852. Having his Father's name written in their foreheads. That this signifies these truths, according to the acknowledgment of His Divine from love, is evident from the signification of His Father's name, as denoting the Lord's Divine, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of being written in their foreheads as denoting a full acknowledgment.

The reason why the Father's name written in their foreheads denotes the full acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine is, that the Lord turns all who acknowledge His Divine to Himself, and looks at them in their foreheads, and they on the other hand look at the Lord with their eyes; and this because the forehead signifies love, and the eye the understanding of truth. Hence by their being looked at by the Lord in their foreheads, is signified that the Lord beholds them from the good of love; and by their looking at the Lord, on their part, with the eyes, is signified that they [look to the Lord] from truths from that good, consequently from the understanding of truth. That all those who are in the heavens are turned to the Lord, and with the face look unto Him as the Sun, may be seen above (n. 646) and in the work concerning Heaven and Hell 17, 123, 142, 272). Also that the Lord looks at the angels in the forehead, and that the angels on the other hand see the Lord with the eyes, because the forehead corresponds to the good of love, and the eyes correspond to the understanding of truth, see the same work (n. 145, 251). And that the forehead corresponds to the good of love (see also above, n. 427).

[2] He who does not know the nature of the Word in the literal sense, may suppose that where mention is made of God and the Lamb, and, in the present case, of the Lamb and the Father, two are meant; when, nevertheless, the Lord alone is meant by both. The same is meant in the Word of the Old Testament; where mention is made of Jehovah, the Lord Jehovih, Jehovah Zebaoth, Lord, Jehovah God, God in the plural and the singular, the God of Israel, the Holy one of Israel, the King of Israel, Creator, Saviour, Redeemer, Schaddai, Rock, and so on, a similar opinion may be entertained; when, nevertheless, by all these names are not meant several, but one; for the Lord is thus variously named according to His Divine attributes.

The case is the same with the Word of the New Testament, where Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are mentioned as three, when yet by these three names one is meant; for by the Father is meant the Lord as to the Divine itself, which was His soul from the Father; by the Son is meant the Divine Human; and by the Holy Spirit, the proceeding Divine. Thus the three are one; similarly here by the Lamb and the Father one, and not two, is meant.

[3] That the Lord, when He spoke of the Father, meant the Divine in Himself, and thus Himself, is evident from many passages in the Word of both Testaments. But here I will only adduce some from the Word of the Evangelists, from which it can be seen, that the Lord by the Father meant the Divine in Himself, which was in Him as the soul is in the body; and that when He named the Father and Himself as two, He meant Himself by both. For the soul and body are one, the soul belonging to its own body, and the body to its own soul. Thus the Divine, which is called the Father, was the very Divine of the Lord, from which His Human existed, and from which it became Divine, is quite clear from His conception from the Divine itself; as in Matthew:

"The angel of the Lord appeared" to Joseph "in a dream, saying, Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy spouse, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit; and Joseph knew her not, until she brought forth her first-born Son" (1:20, 25).

And in Luke:

The angel said unto Mary, "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. But Mary said unto the angel, How shall this come to pass, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: therefore that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (1:31, 34, 35).

From this it is clear that the Lord from conception is Jehovah God; and to be Jehovah God from conception is to be so as to life itself, which is called the soul from the Father, from which the body possesses life. From this also it is quite clear, that the Lord's Human is what is called the Son of God, for it is said "the Holy Thing" which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.

[4] That it is the Lord's Human which is called the Son of God, is further evident from the Word of both the Old and New Testaments in various passages. But upon this subject, God willing, more shall be said specifically elsewhere. Only the following passages will be quoted here that testify that the Lord, by the Father, meant the Divine in Himself, consequently Himself.

In John:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word: all things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as the glory of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (1:1, 2, 14).

That by the Word is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human is clear; for it is said that "the Word was made flesh, and we beheld His glory, as the glory of the Only-Begotten of the Father." That the Lord is God also as to the Human, or that the Lord's Human is also Divine, is also clear; for it is said, "the Word was with God, and God was the Word," and this Word was made flesh.

[5] By the Word is meant the Lord as to the Divine truth.

