With excitement and urgency, Isaac Synnestvedt asks the reader to consider the Lord's powerful and present rule in this world and in the lives of all individuals. He considers the difference between useful and destructive loves of ruling. Finally, Isaac leads the reader to consider the amazing blessings in store when we “persist in charity against all odds.” -Editor.
Author's Note: I choose (with prayerful intention) to modify translations of the Word as I am inspired to share certain qualities of light I see as I gaze at the Lord's crown or chance upon a shining cluster of gems among the rocks on the mountain. I am reminded of a beloved teacher that speaks of translation as being like cutting a gem – the cutter cuts faces to bring out the inherent beauty he sees within. Particular to this article, I chose to share the promise in “It will not be so among you” rather than the command in “It must not be so among you.” Both are true. My ruling love leads me to consider with wonder the gems that people wear. I love the opportunity to admire them, and most especially I love the invitation to hold out some new ones with new shapes and flashing colors for my friends to try on and keep if they like. I hope to spark curiosity to seek precious stones where they may be abundantly found. -Isaac
In actual fact heavenly blessedness does not consist in wishing to have dominion and to be served by others but in wishing to serve others and to be the least, as the Lord teaches,
“James and John, the sons of Zebedee drew near, saying, ‘Grant us to sit in Your glory, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left.’ Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you ask. To sit at My right hand and at My left is not Mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. You know that those who are reckoned to rule the gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones have authority over them. It must not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your minister, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be ministered to but to minister.’” (Mark 10:35-45) (Arcana Coelestia 6393:2)
Can our love and good works be filled with the glory of the Lord? Yes! if we prepare ourselves and receive Him. Can we shine from our hearts and rule nations and peoples in the presence of the mighty God of the universe? Yes! The nations we will rule are the affections of good flowing in continually from heaven that we will form into beautiful vessels receptive of life according to our art and skill. The peoples we will govern are the tools of thought and reflection that we will use with intelligence and increasing knowledge to shape our offerings of service. This humble rule will be ours as we turn away from any desire to exercise external compulsion of our neighbors' words or actions. We shall inherit our thrones as we decline the invitation to control our neighbors.
The inverse is also true: to the extent that we go down the road of seeking to compel our neighbors into order, whether from impatience for peace or profit or from fear that all hell will break loose if we don't intervene or even from thinking that by fear or force we can improve our neighbors' situations, to the same extent we prolong the grasping influence of hell in our world. We prolong the persistence of hellish government when we put ourselves over our neighbor in any way, when we seek to make her decisions for her.
Let us understand that the Lord has truly accomplished all things, and there is no danger of all hell breaking loose! Let us notice the uninterrupted flow of His authority in every simple choice we make, His providence in every decision of a king or council, His glory in every birth and passing into life, His mercy in every rising of new ways and decaying of old.
Hell's grasping has no power in the end, and we can participate in letting it go! If we see what we judge to be disorder in another human being, we have the opportunity to address him directly with trust and patience and humble ourselves never to condemn his character, even when he acts in ways that bear upset. If a neighbor persists to harm us, we can seek the counsel and support of two or three; and again, if he persists to harm, we may look for help in the wider network of humanity as taught in Matthew 18:15-17, making our neighbor aware of our boundaries and firmly upholding our well-being and working without judgment to restore a new order where order has been broken. This policy works for individual interaction as well as bodies of people – church groups, associations, social organizations, companies, corporations, and countries! When we truly love, we act without fear of what our neighbor might do, without anger at what he has done, without contempt for who he is, without self-pity, self-doubt, or self-loathing, and without regret.
Sometimes our love will appear fierce when in danger, when yet it is not fierce but only quick to protect and keenly attentive to keep its space of sacred tenderness. As our love increases, it increasingly will appear loving. We will not threaten anyone. When we transgress against our neighbor, we must hold ourselves accountable and be willing to be held accountable according to the same law. We will rule ourselves and let our neighbor rule himself how he chooses, and then we will know that the Lord alone rules. We will see that He is coming to all people at the speed of light, with every breath of the soul's spirit, in every beat of the heart's love, in every song of thanksgiving, in every truth of religion and dictate of conscience, in every movement of life, daytime and nighttime, permeating and igniting our life with the warmth of His fire.
The Lord is omnipresent as to His Holy Spirit to reform and regenerate every human being. Everyone, whether Muslim, Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Communist, black, white, yellow, red, rich, poor, powerful, weak, loud, quiet, happy, sad, angry – everyone with any good will only and eternally be given the spiritual environment adapted to his own developing love carried wisely forth into works, and order will increase, and beauty will manifest. No matter how far off track we go, when we are ready to return to God, He shows the Way. Inmostly, no one else can harm us, and we cannot harm anyone else. The Lord makes it known that some have chosen to damn themselves. He teaches that they chose hell, that they choose hell, and that they will always choose hell, for they delight in evil and falsity alone, and that is who they are. He commands us not to be so. He assures that we are completely free and created for heaven, and there is no need for us to be led astray and choose spiritual death. As we choose heaven, we will be given life in increasing abundance.
