“These things I have spoken to you in parables, but the hour is coming when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will announce to you plainly concerning the Father.” - John 16:25
Kempton New Church

December
21

Isaiah 60:18. “Violence shall not be heard any more in thy land, nor devastation and breaking in thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.”

For the children from Isaiah 26

1. In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; [He] shall put salvation [for] walls and ramparts.

2. Open ye the gates, that the just nation keeping faithfulness may come in.

3. What [the mind] forms which is supported Thou shalt preserve [in the] peace of peace.

and from Psalm 72

10. The kings of Tarshish and of the islands shall return a gift offering; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer a gift.

11. And all kings shall bow down to Him; all nations shall serve Him.

12. For He will rescue the needy [one] crying out, and the afflicted, and him who has no helper.

13. He will spare the poor and needy, and the souls of the needy He will save.

14. He will redeem their soul from fraud and from violence, and their blood will be precious in His eyes.

15. And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba; and He shall pray for him continually; He shall bless him all the day.

Readings from the Heavenly Doctrine

AE 35:44. That there is no longer to be a separation between the spiritual and the natural man is signified by "violence shall no more be heard in thy land, devastation and breaking within thy borders," "violence" signifying separation, "land" the internal spiritual man, because the church is there, which in general is signified by "land." "Devastation and breaking shall be no more" signifies that there shall no longer be evils and falsities, and "within thy borders" signifies in the natural man, for in the things in the natural man spiritual things are terminated. "Devastation and breaking" signify evils and falsities, because evils devastate the natural man, and falsities break it up.

AE 223:3. Here "a strong city" signifies the doctrine of genuine truth, which falsities cannot destroy. "Walls and bulwarks" signify truths defending; "gates" signify admission… "The righteous nation keeping faithfulness" means those who are in good and in truths from good.

AR 176. The Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18). Therefore they who do not directly approach Him, cannot see the way to heaven, nor can they find the door, and if perhaps they are permitted to approach it, it is shut, and if they knock it is not opened. In the spiritual world there are actually ways which lead to heaven, and there are here and there gates, and they who are led to heaven by the Lord, take the ways which lead there, and enter through the gates….

Since the Lord alone leads man to heaven, and opens the door, therefore He calls Himself "the way" and also "the door": "the way" in John:

I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

The door in the same Evangelist:

I am the door of the sheep; by Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved (John 10:9).

Since there are both ways and doors in the spiritual world, and angelic spirits actually go in those ways, and enter into heaven by doors, therefore "doors," "gates," and "portals" are frequently mentioned in the Word, by which is signified entrance.

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