The Seven Kings

The Seven Kings
A sermon about the desire for power

"There are seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. When he comes he will only remain a short time." Revelation 17.10

These words are offered by the angel to John as part of an explanation of what is meant by the woman that he saw riding on a scarlet beast. Seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one who rules, and one who has not yet come. They are meant by the seven heads of the beast that the woman rides. Who are these kings? How do they explain the meaning of the woman and the beast?

Many Biblical stories are about power and control. The Book of Revelation as a whole describes a struggle for the control of heaven. Throughout the book various evil characters, such as the dragon and the beast, try to rule. In the end they are judged and cast out. Nowhere in the Bible, however, is there any doubt about who really rules. Story after story testifies to the fact that the Lord reigns, whether His government is seen and accepted by people or not.

According to New Church teachings, the story of the scarlet woman, the beast that carried her, her destruction, and the later defeat of the beast and his armies by the Man on the white horse, is an episode which illustrates the role of the Word of God in the struggle for control. This struggle occurred as it is described here during the Last Judgment, and it continues in the world today. It also goes on in some form in everyone, as you go through the process of regeneration. The struggle has to do with the nature of leadership in your life. What do you actually respect, what do you obey? What role does the Word of God play in the leadership of your life?

This chapter, and especially the enigmatic explanation in our text that the angel gives John about the woman and the beast, describes what happens in the church when the authority of the Word is misunderstood or misused. The seven kings are all the Divine truths of the Word. When they rule everything is good. But there are forces in every person that work to defeat them.

The woman who rides the beast depicts the human tendency to reject these truths and to use them for their own purposes. She stands for religious organizations hungry for power, riding on a beast which represents the Word, the source of their authority (Apocalypse Revealed 723). The woman is overthrown later in this chapter, and in a following chapter the Man on the white horse defeats the beast and his armies. He defeats the beast just as a true understanding of the Word will, in the long run, defeat the confusing and misleading ideas based on the Word that can and do cause confusion and pain with people. The struggle, however, is not an easy one, and an important part of it is described by the words of the angel as he explained the meaning of the woman and the beast to John.

John had seen this woman and the beast and "marveled with great amazement." The reason that he was so amazed is that it is not apparent to people how frightening this desire for control is and the harm that it causes. The angel, however, is not surprised at all, and he explains to John what it is that he is seeing, as follows.

a. The beast was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and be destroyed.
b. The seven heads of the beast are seven mountains. They are also seven kings. Five of these kings have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he does come he will only remain a short time.
c. The beast is the eighth king, and he will be destroyed.
d. They will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them.
e. The woman is the great city Babylon, which reigns over the kings of the earth, and she will be burned with fire (Revelation 18.8).

This may not sound like a very meaningful explanation of what the beast and the woman are, yet each phrase is significant. Whenever Babylon is mentioned in the Word, for example, this is a sign that the main topic is the desire for power, or the need for control. The woman is especially the desire to dominate religiously, and the truth then becomes the means to control others. The Apocalypse Revealed describes the scarlet woman as the church’s tendency to claim authority over the souls of people, the power to send them to heaven or to hell (Apocalypse Revealed 725). It sits on the truths of the Word as the basis for its authority, which is the scarlet beast, (Apocalypse Revealed 723) It uses the Word, but the love of rule ruins its true meaning with those who use it that way.

The beast, on which the woman sits, which "was and is not" is the "Word with them acknowledged as holy, but in reality not acknowledged" (Apocalypse Revealed 733). Therefore it "was" but "is not". And yet later it is said "and yet is", because nevertheless the Word of God endures.

