Apocalypse Revealed (Whitehead) n. 949

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949. Verse 12. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to render to everyone according as his work shall be, signifies that the Lord will certainly come, and that He Himself is heaven and the felicity of eternal life to everyone according to faith in Him, and life according to His commandments. "Behold, I come quickly," signifies that He will certainly come, that is, to execute judgment, and to found a New Heaven and a New Church. That "quickly" means certainly, may be seen (n. 4, 943, 944, 947). "My reward is with Me," signifies that the Lord Himself is heaven and the felicity of eternal life. That "reward" is heaven and eternal felicity, may be seen (n. 526). That it is the Lord Himself, will be seen below. "Rendering unto everyone according to His work," signifies according to his conjunction with the Lord by faith in Him and by life according to His commandments. The reason why this is signified, is because by good works are signified charity and faith in internals, and, at the same time, their effects in externals; and because charity and faith are from the Lord, and according to conjunction with Him, it is evident that these are signified; thus also this coheres with what went before. That good works are charity and faith in internals, and at the same time their effects in externals, may be seen above (n. 641, 868, 871). [2] That charity and faith are not from man, but from the Lord, is known; and because they are from the Lord they are according to conjunction with Him, and conjunction with Him is effected by faith in him and by a life according to His commandments. By faith in Him is meant confidence that He will save, and they have this confidence who immediately approach Him, and shun evils as sins; with others it is not given. It was said that "My reward is with Me" signifies that He Himself is heaven and the felicity of eternal life, for "reward" is intrinsic beatitude, which is called peace, and thence external joy. These are solely from the Lord, and the things which are from the Lord, not only are from Him, but also are Himself, for the Lord cannot send forth anything from Himself except it be Himself, for he is omnipresent with every man according to conjunction, and conjunction is according to reception, and reception is according to love and wisdom, or if you will, according to charity and faith, and charity and faith are according to life, and life is according to the aversion to evil and falsity, and aversion to evil and falsity is according to the knowledge of what is evil and false, and then according to repentance, and at the same time looking to the Lord. [3] That "reward" not only is from the Lord but also is the Lord Himself appears from those passages in the Word where it is said that they who are conjoined with Him are in Him and He in them, as may be seen in John (14:20-24; 15:4-5 seq.; 17:19, 21-22, 26, and in other places), see above (n. 883) and also where it is said that the Holy Spirit is in them; and the Holy Spirit is the Lord, for it is His Divine presence; and also when he prays that God will dwell in them to teach and lead them, the tongue to preach and the body to do that which is good; besides other things of a like nature. For the Lord is love itself and wisdom itself; these two are not in place but are where they are received and according to the quality of the reception. But this arcanum cannot be understood except by those who are in wisdom from the reception of light from heaven from the Lord; for the use of these are the things which are written in the two works Divine Providence and Divine Love and Wisdom, in which it is shown that the Lord Himself is in men according to reception and not from anything Divine separated from Him. The angels are in this idea when they are in the idea of Divine omnipresence, and I do not doubt that that some Christians are in a similar idea also.


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