Apocalypse Revealed (Coulsons) n. 481

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481. 'And he said unto me, Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey' signifies that a reception resulting from the acknowledgment that the Lord is a Saviour and Redeemer is agreeable and pleasant, but that the acknowledgment that He Only is the God of heaven and earth and that His Human is Divine is disagreeable and difficult because of falsifications. By 'to take' the little book is signified to receive the doctrine concerning the Lord; by 'to eat it up' is signified to acknowledge it; by 'to make thy belly bitter' is signified that it is going to be disagreeable and difficult because of falsifications, for by 'bitter' is signified truth falsified (n. 415); by being 'in the mouth sweet as honey' is signified that the first [state] of reception is agreeable and pleasant. The things now applied to that doctrine, which is understood by the little book opened in the angel's hand (n. 469, 472), signify that a reception resulting from the acknowledgment that the Lord is a Saviour and Redeemer is agreeable and delightful, but that the acknowledgment that He Only is the God of heaven and earth and that His Human is Divine is disagreeable and difficult because of falsifications. The falsifications because of which that doctrine is perceived as disagreeable and difficult are, chiefly, that the Lord has not been acknowledged to be one with the Father, as nevertheless He Himself teaches; also, that they have not acknowledged the Lord's Human to be Divine, although it is 'the Son of God' (Luke i 35); and thus, as it may be said, that they have made God three, and the Lord two; besides the untruths derived from these by continuity. Out of these untruths there flows faith alone, and faith alone afterwards confirms the untruths. It may be seen above (n. 294) that so much bitterness and internal resistance results that it is not even possible after death for 'Divine Human' to be named by them out of an acknowledgment in thought.


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