The reason why the Scriptures are believed but in reality not believed is that the church is founded on the Word. When people are part of a church founded on its doctrines, there is no choice but to maintain a show of belief in them (Apocalypse Revealed 725). If the Lord's authority is questioned, then the church loses the basis of its influence and existence. But if the belief is not real, their understanding deteriorates, even though they continue to claim belief in the church.
The beast that the woman rides has seven heads, standing for seven kings, five of whom have fallen. As we read in our lesson:

"This means that all the Divine truths of the Word have been destroyed except this one: that all authority in heaven and on earth was given to the Lord; and except another, which has not yet come into question; and when it does, it will not remain. This truth is that the Lord's Human is Divine." Apocalypse Revealed 738

This phrase about the seven kings, which are the words of our text, is the crux of the entire chapter. It speaks about what happens when all the truths that the Lord taught, which are the five kings that have fallen, are ignored except those regarding His authority - and also except for the Divinity of His Human, which will be denied once it comes into question. This state of affairs is given as the reason why the church has become Babylon, where power is the only thing that matters.
This teaching is a significant one for religious people. It is not difficult to center your religious thinking on the fact of the Lord's absolute power, and on the authority of the Word, and not think so much about what He actually teaches. When this is the focus, other people become either "believers" or "nonbelievers" in your eyes. Everything then becomes a matter of being "for" or "against" things, such as for or against the church and what it teaches and does, and not so much in terms of the life of charity. They can begin thinking almost exclusively in terms of whether people accept or do not accept the authority of the Word and of the church.

According to the Doctrines, the positions that a person takes on the issues of the day are not what makes him or her a religious person (Arcana Coelestia 1799). It is not that it isn’t important to take positions on significant issues. But when issues and positions dominate a person’s religious thinking, and when ongoing debate is the main feature of the life of religion, this may be a sign that the real issue is power and control. This is what Babylon is about.

The mental image of God in Babylon is of an all-powerful dictator, who is watching and judging everyone at all times, loving those who are on His side, and angry with those who are not. The reason for this is the emphasis on power and authority, rather than on the life which leads to love and happiness. When people think in terms of uses such things as kindness, honesty, morality, industry, and dedication - rather than "for" or "against" - the emphasis is a much happier one.

Perhaps the more powerful message of the phrase that “five have fallen and one is,” is that if people ignore and distort the teachings of the Word, and do not keep the Ten Commandments or live the life of charity, then all that is left in the church is power and authority. Issues of leadership and power crop up repeatedly. Decision-making degenerates into power struggles.

The sad result is described in the next phrase: "the beast which was and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to destruction." The beast here is the Word with the people, and the meaning is that when the truths of the Word are ignored, and there is only the love of dominion, then even the Word as a support for this love is lost.

The Doctrines talk about how especially virulent the desire for control and power is with people:

"The most difficult combat of all is that with the love of dominating from the love of self. He who subjugates this, easily subjugates all the other evil loves, because it is their head." Divine Providence 146e

"It is known that a person has from his parents implanted or hereditary evil, but in what it consists is known to few. It consists in the love of ruling, which is such, that as far as reigns are given it, so far it bursts forth, until it even burns with the love of ruling over all, and at length of wishing to be invoked and worshipped as God." Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment 61

"The love of honor, command, and super-eminence is the last state of the Church,...(it is here said that) this love would reign in the Church in its last times." Apocalypse Explained 1010.2

When a church is in its last times the desire for control is a tremendous problem. In the end this desire overshadows any allegiance to the Lord, and futilely looks to overcome even Him:

"These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them. For He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings." Revelation 17.14

The love of ruling in its good form is a very good thing. The Lord does rule like a lamb - gently leading us in innocence and freedom. This is a love which does not fight and yet always conquers, because it leads people according to what they love, never forcing them but gently bending them towards good (Arcana Coelestia 1950.2). It is slow, yet it is sure, and its changes are permanent.

Those who will truly be of the New Church, we read, "will not be in the love of self and in self intelligence...but in spiritual light from the Divine truth of the Word" (Apocalypse Revealed 919). There will be sincerity and love, and an honest love of the truth. Therefore leadership will be from those things, and the struggles that people in the world now experience with leadership and the need for control will diminish. People will be both trusting and trustworthy.

