7035. 'Israel is My son, My firstborn' means that those guided and governed by spiritual truth and good have been adopted. This is clear from the meaning of 'son', when used by Jehovah or the Lord to speak of those who belong to the spiritual Church, as one who has been adopted, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'firstborn' as the faith that is wedded to charity, which the spiritual Church possesses, dealt with in 367, 2475, 3725, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930; and from the representation of 'Israel' as the spiritual Church, dealt with in 6637. 'Israel is My son, My firstborn' means that those guided and governed by spiritual truth and good - that is, those belonging to the spiritual Church - have been adopted and so recognized as sons because the Lord saved them by His Coming into the world, see 6854, 6914. For this reason also, as well as by virtue of their faith in the Lord, they are called 'the firstborn son'; and they are the ones who are meant by the Lord in John,

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one Shepherd. John 10:16.

2475. Until now nobody has known what the state of souls is after death as regards memory. From considerable and daily experience extending over many years now I have been given to know that after death man loses not one tiny part of what is lodged in the two memories - neither things that have been lodged in the exterior memory nor those in the interior. So true is this that nothing can ever be considered too insignificant or too tiny for man not to have it within him. Absolutely nothing is left behind after death therefore apart from flesh and bones which during his lifetime were vitalized not of themselves but from the life of his spirit whose purer substance was linked to the things of the body.