What is the Little Book of Seven Thunders?

The book of Revelation speaks of an angel descending from heaven, holding a little book open in his hand, who then cries out and seven thunders utter their voice. The apostle John was about to write what the seven thunders uttered, but is commanded not to reveal them, and they would only be revealed in the days of the seventh trumpet. He is then commanded to eat the little book, after which he is commanded to prophesy (Rev. 10).

The identity of the little book, and the revelation of the seven thunders, has puzzled many. As explained in The Mystery of the Book of Seven Thunders Explained, it was revealed to Swedenborg that the the content of the little book was concerning a teaching in scripture that few have observed: Jesus Christ is Jehovah in human form, and that His human form is Divine, a Divine Human.

The book was kept sealed, as at this day the majority of Christians understand the Son of God as a second person of a trinity, a form of tritheism. This teaching, plus one is saved by belief alone without regard to works (how one lives one's life according to the commandments) is described as the dragon, the beast and the false prophet: see The Prophecy of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet.

In regards to the little book of the seven thunders, Swedenborg gets more specific: the content of the little book was actually the same as the contents of The Doctrine of the Lord, which focuses on a study of scripture that shows that Jesus is Jehovah in human form, and that His human form is actually the Son of God. The Divine exists within Him as the soul exists in the body. As He was born of a virgin, He calls God "Father." But the idea of three persons is a false one invented by men. Thus following the revelation of the little book, the book of Revelation describes a religious conflict between those who follow the revelation (the 2 witnesses and the 144,000) and those who follow the dragon, the beast and the false prophet.

When one reads Swedenborg's explanation of the little book of Revelation 10, he offers little support for the conclusion. In most cases he will reference scripture, and in other cases he will reference a dialogue with angels in a heavenly vision. But here he does neither. Is there any evidence of support?

PSALM 29 AND THE SEVEN THUNDERS

I have been working on a work of the Psalms that explains the numeric significance of its poetic structure, paying attention to the number of the Psalms, the number of verses, words and even letters. The Jews knew this but the knowledge has been generally lost in Biblical studies. I have restored the number of verses according to the Hebrew poetic parallelism, and to my surprise discovered that verse, word and letter counts of scripture are actually significant, and can help explain or reinforce the actual text. I have been using a computer program to find counts that are significant, and came across this find, among many others:

• In Psalms 29-70 there are exactly 700 poetic verses. The number 70 corresponds to 700.
• In Psalms 73-150 there are exactly 1400 poetic verses, which is 2 x 700.

This pattern is hidden until one restores the proper verse counts. The 700 verses in Psalms 29-70 caught my attention. I at first ignored it, as Psalm 70 is not in any way related to the content of Psalm 29. However I then realized that the numbers were reinforcing one unnoticed fact about Psalm 29: Psalm 29 mentions a word for thunder exactly seven times:

1. The thunder of Jehovah is upon the waters (v. 3)
2. The thunder of Jehovah is with power (v. 4)
3. The thunder of Jehovah is with grandeur (v. 4)
4. The thunder of Jehovah breaks the cedars (v. 5)
5. The thunder of Jehovah hews the flames of fire (v. 7)
6. The thunder of Jehovah makes the wilderness to travail (v. 8)
7. The thunder of Jehovah makes the hinds to calve (v. 9)

The word for "thunder" (Heb. qowl or qol) is unnoticed in all Bible translations as it is translated as "voice" - both translations are allowable, depending on context. One reason it is translated as "voice" is that there is another word for "thunder" in verse 3. But it is unmistakable: Psalm 29 is the little book of seven thunders.

Even with this insight, most who read Psalm 29 will not know what it means, except understood in its spiritual sense. It is an unusual Psalm, and some scholars simply presume it was borrowed from an earlier hymn dedicated to a Canaanite god of thunder. However here we will explain it in the spiritual sense, as published in my other work, The Symbolism of the Psalms.

THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF PSALM 29 AND THE SEVEN THUNDERS

Psalm 29 begins as follows: Give unto Jehovah, ye sons of gods (Ps. 29:1).

In the spiritual sense, "sons of God" are those who are in the the truths of the Word, are who follow spiritual truths. But in the highest sense it is telling all who are in spiritual truths to acknowledge the one Son of God, Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah as to the Divine truth in human form. In the revelations of the New Church, the title "Son of God" is used for Jesus to refer to His Divine Human. The human is that which was born to the virgin Mary in time, not a Son of God "born from eternity" which is a falsehood invented by the Nicene Creed.

