3381. Because that Abraham hearkened to My voice. That this signifies the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with the Human Essence through temptations, is evident from the representation of Abraham, as being the Lord as to the Divine Human also (see n. 2833, 2836, 3251) and from the signification of “hearkening to My voice,” when predicated of the Lord, as being to unite the Divine Essence to the Human through temptations, for in the Word it is from these that obedience is predicated of the Lord. What is here said has reference to that which is related concerning Abraham in chapter 22, namely, that God tempted him, and said unto him that he should take his son and offer him for a burnt-offering (verses 1-2); and when he hearkened to this voice, it is said:

Now I know that thou fearest God, and thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only one, from Me.

In Myself have I sworn saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this word, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only one, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens (Genesis 22:12, 16-17).

That by “not withholding thy son, thine only one, from Me” (which was “hearkening to the voice”) is signified the unition of the Human with the Divine through the last of temptation, may be seen above (n. 2827, 2844). That this is meant by “hearkening to the voice of Jehovah,” or “the Father,” is evident also from the words of the Lord in Gethsemane:

My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not My will but Thine be done: again a second time, My Father, if this cup cannot pass from Me except I drink it, Thy will be done (Matthew 26:39, 42 Mark 14:36 Luke 22:42).

But inasmuch as Jehovah or the Father was in Him, or He in the Father and the Father in Him (John 14:10-11), by “hearkening to the voice of Jehovah” is meant that the Lord united the Divine to the Human through temptations, by His own power; as is also evident from the words of the Lord Himself in John:

As the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. Therefore doth the Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received from My Father (John 10:15, 17-18). (That the Lord by His own power united His Divine Essence to His Human Essence through temptations, may be seen above, n. 1663, 1668, 1690, 1691, 1725, 1729, 1733, 1737, 1787, 1789, 1812, 1820, 2776, 3318)

1733. Possessor of the heavens and the earth. This signifies the conjunction of the internal man or Jehovah with the interior and the exterior man, as appears from the signification of “heaven and earth.” That which is interior in man is called “heaven;” and that which is exterior is called “earth.” The reason why “heaven” signifies that which is interior in man, is that a man as to his interiors is an image of heaven, and so is a kind of little heaven. Primarily the Lord’s interior man is heaven, because the Lord is the all in all of heaven, and thus is heaven itself. It follows from this that the exterior man is called the earth. For the same reason also, by the “new heavens” and the “new earth,” spoken of in the Prophets and in Revelation, nothing else is meant than the Lord’s kingdom, and everyone who is a kingdom of the Lord, or in whom the Lord’s kingdom is. That “heaven and earth” signify these things may be seen, as to “heaven,” n. 82, 911; and as to “earth,” n. 82, 620, 636, 913.

[2] That here “God Most High, Possessor of the heavens and earth,” signifies the conjunction in the Lord of the internal man with the interior and exterior man, may be seen from the fact that as to His internal man the Lord was Jehovah Himself; and because the internal man or Jehovah led and instructed the external, as a father his son, therefore relatively to Jehovah He is called, as to the external man, the “Son of God;” but relatively to the mother, He is called the “Son of Man.” The Lord’s internal man, which is Jehovah Himself, is what is here called “God Most High;” and before plenary conjunction or union was effected, it is called “Possessor of the heavens and earth,” that is, Possessor of all things which are in the interior and the exterior man; for these, as before said, are here meant by “the heavens and the earth.”