9315. When Mine angel shall go before thee. That this signifies a life in accordance with the commandments of the Lord, is evident from the signification of “going before thee,” when said of the Lord, who is here the “angel of Jehovah,” as being to teach the commandments of faith and of life, thus also a life in accordance with these commandments (that “to go,” and “to journey,” denote to live, see n. 1293, 3335, 4882, 5493, 5605, 8417, 8420, 8557, 8559); and from the signification of “the angel of Jehovah,” as being the Lord as to the Divine Human (of which above, n. 9303, 9306). That the Lord as to the Divine Human is meant by the “angel,” is because the many angels who appeared before the coming of the Lord into the world were Jehovah Himself in a human form, that is, in the form of an angel. This is very evident from the fact that the angels who appeared were called “Jehovah,” as for instance those who appeared to Abraham and were called “Jehovah” (Genesis 18:1, 13-14, 17, 20, 26, 33); also the angel who appeared to Gideon, of whom we read in Judges, and who also was called “Jehovah” (6:12, 14, 16, 22-24); besides others elsewhere. Jehovah Himself in the human form, or what is the same, in the form of an angel, was the Lord.

[2] At that time His Divine Human appeared as an angel; of which the Lord Himself speaks in John:

Jesus said, Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad. Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am (John 8:56, 58).

Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:5).

That Jehovah could not appear in any other way, is evident also from the words of the Lord in John:

Ye have not heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen His shape (John 5:37).

Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he who is with the Father, he hath seen the Father (John 6:46).

From these passages it may be known what is meant by the Lord from eternity.

[3] The reason why it pleased the Lord to be born a man, was that He might put on the Human actually, and make it Divine, in order to save the human race. Know therefore that the Lord is Jehovah Himself or the Father in a human form, which also the Lord Himself teaches in John:

I and the Father are one (John 10:30).

Jesus said, From henceforth ye have known and have seen the Father; He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:7, 9, 11).

All things that are Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine (John 17:10).

[4] This great mystery is stated in John in these words:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God. All thing were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father. No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath set Him forth (John 1:1-3, 14, 18);

“the Word” denotes the Divine truth which has been revealed to men; and because this could not be revealed except by Jehovah as a Man, that is, except by Jehovah in a human form, thus by the Lord, therefore it is said, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.” It is known in the church that by “the Word” is meant the Lord, because this is plainly said: “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father.” That the Divine truth could not be revealed to men except by Jehovah in a human form, is also clearly stated: “no man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath set Him forth.”

[5] From all this it is evident that the Lord from eternity was Jehovah, or the Father, in a human form; but not yet in the flesh, for an angel has no “flesh.” And because Jehovah or the Father willed to put on the whole human, for the salvation of the human race, therefore He took on the flesh also. Wherefore it is said “God was the Word, and the Word was made flesh.” And in Luke:

Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have (Luke 24:39);

by these words the Lord taught that He was no longer Jehovah under the form of an angel; but that He was Jehovah Man, which is also meant by these words of the Lord:

I came out from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go unto the Father (John 16:28).

(That the Lord when in the world made His Human Divine, see n. 1616, 1725, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2033, 2034, 2083, 2523, 2751, 2798, 3038, 3043, 3212, 3241, 3318, 3637, 3737, 4065, 4180, 4211, 4237, 4286, 4585, 4687, 4692, 4724, 4738, 4766, 5005, 5045, 5078, 5110, 5256, 6373, 6700, 6716, 6849, 6864, 6872, 7014, 7211, 7499, 8547, 8864, 8865, 8878; also that He expelled all the human that was from the mother, until at last He was not the son of Mary, n. 2159, 2649, 2776, 4963, 5157; see especially n. 3704, 4727, 9303, 9306, and what has been shown about these things in the passages cited in n. 9194, 9199)

3813. As regards “flesh,” in the supreme sense it signifies the own of the Lord’s Divine Human, which is Divine good, and in the relative sense it signifies the own of man’s will made alive by the own of the Divine Human, that is, by His Divine good. This own is what is called the heavenly own, which in itself is the Lord’s alone appropriated to those who are in good, and thence in truth. Such an own have the angels who are in the heavens, and men who as to their interiors or as to the spirit are in the Lord’s kingdom. But in the opposite sense, “flesh” signifies the own of man’s will, which in itself is nothing but evil, and not being vivified by the Lord is called “dead,” and thus the man himself is said to be dead.

[2] That in the supreme sense “flesh” is the own of the Lord’s Divine Human, thus His Divine good, is evident from the Lord’s words in John:

Jesus said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eat of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove one with another, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat ? Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you; he that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day; for My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed; he that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him. This is the bread which came down from heaven (John 6:51-56, 58).

