9835. 'With the work of a designer' means a product of the understanding. This is clear from the meaning of 'a designer' as the power of understanding, dealt with in 9598, 9688, so that 'the work of a designer' means that which is a product of that power. 'A designer' (excogitator) means the power of understanding because thought (cogitatio) belongs to the understanding, even as love and affection belong to the will. In the internal sense 'a designer' and 'thought' have the same meaning; for in that sense no attention is paid to the person, only to the actual reality that is meant, and 'designer' carries the idea of a person. For the truth of this, see 5225, 5287, 5434, 8343, 8985, 9007. What 'a product of the understanding' means must be stated briefly. The subject at present is the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and this kingdom - so far as all truths and forms of good there are concerned - belongs to the understanding part of the mind, whereas things in the Lord's celestial kingdom belong to the will part. For there are two entities with which everything in all creation has connection, good and truth; and this is why in the human being there are two mental powers, will and understanding. The will exists for the sake of good, and the understanding for the sake of truth; for the will is the recipient of good, and the understanding that of truth.

[2] The situation in the heavens is similar. There two kingdoms exist, the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial kingdom exists to be a recipient of good and the spiritual kingdom to be a recipient of truth. And since the whole heaven corresponds to everything that exists with the human being, and heaven in the Lord's sight is consequently like one complete human being, this as well has the two powers of will and understanding, the will residing in the celestial kingdom and the understanding in the spiritual kingdom. Now because the spiritual kingdom was represented by Aaron's garments and heaven's power of understanding resides in this kingdom, 'the work of a designer' accordingly means the power of understanding.

The whole heaven, by virtue of the correspondence with every single thing that exists with the human being, is like one complete human being and is called the Grand Man, see the places referred to at the end of 9276. The forms of good and the truths present with those in the Lord's spiritual kingdom have been inscribed on the understanding part of their mind, but with those in His celestial kingdom on the will part, see the places referred to in 9277, 9596.

6427. What these three ¹ verses contain in the internal sense is evident from the explanations that have been given. But even so, they inevitably remain obscure unless one knows what the spiritual kingdom is like. This kingdom consists of those who, possessing the truth of faith, make this truth part of their life and thus convert it into good. When a person leads a life in accordance with the truth of faith it is made into good and is called the good of truth; yet essentially it is truth in action. The truth of faith in the Lord's spiritual Church is varying, for in one Church that is said to be the truth which in another is said not to be the truth, the doctrine taught by each Church being what leads to such variation. And in this way particular teachings come to be called truths. These truths are the ones that become linked to good and constitute good in the spiritual Church. Consequently the quality of its good comes to be that of its truth, for truths give good the quality it possesses.

[2] From this one may see that the good of the spiritual Church is impure and that as it is impure spiritual people cannot be admitted into heaven except by Divine means. The most important Divine means consisted in the Lord's coming into the world and making the Human within Himself Divine. By that means spiritual people have been saved; yet because with them good is impure they are inevitably under attack from evils and falsities and so are engaged in conflict. But the Lord sees to it that through those conflicts what is impure with them is gradually made purer; for the Lord fights for them. These considerations are what are meant by 'a daughter marches onto the wall' and by 'they exasperate him and shoot at him and hate him, do the archers; and he will sit in the strength of his bow, and the arms of his hands are made strong by the hands of the powerful Jacob; from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel'.

[3] See what has been stated already about those who belong to the spiritual Church:

They live in obscurity so far as truth and the good resulting from truth are concerned, 2708, 2715, 2718, 2831, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3246, 3833, 6289.

Light is brought to that obscurity from the Lord's Divine Human, 2716. Before the Lord's Coming the spiritual kingdom was not the same as it was after His Coming, 6372.

The Lord came into the world to save those who are spiritual; and they are saved by means of the Lord's Divine Human, 2661, 2716, 2833, 2834, 3969. From these places it is also evident that 'the arms of his hands are made strong by the hands of the powerful Jacob; from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel' means the power that the forces involved in fighting possess, received from the almighty power of the Lord's Divine Human, from which springs all the goodness and truth that the spiritual kingdom possesses, 6424-6426.

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