THE LORD'S PRAYER
AND
THE CREATION WEEK
By The Rev. Erik Sandstrom, Sr.
(Lesson 2)
II. The New Creation Week
As the Lord taught while in the
world, so He revealed His Divine Human. He did not teach from His Mary-human. At
that time, it is true, it was not possible for men to see the glory of His Human
in the same fullness and brightness as in the time of His second advent. Yet
those who believed in Him, in the simplicity of their faith, believed in nothing
else than His Divine Human. Therefore it is said: "And we beheld His glory"
(John 1: 14). Hence it is clear that the difference between the Lord's
revelation of Himself in His two advents is not a difference in kind, but only
in degree. Accordingly we read: "When the Lord was in the world He revealed
interior Divine truths that were to be for the use of a new church about to be
established by Him and that did serve that church. For like reasons the Word has
been opened interiorly at this day, and still more interior Divine truths have
been revealed therefrom for the use of a new church, that will be called the New
Jerusalem" (AE 948: 2).
The Lord's Prayer is the
foremost example of the interior truths He revealed in His first advent. In that
prayer His Human stands forth: first, because those who learn and use it know
that it was taught from His own mouth. Furthermore, it is addressed to none
other than Himself. We say, "Our Father," and know well the teaching; "He that
hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (John 14: 9). Finally, it ascribes all things
to Him to all eternity, for we are taught to say: "Thine is the kingdom, and the
power, and the glory, forever." If, therefore, the Lord's Prayer is understood
in the spirit of the Word, and is so loved, then the Lord is loved in it; for in
very truth that prayer is His.
The interior truths that are
openly stated in the prayer are, briefly, as follows: That the Lord is our
Father in the heavens, and that He alone is holy; that the living kingdom is
His, and that it will come; that He instructs and leads men, so that it is
possible to do His will on earth as in heaven; that He gives all nourishment,
and hence life, for the spirit as well as the body; that He teaches concerning
sin, and that His teaching, if obeyed, leads to forgiveness; that He protects
man in temptation, and fights for him and together with him and so delivers him
from evil; and that His kingdom is established in this way, wherein He, as the
King of the kingdom, is seen in glory and power.
In our day these interior
truths are opened up still further; for, as compared to the New Testament,
"still more interior Divine truths have been revealed" in the Writings. In the
light of these Writings it is seen that the Lord's Prayer is indeed a summary of
the entire Word—of all Divine revelation—and that in consequence thereof there
is a parallel between it and all other summaries of the Word. For instance, it
compares perfectly with the Two Great Commandments—love to the Lord and charity
toward the neighbor; and with the more interior restatement of these
commandments in the form of "the two essentials of the New Church" (AR 490:1,
491)—for the whole burden of the Lord's Prayer is that man may turn to the Lord
and derive all truths and goods from Him, and that he may shun evils as sins
against Him. In fact, the first petition in the prayer is expressive of the
first essential—"Our Father . . . hallowed be Thy name"; just as the last
petition testifies to the second essential—in temptation "deliver us from evil."
So, in like manner, it parallels the two tables of stone, the first of which
contains the commandments concerning love to the Lord and the second of which
gives the laws of love towards the neighbor. Also, it contains all the truths of
the Ten Commandments individually, as has been demonstrated by other writers;
and certainly it could be shown that the like applies to the Ten Blessings.
In these articles, however, our
attention is directed to a comparison of the Lord's Prayer and the seven days of
creation. It is well known that the creation week is a summary of the Word. Thus
it is hoped to show that the Lord's Prayer is indeed a creative prayer, that is
to say, if its truths are willingly obeyed; and that it is designed to create
with men a new heaven and a new earth—a new church in heaven and on earth, or
internally and externally in the mind. We are taught that "the whole of the
Lord's Prayer, from beginning to end, has respect to this time" (Inv. 37); and
"that the Lord is establishing a new church at this day . . . and that thus will
be fulfilled all that is contained in the Lord's Prayer from beginning to end"
(AR 839). As true prayer generally signifies revelation (AC 2535), so it is
clear that the Lord's Prayer signifies and contains all Divine revelation,
particularly the Revelation of the Second Advent.
