“Peace has in it confidence in the Lord: that He directs all things, provides all things, and that He leads to a good end.” - Arcana Caelestia §8455
Kempton New Church
 

Week 1    Day 5

    Listen:

The First Commandment

AC 8867. Thou shalt have no other gods before My faces. That this signifies that truths must not be thought of from any other source than the Lord, is evident from the signification of “gods,” as being truths, and in the opposite sense as being falsities... and from the signification of “faces,” when said of God, as being love, mercy, peace, good... thus the Lord Himself, for it is the Lord from whom these are....

AC 8868. ...The Lord is not in the truths with a man when the man denies Him and His Divine, and also when he acknowledges Him and still believes that good and truth are not from Him but from himself, and who consequently claims righteousness for himself....

AC 8869. Thou shalt not make unto thee a carved image. That this signifies not from self-intelligence, is evident from the signification of “a carved image,” as being that which is not from the Lord, but from what is man’s own [his “proprium”]. The proprium of his intellect is signified by “a carved image,” and the proprium of his will is signified by “a molten image.” To have either the one or the other for a god, or to adore it, is to love what comes from self above all things. They who do this entirely disbelieve that anything of intelligence and wisdom flows in from the Divine, for they attribute all things to themselves. Everything else that happens to them they ascribe either to fortune or to chance. They totally deny the Divine Providence in such things. They suppose that if there is anything of Deity present, it is in the order of nature, to which they ascribe all things... And those of them who love themselves adore what belongs to themselves and also desire to be worshiped by others, even as gods, and would do so openly if the church did not forbid.

AC 8870. Nor any likeness. That this signifies a semblance of those things which are from the Divine, is evident from the signification of a “likeness,” as being a semblance....

AC 8870:2. ...Semblances of those things which are from the Divine are made by men when they speak Divine things with the mouth, and also in act do such things as have been commanded by the Divine, and thus induce a belief that they are in good and truth, when yet at heart they think altogether otherwise, and will nothing but evil....

AC 8871. Of that which is in the heavens above, or that which is in the earth beneath.... Those things which appear and are seen in spiritual light all... relate to the good and truth which are of faith, of charity toward the neighbor, and of love to the Lord. To counterfeit and make a pretense of these things is to “make a likeness of the things which are in the heavens above.” ...Those things which appear and are seen in natural light... are such as relate to civil and moral good and truth. To counterfeit and make a pretense of these things is to “make a likeness of those things which are in the earth beneath”....

AC 8872. Or of that which is in the waters under the earth. This signifies such things as are [on the level] of the bodily senses.... The bodily senses have to do with those memory-knowledges that arise most directly from the experience of the external senses and also of their delights. With good people, these knowledges and their delights are good because they are applied to good things; but with the evil they are evil because they are applied to evils. To deceive by means of these, as dissemblers, hypocrites, and the deceitful are accustomed to doing, is to “make a likeness of such things as are in the waters under the earth.”

AC 8873. Thou shalt not bow thyself down to them, nor serve them. That this signifies that no Divine worship is to be paid them, is evident from the signification of “bowing oneself down,” as being humbling... and from the signification of “serving,” as being submission.... Life from the Lord flows in solely into a humble and submissive heart, because such a heart has been fitted to receive. That such is the case is because when the heart is truly humble, nothing of the love of self and of the love of the world stands in the way.

Questions and Thoughts for Reflection
  1. If we could see the face of the Lord God as He really is, we would see “love, mercy, peace, good.” Perhaps sometimes we get impressions of these qualities of His in special circumstances.
  2. Can you think of celebrities or intellectuals who appear to love themselves too much? Can you picture loving your own intelligence, or your own skillful management, as a god?
  3. Do we today perhaps have fewer people “making a likeness,” that is, a hypocritical semblance, of love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, than used to be the case, as people are now more openly and unashamedly atheists, etc.?
  4. How do we cultivate a heart that is truly humble before the Lord and willing to work in His service?
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