The way that this will come about is through the power of the Man on the white horse, who is the Word of God. The white horse is a true understanding of the Word, an understanding enlightened by the Lord. Those who wish to be of the Lord's New Church will read the Word, pray to the Lord for understanding, and keep its teachings.

John was amazed when he saw the scarlet woman on the beast. We can also be amazed when we recognize our own need for power, and when we see its effects around us. There is no need for amazement, though. The Lord tells us that this is what we are like, and He shows us how to deal with this need. The Man on the White Horse is a true understanding of the Word. His focus is not on power or control, because He is also the Lamb – innocent and humble. Genuine power looks to serve, not to rule, and willingly submits itself to the Lord and what He teaches. As you come to see the real message of the Word the focus shifts from the need for control to the desire to serve the Lord and the neighbor. The scarlet woman is removed.

In Revelation the place of the scarlet woman was taken by the bride, the Holy City New Jerusalem, the Lamb's wife, descending from God out of heaven. She fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy of the daughter of Zion, free of her enemies. In the same way the rule of authority for the sake of power will be removed, and its place will be taken by the rule of truth from love in a holy city where many peoples look to serve and not to rule, and where the Lord is King. AMEN

Readings from the Word

Isaiah 52:
Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!
3 For thus says the LORD:
“ You have sold yourselves for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.”
4 For thus says the Lord GOD:
“ My people went down at first into Egypt to dwell there;
Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. 5 Now therefore, what have I here,” says the LORD, “ That My people are taken away for nothing?
Those who rule over them make them wail,” says the LORD,
“ And My name is blasphemed continually every day.
6 Therefore My people shall know My name; Therefore they shall know in that day
That I am He who speaks: ‘ Behold, it is I.’”
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “ Your God reigns!”

Revelation 17:
So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.
6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. 7 But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. Those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 10 There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he will only continue a short time. 11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.
12 “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

Apocalypse Revealed 738:
Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he will only continue a short time." This means that all the Divine truths of the Word have been destroyed, except this one, that all authority in heaven and in earth was given to the Lord; and except another, which has not yet come into question; and when it does, it will not remain; which is, that the Lord's Human is Divine. By "five" is not signified five, but all the rest; here all the rest of the Divine truths of the Word, which are signified by "kings." They are said "to fall," because kings are spoken of, who fall by the sword. By "one is" nothing else is signified but this Divine truth, that all power in heaven and on earth was given to the Lord according to the words of the Lord Himself . That this one has not been destroyed is because otherwise they could not claim to themselves dominion over all things of the church and the Word and over heaven.
[2] By "the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he will only continue a short time" is signified the Divine truth which has not yet come in question, and when it does, will not remain with them, which is, that the Lord's Human is Divine.

Bryn Athyn Church, Box 277, Bryn Athyn PA 19009 215-947-6225 www.brynathynchurch.org

Magic and Miracles
A sermon about how God works by miracles
Bryn Athyn, July 22, 2007

“And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and
it became a serpent. But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.” Exodus 7.10

How did the Egyptian magicians turn their rods into serpents? Someone who believes in biblical miracles might accept that Aaron’s rod could have become a serpent. But do you believe that the Egyptians could have done the same by magic? Is magic really possible?

Yesterday, the most recent book trading on this subject by J.K. Rowling was published. It is breaking sales records all over the world. Her books have sold 325 million copies over the past ten years, and this one is expected to sell over twelve million books in the USA alone over the next few weeks and months. Is it a coincidence that these books are about saving the world through magic?

