Where Can We Find The Lord
Where can we find the Lord?
by Kurt H. Asplundh
“Where is He who has been born king of the Jews?” (Matt. 2:2)
We know the story well. When the Lord was born in the days of Herod the king, wise men came from the East to the city of Jerusalem. They had seen the star promised in ancient prophecies which was to announce the birth of a great king in Israel. They had traveled from their distant land bearing gifts. But Herod knew nothing of the Lord. Who was this newborn king? Where could He be found? Herod called together the priests of the land, who studied their ancient texts and then declared that the place of His birth was in Bethlehem of Judea. This was the same place as the ancient city of Ephrath, birthplace of Benjamin and burial place of Rachel, Jacob’s wife. Here, too, David the son of Jesse was born and anointed king. Bethlehem was a place of historic significance although of little importance otherwise.
It was the prophet Micah, speaking more than seven hundred years before the Lord’s birth, who pinpointed the location of this event: “Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel…” (Mic. 5: 2).
The stage was set and a remarkable Providence brought it to pass. Only the decree of Caesar Augustus could have brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem when the time for her delivery was at hand. Otherwise, the Lord would have been born in Nazareth of Galilee. What difference would this make? Did it matter where the Lord was born? Could He not accomplish His work anywhere in the world?
There are three reasons it was important that the Lord be born in Bethlehem. First, it had been prophesied that this was to be the place of the Messiah’s birth. Suppose He had been born in Nazareth? People would have said, “This is not the Lord. He was born in Nazareth, not Bethlehem as had been prophesied.” In fact, later, there were those who did not know that He had been born in Bethlehem, and they rejected Him because they thought He was from Nazareth. The Lord could not help anyone who did not acknowledge His Divinity. The Lord was not honored in Nazareth.
The second reason the Lord was born in Bethlehem was that He was born a king, according to the prophets a descendant of King David. Bethlehem was called “the city of David” because people remembered it as the place where their greatest king had been born. The Lord wanted people to recognize Him as a great king, too.
The wise men from the East first traveled to Jerusalem to find Him because that was the city where the Kings of Judah lived. But the Lord was not there. He was unlike Herod, a cruel and domineering ruler, interested only in his own power and position. Imagine a man who could command the slaughter of innocent babes and children for fear that one among them might someday challenge His throne. The Lord was to be a different kind of king. He did not come to rule by force and violence. He came to rule in our minds and hearts with His truth and love. “He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths,” Micah said. “He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Mic. 4: 3).
This brings us to the third reason the Lord was born in Bethlehem. This reason was known only to the angels at first, but it has now been revealed to us. This is hinted at in the name “Bethlehem, ” which means, “house of bread.” Bethlehem was an old village that once had the name Ephrath or Ephrathah, meaning a fertile place. The fields brought forth good crops. The pastures were green and good. Those who lived there were blessed with plenty. Therefore, the place became known as the house of bread because it was a storehouse of food.
What was known to the angels was the significance of this name. When they hear of food they think of spiritual food. They take no thought for what they should eat or drink of this world’s storehouses. They hunger and thirst for righteousness or justice. They have appetite for spiritual food and thirst for spiritual drink–which is a desire for good and a thirst for truth. Above all, they think of the Lord as the source of all spiritual nourishment. The Lord was born in Bethlehem because this place signifies or symbolizes to the angelic mind His ability to feed us with knowledge and understanding.
Remember, too, where the Lord was born in Bethlehem. Not in a bed adorned with precious stones or a palace, but in a manger. Such a manger is a place where horses feed. This, too, shows the Lord as the source of nourishment for the understanding. “I am the bread of life, ” He said. Why else would we ask of Him in prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread?”
The Lord’s birth at Bethlehem was a spiritual sign. The angelic host rejoiced at His birth and they announced to the shepherds in the field: “There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Lu. 2: 11).
We are not alert to spiritual signs, having focused our attention on things of earth. Yet we have been created with the ability to recognize and appreciate these signs, too. The entire Word is written in such signs, in the language of correspondences. From the spiritual sense of the Word, then, it is possible for us to know that the Lord’s birth in Bethlehem constitutes a sign of great importance.
What is involved in the spiritual sign of the Lord’s birth, is one of the basic differences which existed between the Lord, when born, and any other man. Man’s natural mind at birth is, we are told “ignorant of truth and prone to evil” (AE 449: 3). During our life in the world, we have the opportunity to become instructed in truth and to shun what is of evil. As we do this we advance toward a new state of wisdom and of love. The Lord, too, was to make a progression while on earth. But here lies the difference: Whereas “all men whatsoever are born natural with the power of becoming either celestial or spiritual…” we are told, “the Lord alone was born spiritual celestial” with the power of making His Human Divine (AC 4592: 3, 4594: 2). The fact that He was born in Bethlehem is a spiritual sign of this interior quality of His life. This is a new knowledge which the Lord has revealed and which gives a new dimension to our understanding of the Christmas story.
