"Seek ye first the kingdom of the heavens and its righteousness, and all these things (which are recounted), shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)

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Comparison of the kingdom of God:

1. With the human body from inmosts to outmosts; and therefore concerning that society wherein the Messiah is the Soul, and which shall form one body as one man.

2. With the kindred in the house of Abraham and Nahor.

3. With the land of Canaan and its bordering countries.

4. With the Paradise of Eden.

5. With a marriage and a feast.

[For the above comparisons, see:

(1) n. The Word Explained 596 seq.

(2) n. 567-568.

(3) n. 477 seq.

(4) n. 498 seq.,

(5) n. 586.]

Men are men only so far as they walk in the way of truth. But so far as they turn aside therefrom, they approach to the nature of a beast.

566. Then Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh (vs. 14). What bone and flesh are, is known from the body. The bones are nature's ultimate products in the body; so also is the flesh, which is the muscular part of the body made up of blood-vessels and fibres. When therefore one says, "He is my bone and my flesh," it is the same as saying, "He is in one body with me." All who are of one kindred are said to be in one body, being in a society which is such that it constitutes one body; for societies formed from kinsmen constitute (or reproduce9) a body of this kind. In order to form such a body, there must be some who represent one part of the body and others who represent another, and this generally, specifically, and in particular. This is the case with the bone and flesh. The flesh is the muscles adjoined to the bones, and, as is well known, these are innumerable in every single body, one producing one action and another another. Moreover, each muscle consists of its own muscles, called the parts of the muscles; and these again of lesser muscles, called motor fibres, and so on; and these muscles, indefinite in number, produce one common action which, like the muscles themselves, consists of innumerable lesser and least actions. From these comparisons especially, an idea of the great body can be presented; that is, of the grand society from which the kingdom of God will be formed by the Messiah, who will be the soul of that body.

9 The word reproduce is written over constitute, but the latter is not crossed off.