they shall speak with new tongues
; -Mark 16:17 King James Version (KJV)
Apocalypse Explained, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1757-9], tr. by John Whitehead [1911], at sacred-texts.com
...[22] Again, that the apostles and others after the Lord's resurrection spoke with new tongues signifies also the confession of the Lord and of the truths of the new church. This is thus referred to in Mark: Jesus said, These signs shall follow them that believe; in My name shall they cast out demons, and they shall speak with new tongues (Mark 16:17). "To cast out demons" signifies to remove and reject the falsities of evil; and "to speak with new tongues" signifies to confess the Lord and the truths of the church from Him. So: To the apostles there appeared divided tongues like as of fire, which sat on them. And being filled with the Holy Spirit they began to speak with other tongues (Acts 2:3, 4). The "fire" signified the love of truth, and "filled with the Holy Spirit" signified the reception of Divine truth from the Lord; and "new tongues" signified confessions from the love of truth or zeal; for, as was said above, all Divine miracles, consequently all miracles mentioned in the Word, involved and signified things spiritual and celestial, that is, such things that pertain to heaven and the church: by this Divine miracles are distinguished from miracles not Divine. It is unnecessary to quote more passages from the Word to show that "tongues" do not mean speech in the ordinary sense, but confessions from the truths of the church, and in the contrary sense confessions from the falsities of any religion.
No comments:
Post a Comment