To be born “spiritual celestial” means to be born with a quality uniquely in Him from His Divine soul which no man has. The Lord was distinct from men because the Divine was in Him from conception. His was a Divine soul, and the remarkable–though hidden–effect of it was that it infilled His mind with the desire for good and a longing for truth, unlike that of any man. The quality that the Writings call “spiritual celestial” may be regarded as an affection that was present with the Lord from His birth which is not present with any other man. It was a Divine affection. In human affection, we are told, “there is the glory of self and of the world as an end… but in the Divine affection there is an end…that it may be from self to save the human race” (AC 4593).
In essence, the Lord’s birth in Bethlehem was the spiritual sign that He was Jehovah God come to earth. He was no ordinary man but the Redeemer and Savior of the world. He took on power on earth to teach us His will and lead us to heaven.
The birth at Bethlehem can be a new and convincing evidence of the Lord’s Divinity. From the spiritual sense of the Word, now revealed, we can see that His birth there symbolizes His Divinity and His Divine mission.
The wise men found the Lord in Bethlehem. Herod did not. How can we find the Lord, today? The Heavenly Doctrine reveals something further about the place of the Lord’s birth. Recall that Bethlehem had the earlier name, Ephrathah. It is to Ephrathah that David referred in his Psalm where he vowed to find a place “for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty God of Jacob. Behold, ” he said, “we heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of the forest. Let us go into His tabernacle; let us worship at His footstool” (Ps. 131: 5-7). While scholars believe this concerns the Temple David hoped to build for the worship of the Lord, the Writings disclose that it has a broader meaning. Ephrathah means the Word in its natural sense while Bethlehem means the Word in its spiritual sense; “and there He chose to be born, ” we are told, “because the Lord is the Word;” the “fields of the forest” signify those things of the natural sense of the Word, thus of the sense of the letter; while “His “habitations” signify the spiritual sense of the Word, also heaven, since heaven is in that sense” (AE 700: 9).
Where is the dwelling place of the Lord? Where can we find Him? The answer is in the Word which He has given; both in its natural and in its spiritual senses. Truly, Bethlehem will be a house of bread for us if we seek the Lord in His Word.
To put this in a simple way, we may say that while the Lord was born in Bethlehem, we must be led there to seek Him. The Word of the Lord is the essential means of our salvation, because it is Lord with us. We read in the Heavenly Doctrine that without the Word there is no knowledge of the Lord and therefore no salvation. Therefore, we are told, “it pleased the Lord that when the Word had been wholly falsified and adulterated among the Jewish nation and thus as it were brought to nothingness, that He should descend from heaven and come into the world, and fulfill the Word, and thereby repair and restore it, and again give light to the earth’s inhabitants” (SS 111). Further, we are taught: “it is through the Word that the Lord is present with a man and is conjoined with him, for the Lord is the Word, and as it were speaks with the man in it” (SS 78).
We must be led, step by step, gradually through life, until we come to the spiritual Bethlehem. When we take the truths of the Word for nourishment, when we love them for the sake of the uses or goods which they reveal, then we are inviting the Lord to be in our life.
For the New Churchman, there is a special meaning to the place of the Lord’s birth. The place we can find the Lord is in the spiritual sense of His Word, now revealed. The Scriptures, in their ancient Hebrew and Greek letter, still hold an awe and power for many in the world. There is a sense of their holiness and a sincere desire with many to “search the Scriptures” for the meaning they hide. But hidden it is. There is a spiritual darkness that obscures the clear sight and knowledge of God. Therefore, the Lord has come again to reveal Himself. So many of the prophecies speak of a new light; as in Isaiah: “Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you” (Isa. 60: 1, 2). John said, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men… That was the true Light which gives light to every man who comes into the world…. And the Word become flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory…” (Jn. 1: 4, 9, 14).
The “glory” of the Lord is the interior truth of His Divinity shining forth in Scripture. “It is granted to the men of the New Church…to behold the Divine truths that are in the Word, not sensually, that is, according to appearances, but spiritually, that is, according to their essences; for this reason the internal sense of the Word…has been disclosed” (AE 759: 2). “If this sense were known to man, ” we are told, “and if man in reading the Word were to think in accordance with some knowledge of it, he would come into interior wisdom” (HH 310).
Every new insight of truth we gain through our patient study of the Word is like finding the Lord in Bethlehem. The star that led the wise men gave the promise of discovery. Like the knowledge stars signify, our knowledge of the Word can lead us to the house of doctrine where the Lord dwells.
The first advent is filled with meaning by the second. So our celebrations of the birth in Bethlehem are greatly enriched by that which surpasses all miracles–the opening of the spiritual sense of the Word (De Miraculis IV; Coro. LI).
Swedenborg testifies that it is in the spiritual sense of His Word that the Divine truth of the Lord is in its very light, and that it is in this light that He is continually present. “For His presence in the Word, ” we are told, “is by means of the spiritual sense and in no other way…(TCR 780). In our search for the Lord, let us turn to the Heavenly Doctrine and the revelation of the spiritual sense of the Word.
“And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, `Go and search diligently for the young Child…. When they heard the king, they departed; and behold the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him” (Matt. 2: 8-11). Amen
Lessons: Micah 4:1-8; 5: 2-5; Matt. 2: 1-12; De Verbo 16, 19: 3