3235. And Abraham added, and took a woman. That this signifies another state of the Lord, whom Abraham represents, and that Abraham and Sarah represented the Lord as to the Divine celestial, and Abraham and Keturah as to the Divine spiritual, is evident from the things hitherto said and shown concerning Abraham and Sarah his wife, and from those here related concerning Abraham and Keturah. But as it is said that Abraham here represents another state of the Lord, and that Abraham and Sarah represented the Lord as to the Divine celestial, but Abraham and Keturah the Lord as to the Divine spiritual, it should be known what the Divine celestial is, and what the Divine spiritual.

[2] The Divine celestial and the Divine spiritual are such in respect to those who receive the Divine of the Lord, for the Lord appears to everyone according to the nature of him who receives, as may be seen from what has been said above (n. 1838, 1861), and is clearly manifest from the fact that the Lord appears in one way to the celestial, but in another to the spiritual; for to the celestial He appears as a sun, but to the spiritual as a moon (n. 1529-1531, 1838). The Lord appears to the celestial as a sun, because they are in celestial love, that is, in love to the Lord; but to the spiritual as a moon, because they are in spiritual love, that is, in charity toward the neighbor. The difference is like that between the light of the sun in the daytime and the light of the moon by night; it is also like the difference between the heat of the one and the heat of the other, from which springs vegetation. This is what is meant in the first chapter of Genesis by the words:

And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night (Genesis 1:16).

[3] Speaking generally, the Lord’s kingdom is both celestial and spiritual; that is, it consists of those who are celestial, and of those who are spiritual. And it is because the Divine of the Lord appears to the celestial as celestial, and to the spiritual as spiritual, that it is here said that Abraham and Sarah represented the Lord as to the Divine celestial, and that Abraham and Keturah represented Him as to the Divine spiritual. But as scarcely any know what the celestial is and what the spiritual, or who the celestial and the spiritual are, see what has already been said and shown concerning them, namely: What the celestial is, and what the spiritual (n. 1155, 1577, 1824, 2048, 2184, 2227, 2507): Who are celestial and who are spiritual (n. 2088, 2669, 2708, 2715): That the celestial man is a likeness of the Lord and does good from love, and the spiritual man is an image of the Lord and does good from faith (n. 50-52, 1013): That the celestial perceive truth from good, and that they never reason concerning truth (n. 202, 337, 607, 895, 1121, 2715): That in the celestial man good is implanted in his will part, but in the spiritual man it is implanted in his intellectual part, and that in this part a new will is created in those who are spiritual (n. 863, 875, 895, 897, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256): That the celestial from good itself see indefinite things, but that the spiritual, because they reason whether a thing is so, cannot attain to the first boundary of the light of the celestial (n. 2718): That the spiritual are in relative obscurity (n. 1043, 2708, 2715): That the Lord came into the world in order to save the spiritual (n. 2661, 2716, 2833, 2834).

1023. And I, behold, I establish My covenant. That this signifies the presence of the Lord in charity, is evident from the signification of “covenant” as shown above n. 666), where it was shown that a “covenant” signifies regeneration, and indeed the conjunction of the Lord with the regenerate man by love; and that the heavenly marriage is that veriest covenant itself, and consequently so is the heavenly marriage with every regenerate man. This marriage or covenant has been treated of before. With the man of the Most Ancient Church the heavenly marriage was in the Own of his will part, but with the man of the Ancient Church the heavenly marriage was effected in the Own of his intellectual part. For when man’s will part had become wholly corrupt, the Lord miraculously separated the Own of his intellectual part from that corrupt Own of his will part, and in the Own of his intellectual part He formed a new will, which is conscience, and into the conscience insinuated charity, and into the charity innocence, and thus conjoined Himself with man, or what is the same, made a covenant with him. So far as the Own of man’s will part can be separated from this Own of the intellectual part, the Lord can be present with him, or conjoin Himself, or enter into a covenant with him. Temptations and the like means of regeneration cause the Own of man’s will part to be quiescent, to become as nothing, and as it were to die. So far as this is done the Lord through conscience implanted in the Own of man’s intellectual part can work in charity. And this is what is here called a “covenant.”