But what about the rest of Psalm 29? Most will pass it off as "figures of speech" not worthy of attention. But in the New Church, every word of scripture is significant and has a spiritual meaning. In a general sense, the subject of Psalm 29 is as follows, which Swedenborg recorded in his summary of the spiritual meaning of this Psalm:

"The power of the Divine truth from the Word dissipates falsities and reforms the natural (v. 3-9) which is from the Lord alone (v. 10-11)."

This is what it means in the spiritual sense. The cedars of Lebanon are the thoughts of the human rational mind, the hinds that calve are the affections of the natural man.  But in the highest celestial sense, it refers to how Jesus Christ made His human form Divine. This took place in gradual stages, as his human form had inherited a sinful nature from his mother Mary by which Jesus could be tempted (despite what the Roman Catholic Church say on this matter, they are incorrect and have distorted the truth of Christianity). This is summarized in seven principles in The Doctrine of the Lord by Swedenborg:

I. The Lord from eternity is Jehovah.

II. The Lord from eternity, or Jehovah, took on the Human to save men.

III. He made the Human Divine from the Divine in Himself.

IV. He made the Human Divine by temptations admitted into Himself.

V. The full union of the Divine and the Human was effected in Him by the passion of the cross, which was the last of the temptations.

VI. He successively put off the human taken on from the mother, and put on the Human from the Divine in Him; and this is the Divine Human and the Son of God.

VII. Thus God became Man, as in first principles so also in ultimates. (Doctrine of the Lord, n. 29)

Also, the union of the Divine with the human took place in gradual stages, until Jesus Christ became the Divine Human, Jehovah Himself in natural visible form:

"That the Lord made His Human Divine from the Divine in Himself may be evident from many passages in the Word, of which those will now be adduced which prove,

1. That this was done successively; which are these: Jesus grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him (Luke ii. 40). Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men (verse 52).

2. That the Divine operated by the Human, as the soul by the body. This is evident from these: The Son can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth the Father do (John v. 19). Of Myself I do nothing; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things. He that sent Me is with Me: He hath not left Me alone (viii. 28, 29; v. 30). I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father Who sent Me, He gave Me commandment what I should say and what I should speak (xii. 49, 50). The words which I speak to you, I speak not of Myself: the Father Who abideth in Me, He doeth the works (xiv. 10). I am not alone, because the Father is with Me (xvi. 32).

3. That the Divine and the Human operated with unanimity appears from these: What things soever the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise (John v. 19)" (Doctrine of the Lord, n. 32)

THE TEMPLE AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD

As further evidence that Psalm 29 is the little book of seven thunders, confirming Swedenborg's statements concerning the little book of seven thunders in the book of Revelation (see Apocalypse Revealed), we have this statement in Psalm 29:

And in His temple every one says, the glory of Jehovah (Ps. 29:9)

This particular verse, however, is slightly mistranslated, although it is allowable, with the shifting of the name of Jehovah to the following verse:

And in His temple every one says, glory (Ps. 29:9)

That the name Jehovah should be shifted to the previous verse I had previously discovered by analyzing the numerical poetry of Psalm 29, which I will explain in an upcoming work. That the phrase "glory of Jehovah" is correct, can be seen in parallel passages where the phrase "glory of the LORD (or Jehovah)" is mentioned in scripture:

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. (Ex. 40:34-35)

In the spiritual sense, "the glory of the LORD" is the Divine itself, and the tabernacle or temple is human form of Jesus Christ. That this is so, can be seen from the following passage:

So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,  and will you raise it up in three days?”
But he was speaking about the temple of his body. (John 2:18-21)

So in the hidden spiritual sense, Psalm 29 speaks how Jehovah made His human Divine, and commands all who follow the truth to acknowledge this. After Swedenborg had written The Doctrine of the Lord, he was probably told this by angels who recognized it described the same spiritual truths that is described in Psalm 29. Swedenborg also stated that the little book of seven thunders also concerns how Jesus made His human Divine by admitting and conquering temptations due to assault between the Divine and all of hell, which is the general subject of the Psalms in general.

So, the work that has been done on the numerical poetry of the Psalms is bearing fruit, which is confirming the internal revelation of scripture as revealed to Emanuel Swedenborg. This one took me by surprise, so I thought I would share this in this blog while I continue editing this work on the Psalms for publication. I could not cover the entire spiritual meaning of Psalm 29; for the details of every single word mentioned therein see the work The Symbolism of the Psalms.

