6872. 'You shall worship God beside this mountain' means perception and acknowledgement of the Divine springing from love. This is clear from the meaning of 'worshipping God' as adoration of the Divine, but when the expression is used in reference to the Lord the perception and acknowledgement of the Divine in the Human is meant; and from the meaning of 'mountain' as the good of God's love, dealt with in 795, 796, 2722, 4210, 6435, 6829. From these meanings it is evident that the words 'you shall worship God beside this mountain', when used in reference to the Lord, mean a perception and acknowledgement of the Divine springing from love.

[2] What is meant by a perception and acknowledgement of the Divine springing from love must be stated. Everyone's character is recognized from his love. For the inner being (esse) of anyone's life is love; his very life emanates from it. Therefore the kind of love that reigns with a person determines the person's character. If self-love and a love of the world reign, and as a consequence the love of vengeance, hatred, cruelty, adultery, and the like, then that person is a devil so far as his spirit or interior man which lives after death is concerned, no matter what he may seem to be to outward appearance. But if a love of God and a love of the neighbour are what reign with a person, and consequently a love of what is good and true, and also of what is just and honourable, then he is an angel so far as his spirit which lives after death is concerned, no matter what he may seem to be to outward appearance. But when God's love reigns with someone - as it has done only in the Lord - that one is God. Thus the Lord's Human was made Divine when He received in His Human His Father's love, which was the inner Being (Esse) of His life. From all this one may see what is meant by a perception and acknowledgement of the Divine that springs from love.

[3] It is an unalterable truth that a person is entirely the same in character as his love. This is evident from angels in the next life who, when they are seen, look like forms of love. Love itself not only shines but also breathes out of them, so that you may say that they are in every respect embodiments of love. The reason for this is that all the interiors of an angel, like those of a person in this world, are nothing other than forms that receive life. And being forms that receive life they are forms that receive different kinds of love; for these constitute a person's life. Since therefore the love that flows in and the form that receives it are compatible with each other it follows that the character of an angel or a person in this world is determined by his love. This applies not only to the primary organic substances in the brain but also to the whole body, since the body is nothing other than an organism formed from its primary substances.

[4] From all this it becomes clear that a person is made completely new when he is being regenerated; for at that time every single part of him is being made fit to receive heavenly kinds of love. With man however the earlier forms are not destroyed but removed, whereas with the Lord the earlier forms which came from His mother were completely destroyed and rooted out, and Divine forms were received and replaced them. For God's love is incompatible with any form other than a Divine one; it casts all the rest totally aside. As a consequence of this the Lord was no longer Mary's son once He was glorified.

1802. 'Saying, This man will not be your heir' means that that which is external will not be the heir of His kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'becoming the heir' or 'inheriting', dealt with already just above. The heir to the Lord's kingdom is not that which is external but that which is internal. Yet that which is external is heir as well, but only through that which is internal, for the two in that case act as one. To understand what is implied by this, one needs to keep in mind the thought that all who are in the heavens, including those in the first and in the second heavens as well as those in the third, that is, including those who are external and those who are more interior as well as those who are internal angels, are the heirs of the Lord's kingdom; for they all constitute one heaven. In the Lord's heavens internal things stand in relation to external exactly as they do with man. Angels in the first heaven are subordinate to angels in the second; and these in turn are subordinate to angels in the third. That subordination however is not one of command, but, as in man, is an influx of internal things into more external; that is to say, the Lord's life is flowing through the third heaven into the second, and through this into the first - through all the heavens in their ordered sequence, as well as into every individual heaven directly. The lower angels, or those in a subordinate position, are not aware that this is so unless they are given to reflect on it by the Lord; thus their subordination is not one involving command.

[2] Insofar as that which is internal resides in an angel of the third heaven he is an heir of the Lord's kingdom; also, insofar as that which is internal resides in an angel of the second heaven he too is an heir; and in a like manner, insofar as that which is internal resides in an angel of the first heaven he is an heir as well. It is the internal that makes each of them an heir. With angels who are more internal that which is internal exists in greater measure than with those who are more external, and therefore they are nearer to the Lord and the more His heirs. That which is internal is love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. In the measure that they have love and charity therefore they are sons and heirs, for in the same measure they inherit the Lord's life.

[3] But no one can possibly be brought from the first or external heaven into the second or more interior heaven until he has been taught the goods of love and the truths of faith. Insofar as he is taught these he is able to be brought to and to enter the company of angelic spirits. Something similar must occur before these angelic spirits are able to be brought to or to enter into the third heaven, that is, into the company of angels. By means of such teaching, more interior and then internal things are formed, and are made suitable to receive the goods of love and truths of faith, and so to receive the perception of what is good and true. No one is able to see with perception what he does not know and believe. Thus no one can be granted an ability to see perceptively any good of love or truth of faith except through cognitions, which enable him to know what good or truth is and the nature of it. This is so with all people, even with young children, all of whom receive teaching in the Lord's kingdom. But these are taught without difficulty because they have not been imbued with false ideas. Yet they are taught general truths only, and when they receive them, there is no limit to the things they can perceive.

[4] It is the same as when a person has been persuaded of some truth in its general or overall presentation of itself. He then sees easily and so to speak from himself, or spontaneously, the particular facets that make up the general aspects, and the individual details that make up the particular facets, which are confirmatory. For stirred by an affection for a truth in its general presentation, he is also as a consequence stirred by the confirmatory facets and details of the same truth. Those particular facets and details, accompanied by delight and pleasantness, enter into the general affection and thereby perfect it constantly. Such facets and details are the internal things by virtue of which people are called heirs, that is, by which they are able to inherit the Lord's kingdom. But those people first begin to be heirs or to receive the inheritance when an affection for what is good, that is, when mutual love, exists in them, into which they have been introduced by means of cognitions of good and truth and by means of affections for these. And insofar as an affection for good, that is, insofar as mutual love, is present in these people, they are heirs or recipients of the inheritance; for mutual love is that very life itself which they receive from the Lord's essence, as from their Father. These considerations may also become clear from what follows next in verse 5.