December
5

Isaiah 60:5. “Then shalt Thou see and flow together, and Thy heart shall dread, and be enlarged; for the crowd of the sea shall be turned to Thee; the host of the nations shall come to Thee.”

For the children from Luke 2

25. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name [was] Simeon; and this man [was] just and circumspect, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

26. And it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

27. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents were bringing in the little Child Jesus, to do for Him after the custom of the law,

28. he took Him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

29. Now Thou sendest Thy servant away in peace, O Lord, according to Thy saying.

30. For my eyes have seen Thy salvation,

31. which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples:

32. Light for revelation to the gentiles, and the Glory of Thy people Israel.

33. And Joseph and His mother marveled at the things which were spoken concerning Him.

Readings from the Heavenly Doctrine

AC 9256. Those who are outside the church and are called “Gentiles” are indeed in falsities of doctrine, but from ignorance, because they do not have the Word. And yet when they are instructed, they are in a clearer and consequently more inward perception about the heavenly life with man than are Christians. The reason is that they have not confirmed themselves against the truths of faith, as very many Christians have. And therefore their internal man is not closed, but, as with little children, is readily opened and receptive of truth….

Those who have not confirmed themselves against the goods and truths of faith—as is the case with those who are outside the church, and yet have lived in some kind of faith and charity according to their religion—have not been able to close the internal man in themselves by negations of truth, and by confirmations of falsity against the truth of faith from the Word. And therefore the internal of these persons is opened upward, that is, into heaven and toward the Lord, if not in this world, yet in the other life….

That the church is transferred to the Gentiles who acknowledge the Lord, is evident from many passages in the Word, as from these which follow….

[“Gentile” and “nation” are the same word in Hebrew, Greek and Latin.]

The Gentiles shall walk to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about: they all gather themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons come from afar, and thy daughters are carried by nurses at thy side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thy heart shall be amazed and be enlarged, because the multitude of the sea is converted unto thee, the armies of the Gentiles shall come (Isa. 60:3‒5).

And in the prophecy of Simeon concerning the Lord when a child:

My eyes have seen the salvation of God, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light for the revelation of the Gentiles (Luke 2:30‒32).

In all these passages the subject treated of is the Lord, in that the Gentiles shall come to Him; and they come to Him when they acknowledge Him as their God. And wonderful to say, the Gentiles worship the one only God under a human form. And therefore when they hear about the Lord, they receive and acknowledge Him. And a new church cannot be set up with any others.

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