And the more that those who love to serve without thought of repayment love to do good, the nobler are the services committed to their charge. (Arcana Coelestia 6393:3)
If we ask the Lord to be with Him, do we have ANY idea what we are asking? If we rule ourselves wisely and love to serve our neighbor, we will be of increasing benefit to all. We will become prosperous as Joseph was prosperous, and others will prosper at our hands. We will be beloved as David was beloved, and the Lord will speak to us as the Lord spoke to David:
The LORD said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion.
Rule in the midst of Your enemies!Your people shall be volunteers
In the day of Your power;
In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning,
You have the dew of Your youth.
When we persist to live in charity against all odds, the Lord turns our problems into blessings. Our selfishness is completely transformed and invited to serve in joyful harmony. He gives us a new clarity of purpose from the power of love. The glow and wonder of innocence is born from within, and the hopes and dreams of childhood that slipped away with the fading of our first youth will dawn eternally upon us and mature. We will find ourselves kings and priests to God, for that is what we are born to be.
As truth is signified by “kings,” and good by “priests,” therefore in the Word “kings and priests” are frequently mentioned together; as in Revelation: Jesus Christ hath made us kings and priests to God and His Father (Revelation 1:5, 6; 5:10); “kings” are said to be “made” from the truth which is of faith, and “priests” from the good which is of charity. Thus with those who are in the Lord truth and good are joined together, as they are in heaven (as was said above), and this is meant by “being made kings and priests.” (Arcana Coelestia 6148:9)
Each of us can be a king and priest as we receive the Lord within us. The Lord's love is Priest and His wisdom is King; His love is Jesus and His wisdom is Christ. A special truth is that these two are wholly married in the Lord and are emanating from Him as one. And even though the Lord's Holy Spirit emanates from Him as one, some people are receiving a greater portion of His love, and some are receiving a greater portion of His wisdom. Some people are receiving love and wisdom in equal measure, loving the experience of the marriage they discover within them and immediately and continuously bearing fruit. Any extra love we take in, not seeking with it the wisdom to be useful to our neighbors, just flows out again or decays. Likewise any wisdom we delight in, not actually wanting to receive the love to be good to our neighbors in the present, dries out and hardens. In the end it is only that which is married equally within us that remains. Some people are receiving love and wisdom in equal measure, loving the experience of the marriage they discover within them and immediately and continuously bearing fruit.
When we receive the Lord wholly and invite His marriage into us, we are not interested in that which is not productive. This is the way of the heavenly Zion. Since men fell away, the Lord has allowed the separation of “church” and “state,” but from the beginning it was not so. Please read some background on this separation written in Arcana Coelestia (Secrets of Heaven):
The person in whom these two things [kingship and priesthood] in the Ancient Church were joined together was called “Melchizedek,” or “King of Righteousness,” as may be seen from the Melchizedek who came to Abraham, of whom it is thus written:
“Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine; and he was priest to God Most High; and he blessed Abraham” (Genesis 14:18-19).
That he represented the Lord as to both is manifest from the fact that he was king and at the same time priest, and that he was allowed to bless Abraham and to offer him bread and wine, which at that time also were symbols of the good of love and the truth of faith. That Melchizedek represented the Lord as to both is further manifest from David:
“Jehovah hath sworn and He will not repent, Thou art a priest eternally after the manner of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4);
which was said of the Lord; “after the manner of Melchizedek” means that he was both king and priest, that is, in the supreme sense, that from Him proceed the Divine good and the Divine truth together.
Moreover as a representative church was instituted with the posterity of Jacob, therefore in one person conjointly was represented the Divine good and the Divine truth which proceed united from the Lord. But on account of the wars and of the idolatry of that people, these two offices were at first divided, and they who ruled over the people were called “leaders,” and afterward “judges;” while they who officiated in holy things were called “priests,” and were of the seed of Aaron, and Levites. Yet afterward these two offices were joined together in one person, as in Eli and in Samuel. But because the people were of such a character that a representative church could not be instituted among them, but only the representative of a church, by reason of the idolatrous disposition which prevailed among them, therefore it was permitted that the two offices should be separated, and that the Lord as to Divine truth should be represented by kings, and as to Divine good by priests. That this was done at the will of the people, and not of the Lord's good pleasure, is manifest from the word of Jehovah unto Samuel:
“Obey the voice of the people in all that they shall say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them; and thou shalt show them the king's right” (1 Samuel 8:7-22; 12:19-20). (Arcana Coelestia 6148:4-5)
The Israelites inwardly rejected the Lord, and so a true representation of the Lord with them was not possible. They were the sheep most lost and so served the rest of humanity by example, an example of a church, you or me or anyone, gone astray from the first love we had for each other. Their situation became worse until the Lord came into the world and restored order from love and gave instruction on how it would be different among His disciples. His disciples, in the internal sense, signify our loyal responses to His own teaching.
