27. The Lord is called the Son of man when the subject is redemption, salvation, reformation and regeneration. This is clear from the following:

...the Son of man (came) to give His life a redemption for many. (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45)

...the Son of man has come to save..., (and) not...to destroy.... (Matthew 18:11, Luke 9:56)

...the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)

(The Son of man came) that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:17)

He who sows the good seed is the Son of man. (Matthew 13:37)

The subject there is redemption and salvation, because these are accomplished by the Lord through the Word, and the Lord therefore calls Himself the Son of man.

The Lord says that “the Son of man has power...to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10, Luke 5:24), that is, to save from them. Also, that He is Lord of the Sabbath, because He is the Son of man (Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:28, Luke 6:5), since He is the Word that He teaches then. Moreover, He says in John:

Labor not for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man will give you.... (John 6:27)

Food means all the truth and goodness of doctrine drawn from the Word, thus from the Lord.

This, too, is meant by the manna and bread referred to there that descended from heaven, and by the following declaration as well in the same chapter:

...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. (John 6:53)

Flesh, or bread, is the goodness of love gained from the Word, while blood, or wine, is the goodness of faith gained from the Word, both originating from the Lord.

[2] The Son of man has the same symbolism in other places where the Son of man is mentioned. So, for example, in the following:

Foxes have holes and birds...have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His head. (Matthew 8:20, Luke 9:58)

This means that the Word would have no place among the Jews, as the Lord also says in John 8:37. Nor would they have it abiding among them, because they did not acknowledge Him (John 5:38).

The Son of man means the Lord in relation to the Word as well in the book of Revelation:

(I saw) in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of man, clothed with a long robe and girded about the breasts with a golden girdle. (Revelation 1:13ff.)

Various things in that book represent the Lord as the embodiment of the Word, for which reason He is called the Son of man.

In Psalms:

Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the Son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. Then we will not turn back from You; revive us.... (Psalms 80:17-18)

The man of the right hand here as well is the Lord in relation to the Word, like the Son of man. He is called the man of the right hand because the Lord has power from Divine truth, which is also what the Word is, and He had Divine power when He fulfilled the whole of the Word. That is why He also said that people would see the Son of Man sitting at the right of the Father with power (Mark 14:62).

4292. In the internal historical sense 'he said, Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel' means that they could not as [the descendants of] Jacob play the representative part, except by virtue of the new nature that was imparted to them. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'Jacob' in the Word as his descendants, dealt with above in 4281, and from the meaning of 'name' as the essential nature, dealt with immediately above in 4291. The new nature itself is meant by 'Israel' in the internal sense, for 'Israel' is the celestial-spiritual man and consequently the internal man, 4286. And since 'Israel' means the celestial-spiritual man, and so the internal man, 'Israel' also means the internal spiritual Church. For whether you use the expression spiritual man or spiritual Church, it amounts to the same thing because any spiritual person in particular is the Church, even as many are in general. If the individual person in particular were not the Church, no Church in general could exist. The expression Church is used in everyday language to describe a congregation in general; but each member of the congregation must be a Church if that greater Church is to exist. Every general whole incorporates parts that are like that whole.

[2] The implications of this particular matter - the inability of [the descendants on Jacob to play the representative part, except by virtue of the new nature imparted to them, meant by 'Israel' - are as follows: It was specifically Jacob's descendants who were to represent the Church but not specifically Isaac's since Isaac's descended not only through Jacob but also through Esau. Still less was it specifically Abraham's, for Abraham's descended not only through Jacob but also through Esau, and likewise through Ishmael, as well as through his sons by his second wife Keturah, who were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, Shuah, and the sons of these, see Genesis 25:1-4. Now because Jacob's descendants insisted that they should be representative, as shown just above in 4290, they could not represent as Jacob, or as Isaac, or as Abraham. The reason why they could not do so as Jacob was that 'Jacob' represented the external aspect of the Church, but not the internal. And they could not do so as Isaac at the same time or as Abraham at the same time for the reason advanced immediately above.

[3] So that they could represent the Church therefore, a new name had inevitably to be given to Jacob, and through that name a new nature, which new nature was to be a sign of the internal spiritual man, or what amounts to the same, of the internal spiritual Church. That new nature is meant by 'Israel'. Every Church of the Lord is internal and external, as has been shown several times already, the internal Church being that which is represented, the external that which represents. The internal Church is also either spiritual or else celestial, the internal spiritual Church being represented by 'Israel', but the internal celestial Church at a later time by 'Judah'. Therefore a division also took place, and the Israelites became a kingdom on their own and the Jews another on their own. But these matters will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on. From this it is evident that 'Jacob', that is, Jacob's descendants, could not represent the Church as Jacob, for that would have been to represent solely the external aspect of the Church. They had to do so as Israel as well because 'Israel' is the internal aspect.

[4] It has been shown in various places already that it is the internal which is represented and the external which represents, as may also be seen in the human being. A person's speech represents his thought, and a person's action represents his will. Speech and action are the external aspects of the person, thought and will the internal. In addition the various looks seen on a person's face represent both, that is to say, both his thought and his will. It is well known to everyone that the looks on a person's face are representative, for the looks on the faces of people who are sincere enable their interior states to be seen. In short, every part of the body represents some facet of a person's inclination (animus) and mind (mens).

[5] It is similar with the external aspects of the Church, for these are like the body, while its internal aspects are like the soul. There were, for example, the altars and the sacrifices on them, which, as is well known, were external things. There was likewise the bread of the presence, also the lampstand with its lamps, as well as the fire that was kept burning all the time. Anyone can recognize that these external things represented internal ones, as likewise did everything else of a ritual nature. The fact that these external things could not represent anything external, only what was internal, becomes clear from the considerations introduced already. So 'Jacob' could not represent as Jacob, because 'Jacob' means the external aspect of the Church, but he could do so as Israel because 'Israel' means its internal aspect. This is what is meant by a new nature being imparted to enable the descendants of Jacob to play the representative part.