In the same:

"My Father worketh hitherto, therefore also I work: but the Jews sought to kill him, because he said that God was his own Father, making himself equal with God. But Jesus answered, and said, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which sent him. Verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself" (John 5:17-28).

[6] That by the Father is here meant the Divine in the Lord, which was His life, just as the soul of the father is the life in every man; and that by the Son is meant the Human, which had life from the very Divine itself which was in Him, and thence also was made Divine; consequently that the Father and the Son are one, is plain from the Lord's words in the above passages - that the Son doeth the same things as the Father; that the Son raiseth the dead and quickens them as the Father; that the Son has life in Himself as the Father; and that they shall live who hear the voice of the Son. From these things it is quite clear that the Father and the Son are one as soul and body. Moreover, the same is evident from the Jews seeking to kill Him, because He said that God was His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

[7] In the same:

"All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me; every one who hath heard and learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Not that any one hath seen the Father, save he who is with the Father; he seeth the Father. I am the living bread, which came down from heaven; even as the Father who hath sent me liveth, I also live by the Father" (6:37, and following verses).

The Lord there says of His Human, that it came down from heaven, and that every one has life through Him, because the Father and He are one; and that the life of the Father is in Him, as the soul is from the father in the son.

In the same:

"I give eternal life" to my sheep, "and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one." The Jews were enraged because he made himself God. "And he said, Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not; but if I do, believe the works, that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father" (10:28-38).

Here the Lord speaks of the Father as of another, saying, "No one shall pluck the sheep out of my Father's hand"; also, "if I do not the works of my Father, believe me not, but if I do, believe the works"; and yet, lest they should believe that the Father and He were two, He saith, "the Father and I are one"; and lest they should believe that they were one only by love, He adds, "that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." It is therefore evident that the Lord by the Father meant Himself, or the Divine in Himself from conception; and that by the Son, whom the Father sent, He meant His Human. For this was sent into the world by being conceived of God the Father and born of a virgin.

[8] In the same:

"Jesus cried and said, he who believeth in me, believeth not in me, but in him that sent me; and he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me, should not abide in the darkness" (12:44-46).

That the Lord by the Father meant Himself, and by the Son His Divine Human, whom the Father sent, is also clear from these words; for He says, "He who seeth me, seeth him that sent me," also "He that believeth in me, believeth not in me, but in him that sent me"; and yet He says that they are to believe in Him (verse 36, and elsewhere).

[9] In the same:

"Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hand, and that he came forth from God, and returned to God, said, He who receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me" (13:3, 20).

Because the Father and He were one, and the Human of the Lord was Divine from the Divine in Him, therefore all things of the Father were His; which is meant by the Father giving all things into His hands; and because they were one, He says, "He that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." By going out from the Father and returning to the Father, is meant to be conceived and thereby exist from Him, and to be united to Him, as the soul to the body.

[10] In the same:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father. Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father: and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me, that I am in the Father and the Father in me" (14:6-11).

Here it is plainly said that the Father and He are one, and that the union is like that of soul and body; consequently that it is such a union that he who seeth Him seeth the Father. This union is further confirmed in that chapter. And because such was the union, and no one can come to man's soul, but only to the man himself, therefore the Lord says, that

They should approach him, and ask the Father in his name, and that he would give to them (John 16:23, 24).

[11] This union is also meant by

His going forth from the Father and coming into the world; and again leaving the world, and going to the Father (John 16:5, 10, 16, 17, 28).

Because the Father and He were one, therefore He also says:

"All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine," and that therefore the Paraclete, which is the Holy Spirit, shall receive from the Lord what he should speak (John 16:13-15).

In another place:

Father, thou hast given me power over all flesh, that to every one whom thou hast given me, I might give eternal life. "This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. All things that are mine are thine, and all things that are thine are mine" (John 17:2, 3, 10).

Here also it is openly declared, that all things belonging to the Father are His, as all things of the soul are man's; for man and the soul are one, as the life and the subject of life. That the Lord is God also as to the Human, is clear from these words of the Lord, "That they may know thee, the only God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."

[12] Because the Father and the Son of God are one, therefore the Lord says:

That when he cometh to judgment, "He will come in the glory of his Father" (Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26); and "in His own glory" (Matthew 25:31) and that "He hath all power in the heavens and on earth" (Matthew 28:18).