By far the best-selling book of all time is the Word, the Old and New Testaments. An estimated six-billion copies have been printed (Wikipedia.com). Worldwide it is not only far and away the cumulative leader, it has also been the best-selling book every year since printing was invented – and even before (Christianpost.com July 4, 2007). Even this year, more Bibles will be distributed among the world’s 6.6 billion people than any so-called best-seller. According to the Heavenly Doctrines, this is why, in providence, writing was invented:

“The main reason was for the sake of the Word, which was able on our planet to be set down in writing. Then, having been written, it could be disseminated to all parts of the planet, and once it had been disseminated it could be preserved for all future generations.” (Arcana Coelestia 9351)

We are told that the Lord works silently and invisibly to reform the human race (Divine Providence 186), but in this respect His means are public and quantifiably successful.
The Word is also a book about how the Lord has saved and is saving the world by miraculous means.

Our topic this morning is the reality behind the descriptions of magic and miracles in the Scriptures. The teachings of the New Church assert that these phenomena really happened, and they offer explanations of how they work, why they appear in the Word, and what they mean for people today. The real miracle is that the Lord is causing love to appear and increase in the world where there was no love before, and that He is bringing people into a heavenly state where no heavenly state existed before. He is making these things miraculously appear. This is the purpose of creation, and this is what all the biblical miracles are actually about. So how does this work?

When the Lord commanded Aaron to throw down his rod, and turned it into a serpent, there was a particular method and reason behind it. According to our lesson, miracles are “produced by an introduction of such things as are in the spiritual world into corresponding things in the natural world” (True Christian Religion addition 1.2). A miracle does not just happen. It is brought on by some action involving symbols and it acts on that symbolic thing, such as Aaron’s rod. Yet Aaron did not make the miracle happen, it was commanded by the Lord. According to our lesson:

“Miracles therefore are the effects of the Divine Omnipotence, and take place according to the influx of the spiritual into the natural world, with this difference only, that such things as actually exist in the spiritual world are actually introduced into such things in the natural world as correspond” (True
Christian Religion addition 1.2).

The idea is that everything in the physical world is maintained by an influx from the spiritual world into the natural world. This influx originates in the Lord, flows through the spiritual world, and is received by everything according to its form. If it stopped for a moment everything would disappear. The influx is also what maintains everything in its form (Heavenly Doctrine 277). So what happens in a miracle is simply that the influx is modified so that the situation is seen and behaves as it does in the light of heaven, as opposed to worldly light. Aaron’s rod could then become a serpent, a sea can be turned to blood, diseases or manna can appear, and similar things.

The concept of correspondence is central to how miracles work. The Old Testament miracles can seem random and strange - flies or frogs, fire or bread from heaven. But each one takes the form it does because the form represents a spiritual state. The rod turning to a serpent described the spiritual state represented by the Egyptians as oppressors of Israel. The only thing going on in a miracle is that an appropriate object actually takes on the form that corresponds to what is happening spiritually, by the Lord’s power. This is how healings took place as well as plagues and other miracles.

Magic operates on the same principle, except that instead of happening from the divine omnipotence, it happens through the deceptive use of symbols. Magic takes advantage of the influx from the spiritual world into the natural world by using means to channel that power in the interest of the magician.

How does magic work? The magicians used the same symbols that Aaron did, they threw down their rods. But they had to do considerably more work, because they did not act from the Lord’s commands. In order to produce serpents they needed to be in contact with spiritual forces, and to lead them to believe that the situation of the magician was different than it actually was. If the magician’s relationship with these good spirits could be made to counterfeit Aaron’s, these spirits would unknowingly bring the interior power of heaven to them, which the magicians could use (see Spiritual Experiences 4949).

The use of magic involved the manipulation of symbols, such as a rod or wand, it used various symbolic ingredients, numbers, often some kind of action using these numbers, such as tapping three times, and finally the saying of certain words or spells. But these things would not work unless the magician was also skilled in interior ways of being in contact with spirits, and through them with good spirits, whose power from heaven they then used. Magicians like this are described as being “interiorly religious but exteriorly vicious, and that thence they receive influx from the celestials, and turn it into such magic - for the things by which they act are correspondences; so that those arts come from an interior sphere, and were irresistible in a lower sphere” (Spiritual Experiences 4949).

