Spiritual Meaning of

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That man rises again after death, He taught by saying, that God is not the God of the dead but of the living, and that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are living. He also taught the same in the parable of the rich man in hell and Lazarus in heaven (Luke 16:22-31).

In this parable, as in others, the Lord spake by correspondences, as can be seen by this, that the rich man does not mean the rich, nor does Abraham mean Abraham, nor by the water with which Lazarus might cool the tongue are water and tongue meant, nor does the flame mean flame, for in hell no one is tortured by flames; but a rich man means those who are of the church where the Word is, from which they have spiritual riches, which are truths of doctrine; so the rich man here means the Jews, with whom was the Word at that time; Abraham means the Lord; the water into which Lazarus might dip the tip of his finger signifies truth from the Word; and tongue signifies a thirst and eagerness to pervert the truths that are in the Word; and the flame the punishment of that eagerness, which is various and manifold. This makes evident what these things signify in the series, and that to cool the tongue with water" signifies to allay the thirst and the eagerness to pervert truths, and to confirm falsities thereby. Who cannot see that it does not mean that Lazarus should dip the tip of his finger in water to cool the tongue?

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