Week 5    Day 4

    Listen:

The Inheritance of Naphtali—Sea of Galilee/Gennesaret

The Sea of Galilee or Gennesaret

AE 514. As all things in the Old Testament contain in themselves a spiritual sense, so do all things in the New Testament which are in the Gospels and in Revelation. Moreover, all the Lord’s words and doings and miracles signify Divine heavenly things, because the Lord spoke from the Divine, and did His works and miracles from the Divine, therefore from first things through last things, and thus in fullness. From this it can be seen that the Lord’s teaching from boats was significative; also that it was significative that He chose certain of His disciples from boats while they were fishing; and that He walked upon the sea to the boat in which the disciples were, and from there calmed the wind. About the Lord’s teaching from a boat it is said in the Gospels:

Jesus sat by the seaside. And there were gathered to Him great multitudes, so that He entered into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the beach. And He spoke to them many things in parables (Matt. 13:1, 2, et seq.; Mark 4:1, 2, et seq.).

Jesus, standing by the shore of Gennesaret, saw two boats standing by the lake. Then He entered into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the throng out of the ship (Luke 5:1-9).

In all these particulars also, that “He sat by the seaside” and “on the shore of Gennesaret,” then “that He entered into Simon’s boat, and taught the throng therefrom,” there is a spiritual sense. This was done because the “sea” and the “lake of Gennesaret” signify, in reference to the Lord, the knowledges of good and truth in the whole complex, and “Simon’s boat” signifies the doctrinals of faith; so “His teaching from a boat” signifies that it was from doctrine.

AE 514.21. Respecting the Lord’s walking on the sea to the boat in which the disciples were, it is said in the Gospels:

The boat containing the Lord’s disciples was in the midst of the sea, tossed by the wind. In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. And Peter said, Bid me come to Thee on the water. And He said, Come. Therefore Peter, going down, walked upon the water to come to Jesus. But beginning to sink, he was afraid. Jesus stretching forth His hand, took hold of him, and said, O man of little faith, why didst thou doubt? And when they had come into the boat, the wind ceased. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, Of a truth, thou art the Son of God (Matt. 14:24-33; Mark 6:48-52)... (John 6:16-21, et seq.).

Here, too, the particulars signify Divine spiritual things, which nevertheless do not appear in the letter... But there is no need to explain here individually the spiritual things signified. Let it be said only that the “sea” signifies the ultimate of heaven and the church, since there are seas in the outmost borders of the heavens. The Lord’s walking on the sea signifies the Lord’s presence and His influx even into these, and consequent life from the Divine to those who are in the ultimates of heaven. Their life from the Divine was represented by the Lord’s walking on the sea, and their obscure and wavering faith was represented by Peter’s walking on the sea and beginning to sink, but being saved when the Lord took hold of him, “to walk” signifying in the Word to live. This was done “in the fourth watch” to signify the first state of the church, when it is daybreak and morning is at hand, for then good begins to act through truth, and then the Lord comes. That the sea in the meanwhile was moved by the wind, and that the Lord restrained it, signifies the natural state of life that precedes, which is an unpeaceful and as it were tempestuous state. But with the state that is nearest to morning, which is the first state of the church with man, then because the Lord is present in the good of love, there comes tranquility of mind.

AE 514.22. The like is signified by the Lord’s calming the wind and the waves of the sea, as described in the Gospels:

When Jesus had entered into a boat His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great commotion in the sea, so that the boat was covered by the waves; but He was asleep. Therefore the disciples, coming to Him awoke Him, saying, Lord, save us; we perish! Then He arose and rebuked the wind; and there was a great calm (Matt. 8:23-26; Mark 4:36-40; Luke 8:23, 24).

This represented the state of men of the church when they are in what is natural and not yet in what is spiritual. In this state the natural affections, which are various cupidities [or lusts] springing from the loves of self and the world, rise up and produce various commotions of the mind. In this state the Lord appears as it were absent. This apparent absence is signified by His being asleep. But when they come out of a natural into a spiritual state, these commotions cease, and there comes tranquility of mind, for the Lord calms the tempestuous commotions of the natural man when the spiritual mind is opened, and through it the Lord flows into the natural. Since the affections that are of the love of self and of the world and the consequent thoughts and reasonings, are from hell—for they are lusts of every kind that rise up from there into the natural man— these, too, are signified by “the wind and the waves of the sea,” and hell itself is signified by the “sea” in the spiritual sense.

AE 514.23. This can be seen, too, from its being said that “the Lord rebuked the wind” ... This could not have been said to the wind and to the sea unless hell had been meant by it, from which arise the tempestuous emotions of the mind from various cupidities.

previous		next