That by the Son of God is meant the Lord's Divine Human, is also evident in other passages in the Word of the New Testament; and also in the Old Testament.

As in Isaiah:

"Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace" (9:6).

And in the same prophet:

"A virgin shall conceive and bring forth a Son, and his name shall be called God with us" (7:14).

That by the child born, and the son given, is here meant the Lord as to the Divine Human, is clear; and that the Lord as to it, also, is God. Thus that His Human is Divine, is manifestly declared; for it is said that "His name shall be called God," "God with us," "The Father of Eternity."

Besides these passages, many others might also be quoted to prove that the Lord, by the Father, in the Word, meant His own Divine, which was the life or soul of His Human, and not another separate from Himself. Nor could He mean another. Hence the Divine and the Human in the Lord - according to the doctrine of the Christian world - are not two but one Person, altogether as soul and body; as is expressed in clear terms in the Athanasian Creed. And because God and Man in the Lord are not two but one person, and united like soul and body, it follows that the Divine, which the Lord had from conception, was what He called Father; and the Divine Human was that which He called Son; consequently that each was Himself.

From these things it is evident, that by the name of the Father written in their forehead, is meant the Lord as to His Divine.

427. Till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. That this signifies that those who are in truths from good must first be separated, is evident from the signification of sealing, which denotes to distinguish and separate, and of which we shall speak presently; from the signification of the servants of God, as denoting those who are in truths from good (concerning which see above, n.6); and from the signification of forehead, which denotes the good of love. The basis of this signification of the forehead is correspondency; for everything in man's body, both internal and external, corresponds to heaven, the whole heaven in the Lord's sight being as one man and so arranged as to correspond to each and all things in man. The whole face, where the organs of the sensations of sight, smell, hearing, and taste, are situated, corresponds to the affections and thence to the thoughts in general, the eyes corresponding to the understanding, the nostrils to perception, the ears to hearing and obedience, and the taste to the desire of knowing and of becoming wise. But the forehead corresponds to the good of love, from which all these proceed, because it forms the highest part of the face, and embraces at once the anterior and primary parts of the brain, whence are man's intellectual [powers]. Hence the Lord looks upon the angels in the forehead, and the angels look to the Lord with the eyes; the reason of this is that the forehead corresponds to love, from which the Lord looks upon them, while the eyes correspond to the understanding, from which they look to the Lord. For the Lord permits Himself to be seen by means of the influx of love into their understandings. Concerning this fact see Heaven and Hell 141, 151), and that the whole heaven collectively represents one man (n. 68 to 87); and that therefore there is a correspondence of all things of heaven with all things of man (n. 87-102). From these things it is evident that being sealed on their foreheads, signifies to be in the good of love to the Lord from the Lord, and by means of that to be distinguished and separated from those who are not in that love. For the Lord looks upon them in the forehead, and fills them with the good of love, from which they look to Him with thought from affection. Others cannot be looked upon by the Lord in the forehead, because they avert themselves from Him, and turn to that opposite love, which fills and attracts them. That every one in the spiritual world, and also man as to his spirit, turns the face to the ruling love may be seen in Heaven and Hell 17, 123, 142-144, 153, 552).

[2] That to be sealed does not mean to be sealed, but to be brought into that state in which their quality can be known, so that they may be conjoined with those who are in a similar state, and separated from those who are in a dissimilar state, is signified by being marked, and by a mark, in the following passages.

In Ezekiel:

"And Jehovah said," to the man clothed in linen, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that mourn and that sigh for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. Go ye through the city after him, and smite; let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark" (9:4-6).

The subject is here the separation of the good from the evil. To be marked (or sealed) on the forehead has the same signification as in this passage in the Apocalypse, that is, to be distinguished and separated from the evil, and conjoined to the good. The casting-out of the evil, and their condemnation are also afterwards described. Those who are in good are described by the men that cry and sigh for all the abominations done in the midst of the city of Jerusalem. Those who mourn and sigh over the abominations are such as are not in evils and the falsities therefrom; mourning and sighing over them signify aversion and grief on account of them, Jerusalem denoting the church, and the city doctrine. The casting-out of the evil and their condemnation are afterwards described, by the command that they should go through the city after him and smite, and that their eye should not spare. To smite and to kill signify to be damned, for spiritual death is damnation, and is signified in the Word by natural death.