Now, as pointed out in our
Introduction, the Lord's Prayer consists of six distinct petitions, followed by
a seventh part in the form of an ascription. Let us try to see first in broad
outline, and later somewhat in detail, how these seven parts compare with the
seven days of creation.
Brief Outline
1. Our Father who art in the
heavens, hallowed be Thy name.
And God said, Let there be
light: and there was light.
The Lord is the Light of the
World. "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world" (John 1: 9). Our "Father" is the Lord in His Divine Human, and His "name"
is everything by means of which He reveals His Human and becomes known. Thus the
Lord's "name" is particularly the whole Word, in which His Human stands forth to
view. The light which shines forth by means of the Word is the light of the sun
of heaven, in the midst of which is the Lord. In that light, therefore, is life
from the Lord; "and the Life was the Light of men" (John 1: 4). Light and life
from the Lord, conveyed by means of His Word, is what is called the Divine
Proceeding, or the Holy Spirit; and from that Divine shining forth is
reformation and regeneration with man, provided that man "hallows" it in
humility of life. The commencement of his reformation and regeneration is when
he first turns to the Lord alone for instruction and guidance. The Lord then
becomes his Light.
2. Thy kingdom come.
And God said, Let there be a
firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the
waters.
The waters are knowledges
concerning truth and good. Those above the firmament pertain to spiritual
things, those below to natural things. To keep them distinct is not only to know
them apart from one another but also to value them according to degree: thus to
view the natural things in relation to, and from, spiritual things. This is the
beginning of the descent of the Lord's kingdom, since it is the beginning of the
subordination of the natural to the spiritual.
3. Thy will be done, as in
heaven, so upon the earth.
And God said, Let the earth
bring forth tender grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding
fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth.
After man has accustomed
himself to looking to the Lord, and learning from Him the relative values of the
spiritual and the natural, he comes into a state of repentance. He is guided by
the Lord into that state, because he is now ready to see himself in comparison
with what is from the Lord. Yet in his efforts to change his acts and thoughts
he appears to himself to act by his own power. For this reason he is not yet
living, spiritually speaking: the things he brings forth are not yet animate.
His works are not the true works of charity, but are "like" them (AC 9), and are
called "tender grass," and also "herb yielding seed," and afterwards "tree
bearing fruit" (ibid.).
Nevertheless, his repentance
alters the state of his exterior natural, which is being brought into conformity
with his interior natural, where are the remains from the Lord and conscience.
He is praying that the Lord's will may be done on his earth as it is done in his
heaven. This is according to order, for regeneration must descend from the Lord
through the internal man, and then through the interior natural into the
exterior natural (see AE 475: 6 and 940: 2, 3; and cf. the 2nd Law of
Providence, DP 100 et seq.).
4. Give us this day our daily
bread.
And God said, Let there be
luminaries in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth.
In the degree that the exterior
natural has been brought into conformity with the things that are from the Lord
in the interior natural, in that degree may heavenly things come forth and
manifest themselves to man's affections and thence to his thoughts. The "great
luminaries" have operated before, too, but in secret through conscience. Now
they begin to touch the man's heart, and for the first time he experiences
delight from things spiritual. These spiritual things, together with delight,
constitute the bread of heaven, which his will and hence his thoughts now
receive as food (see AC 678-680). "Man shall live by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4: 4). This Word is not only the written
revealed doctrine—in the Testaments or in the Writings—but also at the same time
the Divine life and light that operate by means of that doctrine. The operation
itself is by influx into the forms of doctrine, and is what is perceived with
delight as "the great luminaries" of love and faith.
5. And forgive us our debts, as
we also forgive our debtors.
