41. 1857. When the prince of the world together with his angels fell away, and from being an angel of light became an angel of shadows [Is. 14:12], then he wanted to be worshipped as god, and deeply within him clung the desire to be like God the Messiah Himself. Thus whenever he was granted the freedom (which was done for numerous reasons spoken of here and there in our text), he wanted to establish his kingdom, exactly like the Kingdom of God the Messiah. That desire clung to him most deeply. For the Kingdom of God the Messiah is inscribed on human minds - and there is nothing in the created universe which does not concern the Kingdom of God the Messiah. It is especially inscribed on angels of light, whose every act is an image of that Kingdom of God the Messiah, or a portrayal of it - this also I have been taught by much experience. [Kingdom; Portrayal (Representation)] [See also WE 1858-66, concluding the explanation of Gen. 37:1-11 in general.]
[See WE 1890-91, explaining Gen. 37:5 in particular.] 1892. As for the dreams themselves, here by "dreams" in a more inward sense are meant all revelations given before the Word of God the Messiah was made known to the people. For later it is said, namely in verse 8, "Therefore they hated him yet more because of his dreams, and because of his words." Thus these are two distinct matters, that they hated him because of his dreams, and because of his words. Therefore "dreams" here stand for all those things that had been revealed since the earliest time from which it could be inferred that God the Messiah Himself was worshipped, such as from the time of Adam himself, after the serpent had deceived him. At that time it was realized immediately what was involved in Abel's sacrifices, and later in those of many others - after the flood, in those of Noah, then of Abraham, etc. That these matters were revealed to them, both in dreams and by spoken words, and also through revelations of angels themselves, is clear. For it is fairly obvious that angels of God the Messiah spoke at that time with people who were of His Church, who were then of a simpler nature and let themselves be guided by truths. It was different in their posterity, when wickedness increased, and evils were added to evils, which then gained strength and became hereditary. Then in place of truths, falsities and lies succeeded, and obviously, this type of revelations as well as conversations of people on earth with the angels of God the Messiah ceased. This I can even less call into question,
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