The True Spiritual Meaning of Atonement

Atonement is the removal of sins, and there are two systems of thought as to how atonement is effected:

1. Atonement, the removal of sins, is effected by repentance and turning away from evil, and/or
2. Atonement is the removal of sins and reconciliation of God and man through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Most understand the need for repentance, but few understand how that is related to the coming of Jesus Christ. Many who practice true spirituality by living one's life according to God's commandments fail to understand who Jesus Christ is and how He is involved in one's spiritual life. On the other side of the coin, many religious people just believe and rarely practice a life of repentance.

So how is a life a repentance and self examination related to the coming of Jesus Christ, and why was His coming necessary? Here, a rational and comprehensive answer is provided in the theology of the New Church which is explained in detail in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.

ATONEMENT IS THROUGH REPENTANCE

The Christian life as explained in the theology of the New Church is simple: turning away from evil because they are sins against God, and doing that which is good. Before good can be done, before the Holy Spirit can enter into one's life, evils must be removed. The removal of one's evils is atonement. This can only happen through internal struggles known as temptations, and repentance. It must be preceded with an acknowledgment of truth, and self examination. It begins with an acknowledgment that the source of one's evils is one's self, and that any good originates from God alone. One must identify specific sins, and turn away from them. This is how sins are removed, and how one begins a spiritual life.

ATONEMENT IS PROTECTION FROM EVIL

In the original Hebrew, the word "atonement" means "cover." It first appears in scripture in the instructions to Noah on how to build the ark:

Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.  Make rooms in the ark, and pitched it inside and out with pitch (Gen. 6:14)

The word "pitch" is from the word that is also translated as atonement. And from this many have invented false teachings to explain the meaning, such as, when one converts God "covers up" one's sins so that He does not see them. This is a false perverted teaching that has destroyed the essential teaching of Christianity: it is used as an excuse for a life of evil and it goes against a life of repentance. In the work Heavenly Arcana Swedenborg offers a rather interesting spiritual insight into the meaning of this word when commenting on the story of Noah's ark:

"In the original text it is not indeed said that it was to be pitched with pitch, but a word is used which denotes protection, derived from expiate or propitiate, and therefore it involves the same. The expiation or propitiation of the Lord is protection from inundation of evil" (Heavenly Arcana, n. 645)

The words "expiation" and "propitiation" are synonyms for the word "atonement." This is one of the first surprises for me when I encountered the theology of the New Church, as this is not what is taught by most churches. When one withdraws from evil, one withdraws from the influence of evil spirits, whose temptations are represented by the flood of waters that attempt to flood the ark. The ark with its different compartments represents one's will and mind. When one withdraws from evil, then one opens the door to heaven, and the Lord then withholds and protects the one who has followed Him from the influence of evil.

ATONEMENT IS REPRESENTED BY ANIMAL SACRIFICES

It is well known that animal sacrifices in the Jewish religion represented the rite of atonement. These animal sacrifices were symbolic, where the blood was withdrawn from the animal before its body was burned on the altar. The body or flesh represent one's lower desires, and the blood that was offered represented what was holy:

"In the rituals of the Jewish Church blood had no other signification than the holy proceeding from the Lord's Divine Human, wherefore when they were sanctified, it was done by blood — as when Aaron and his sons were sanctified, blood was sprinkled upon the horns of the altar, the remainder at the base of the altar, also upon the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot, and upon his garments (Exod. xxix. 12, 16, 20; Lev. viii. 15, 19, 23, 30). And when Aaron entered within the veil to the mercy-seat, blood was also to be sprinkled with the finger upon the mercy-seat eastward seven times (Lev. xvi. 12-15)." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 4735.11)

When one repents from evil, one turns away from the desires of the ego and the lower self, represented by the flesh of the animal. Only after that could the priest enter the Holy of holies, which signifies that communion with the Divine of heaven is only possible once sins or evils are removed by repentance. It is affected by knowledge of the truth, thus in many Jewish rituals one is cleansed by the washing of water, and in the Christian Church it is the ritual of baptism, since water signifies the truth by which one reforms one's way of life.

ATONEMENT IS EFFECTED BY DIVINE TRUTH

Atonement, which is the removal of sins and the liberation from the bondage of evil, is effected by Divine truth, and this is represented by blood in the Jewish rituals, as well as by water. Blood in itself effects nothing, it is a symbolic representation of the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord:

"blood in the Word is signified Divine truth proceeding from the Divine good of the Lord, and by this truth all purification is effected; for truth teaches man what is good and how he should live, and when man knows this, then first can affection or love of good be implanted, and thus he be regenerated. For knowledge must precede before man can have faith and live the life of faith, which is the life of good" (Heavenly Arcana, n. 10026)

Those who have no knowledge of the truth live in darkness, and the way they live will be influenced by their lack of knowledge and tend towards favoring the selfish ego and desires.

