We have been learning about the Lord's bitter temptations or trials, when He was attacked by the hells and fought with them single-handed and overcame them all. We read the sad story of His crucifixion and burial. Now we read the joyous story of His resurrection from the grave.

What do we know about man's resurrection?

When man rises again, after death, he rises in his spiritual body, leaving the outside natural body, which in time crumbles to dust. He had this outside body in order to perform uses in the material world. After death he is no longer to perform natural uses, and so he no longer needs this wonderful instrument, the material body. This is the reason why he is drawn out of it at death, and it decays.

With our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, it was different. His soul was "the Father," that is, Infinite Divinity Itself. He had in Him what was higher than anything any angel has. And He also has something lower than any angel has, namely, the outside body, - only that this, like everything else in Him, is Divine. He arose with His whole body, leaving nothing of it in the sepulchre. The cloths which had been used to wrap His body in, and the napkin which had been placed over His face, these He left behind in the sepulchre, for they were not part of Him. But nothing of the body was left in the sepulchre. He kept the whole outside body. Yet when He arose, this body was different from what it had been before, and it was different from the outside body of every other man, for it could not be seen by the natural eyes of men, but only by the eyes of the spirit or men's spiritual eyes. And it could enter the room where the disciples were assembled, and the doors of which were shut. His body was no longer material, but Divine. He did not change the matter into Divine substance, but the matter in the body was displaced by the Divine substance from within, so that His head, His body, His limbs and all organs and parts belonging to them now consisted of Divine substance.

It was necessary for Him still to have the outside body, because of the use that He was still to perform to men in the natural world. In fact, the Lord came into the world, that is, He clothed Himself with a human body, or a human nature, so that He might be real close to people in the world, and save them, - so that no one could come in between Him and men on earth. But he wished to remain in this way forever, not only for the few years that people saw Him, heard Him and touched Him. Therefore He kept the human nature, but made it Divine. The body which was taken from Mary was material, and like all material things would some day decay. But by making that body Divine, it would never decay, but would forever remain. In this way the Lord God on high, who had been far out of reach of men, came very close to people, and is so now. The Lord is very near you, just as near as father or mother, - and even nearer; and it is for this reason that you are able to live and breathe, and love what is right, and think of the Lord and love Him.

We know that this is so, from the fact that He showed Himself to the faithful women who went early to the tomb, and later to Peter and other disciples, all on that wonderful day. And subsequently He showed Himself to others, even after His ascension to heaven. And when He was about to make His Second Coming, He showed Himself to Swedenborg, who tells us that the Lord also shows Himself to the inhabitants of other earths, which we see in the sky as stars. Everywhere in the universe the Lord is present in His Divine-Human. For He says, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth."

It is true that people generally do not see Him, but He is present with them nevertheless, and when they turn to Him by loving to learn the truth which He has revealed, and by loving to live according to the truth, then they know that He is near, by the fact that they can understand the truth more clearly, and that they feel a great pleasure in doing what He wishes them to do, which is, to love the neighbor as much as themselves.

You will remember what we learned about the people who had been entering the spiritual world for centuries past, who were kept in the lower earth of the world of spirits, and who were taken up into heaven by the Lord after His resurrection.

You need to understand that, before a person can enter heaven, he must first know the law of heaven. He must know who is the King and Lord of heaven, and he must know the law of this King, so that he can live according to it. Now we know that the King and Lord of heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that the laws of His heavenly kingdom are all in the Word. We also know that before He came into the world, people did not know Him, and that, although they had the Word of the Old Testament, it was just like a book that was shut up and sealed tight; because, though they read it, they did not understand its true meaning, but thought it meant something else. There are great treasures in the Word, but they did not see them. Their false explanations were like a large, heavy stone put over the mouth of a treasure chamber, shutting out the sight and knowledge of the beautiful, precious stones within. The Word is all living within. Indeed it is the Lord within, with His Infinite Love and Eternal Wisdom. But to them the Word was like the tomb, in which lay the Lord, apparently dead; and their false explanations, were like the large stone shutting up the tomb, which stone was sealed by the Roman governor.

In order that people might enter the heavenly kingdom, it was necessary that they should know that the Lord is in His Word. It was necessary that they should understand the Word aright. It was necessary that the false interpretations should be removed, and that the Lord should be seen, not dead but alive. And therefore this was represented by the angel that came down from heaven and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. How bright the angel was! So bright is the help the Lord sends everyone to get rid of false explanations of the Word, and to find that the Lord is a living Lord who grants us to know and understand Him and His great love.

This is what the Lord did for the people in the lower earth! He taught them the truth, and led them, when they received it, into heaven.

By this rolling away of the stone from the door of the sepulchre, and showing Himself to the women and the disciples, the Lord also wished to picture forth what would happen at His Second Coming. Now, as never before, the Lord has rolled away mistaken explanations of His Word, and shows Himself in His Word, as the living, loving, all-wise Savior, the God of heaven and earth. This He has done in the Writings of the New Church. And Easter Day means to us, both the resurrection of the Lord in His glorified body, and also His new resurrection now, to the New Church.

All glory, praise and honor be to Him! Amen.

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