Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/234

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The Doctrines of the New Church.

The Light and Heat of Heaven.

If heaven is a realm inhabited by thinking, loving, active, human beings, it were reasonable to expect there would be light and heat there suited to the wants of its inhabitants. Both reason and Scripture justify such expectation. And we should expect that these, like the light and heat of the natural world, would emanate from some central source. Paul, on his way to Damascus, saw "at midday a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, shining round about him and them that journeyed with him " (Acts xxvi. 13); and he calls the appearance of that great light a "heavenly vision," which shows that he regarded it as the light of heaven. And the words he heard told him from whom came that dazzling light. Whence should come the light and heat of heaven, but from Him who is "the Light of the world"—the Illuminator of all minds—"the Sun of righteousness". (Mal. iv. 2)—the spiritual and living Sun? So did the Lord Jesus Christ appear to the disciples on the mount of transfiguration; for "his face shone as the sun, and his garments were white as the light." So, also, did He appear to John when he was "in the spirit;" His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength" (Rev. i. 16). And it is plain that the light and heat from such a source