10154. 'And I will be their God' means the Lord's presence and His influx into truth in the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'being their God' as the Lord's presence and His influx into truth - into truth because in the Old Testament Word the Lord is called God where truth is the subject, but Jehovah where good is the subject. This also goes to explain why angels are called gods, because they are recipients of Divine Truth from the Lord, and in addition why in the original language the plural word Elohim is used to denote God; for truths are many but good is one, Matthew 19:16-17.

The Lord is called God where truth is the subject but Jehovah where good is the subject, see 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921, 4287, 4402, 7010, 9167.

Angels are called gods, because they are recipients of Divine Truth from the Lord, 4295, 4402, 7268, 7873, 8192, 8302, 8867, 8941.

In the Word Jehovah means the Lord, see the places referred to in 9373; and in Isaiah He is called explicitly 'Father from eternity' and also 'God',

To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder; His name is called, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of peace. Isaiah 9:6.

And in the same prophet,

A virgin will conceive and bear [a son], and His name will be called Immanuel, that is, God with us. Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23.

The meaning of the words here 'I will be their God' as the Lord's presence and His influx into truth is also evident from the fact that 'I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel' means the Lord's presence and His influx through good. For wherever good is the subject in the Word, so too is truth, on account of the heavenly marriage, which is that of goodness and truth, in every single part of the Word, see the places referred to in 9263, 9314.

2018. That 'I will establish My covenant between Me and you' means union is clear from the meaning of 'a covenant' as union, dealt with already in 665, 666, 1023, 1038. This union has been dealt with above in this chapter and in other places before that, where it has been shown that Jehovah who is the speaker here was within Him, because He was one with Him from the very start of conception and birth. For He was indeed conceived from Jehovah, and therefore His Internal was Jehovah. And in 1999 this has been illustrated by the similarity that exists with man; that is to say, his soul is one with his body, or his internal one with his external, even though they are quite distinct and separate from each other. Sometimes they are so distinct that one is in conflict with the other, as normally happens in times of temptation when the internal reproaches the external and wishes to cast out the evil that is within the external; nevertheless they are joined together or are one since soul and body both belong to the same person. Take for example a person whose thought is something other than what is expressed in his looks, speech, and actions. In his case that which is more interior is at variance with that which is external; yet the two make one, for the thought is just as much part of that person as the external is to which looks, speech, and actions belong. Union exists however when the latter - looks, speech, and action - are in agreement with the thought. So much for these remarks added by way of illustration.