[3] In Isaiah:

"He will come to gather together all nations and tongues, that they may come and see my glory. And I will set a mark among them" (66:18, 19).

These words are spoken concerning the Lord, and the new church to be established by Him, and therefore concerning the new heaven and the new earth, as is evident from verse 22 of that chapter. By gathering together all nations and tongues, the same is signified as by gathering together the elect from the four winds (Matthew 24:31). To gather together signifies to call His own to Himself; nations signify those who are in good, and tongues, those who are in a life according to doctrine. To come and see the glory of the Lord, signifies to be enlightened in Divine Truth, and thus to experience heavenly joy; for the glory of the Lord signifies the Divine Truth, and the illustration and joy which it affords. To set a mark among them, signifies to distinguish and separate them from the evil, and conjoin them to the good.

[4] It is said of Cain, that Jehovah set a mark upon him, lest any should kill him (Genesis 4:15). Unless this interior fact of the Word be known, that by persons named in its historical parts, things are meant in the spiritual sense, or that every person there mentioned represents, and consequently signifies, something pertaining to the church and heaven, nothing further can be known than the literal history, which appears to be no more divine than other histories. But in every detail of the Word, both prophetical and historical, there is the Divine, which does not appear in the letter, except to those who are in the spiritual sense and acquainted with it. The interior spiritual fact contained in the history of Cain and Abel is that Abel represents the good of charity, and Cain the truth of faith; and this good and this truth are also called brethren in the Word. The truth of faith is called the first-born because truths which are afterwards to become the truths of faith, are first acquired and stored up in the memory, in order that good may take thence as from a storehouse what it can conjoin to itself, and thus cause them to be truths of faith. For truth is not of faith until man wills it and does it, and as far as man does this, the Lord conjoins him to Himself and to heaven, and from love flows in with good, and by means of good into the truths which he has acquired from his childhood, conjoins them to good, and causes them to become truths of faith. Before this has taken place, they are nothing more than cognitions and knowledges (scientiae), and these he believes as yet only in the same way that he believes what he hears from others which he can give up if he afterwards think differently, therefore this faith is the faith of another in himself, and not his own, and yet a man's faith must be his own, in order that it may remain with him after death. It becomes his own when he sees, wills, and does what he believes, for then it enters into the man, moulds his spirit, and becomes an integral part of his affection and thought; for the spirit of man in its essence is nothing else but his own affection and thought.

[5] That which is of affection is called good, and that which is of thought therefrom is called truth; nor does a man believe anything to be the truth, but that which belongs to his affection, that is, to the interior affection of his spirit. Wherefore what a man thinks from interior affection is his belief, and nothing else that he retains in his memory, whether from the Word or the doctrine of the church, from reading, from preaching, or from his own understanding, is faith, although he thinks that it is, and although it is declared and believed to be so at this day. This primary and first-begotten [principle] is represented and signified by Cain in the above historical part of the Word, for Cain was the first-begotten. When it is believed that such a faith saves man, and not the willing and doing of it, or a life according to it, then there arises the baneful heresy that faith alone saves whatever the life may be, and that there may be faith without life, although this is not faith, but merely knowledge exteriorly in the memory, and not interiorly in the life. If this be called faith it is historical faith, which is the faith one man has from another, and has no life in itself, until he who possesses it sees for himself that what he has received is true, and this first takes place when he wills and does it. When that heresy prevails, then charity, which is the good of life, is annihilated, and at length rejected as not essential to salvation. This was represented by Cain's slaying his brother Abel; for faith and charity or the truth of faith and the good of charity, are called brethren in the Word, as stated above.

[6] That Jehovah set a mark upon Cain lest he should be slain, signifies that he distinguished him from others, and preserved him, because saving faith cannot exist, unless historical faith precede, which is the knowledge of the things of the church and of heaven derived from others, in a word, the knowledge of such things as shall afterwards pertain to faith. For unless a man from his infancy received truths from the Word, from the doctrine of the church, or from preaching, he would possess none, and the Lord cannot act upon such a man, nor can he receive influx out of heaven from the Lord, for He operates and inflows by means of good into the truths which a man possesses and conjoins them, and thus makes charity and faith one. From these considerations it is evident what is signified by Jehovah setting a mark on Cain, lest any one should slay him, and by him that should slay him being avenged sevenfold. Besides, those who are only in historical faith, that is, in the knowledge of such things as belong to faith, - and such persons and faith are signified by Cain, - are also preserved, because they can teach others truths from the Word, for they teach from the memory.