When Jesus came into the world, many people understood and received His Word, and still the Lord knew that as the human race matured with new access to genuine truth from His own Humanity, she would need to be seriously purged a final mighty time and receive even more particular instruction on heavenly life before she could enter the eternal marriage covenant with Him. And indeed it was so: it was not long after the gospel spread throughout Europe that many different church groups began disputing about whose doctrine was right. In the middle ages the Christian church and state became so aggrandized and set at odds that pope and emperor vied for the keys to heaven and desperately strove to depose each other and keep people in darkness. Do we ever try to keep love to ourselves and condemn others? Gentile nations have their own and parallel stories, and they are not for us to explore in this article. The gentile in us is natural good that doesn't know Jesus yet, pure and innocent as a baby.
The final comprehensive purging of the human race was accomplished in the year 1757; the heavens and earth were re-ordered and made new, and a new Word was given through Emanuel Swedenborg. Now the Word is complete and we are complete as a human race. We are wholly prepared for marriage! We are in a universal state of readiness! It is now open to every human being on earth to consent to the Lord's presence and be joined to Him in marriage and enter the new heaven He has prepared for us. We can enter heaven here on earth if we have the opportunity to be reborn as to the spirit, or we may wait until we pass on. Now that all things are fulfilled, this world of interacting human beings is becoming more and more heavenly, that is, we are becoming more and more a church, more and more in love with the Lord. The age of hell on earth is slipping away. A new day of heaven on earth is at hand. Although the Lord has never lost a soul, living under hellish conditions, as many have since the fall of man, does not allow free and happy spiritual growth for those who choose life. Our Father never intended it that way. He desires us to grow in a safe and happy environment even as children are raised in heaven, bathed and surrounded by love and slowly opening to the inward way of His life welling up in our hearts and flowing over. Sure, humans will always have to undergo the spiritual temptations of being born again, but there is no eternal need for earthly misery.
In what ways might the Lord be restoring the marriage of His Kingship and Priesthood in leadership on earth today? What has changed in the last 253 years? What might change in the next 253? We are in a new age of understanding the Divine Humanity of God! Sure, we don't have to look too far into ourselves, into our our friends, or into our community to see persisting confusion of understanding and heart; there are still great empires and countries that fear each other and protect themselves accordingly; our industry and way of life continue to harm our environment; church and state are still carefully divided in many societies from fear of hell's power, and I could go on. Is it wrong that there are these problems? I don't think so. I believe not one of these things is out of order or out of hand. It takes a long time for radioactive waste to decompose, and it does decompose. Unfaithfulness pollutes, and then unfaithfulness burns out. There are repercussions to selfishness, and then the repercussions subside and selfishness is put in its place of service. Love grows gently. Love has a plan and cannot fail.
Come, let us explore the living gospel that is being received by our neighbors! Is world peace possible? I say it is as sure as the Lord's coming. Is global mutual love possible? Look at the fields! I challenge you to consider how it is that someone who has never held a book of the Word in her hand can still be immediately sustained by it from within and to consider what ways the love and truth in the Word even surrounds her from without. We know the Word is not just a book. And yet the Book is the direct way to the Word if we go to Him when we hold it in our hands and read and meditate on it, confessing Jesus Christ with adoration, and committing to follow and learn of Him alone! I've heard there is a Stone cut without hands that is filling the whole earth! Is this Stone filling from person to person or from the heaven to people? I assure you that It is being rolled out from heaven upon all flesh. If you feel It, don't be afraid to shout about it! Are there things in our world that look like they are falling apart? Maybe it is only the force of the Stone grinding our selfish pretense to powder!
The LORD has sworn
And will not relent,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
Amen.
Melchizedek has returned!
Who wants to rule with Him?!
Isaac Synnestvedt is the son of Lou and Aileen Synnestvedt who have served in pastorates in the General Church of the New Jerusalem in the US and Canada. He has been educated in the Kempton New Church School and Bryn Athyn College. After college, he went to China to teach English for two years. He then spent a year in Kenya. He is looking forward to supporting the birth of Keugata (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) Theological College. He wants to run a marathon this summer.