And God said, Let the waters
cause to bring forth the creeping thing, the living soul; and let the fowl fly
above the earth upon the faces of the expanse of the heavens.
When spiritual life is
beginning to be established within man he is purified internally, for only good
and truth can drive out evil and falsity (Life 71). His previous work of
repentance was his work of regeneration, as of himself, but from the doctrines
of the Word. By this co-operation on the part of man the Lord was able to
operate from within as well as from without; that is to say, cleanse the inside
as well as the outside of the cup and platter. This is forgiveness. In the
beginning, however, the reception of spiritual life manifests itself as a new
way of thinking—a new and more interior outlook on life rather than a new,
spontaneous, all infilling will.
The forgiveness progresses as
it were in two stages: first it purifies the understanding, and imparts a
spiritual essence to it; then it cleanses the will. The "creeping things of the
waters" are the knowledges of the memory vivified by spiritual life, and the
"fowls" are the thoughts of the heart thence resulting. These are now
"forgiven," for they derive their life from the Word.
The second part of the fifth
petition—"as we also forgive "—signifies the outlook of charity, that is to say,
the good that is from truth. All of this belongs to the state of reformation.
6. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.
And God said, Let the earth
bring forth the living soul after his kind. . . . And God said, Let us make man
in our image, after our likeness.
By means of temptations as to
the will, man's affections, too, are purified. These affections are signified by
the "living soul," the "beast," etc. The animated things of the fifth day were
of "the waters," but those of the sixth day of "the earth," signifying things of
the understanding and things of the will, respectively. Good affections are
established in the "earth" of the mind through temptations; and when this is
being done, the internal and truly human things of the mind gain dominion and
are confirmed. The evil affections in the exterior natural, which opposed the
influx of interior things, have been replaced by good affections. Thus is born
the new will, which is called "man."
There are temptations of the
understanding, and temptations of the will. The latter may be described as the
temptations themselves with man, for they alone are conclusive. Also, they
exceed by far as to intensity and consequence anything that has gone before. By
means of them there is deliverance from evil itself; whereas temptations as to
the understanding free the mind from falsities. The temptations of the
understanding are signified by "forgiveness," because it is by means of them
that forgiveness, that is to say, liberation, is initiated; also because real
forgiveness cannot take place except by means of temptations.
But as the understanding is
being purified, so the old will, perceiving the impending doom, prepares for
desperate resistance. Thence results a raging conflict, which is felt as if the
heart itself were being torn asunder. In the pangs of conflict, and under the
influence of the old will, man then cries: "Lead us not into temptation." But
the purpose of the conflict is liberation and peace, and this the new will knows
right well. For this reason another cry is simultaneously present in the mind:
"but deliver us from evil." In the end the mind is formed into an image of the
Lord, after His likeness.
7. For Thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, for ever.
And on the seventh day God
ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His
work which He had made.
After the new will has been
firmly established, the Divine operation, or influx, comes to rest in man; for
it is in its rest when there is no longer any opposition. There is indeed no
cessation of the Divine operation, but it is now an operation in peace. The
Divine rests in its own kingdom-the kingdom of its own making. "Thine is the
kingdom." "Power" pertains to Divine good, and "glory" to Divine truth; and
these two—which are the Divine life—make the kingdom; inflowing into it,
vivifying it constantly, governing it, and blessing it. "Thine is the power and
the glory." "Forever" means, eternally renewed; for eternal life is eternal
growth and development.
It is said that all things were
made "by the Word" (John 1). So also must all things be made by the Lord's
Prayer, that holy epitome of the Word. But creation from the Divine Human, as
revealed in the Lord's Prayer, is a new creation, namely, that of the fifth and
crowning church in heaven and in the world, the Lord's New Church.
TO CONTINUE :
Beginning -
Lesson - 3 -
Lesson - 4 -
Lesson - 5 -
Lesson - 6 -
Lesson - 7 -
Lesson - 8 -
Lesson - 9 -
Lesson 10 -
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