The phrase “interiorly religious but exteriorly vicious” is a strange one, and it goes a long way to explaining both how magic works and what is wrong with it. The magician needed to be able to be deeply spiritual in order to simulate the goodness that good spirits can associate with. If they could not do this, or emulate it, they would be powerless. At the same time if the magician truly was a good or spiritual person he or she would not be trying to do magic at all, since the essence of real spirituality is to do the Lord’s will. The magician, therefore, was able to mask evil or vicious intentions in an inner way, and be in the presence of good spirits, whose power he then used. One way of understanding this is to think of the deep sincerity of fanatics who are completely committed to a false idea. They can kill and commit atrocities while seeing themselves as servants of God.

Are there good magicians? Interestingly, the very nature of the way that magic works prevents good magic from happening. In a sense all ancient worship was conducted according to the principles of magic, and so it was a kind of good magic. The wise men, or magi, who came to the Lord after His birth, were among the last of the ancients who understood and worshipped from a deep understanding of symbols and correspondences. The purpose of the use of these symbols was to represent heavenly things to the worshipper, to bring them near to the Lord and heaven, and to inspire them with love.

The magi were able to see in the stars the heavenly things that the stars stood for, and to be literally led by them to the Lord, so the Lord’s birth was announced to them by the appearance of a spiritual star. This is true magic, but it does not involve making anything external happen that would not normally happen. It is purely about spiritual things.

In order to make things happen in the external world that would not normally happen, a good magician would have to do what good people do not want to do. He would have to deceive the spiritual forces surrounding them, and alter the influx received from them, causing the desired change. In fiction the problems inherent in using magic for good purposes are not obvious, but they are very real.

The Lord’s miracles are different. They do not go against order, even though they appear to be simply the good use of magic. Miracles are always done within the context of the spiritual salvation of the human race, and for that purpose. Since the harmony of creation is centered around that purpose, and is directed by the Lord, Divine miracles never happen outside of it. That is, no deception is ever involved, because the miracles illustrate the truth and happen through the power of the truth (Arcana Coelestia 8200). The Egyptians in relation to Moses and the children of Israel really did represent the same thing as the serpent, and this truth is what made the miracle possible. The same is true of all the plagues, and of every biblical miracle.

Magic depends on the magician’s ability to deceive spirits – and this is its fatal weakness. It depends on the ability to simulate goodness to spirits who are good and yet have little clarity of thought (Arcana Coelestia 7137). Evil spirits have no power, and are used in magic only as conduits to good spirits. The incredible ignorance and superstition of the ancient world lent itself to that situation.

As the world becomes more educated, these deceptions are harder to achieve. The Lord came into the world to bring light where there was darkness, and this is more dramatically true in the spiritual world than in this world. Through His coming He made magic much more difficult to do because it made people both in this world and the next less vulnerable to deception. This effect grows as knowledge spreads, and especially as knowledge of spiritual truths combat false ideas throughout the world. This is why it is so important that the Word be widely spread and available – and so amazing and significant that it is far and away the most published book of all time.

The result of the Lord’s coming is that for all intents and purposes magic simply does not happen anymore. There is a deep truth in its existence, but as a demonstrable reality it is the stuff of children’s books and not of the real world.

For very different reasons miracles like those of the Old and New Testaments do not happen either. Miracles do not involve deception, so this isn’t the reason. But miracles need to take place in a way that is consistent with order, and their manifest appearance takes away freedom of thought except among people who are so ignorant or external that they do not have a lasting effect (Arcana Coelestia 7290, 7298). So Jesus, although He did work miracles, also criticized the desire for them.

Magic and miracles are both real things. They appear in the Bible because they represent the way that the Lord works to change the world, and how He works in your life. Obedience to the Lord does not miraculously cause the rains to come and the crops to flourish, but it does cause their spiritual equivalents to happen in your spiritual life.

