I Am With You Always

Old Testament

Behold, the day of the Lord is coming….
Then the Lord will go forth and fight….
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives…
And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end.

He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes are we healed.

He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle which was against me,
For there were many against me.

He will speak peace to His people.

The Lord will give strength to His people;
The Lord will bless His people with peace.

You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.

You shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace.

Lord, You will establish peace for us,
For You have also done all our works in us.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you
And give you peace.

It will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

The New Testament

[The angel speaking to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary] “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said…. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy…. And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!”

Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus…. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him…. And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Then they drew near to the village where they were going…. And He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have….” But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence.

But Thomas…was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

He led them [the disciples] out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy….

“I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger….
He who eats this bread will live forever.”

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you.

The Heavenly Doctrines

Why the Lord Came on Earth

The Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the world to subdue the hells and to glorify His Human. Without this no mortal could have been saved, and those are saved who believe in Him.

When He was in the world the Lord overcame the hells and restored the heavens to order, and acquired for Himself Divine Power over them.

Liberation from hell by the Lord was also accomplished by His glorifying His Human, that is, making it Divine. For thus and not otherwise could He hold the hells in subjection forever. And as the subjugation of the hells and the glorification of His Human was accomplished by means of temptations admitted into his Human, His passion of the cross was His last temptation and complete victory….

The Resurrection

That in the Lord were the Divine and the human-the Divine from Jehovah the Father and the human from the virgin Mary. The Lord put off the human from the mother, which in itself was like that of another man, and thus material, and put on a Human from the Father, which in itself was like His Divine, and thus substantial, so that the Human too became Divine…. As the Lord's Human was glorified, that is, made Divine, He rose again after death on the third day with His whole body, which does not take place with any person. For a person rises again solely as to the spirit, and not as to the body.

In order that people may know, and no one doubt, that the Lord rose again with His whole body, He not only said so through the angels in the sepulcher, but also showed Himself to His disciples in His human body.

Because He fully glorified His natural humanity even to the lasts of it, therefore He rose again with the whole body as no other person does. By assuming this humanity the Lord took on the limitless Divine power not only of subjugating the hells and reducing the heavens to order, but also of keeping the hells subjugated to eternity and saving humankind.

"To ascend to His Father" means the uniting of His Human with His Divine, the human from the mother being fully rejected.

Appearing to the Disciples

The Lord Himself also, after the Resurrection, taught the disciples what had been written concerning Himself in Moses and the Prophets (Luke 24:27), thus that nothing has been written in the Word which does not have regard to Him, to His kingdom, and to the Church.

[T]he Lord disclosed to His disciples that He had glorified or made Divine His whole Human, even to its natural and sensual…. The Lord, therefore, by letting them feel of Him, showed and confirmed that His whole Human, even to its ultimates, was glorified, that is, made Divine. This He showed, too, by the eating, in that "He ate before them a piece of broiled fish and of a honeycomb."

It was because the Lord was now fully united to the Divine Itself, which is called the Father, that Thomas called Him his Lord and his God.

Breaking Bread and Giving It to the Disciples

The inner meaning of the disciples' eyes being opened so that they recognized the Lord when the Lord broke the bread and gave it to them (Luke 24:29-31) is clear when one knows that in the spiritual world 'breaking the bread and giving it to them' means instructing them in the good and truth of faith, by means of which the Lord is seen.

[I]n the Ancient Church bread was broken when it was given to another, and this action meant the sharing of what was one's own and the passing of good from oneself to another….Thus it meant making love mutual. For when someone breaks bread and gives it to another he is sharing with him what is his own. Or when a loaf is broken and shared among many, the single loaf becomes one shared mutually by all, and all are consequently joined together through charity.

"Bread" means the Lord in relation to Divine good, and "to eat it" symbolizes appropriation and conjunction. When the Lord manifested Himself to the disciples after His death, He brake bread and gave to them, and their eyes were opened and they knew Him (Luke 24:30, 31). "To eat bread" given by the Lord symbolizes conjunction with Him. Enlightened by this the disciples knew Him. In the Word, "to break bread" symbolizes to communicate one's good to another.

The meaning of this event was that the Lord comes into sight through good, but not through truth devoid of good; for 'bread' means the good of love. From these and many other places it is clear that 'seeing' in the internal sense means faith received from the Lord, for no other faith exists which is truly faith except faith which comes from the Lord. This is also the faith that enables a person to see, that is, to believe.

Having Faith in the Lord Our God

All those who are in spiritual faith have confidence that they will be saved by the Lord, for they believe that the Lord came into the world to give eternal life to those who believe and live according to the precepts which He taught, and that He regenerates them, and renders them fit for heaven, and that He alone does this from pure mercy without the aid of a person.

The primary thing is to acknowledge the Lord, to acknowledge His Divine in the Human, and His omnipotence to save the human race. For by that acknowledgment a person is conjoined to the Divine.

Saving faith is faith in the Lord God the Savior, Jesus Christ. The sum of faith is that he who lives well and believes rightly, is saved by the Lord. A person acquires faith by going to the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living according to them…. Faith without charity is not faith, and charity without faith is not charity, and neither has life except from the Lord. The Lord, charity, and faith make one, like life, will, and understanding in a person; and if they are divided, each perishes, like a pearl reduced to powder.

[T]he first faith with all is a historical faith, and this afterwards becomes a saving faith when a person by his life becomes spiritual. For first of all it is to be believed that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that He is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, infinite, and one with the Father…. And yet that faith does not save until a person lives the life of faith, which is charity. For he then wills and does what he believes, and to will and to do is of the love, and love conjoins to Him whom faith presents as present.

The Lord's Divine Power…is the Divine Power of saving the human race…. By that power of the Lord's and by no other is a person saved.

"Lo, I Am with You Always"

Every person who is saved ascends into heaven, but not of himself. He ascends by the Lord's aid. The Lord alone ascended of Himself.

The Lord is present with every person, urging and pressing him to receive Him.…[A] person receives Him…when he acknowledges Him as his God, the Creator, Redeemer and Savior.

The Lord may be said to be present according to the good that is present, that is, according to the nature of that good. And the nature of this good is determined by the state of innocence, love and charity in which the truths of faith have been, or are able to be, implanted.

Peace

[T]he Lord is called "the Prince of peace", and He declares that from Him is peace and in Him is peace.

"Peace" stands for heavenly blessedness, happiness, and delight, and…these are granted only with those that love to do the Lord's commandments.

By conflicts and temptations in the world the Lord glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine. When a person is in temptations, the Lord fights for him, conquers the evil spirits who are infesting him…. After temptation He gives a person a sense of peace, that is, gladness of mind and consolation.

"Peace" is charity, spiritual security, and internal rest. For when a person is in the Lord, he is in peace with his neighbor, which is charity; in protection against the hells, which is spiritual security. And when he is in peace with his neighbor, and in protection against the hells, he is in internal rest from evils and falsities.