You Don't Know Me, Yet... (12/16/23)
[We are taught] that our states [of spiritual life] vary. We can sometimes be in a state in which the Lord seems remote. Sometimes, the Writings say, we are in states in which there is no faith and charity, and sometimes those in
which there is faith and charity (see Swedenborg, Secrets of Heaven 933). Even a person who might say, "No, I do not have a personal relationship with the Lord" may very well be part of this picture. The Lord is saying to this person, "You don't know Me, but I live with you."
To every little child emerging from infancy the Lord is saying, "You don't know Me yet, but I dwell with you."
Remember what is said of the child Samuel, whom the Lord called by name: "Samuel, Samuel." "Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him" (1 Samuel 3:7).
When the little child is old enough to be taught, old enough to look at a Christmas picture or representation, there is a kind of knowing there. There are the swaddling clothes of first truths concerning the Lord. Oh yes, the child knows the Lord and can say the words of the Lord's prayer. And in a way the Lord can begin to address the
child in a different fashion saying, "I am a sojourner with you. I have something to ask of you."
At any stage of our life the image is valid of the Lord Jesus
saying to us that we are as yet ignorant, and that He dwells with us, and that He is making a request to us about His life within us. For someone who really thinks they know the Lord, it is possible for the Lord's message to be like cold water.
There are people who use the Lord's name a lot and talk a lot of doctrine. "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Matt. 7:22, 23) I never knew you. You never knew Me.
The Lord Jesus Christ was born into the world that human beings might have a relationship with Him.
“[The Lord] came down and became human so that He could come close to us and we could come close to Him, and a partnership could be forged. Through this we could have salvation and eternal life. When God became human and
then a human became God, he became able to draw near us in this adapted form and, as a human God and a divine Human, forge a partnership with us.. “ (Swedenborg, True Christianity 370:3)
-Don Rose [edited], NCL 1992
