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One of the most significant events, if not THE most significant event, in human history is the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Savior of humanity. Christ's birth had been prophesied by many, but it was Isaiah who gave us the fullest and most detailed description of the Messiah's coming. It is notable that besides Mary and Joseph, shepherds were the only individuals allowed to visit Jesus on the night of his birth. Why only shepherds? What is the spiritual significance of the shepherds? We will explore this question.

(References: Isaiah 46:3)

1212. Both the small and the great.- That this signifies all those who are in truths and goods in every degree, is evident from the signification of small, as denoting those who are in truths and goods in only a slight degree; and from the signification of great, as denoting those who abound in them. Concerning the signification of the small and the great see above (n. 696, 836).

[2] Continuation [concerning the Vegetable Kingdom].- Both animals and plants have the same origin, and thence the same soul; the difference being only in the forms into which the influx is received. That the origin of animals, which is also their soul, is a spiritual affection, such as pertains to man in his Natural, was shown above. That the same affection is also the origin of plants is evident, especially from plants in the heavens; in that they appear there, for instance, according to the affections of the angels, and also represent them; so much so, that the angels behold and learn in them, as in their own types, the quality of their affections; and further, in their changing according to their affections; this, however, occurs out of the societies. The only difference is, that it is from the Spiritual in its intermediates, that the affections appear under the form of animals, and from the Spiritual in its ultimates which are the lands there, that they appear under the form of plants. For the Spiritual, from which they are, in its intermediates is living, but in its ultimates it is non-living, retaining in the latter case no more life than is sufficient to produce a resemblance of life. The case is almost the same as in the human body, whose ultimates, produced from the Spiritual, are the cartilages, the bones, the teeth, and the nails, the life, which is from the soul, terminating in them.

[3] It does not at the first view appear that the vegetative soul is from the same origin as that of the beasts of the earth, the birds of heaven, and the fish of the sea, in consequence of this difference, that the one lives and the other does not. That this is the case is nevertheless manifestly evident from the animals, as well as the plants, that are seen in the heavens and in the hells. In the heavens there appear beautiful animals, and plants of a similar quality; in the hells, on the other hand, noxious animals, and plants of a similar quality appear. From the appearances also of the animals, and similarly from those of the plants, angels and spirits are known; for there is a perfect agreement between their affections and these appearances. The agreement is even of such a nature, that an animal may be changed into a plant in agreement with it, and similarly a plant into an animal in the same condition.

[4] The angels of heaven know the degree of affection represented in both the one and the other. I have heard and also perceived that it is in each case similar. I have been permitted to understand clearly the correspondence, not only of animals, but also of plants, with the societies both of heaven and hell, and thus with the affections of these societies; for societies and affections in the spiritual world make one. Hence it is that in so many passages in the Word mention is made of gardens, groves, forests, and trees, as well as of plants of various kinds; and that they there signify spiritual objects according to their respective origins, which all have reference to affections.

[5] The difference, therefore, between plants in the spiritual world, and those in the natural world is, that in the former world they - both the seeds and the germinations from them - exist, in a moment, according to the affections of the angels and spirits there; while in the latter their origin is implanted in the seeds, from which they spring every year. There are moreover two properties of nature, namely, time and consequent succession, and space and consequent extension, but these do not exist in the spiritual world as properties of it; they are there the appearances of states of life in those who are there. It is also for this reason that from the lands there, which exist from a spiritual origin, plants spring up in a moment, and also in a moment disappear. This however occurs only when the angels retire, for when they remain, the plants continue. Such is the difference between plants in the spiritual and those in the natural world.