JESUS CHRIST IS THE DIVINE TRUTH IN HUMAN FORM

And here is where we get to the point how Jesus Christ is related to purification from evil through atonement: Jesus is the Divine truth in human form, thus He is called the Word in the flesh. There is a false teaching that states that such animal sacrifices represented a "substitutionary" or "vicarious" atonement where someone else suffers for the punishment of one's sin. This is again a false teaching, a late development in Christianity that began in the 11th century and is now popular in Catholic and Protestant thinking. So why was the coming of the Divine in human form necessary? The human race had become separated from heaven, and it is from heaven that Divine truth flows into the minds of the human race. Thus it became necessary for the Divine to descend in human form to subjugate the power of hell over the human race:

"They who have no knowledge of the internal sense of the Word, thus who do not know that by blood is signified Divine truth, and that by this from the Lord is effected purification, believe that man is purified by the blood of the Lord, by which they understand His passion of the cross. But let them know that by the Lord's passion of the cross, thus by His blood, no one is purified, but by a life according to His precepts, as He Himself teaches in many places. The passion of the cross was the last of the Lord's temptation, by which He fully glorified His Human, as He Himself also says in Luke: Ought not Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory? (xxiv. 26.) For the Lord came into the world that He might subjugate the hells and bring back all things into order, even in the heavens, which was effected by temptations admitted to Himself; and the passion of the cross was the last of His temptations, by which He fully conquered the hells, and set the heavens in order, and at the same time glorified His Human, and unless He had done this, no man could have been saved" (Heavenly Arcana, n. 10026.2)

This is described further in another passage:

"It is a common belief at this day that the burnt offerings and sacrifices signified the Lord's passion, and that by this the Lord made expiation for the iniquities of all, indeed, that He drew them away upon Himself, and thus bore them; and that those who believe are in this manner justified and saved, provided they think, though but in the last hour before death, that the Lord suffered for them, however they may have lived during the whole course of their life. But the case is not really so: the passion of the cross was the extremity of the Lord's temptation, by which He fully united His Human to His Divine and His Divine to His Human, and thus glorified Himself. That union is itself the means by which those who have the faith in Him which is the faith of charity, can be saved. For the Supreme Divine Itself could no longer reach to the human race, which had removed itself so far from the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith, that they no longer even acknowledged them, and still less perceived them. In order therefore that the Supreme Divine might be able to come down to man who was such, the Lord came into the world and united His Human to the Divine in Himself; which union could not be effected otherwise than by the most grievous combats of temptations and by victories, and at length by the last, which was that of the cross" (Heavenly Arcana, n. 2776)

With the union of the Divine with the Human in the Lord, communion is thus now available where one may receive the truth through the Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the Lord. In such a manner the coming of Jesus Christ was necessary for mankind to continue to be liberated from the dominion of hell through a life of repentance. Belief alone does not save, nor does faith alone save -- only by following the truth and turning against one's evils is one liberated to live a life according to the Divine will, which is a life of eternity that continues in heaven.

If any teaches otherwise, then Quit the Old Church, and Join the New.

Quit the Old Church, and Join the New

Here is an interesting article: a pastor is telling people to quit church: I'm a pastor and I want you to quit church. Now! He is recognizing a fact: church attendance is shrinking, apathy is growing, and there is a lot of doubt about core beliefs. And yet he is completely blind as to the root cause.

But here is the point he is missing: the core foundational beliefs of the church are simply false. True Christianity over the centuries has been falsified.  Instead of a belief in one God, there is a belief in three gods. And since it cannot be explained, ministers don't attempt to, but keep emphasizing a blind faith. And this goes against the modern age of enlightenment, where true spirituality is in agreement with reason, and not just blind belief based on tradition and authority.