That here “flesh” is the own of the Lord’s Divine Human, thus the Divine good, is very evident; and this is what in the Holy Supper is called the “body.” That in the Holy Supper the “body” or “flesh” signifies the Divine good; and the “blood” the Divine truth, may be seen above (n. 1798, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3735); and because “bread and wine” signify the same as “flesh and blood,” namely, “bread,” the Lord’s Divine good, and “wine,” His Divine truth, therefore the latter were enjoined instead of the former. This is the reason why the Lord said, “I am the living bread; the bread which I shall give is My flesh; he that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him; this is the bread which came down from heaven.” (That “to eat” signifies to be communicated, to be conjoined, and to be appropriated, see above, n. 2187, 2343, 3168, 3513, 3596)

[3] The same was represented in the Jewish Church by the ordinance that Aaron, his sons, and they who sacrificed, and others who were clean, might eat the flesh of the sacrifices, and that this was holy (Exodus 12:7-9; 29:30-34; Leviticus 7:15-21; 8:31; Deuteronomy 12:27; 16:4). If therefore an unclean person ate of that flesh, he was to be cut off from his people (Leviticus 7:21). (That these sacrifices were called “bread,” may be seen above, n. 2165.) That “flesh” was called the “flesh of holiness” (Jeremiah 11:15; Haggai 2:12), and the “flesh of the offering which was on the tables in the Lord’s kingdom,” see Ezekiel 40:43, where the new temple is described, by which there is evidently signified the worship of the Lord in His kingdom.

[4] That in the relative sense “flesh” signifies the own of man’s will made alive by the Lord’s Divine good, is evident also from the following passages.

In Ezekiel:

I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit in the midst of you; and I will remove the heart of stone out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26); where the “heart of stone out of their flesh” denotes the will and the own not vivified; and the “heart of flesh,” the will and the own vivified. (That the “heart” is a representative of the good of the will, may be seen above, n. 2930, 3313, 3635) In David:

O God Thou art my God; in the morning I seek Thee; my-soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry land; and I am weary without waters (Psalms 63:1).

Again:

My soul longeth for the courts of Jehovah; my heart and my flesh cry out for joy unto the living God (Psalms 84:2).

[5] In Job:

I have known my Redeemer, He liveth, and at the last He shall rise upon the dust; and afterwards these things shall be encompassed with my skin, and from my flesh I shall see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold; and not another (Job 19:25-27);

to be “encompassed with skin” denotes with the natural, such as man has with him after death (n. 3539); “from the flesh to see God” denotes the own vivified; therefore he says, “whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” As it was known to the ancient ¹ churches that flesh signified man’s own, and as the book of Job is a book of the Ancient Church (see n. 3540), he therefore spoke concerning these things from what is significative, as concerning many other things, in accordance with the custom of that time; so that those who deduce from this passage that the dead body itself shall be collected from the four winds, and shall rise again, are not acquainted with the internal sense of the Word. They who know the internal sense, know that they shall come into the other life with a body, but a purer one; for in the other life there are purer bodies; for they see each other, converse together, and enjoy every sense as in the present body, but in a more exquisite degree. The body which man carries about here on earth is for uses on earth, and therefore consists of bones and flesh; and the body which the spirit carries about in the other life is designed for uses in that life, and does not consist of bones and flesh, but of things which correspond to them (n. 3726).

[6] That in the opposite sense “flesh” signifies the own of man’s will, which in itself is nothing but evil, is evident from the following passages.

In Isaiah:

They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm (Isaiah 9:20).

I will feed their oppressors with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with new wine (Isaiah 49:26).

In Jeremiah:

I will feed them with the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his companion (Jeremiah 19:9).

In Zechariah:

Let those who are left eat everyone the flesh of another (Zech. 11:9).

In Moses:

I will chastise you seven ² times for your sins; and ye shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat (Leviticus 26:28-29).

The own of man’s will, that is, the nature of man, is thus described, for this is nothing else than evil and the derivative falsity; thus is hatred against truths and goods, which is signified by “eating the flesh of his arm, the flesh of sons and daughters, and the flesh of a companion.”

[7] In John:

I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all both free and bond, both small and great (Revelation 19:17-18Ezekiel 39:17-20).

That here by the “flesh of kings, of captains, of mighty men, of horses and of those that sit upon them, of all, both free and bond,” are not signified such things as these, must be evident to everyone; thus that by “flesh” are signified other things which have hitherto been unknown. That evils which are from falsities, and evils from which are falsities, both from the own of man’s will, are signified, is manifest from the several expressions.

[8] As in the internal sense the falsity which results from the own of man’s understanding is “blood”; and as the evil which results from the own of his will is “flesh,” therefore the Lord speaks as follows concerning the man who is to be regenerated:

As many as received, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name; who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

Hence it is that by “flesh” in general is meant every man (see n. 574, 1050); for whether you say man, or man’s own, it is the same thing.

[9] That by “flesh” in the supreme sense is signified the Lord’s Divine Human is manifest from the passage above quoted, and also from this in John:

The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we held His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14).

From this “flesh” all flesh is vivified, that is to say, every man is vivified from the Lord’s Divine Human by the appropriation of His love, which appropriation is signified by “eating the flesh of the Son of man” (John 6:51-58), and by “eating the bread” in the Holy Supper; for the “bread” is the “body” or “flesh” (Matthew 26:26-27).

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