9405. 'And they saw the God of Israel' means the Lord's coming and presence in the Word. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing', when it has reference to the Lord, as His coming and presence, dealt with in 4198, 6893. The fact that 'the God of Israel' means the Lord is clear from all those places in the Word where the expressions 'the Holy One of Israel' and 'the God of Israel' are used, see 7091. 'The God of Israel' is the God of the spiritual Church, since 'Israel' means that Church, dealt with immediately above in 9404. The Lord's coming and presence in the Word is what is meant by 'they saw the God of Israel' because the laws declared from Mount Sinai mean in a broad sense the whole of Divine Truth, thus the Word in every single part, 6752, 9401. The reason why the Lord's coming and presence in the Word is meant is that the Word is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and what emanates from the Lord is the Lord Himself. Consequently those who read the Word and at the same time look to the Lord, acknowledging that all truth and all good come from Him, and none whatever from themselves, receive enlightenment; they see truth and perceive good from the Word. That enlightenment is provided by the light of heaven, a light which is Divine Truth itself flowing from the Lord. For this Truth manifests itself before the eyes of angels in heaven as light, see 2776, 3195, 3339, 3636, 3643, 3862, 3993, 4302, 4413, 4415, 5400, 6032, 6313, 6608.

[2] The Lord's coming and presence in the Word is also meant by 'seeing the Son of Man' in Matthew,

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matthew 24:30.

See 4060. 'Cloud' is the literal sense of the Word, and 'power and glory' its internal sense. The literal sense of the Word is called 'cloud' because that sense exists in the light of the world, whereas the internal sense is called 'glory' because this sense exists in the light of heaven, see Preface to Genesis 18, and 5922, 6343 (end), 6752, 8106, 8267, 8427, 8443, 8781, in addition to which the only subject in the internal sense of the Word is the Lord, and His kingdom and Church. This is what accounts for the holiness of the Word, and also for the Lord's coming to and presence with those who, as they read the Word, have in mind the Lord and the neighbour - the neighbour being the good of fellow citizen, country, the Church, and heaven, 6818-6824, 8123 - and not themselves, as stated above. He comes to them and is present with them because they allow themselves to be raised by the Lord into the light of heaven, unlike others who do not allow themselves to be so raised because they have their minds firmly fixed on self and the world. All this shows what is meant in the Word by seeing the Lord.

2776. 'Offer him as a burnt offering' means that He was to sanctify Himself to the Divine. This is clear from the representation of 'a burnt offering' among the Hebrew nation, and in the Jewish Church, as the holiest act of their worship. There were burnt offerings and there were sacrifices, and as regards what these represented, see 922, 923, 1823, 2180. Sanctifications were effected by means of burnt offerings and sacrifices, and that is why in this verse 'offering a burnt offering' means being sanctified to the Divine. For the Lord sanctified Himself to the Divine, that is, He united the Human to the Divine by means of the conflicts brought about by temptations, and by means of the victories in these, see 1663, 1690, 1692 (end), 1692, 1737, 1787, 1812, 1813, 1820.

[2] It is generally believed at the present day that the burnt offerings and sacrifices were signs of the Lord's passion, and that by His passion the Lord atoned for the iniquities of all. Indeed it is believed that He drew away those iniquities on to Himself, and thus bore them Himself, so that those who believe are made righteous and are saved, if only they think, even in the last hour prior to death, that the Lord suffered on their behalf, no matter how they may have lived throughout the whole course of their lives. But such beliefs are mistaken. The passion of the Cross was the utmost degree of temptation endured by the Lord, by means of which He fully united the Human to the Divine and the Divine to the Human, and by doing this glorified Himself. That union itself is the means by which people possessing faith in Him that is grounded in charity are able to be saved. For the Supreme Divine Itself was no longer able to reach the human race which had removed itself so far away from the celestial things of love, and from the spiritual things of faith, that people did not even recognize them any more, let alone perceive them. Consequently to enable the Supreme Divine to come down to all such as this, the Lord came into the world and united the Human to the Divine within Himself. This union could not have been effected except by means of the very severe conflicts brought about by temptations and by means of victories in these, and at length by means of the final temptation, which was that of the Cross.

[3] As a result of this the Lord is able from the Divine Human to enlighten human minds, even those that are quite remote from the celestial things of love, provided that faith grounded in charity is present in them. For in the next life the Lord appears to celestial angels as the Sun, and to spiritual angels as the Moon, 1053, 1521, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495 - all the light of heaven flowing from Him. The light of heaven is such that when it enlightens the eyes of spirits and angels it also at the same time enlightens their understanding. This ability to enlighten the understanding also exists inherently within that light, so that the amount of internal light, that is, of understanding, which anyone possesses in heaven is the same as the amount of external light he has. This shows the way in which the light of heaven is different from the light of the world. It is the Lord's Divine Human that enlightens both the eyes and the understanding of those who are spiritual, but this could never be done unless the Lord had united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence. And unless He had united them neither men in the world, nor indeed any spiritual angel in heaven, would any longer have possessed any ability to understand or to perceive that which is good or true. Nor thus would they have possessed any blessedness and happiness at all, nor consequently any salvation at all. From this it becomes clear that the human race could not have been saved unless the Lord had assumed the Human and glorified it.

[4] From what has now been stated anyone may decide for himself the truth or otherwise of the idea that people are saved, no matter how they may have lived, if only they think from some inner emotion that the Lord suffered on their behalf and bore their sins. But in reality the light of heaven received from the Lord's Divine Human is able to reach none except those with whom there exists the good that accompanies faith, that is, who lead charitable lives, or what amounts to the same, who possess conscience. The level itself into which that light can operate, that is, the receptacle for that light, is the good that accompanies faith, which is charity and thus conscience. That those who are spiritual have salvation from the Lord's Divine Human, see 1043, 2661, 2716, 2718.