97. 4. Make this to be heard, utter it even to the end of the earth: Jehovah hath redeemed His servant Jacob. Then they will not thirst; He will lead them in the waste places; He will make the waters to flow out from the rock for them; then He will cleave the rock, that the waters may flow out (Isaiah 48:20-21).

Thus said Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One (Isaiah 49:7).

That all flesh may know that I Jehovah am thy Savior and Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob (Isaiah 49:26).

Jehovah said, Is My hand shortened at all that there is no redemption? or is there no power in Me to deliver? I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering (Isaiah 50:2-3). Redemption is to snatch the good from the evil, and to separate the evil from the good, otherwise the evil would destroy the good.

Art not Thou He who hath made the depth of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? So shall the redeemed of Jehovah return, and they shall come with singing unto Zion, so that the joy of eternity shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away (Isaiah 51:10-11). Redemption is represented by the crossing of the Egyptians through the Red Sea against the children of Israel.

Ye have sold yourselves for naught; so that ye shall not be redeemed by silver (Isaiah 52:3).

Sound ye forth, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for Jehovah hath consoled His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem (Isaiah 52:9).

Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called (Isaiah 54:5).

With the mercy of eternity will I have mercy on thee, said thy Redeemer, Jehovah (Isaiah 54:8).

Then He shall come the Redeemer of Zion (Isaiah 59:20). The combat of the Lord with the hells is treated of (verses 16-19).

That thou mayest know that I, Jehovah, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob (Isaiah 60:16).

They shall call them the people of holiness, the redeemed of Jehovah (Isaiah 62:12). Concerning the New Jerusalem or Church, throughout the chapter.

The combat of the Lord with the hells, and thus the Last Judgment upon the evil who had vastated the church, and thus redemption, is described in Isaiah (63:1-10). Wherefore it is there said, For the day of vengeance is in Mine heart, and the year of My redeemed is come (verse 4). And concerning the redeemed, Surely, they are My people so that He became a Savior for them. Also, The angel of the faces of Jehovah hath freed them, for the sake of His love He hath redeemed them, and carried them all the days of eternity (verses 8-9). Here it is clear that redemption is to subjugate the hells, by fighting with them, and thus the faithful are to be saved, from whom are formed the new heaven and the New Church.

Thou art our Father, Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us; Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer; from everlasting is Thy name (Isaiah 63:16).

90. "'Which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.'" This symbolically means, inwardly in the truths of wisdom and faith.

In the midst means, symbolically, the inmost (nos. 44, 383), here within or inwardly. The Paradise of God symbolizes truths of wisdom and faith. Consequently the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God symbolizes the Lord accompanied by the goodness of love and charity inwardly in the truths of wisdom and faith. Good also exists inwardly within truths, for good is the essence of life, and truth is the consequent expression of life, as we showed many times in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom.

That the Paradise of God is the truth of wisdom and faith is apparent from the symbolic meaning of a garden in the Word. A garden there symbolizes wisdom and intelligence, because trees symbolize the people of the church, and their fruits goods of life. That is what the Garden of Eden symbolizes, for it describes the wisdom of Adam.

[2] The garden of God in Ezekiel has the same meaning:

With your wisdom and your understanding you have gained riches for yourself... You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering... (Ezekiel 28:4, 13)

The subject is Tyre, which symbolizes the church in respect to its concepts of truth and good, thus in respect to its intelligence. Accordingly it is said, "With your wisdom and your understanding you have gained riches for yourself." The precious stones which served as its covering symbolize truths of intelligence.

[3] In the same book:

Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon... The cedars in the garden of God did not hide it... No tree in the garden of God was like it in beauty... All the trees of Eden envied it... in the garden of God. (Ezekiel 31:3, 8-9)

This is said of Egypt and Assyria, because Egypt symbolizes knowledge, and Assyria rationality, which leads to intelligence. A cedar has a similar symbolism.

But because Egypt's rationality led also to a conceit in its own intelligence, therefore it is said of it,

To which of the trees in Eden were you then likened in glory and greatness, when you were brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below, and you lay in the midst of the uncircumcised...? (Ezekiel 31:18)

The uncircumcised are people who lack the goodness of charity.

[4] In Isaiah:

...Jehovah will comfort Zion..., and make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. (Isaiah 51:3)

Zion there is the church. The wilderness and desert are a deficiency of truth and ignorance of it. Eden and the garden of God are wisdom and intelligence.

Wisdom and intelligence are also symbolically meant by a garden in Isaiah 58:11; 61:11, Jeremiah 31:12, Amos 9:14, and Numbers 24:6.

[5] A person of the church is also like a garden in respect to his intelligence when he possesses goodness of love from the Lord, because the spiritual warmth that enlivens him is love, and spiritual light is the resulting intelligence.

People know that these two, warmth and light, cause gardens in the world to bloom. It is the same in heaven. Paradisal gardens are seen in heaven, with trees bearing fruit in accordance with the inhabitants' wisdom that springs from their goodness of love from the Lord. But around people who possess intelligence without the goodness of love, no gardens are seen, but grass, while around those whose faith is divorced from charity, not even grass is seen, but sand.