Page:A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/155

Rh man rises again only as to the spirit, but not as to the body. That man might know, and no one should doubt, that the Lord rose again with His whole body, He not only said this by the angels who were in the sepulchre, but He even showed Himself in His human body to the disciples, saying to them, when they believed that they saw a spirit, "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet" (Luke xxiv. 39, 40; John xx. 20). And further: "Jesus said to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side, and be not faithless, but believing. Then said Thomas, My Lord and my God" (John xx. 27, 28). That the Lord might more fully prove to them that He was not a spirit, but a Man, He said to the disciples, "Have ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish and of an honeycomb, which He took and ate before them" (Luke xxiv. 41-43). Since His body now was not material, but substantial and Divine, therefore He came in to the disciples while the doors were shut (John xx. 19, 26). And after He had been seen "He became invisible" (Luke xxiv. 31). Such now the Lord was taken up and sat at the right hand of God; for it is said in Luke, "It came to pass while Jesus was blessing the disciples. He departed from them, and was carried up into heaven" (xxiv. 51). And in Mark: "After He had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God" (xvi. 19). To sit at the right hand of God signifies Divine Omnipotence. (L. n. 35.)

The Lord made the very corporeal in Himself Divine, both its sensuals and their recipients. He therefore rose again from the sepulchre even with His body, and also after the resurrection said to the disciples, "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have" (Luke xxiv. 39). Very many at this day who are of the Church believe that every one will rise again at the last day, and then with the body. This opinion is so universal that scarcely any one from doctrine believes otherwise. But the opinion has prevailed on account of the fact that the natural man supposes it is the body alone which lives; unless therefore he should believe that the body is to receive life again he would entirely deny the resurrection. But the case is this:—Man rises again immediately after death; and then appears to himself to be in the body, precisely as in the world, with such a face, with such members, arms, hands, feet, breast, belly, loins; yea, when he sees and touches himself, he also says that he is a man, as in the world. But it is not his external which he carried about in the world that he sees and touches, but the internal, which constitutes that