9682. 'And you shall put the mercy-seat onto the ark of the Testimony in the holy of holies' means the hearing and reception of all things which in the inmost heaven belong to worship arising from the good of love from the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'the mercy-seat' as the hearing and reception of all things that belong to worship arising from the good of love, dealt with in 9506; from the meaning of 'the ark of the Testimony' as the inmost heaven where the Lord is, dealt with in 9485, 'the Testimony' there being the Lord, 9503; and from the meaning of 'the holy of holies' as the place where the good of love from the Lord dwells, dealt with above in 9680. From all these meanings it is evident that 'you shall put the mercy-seat onto the ark of the Testimony in the holy of holies' means the hearing and reception of all things which in the inmost heaven belong to worship arising from the good of love from the Lord.

[2] The nature of the Lord's presence in the inmost heaven, and the nature of His presence in the middle heaven, and also in the lowest, may be recognized from what has been shown in many places regarding the inflow of goodness and truth from the Lord. The Lord becomes present by flowing in, but this inflow is conditioned by what people's life of goodness and truth is like. Those governed by the good of love to the Lord are the ones to receive that inflow the most immediately. Those however who are governed by the good of charity towards the neighbour receive it as well, yet more remotely, because the good of charity towards the neighbour is more remote than the actual good of love to the Lord. As for those who are governed by the good of faith, they too indeed receive it, but according to the amount of good there is within that faith. Consequently people who lead a good life based on the truths of faith receive it; for the Lord resides within their good, since all good springs from Him and none whatever from man, nor from the angels in heaven.

[3] To pursue this matter further, that the Lord is present in heaven and with mankind through heaven, it should be remembered that the Lord is above the heavens, since He is the actual Sun of heaven; yet He is nevertheless present in heaven through the light and heat from that Sun. The light from it is the Divine Truth which is the light of faith, while the heat from it is the Divine Good which is the heat of love; what emanates from the Lord is the Lord Himself. From these considerations it is evident that the Lord is present where good received from Him dwells. But a better understanding of all this may be gained from what has been shown regarding influx, that is to say, where it has been shown that the all of life, thus all good and truth since these constitute life in a person, flows in from the Lord, and that the things which flow in are conditioned by the manner in which each person receives them, 2536, 2706, 2886-2889, 2893, 3001, 3318, 3484, 3742, 3743, 4151, 5846, 5850, 5986, 6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626, 6982, 6985, 6996, 7004, 7055, 7056, 7058, 7147, 7270, 7343, 8321, 8685, 8701, 8717, 8728, 9110, 9111, 9216, and where it has been shown that influx from the Lord comes both directly from Him and also indirectly through the heavens, 5147, 6058, 6063, 6466, 6472, 6473, 6982, 6985, 6996, 7004, 7007, 7055, 7056, 7058, 7270, 8685, 8701, 8717, 8728, 9216.

7055. 'To the wilderness' means a situation prior to that in which no such thing - no such joining together - exists. This is clear from the meaning of 'the wilderness' as a situation in which there is as yet little of life, dealt with in 1927, thus where there is no good and consequently no truth, 4736, for these are what bring things to life. But the meaning here is a situation in which truth going forth directly from the Divine is not joined together with truth that goes forth in an indirect way. The fact that that was where a joining together was to be effected is meant by Aaron's going to meet Moses, to the wilderness. As regards that joining together, it should be recognized that truth which goes forth from the Divine in an indirect way may exist with a person, and yet not be joined to truth going forth directly from the Divine.

[2] But since this matter is very obscure let some examples be used to shed light on it. Take people who think and teach in accordance with the teachings of their Church which they have corroborated for themselves, but who do not know whether they are true on any grounds other than the fact that they form part of what the Church teaches and that they have been propounded by learned and famous men. Truth that goes forth from the Divine in an indirect way may exist with those people, yet for all that it is not joined to truth going forth directly from the Divine. For if it were so joined they would have an affection for knowing truth for its own sake and especially for the sake of the life they should lead. They would also as a consequence be endowed with a perception of whether matters taught by their Church were true before corroborating them for themselves, and would see whether the evidence corroborating each of those matters agreed with the truth itself.

[3] Take as another example the prophets through whom the Word was written. They wrote exactly as the spirit from the Divine dictated, for the actual words which they were to write were uttered in their ears. Truth with them was the kind that goes forth in an indirect way from the Divine, that is, through heaven; it was not therefore truth going forth directly from the Divine. For they had no perception of what the particular things they heard might mean in the internal sense because it is only when those two kinds of truth have been joined together that perception exists, as has been stated. The two kinds are rarely joined together with a person in this world, but they are so with all in heaven, above all with those in the inmost or third heaven. Nor are they joined together with a person in this world unless his regeneration has advanced so far that he can be raised from the level of the senses right up to the rational level of his mind and so be placed in the light of heaven where the angels are. With everyone influx from God does indeed come by both a direct and an indirect way, 6063, 7004; but no joining together of the two takes place except with those who have a perception of truth derived from good. For those with whom influx coming directly from God has been joined to that which comes indirectly allow themselves to be led by the Lord; but those with whom the two have not been joined together lead themselves and like to do so. From all this one may now see what 'the wilderness' is used to mean here, namely a situation in which no joining together exists.