2777. 'On one of the mountains' means Divine love. This is clear from the meaning of 'a mountain' as love, dealt with in 795, 796, 1430, here Divine love since it has reference to the Lord. For the nature of that love, see 1690, 1601 (end), 1789, 1812, 1820, 2077, 2253, 2500, 2572. As it was Divine love from which the Lord fought and overcame in temptations, and from which He sanctified and glorified Himself, Abraham is in this verse told to offer Isaac as a burnt offering 'on one of the mountains' in the land of Moriah. Light is shed on this representative act by the fact that David built an altar, and Solomon the Temple, on Mount Moriah, 2775. For the altar on which burnt offerings and sacrifices were offered, and later the Temple, was the chief representative of the Lord. The fact that the altar was the chief representative of Him may be seen in 921 and is clear in David,

They will bring me to Your holy mountain and to Your dwellings. Then I will go in to the altar or God, to God my exceeding joy. Psalms 43:3-4.

And that 'the Temple' was representative of Him is clear in John,

Jesus said, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again. He was speaking of the temple of His body. John 2:19, 21.

2077. That 'Abraham said to God' means the Lord's perception from love is clear from the meaning of 'saying to God' as perceiving, dealt with quite often already. That 'Abraham' here means the Lord when passing through that state and that age has been stated above in 1989. The Lord, it is evident, uttered this out of love, for the actual words used, 'O that Ishmael might live before You!' are an expression of an affection originating in love. The Lord's affection or love was Divine; that is to say, it was directed towards the whole human race which He desired, through the union of His Human Essence with the Divine Essence, to join completely to Himself and save eternally. Concerning that love see Volume One, in 1735; concerning the fact that the Lord out of this love contended constantly with the hells, 1690, 1789, 1812; and concerning the fact that in the union of His Human with the Divine His sole regard was nothing other than the conjunction of the Divine with the human race, 2034 above.

[2] The nature of the Lord's love surpasses all human understanding and is unbelievable in the extreme to people who do not know what heavenly love is in which angels abide. To save a soul from hell the angels think nothing of giving their own lives; indeed if it were possible they would suffer hell themselves in place of that soul. Consequently their inmost joy is to transport into heaven someone rising from the dead. They confess however that that love does not originate one little bit in themselves but that every single aspect of it does so in the Lord alone. Indeed they are incensed if anyone thinks anything different.