for They have all power. But for Them inner sight, spiritual healing and
eternal life are the valuable and important things. Consequently, whenever
it is recorded in the Holy Books that such a one was blind and recovered
his sight, the meaning is that he was inwardly blind, and that he obtained
spiritual vision, or that he was ignorant and became wise, or that he was
negligent and became heedful, or that he was worldly and became heavenly.

As this inner sight, hearing, life and healing are eternal, they are of
importance. What, comparatively, is the importance, the value and the
worth of this animal life with its powers? In a few days it will cease
like fleeting thoughts. For example, if one relights an extinguished lamp,
it will again become extinguished; but the light of the sun is always
luminous. This is of importance.

23: THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

Question.--What is the meaning of Christ's resurrection after three days?

Answer.--The resurrections of the Divine Manifestations are not of the
body. All Their states, Their conditions, Their acts, the things They have
established, Their teachings, Their expressions, Their parables and Their
instructions have a spiritual and divine signification, and have no
connection with material things. For example, there is the subject of
Christ's coming from heaven: it is clearly stated in many places in the
Gospel that the Son of man came from heaven, He is in heaven, and He will
go to heaven. So in chapter 6, verse 38, of the Gospel of John it is
written: "For I came down from heaven"; and also in verse 42 we find: "And
they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother
we know? How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?" Also in
John, chapter 3, verse 13: "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He
that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."

Observe that it is said, "The Son of man is in heaven," while at that time
Christ was on earth. Notice also that it is said that Christ came from
heaven, though He came from the womb of Mary, and His body was born of
Mary. It is clear, then, that when it is said that the Son of man is come
from heaven, this has not an outward but an inward signification; it is a
spiritual, not a material, fact. The meaning is that though, apparently,
Christ was born from the womb of Mary, in reality He came from heaven,
from the center of the Sun of Reality, from the Divine World,