December
1

Isaiah 60:1. “Arise, give light; for Thy light comes, and the glory of Jehovah has risen upon Thee.”

For the children from Luke 2

8. And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, and keeping watch over their flock by night.

9. And behold, the angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they feared with great fear.

10. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people.

11. For to you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.

12. And this [shall be] the sign to you: you shall find [the] Babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, laid in a manger.

13. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

14. Glory in the highest to God, and on earth peace, good will among men.

Readings from the Heavenly Doctrine

AC 5922:13. [Isa. 60:1] speaks of the Lord, who is called a “light,” as in John 1:4, 9; and it is said that upon Him shall arise the “glory of Jehovah,” that is, that the Divine truth is His.

AC 9429:4. It is evident that the subject here treated of is the Lord’s coming, His kingdom, heaven, and the church. The Divine truth proceeding from His Divine Human is described in this whole chapter, and is called “light,” “honor,” and “glory.”

AC 8443. And behold, the glory of Jehovah was seen in the cloud. That this signifies the presence of the Lord in truth accommodated to the perception, is evident from the signification of “the glory of Jehovah,” as being the presence and the advent of the Lord… and from the signification of “the cloud,” as being the literal sense of the Word… thus truth accommodated to the perception, for the Word in the letter is such truth. But “the glory which is in the cloud” denotes Divine truth which is not so accommodated to the perception, because it is above the fallacies and appearances of the senses, thus it also denotes the internal sense of the Word….

That “glory” denotes the internal sense of the Word is because in this sense the Lord’s church and kingdom are treated of, and in the supreme sense the Lord Himself, in which sense also is the veriest Divine truth. Truth Divine is not of one degree, but of many. Truth Divine in the first degree, and also in the second, is that which proceeds immediately from the Lord; this is above the angelic understanding. But truth Divine in the third degree is such as is in the inmost or third heaven; this is such that it cannot in the least be apprehended by man. Truth Divine in the fourth degree is such as is in the middle or second heaven; neither is this intelligible to man.

But truth Divine in the fifth degree is such as is in the ultimate or first heaven; this can be perceived in some small measure by man provided he is enlightened. But still it is such that a great part of it cannot be expressed by human words; and when it falls into the ideas, it produces the faculty of perceiving and also of believing that the case is so.

But truth Divine in the sixth degree is such as is with man, accommodated to his perception; thus it is the sense of the letter of the Word. This sense, or this truth, is represented by the cloud, and the interior truths are represented by the glory in the cloud. This is the reason why Jehovah (that is, the Lord) so often appeared to Moses and to the sons of Israel in a cloud…. The appearing of the Lord is by means of Divine truth, and moreover is Divine truth.

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