The principles of magic and miracles are as active today as they ever were in ancient times, but they only work as they were originally intended. The way that they work in your life is that when you make changes in your outer life that are consistent with heaven’s influence, the result is that heaven miraculously appears. When you make changes in your life that are consistent with love, love miraculously appears. If you arrange the external so that it can receive the influx that you wish for, that influx will happen – exactly the way that magic works. But you don’t throw down a rod and produce a serpent, or wash seven times and receive a miraculous cure. Instead you refrain from an evil action and watch the desire miraculously disappear, or involve yourself in useful service and watch the love for it materialize. Miracles go on just as they always have, but as our lesson pointed out, they aren’t seen because they seem normal.

Popular fiction, like Rowling's, can remind us that miraculous power is needed if we are to overcome evil in the world. Stories like these can inspire a generation of young people with a vision and a kind of hope about that happening. But the true stories are the ones in the Word, and true magic is the way that God's truth can work in your heart if you believe it and live by it - to produce heaven in your life.

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords! For His mercy endures forever: To Him who alone does great wonders, For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who by wisdom made the heavens, for His mercy endures forever.” Psalm 136.3-5

Readings:
Exodus 7
Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 9 “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Show a miracle for yourselves,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.’” 10 So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just as the LORD commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 12 For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. 13 And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the LORD had said. 14 So the LORD said to Moses: “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the water, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand. 16 And you shall say to him, ‘The LORD God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness”; but indeed, until now you would not hear! 17 Thus says the LORD: “By this you shall know that I am the LORD. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and they shall be turned to blood.

Matthew 12
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Arcana Coelestia 4013
A rod' is referred to in various places in the Word, and in every case it means power. One reason for this is because of its use by shepherds in the exercise of power over their flocks, and another is that it served to support the body, and existed so to speak for the sake of the right hand - for 'the hand' means power. Since it had that meaning a rod was also used in ancient times by a king; and the royal emblem was a short rod and also a scepter. And not only a king used a rod, but also a priest and a prophet did so, in order that he too might denote by means of his rod the power which he possessed, as Aaron and Moses did. This explains why Moses was commanded so many times to stretch out his rod, and on other occasions his hand, when miracles were performed, the reason being that 'a rod' and 'the hand' means Divine power. And it is because 'a rod' means power that the magicians of Egypt likewise used one when performing magical miracles. It is also the reason why (even) at the present day a magician is represented with a rod (or wand) in his hand.

True Christian Religion additions 1.2
All things that appear in the three kingdoms of nature are produced by an influx from the spiritual into the natural world, and, considered in themselves, are miracles. Yet, on account of their familiar aspect and their annual recurrence, they do not appear as such…. The miracles that are recorded in the Word likewise took place by an influx out of the prior into the posterior world. They were produced by an introduction of such things as are in the spiritual world into corresponding things in the natural world. For example, the manna which every morning descended upon the camp of the children of Israel, was produced by bread from heaven being introduced into the recipient vessels of nature. Similarly bread and fishes were thus introduced into the baskets of the apostles, which they distributed to so many thousands. Again, wine out of heaven was instilled into the water in the pots at the wedding where the Lord was present. Also the fig-tree withered, because there was no longer any influx into it of spiritual nutriment, by which it was fed from the roots. Such was the case with the other miracles, and they were not produced, according to the notions of some of the learned in the present day, by causes summoned from all parts of nature. Miracles therefore are the effects of the Divine Omnipotence, and take place according to the influx of the spiritual into the natural world, with this difference only, that such things as actually exist in the spiritual world are actually introduced into such things in the natural world as correspond. The cause of such things being done and being possible, is due to the Divine Omnipotence, which is meant by the finger of God, by which the Lord produced His miracles.

First entry

This is my first entry. I have nothing special to report. It is Easter week and there is lots happening in Bryn Athyn.