Arcana Coelestia # 3016
3016. 'Abraham, being old, was advanced in years' means when the state was reached in which the Lord's Human could become Divine. This is clear from the representation of 'Abraham' as the Lord, dealt with in 1893, 1965, 1989, 2011, 2172, 2198, 2501, 2833, 2836, and many times elsewhere; from the meaning of 'old' or old age as casting off what is human and putting on what is heavenly, dealt with in 1854, 2198, and when it has reference to the Lord, putting on what is Divine; and from the meaning of 'day' as state, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, and therefore from the meaning of 'advanced in years' as the point when a state has been reached. The reason why 'old' and 'advanced in years' mean these things is that with angels the notion of old age does not exist, nor that of getting older, meant by 'advanced in years', only the notion of state as regards the life that is theirs. Consequently when getting older or old age is mentioned in the Word the angels present with man can have no other idea than that of the state of life that is theirs or that is men's as they pass through the different stages of life until they reach the last, that is to say, as they accordingly cast off what is human and put on what is heavenly. For man's life from infancy to old age is nothing else than an advance from the world towards heaven, the last stage of which is death and the actual transition from one life to the next. Burial therefore is also resurrection since the casting-off process is completed then, 2916, 2917. Such being the idea that angels have, nothing else can be meant by 'advanced in years' and by 'old age' in the internal sense - the sense which exists primarily for angels and for men who have minds like those of angels.
Mark 16
1
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him.
2
Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.
3
They were saying among themselves, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?"
4
for it was very big. Looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back.
5
Entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were amazed.
6
He said to them, "Don't be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold, the place where they laid him!
7
But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you.'"
8
They went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come on them. They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid.
9
Now when he had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
10
She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
11
When they heard that he was alive, and had been seen by her, they disbelieved.
12
After these things he was revealed in another form to two of them, as they walked, on their way into the country.
13
They went away and told it to the rest. They didn't believe them, either.
14
Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they didn't believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
15
He said to them, "Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation.
16
He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
17
These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages;
18
they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
19
So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
20
They went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.
