain that by "the name of God" in the Word, God with
all the divine in Him and proceeding from Him is signified. And as the
Word is the divine proceeding, it is God's name, and as all the divine
things which are called the spiritual things of the church are from the
Word, they, too, are God's name. It may be seen then what is meant in the
second commandment of the Decalog by
You shall not profane the name of God (Ex 20:7);
and in the Lord's Prayer by
Hallowed be Thy name (Mt 6:9).
The name of God and of the Lord has a like signification in many passages
in the Word of either Testament, as in Mt 7:22; 10:22; 18:5, 20; 19:29;
21:9; 24:9, 10; Jn 1:12; 2:23; 3:17, 18; 12:13, 28; 14:14-16; 16:23, 24,
26, 27; 17:6; 20:31; besides other passages, and in very many in the Old
Testament.
[3] One who knows this significance of "name" can know what is signified
by these words of the Lord:
Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a
prophet's reward; whoever receives a righteous man in the name of a
righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward . . . and whoever
will give one of these little ones to drink a cup of cold water only in
the name of a disciple . . . shall not lose a reward (Mt 10:41, 42).
One who understands by the name of a prophet, of a righteous man and of a
disciple only a prophet, a righteous man and a disciple knows only the
sense of the letter in that passage. Nor does he know what is signified
by a prophet's reward, a righteous man's reward, or by the reward given a
disciple for a cup of cold water, when yet by the name and reward of a
prophet the state and happiness of those who are in divine truths is
meant; by the name and reward of a righteous man is meant the state and
happiness of those in divine goods; by a disciple is meant the state of
those who are in a measure of the spiritual things of the church, and by
a cup of cold water is meant a measure of truth.
[4] That the nature of a state of love and wisdom or of good and truth is
meant by "name" is also made evident by these words of the Lord:
He who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep; the porter
opens to him, and the sheep hear his voice; he calls his own sheep by
name, and leads them out (Jn 10:2, 3).
To "call the sheep by name" is to teach and lead everyone who is in the
good of charity according to the state of his love and wisdom; by the
"door" the Lord is meant, as verse 9 makes plain:
I am the door; if a man enters by Me, he will be saved (Jn 10:9).
It is clear from this that for one to be saved the Lord Himself is to be
approached; one who does so is a "shepherd of the sheep" and one who does
not is a "thief"' and a "robber" (so the first verse of the chapter).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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