What those within the traditional churches fail to see is that the religion from within is dying. The theology is inconsistent and not rational. Swedenborg pointed this out over 200 years ago:

"The rulers of the church insist that the understanding is to be kept under obedience to faith, nay, that faith, properly speaking, is a faith in what is unknown, which is blind, or a faith of the night. This is their first paradox; for faith is of truth, and truth is of faith; and truth before it can become an object of faith, must be seen in its light and understood; otherwise what is false may be believed as true. The paradoxes flowing from such a faith are many, as that God the Father begat a Son from eternity, and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both, and that each of these three is a Person by Himself and a God: that the Lord, both as to His soul and body, was from the mother: that the above three Persons, consequently three Gods, created the universe; and that one of them descended, and assumed human nature, to reconcile the Father, and thus to save mankind; and that they who by grace obtain faith, and believe these paradoxes, are saved by the imputation, application, and translation, of His righteousness to themselves; and that man, at his first reception of that faith, is like a statue, a stock, or a stone, and that faith comes by the mere hearing of the Word; that faith alone without the works of the law, and not formed of charity, is saving; and that it produces the remission of sins without previous repentance; and that, merely by such remission of sins, the impenitent man is justified, regenerated, and sanctified; and that afterward charity, good works, and repentance, spontaneously follow: besides many other like paradoxes, all which, like offspring from an illegitimate bed, have issued from the doctrine founded on the idea of three Gods." (Summary Exposition, n. 54)

And since this theology cannot be explained in a rational manner, it is simply avoided by the ministers:

"the tenets of the present church cannot be learned and retained without great difficulty, nor can they be preached or taught without using great care and caution to conceal their nakedness, because sound reason neither discerns nor receives them." (Summary Exposition, n. 58)

This leads to a spiritual dilemma to those who can discern it: that there is something not quite right in what the church is teaching. They just want you to blindly believe and follow without understanding. Because they themselves do not see the truth. This is prophesied by Jesus as what will happen near the end of the age:

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? (Luke 18:8)

And so ministers, who are blinded by their own faith, cannot see the source of the problem. They wonder why people attend church and do not apply it to their lives. Because they themselves teach faith alone saves, which to them is but a belief in the memory and empty words in the mouth. The paradoxes that are taught are many:

"They teach that faith without good works, as being alive, justifies; and at the same time, that faith without good works, as being dead, does not justify. They teach that faith is neither preserved nor retained by good works; and at the same time, that good works proceed from faith, as fruit from a tree, light from the sun, and heat from fire. They teach that good works being adjoined to faith make it perfect; and at the same time that being conjoined as a marriage, or in one form, they deprive faith of its saving essence. They teach that a Christian is not under the Law; and at the same time that he must be in the daily practice of the Law. They teach that if good works are intermixed in the business of salvation by faith, as in the remission of sins, justification, regeneration, vivification, and salvation, they are hurtful; but that if not intermixed they are profitable. They teach that God crowns His gifts, which are good works, with rewards even of a spiritual nature, but not with salvation and eternal life, because He crowns faith with these, without works." (Summary Exposition, n. 59)

So the answer?  Quit the old traditional church, and join the New Church.  The New Church corrects the many errors that have entered Christianity through the traditions and teachings of men. And the New Church is founded on direct revelations from Jesus Christ. The tenets of the New Church are simple:

1. Worship one God in one person, who revealed Himself in incarnate form as Jesus Christ, and,
2. Shun evils as sins, and do what is good.

Which Swedenborg says in his own words:

"But do you, my friend, snatch yourself from such contradictions, and shun evils as sins, and do good, and believe in the Lord, and saving justification will be given you." (Summary Exposition, n. 59)

True faith is living by the truth, according to God's word, and worshiping Jesus Christ as the One God of the universe. It is not a blind belief where the rational understanding is suspended. Even the apostle Peter stated we should be ready to give a rational argument:

"but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (1 Pet. 3:15)

And if you can't make a rational defense to a devil's advocate, something is wrong. Of course you cannot share your faith if you can't justify it.  Before making a defense, examine the teachings yourself: is what your church teaching true or false?  There are two kinds of people: those who believe what they are told, and those who examine what they are told to determine if they are true or not, by reading scripture themselves.

And if you want to take a shortcut, and avoid the long arduous path of searching, examine the theology of the New Church in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. It will answer all your questions, but you must be ready for one thing: be ready to admit that the way you think, what you believe, may be wrong.

But, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and when you see it, you will quit the old church and join the new. And there is no turning back. So yes, quit the church, but for a completely different reason then what this pastor is saying: reject what is false and follow what is true. For this is the truth of the Second Coming, revealed from heaven.

And then you will have a new personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and acknowledge Him as the One Person you should pray to. For He is the One, and there is no such thing as a second or third person. For within Him the Divine itself is the Father, His human form is the Son, and the Divine proceeding from Him is the Holy Spirit. And in the teachings of the New Church, the true spiritual meaning of scripture will be opened, where one will see the light of heaven to apply it to one's daily life, to live a new life and to turn away from the old way of death, which the masses blindly follow.