[7] Since the forehead corresponds to the good of love, and therefore the Lord from His Divine Love looks upon angels and men in the forehead, as stated above, it was commanded that a plate of pure gold, upon which was engraved "Holiness to Jehovah," should be placed upon the mitre of Aaron on the forehead, concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

"And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, Holiness to Jehovah. And thou shalt put it on a thread of purple, upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be, that it may be upon Aaron's forehead, and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before Jehovah" (Exodus 28:36-38).

For Aaron, as the chief priest, represented the Lord as to the good of Divine Love, and therefore his garments represented such things as proceed from that love. The mitre represented intelligence and wisdom, and the forefront of it, love, from which are intelligence and wisdom, and so the plate of pure gold, upon which "Holiness to Jehovah" was engraved, was there placed upon a thread of purple. The pure gold of which the plate was made signifies the good of celestial love; the purple forming the thread upon which the plate was put, signifies the good of spiritual love, and spiritual love is the love of truth; the engraving of a signet signifies continuance to eternity; holiness to Jehovah signifies the Lord as to the Divine Human, from which every thing holy of heaven and of the church proceeds. These were upon the front of the mitre which was on the head of Aaron, because the mitre like the head, signifies Divine Wisdom, and the forehead, the Divine Good of Love. Aaron represented the Lord as to the good of love, as may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 9806, 9946, 10017). "Purple" signifies the love of truth (n. 9466, 9687, 9833); and the mitre signifies intelligence and wisdom (n. 9827).

[8] Since the forehead signifies the good of love, the Israelites were therefore commanded to bind upon their foreheads the precept concerning love to Jehovah.

Thus in Moses:

"And thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be for frontlets before thine eyes" (Deuteronomy 6:5, 8; 11:18; Exodus 13:9, 16).

It is said, that they should be for frontlets before the eyes, to represent the fact that the Lord looks upon angels and men in the forehead, because from Divine Love, and gives to angels and men the power to see Him from intelligence and wisdom, for the eyes signify the understanding. All man's understanding also is from the good of his love, and according to that which he receives from the Lord. That they should also bind them upon the hand represented the ultimates, because the hands are the ultimates of the powers of man's soul; therefore upon the forehead and upon the hand signifies in primaries and in ultimates. Primary and ultimate signify all, as may be seen above (n. 417). This precept was bound in this manner, because on it hang all the law and the prophets, that is the whole Word, consequently all things of heaven and of the church. That the law and the prophets hang on this precept, the Lord teaches in Matthew (22:35-38, 40). From this it is evident why kings at their coronation were in former times and are to-day anointed with oil upon the forehead and upon the hand. For kings formerly represented the Lord as to Divine Truth, and because this is received in the good of love which flows in from the Lord, therefore anointing was performed upon the forehead and upon the hand. The oil also, with which they were anointed, signifies the good of love. Therefore kings in the Word signify those who are in truths from good, and in an abstract sense truths from good; as may be seen above (n. 31). From these considerations it is clear what a sign or mark upon the forehead means, as mentioned here and in other passages in the Apocalypse (9:4; 14:1; 22:3, 4).

[9] But on the other hand, the forehead signifies the evil of love which is opposite to the good of love, and therefore what is hard, obstinate, shameless and infernal. Thus in Isaiah, "hardness" is described in these words:

"Thou art hard, for thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy forehead brass" (48:4).

In Ezekiel "obstinacy."

"The house of Israel will not hearken unto me; for all the house of Israel are of an obstinate forehead and hard of heart" (3:7).

In Jeremiah "shamelessness."

"Thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed" (Jeremiah 3:3).

"Infernal" in the Apocalypse (13:16; 14:9-11; 16:2; 17:5; 19:20; 20:4). For as the good of love is celestial, and therefore gentle, patient, and modest, so the evil opposite to that good is infernal, hard, obstinate, and shameless.