The Lord, according to Swedenborg, is life itself, the Creator of the universe, the Creator of reality, and is the source of life on an ongoing basis. So in a literal sense all things come from the Lord. When the Bible uses the phrase “all things,” then, the meaning generally is life coming from the Lord, or the impact of the Lord’s love and wisdom on us, setting us in order. The Lord’s concern, of course, is with spiritual things, not natural things, so the flow of his life and the order it brings affects us spiritually, not naturally, empowering and organizing our desires for good and concepts of truth.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3017
- ‘And Jehovah blessed Abraham in all things’ means when allthings had been re-arranged by the Lord into Divine order, or what amounts to the same, when the Lord had re-arranged all things into Divine order. This is clear from the consideration that ‘Jehovah’ is the Lord as regards the Divine Itself, 1343, 1736, 1815, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, in which case ‘Abraham’ represents the Lord as regards the Divine Human, 2833, 2836. Consequently when it is said that ‘Jehovah blessed Abraham in all things’ the meaning in the internal sense is that the Lord from the Divine Itself re-arranged all things in His Human into Divine order, for when ‘blessing’ is spoken of in regard to the Lord’s Human it means those things. ‘Being blessed’, when it has reference to man, means being enriched with spiritual and celestial good, 981, 1096, 1420, 1422; and he is so enriched when the things residing with him are re-arranged by the Lord into a spiritual and celestial order, and so into the image and likeness of Divine order, 2475. The regeneration of man is nothing else.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 1159
- And all things fat and splendid have departed from thee.- That this signifies that all goods and truths, and things auspicious and magnificent, which they have persuaded themselves, they would be able to acquire by means of that religion, are changed into the contrary, is evident from the signification of fat things, which denote goods and auspicious things therefrom, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of things splendid, which denote truths and things magnificent therefrom.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 294
- Because thou hast created all things. That this signifies that from Him is all existence and life, and heaven for those who receive is evident from the signification of creating, as denoting not only that all things exist from the Lord, but also that all life is from Him. And because the spiritual sense of the Word treats only of heaven and the church, therefore by creating is here primarily signified to reform, thus to give heaven to those who receive, for this is to reform.
Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 9398
- And they said, All things that Jehovah hath spoken we will do and hear. That this signifies the reception of the truth that proceeds from the Divine Human of the Lord, and obedience from the heart and soul, is evident from the signification of “all thingsthat Jehovah hath spoken,” as being the truth that proceeds from the Divine Human of the Lord (of which in what follows); from the signification of “doing,” as being obedience in the will, thus in the heart (see n. 9311, 9385); and from the signification of “hearing,” as being obedience in the understanding, thus in the soul (n. 7216, 8361, 9311).