"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.

476. In what now follows, the kingdom of God comes to be described as it was seen by Jacob — but by Jacob when he was in sleep. In this sleep, however, such an effigy of this kingdom is presented that from it we can certainly get some conception of its quality, though still so obscure, that unless one had been admitted into the kingdom itself by the Messiah in the manner just told, one could conceive no clearer idea of it from Jacob's dream than men usually get from a dream such as this, where Jacob saw angels ascending and descending by a ladder which reached to heaven, and above the ladder Jehovah himself. But that Jacob was then shown the very kingdom of God and the Messiah, will now be seen from what follows.