9429. And the glory of Jehovah tarried upon Mount Sinai. That this signifies the interior things of the Word of the Lord in heaven, is evident from the signification of “the glory of Jehovah,” when said of the Word, as being its internal sense, thus the interior things of the Word (see the preface to Genesis 18, [2135] and n. 5922); and from the signification of “Mount Sinai,” as being Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, and consequently heaven (of which above, n. 9420, 9427). That the interior things of the Word are called “glory” is because the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord as a sun is the light in heaven which gives sight to the angels there, and at the same time intelligence and wisdom (n. 1531, 1619-1632, 2776, 3138, 3167, 3190, 3195, 3339, 3341, 3636, 3643, 3862, 3993, 4302, 4415, 4527, 5400, 6313, 6608, 6905, 6907, 8644, 8707, 8861). From this Divine light is all the glory in heaven, which is such as to surpass all human apprehension. From this it is plain why the internal sense of the Word is meant by “glory;” for the internal sense of the Word is the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord in heaven, thus is the light from which is all the glory there.

[2] This is meant by “glory” in many passages of the Word, as that they should “see the Son of man in a cloud with glory” (Matthew 24:30; Luke 21:27); and that the Lord, after He had suffered, was to “enter into His glory” (Luke 24:26); that “when He should come in His glory, He would sit upon the throne of His glory” (Matthew 25:31), where “to sit upon the throne of glory” denotes to judge from the Divine truth which is from Himself; also that “Moses and Elias were seen in glory” (Luke 9:30-31); that “Moses and Elias” here denote the Word, see the preface to Genesis 18, and n. 2762, 5247, 9372. The same is also meant by the “glorification” of the Lord, in John: “Now hath the Son of man been glorified, and God hath been glorified in Him. God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him” (John 13:31-32); “to be glorified in God” denotes to become Divine good, from which is Divine truth. In like manner in John 12:38.

[3] By “glory” is signified the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord such as it is in heaven, also in the following passages, in Isaiah:

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah. And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see together (Isaiah 40:3, 5 (Isaiah 40:6));

treating of the coming of the Lord; where “the glory of Jehovah which shall be revealed” denotes the Divine truth. That the Lord is this truth, because it is from Him, is manifest in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.

In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. He was the true light. And the Word was made flesh, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only begotten of the Father (John 1:1, 4, 9, 14).

Here “the Word” denotes the Divine truth; in like manner “the light;” from which it is plain what is meant by “beholding His glory.” That the Lord did not appear in any other glory in the world, except when He was transfigured, is known.

[4] In like manner in another passage in John:

These things said Isaiah, when he saw His glory, and spoke of Him. But they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me may not remain in the darkness (John 12:41, 43, 46);

here also the “glory of the Lord,” and the “glory of God,” denote the Divine truth, and the “glory of men” denotes falsity.

In Isaiah:

Shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee. . . . Jehovah shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. . . . The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee . . . to adorn the place of My sanctuary. . . . Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon wane; for Jehovah shall be unto thee for a light of eternity (Isaiah 60).

It is evident that the subject here treated of is the Lord’s coming, His kingdom, heaven, and the church. The Divine truth proceeding from His Divine Human is described in this whole chapter, and is called, “light,” “honor,” and “glory.”

[5] In Isaiah:

They shall fear the name of Jehovah from the setting of the sun, and His glory from the rising of the sun. The Redeemer shall come to Zion (Isaiah 59:19-20);

here also the Lord is treated of; “the name of Jehovah” denotes all the truth of faith and good of love from which is worship (n. 2724, 3006, 6674, 9310). In Isaiah:

I have called thee in righteousness, and I will give thee for a covenant to the people, for a light of the Gentiles. I am Jehovah; this is My name; and My glory will I not give to another (Isaiah 42:6, 8);

here also treating of the Lord, where “a light of the Gentiles” denotes the Divine truth which is from Him; “not to give His glory to another,” denotes that this Divine truth proceeds from no other than the Lord, who is one with Jehovah. As also in the same:

For Mine own sake, for Mine own sake, will I do it, and My glory will I not give to another (Isaiah 48:11).

[6] In like manner elsewhere in Isaiah:

Thy light shall break forth as the dawn; thy righteousness shall walk before thee; the glory of Jehovah shall gather thee (Isaiah 58:8).

He shall come to gather together all nations and tongues; that they may come, and see My glory (Isaiah 66:18).

Jehovah Zebaoth shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before the elders shall be His glory (Isaiah 24:23).

Jehovah said, I live; and all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah (Numbers 14:20-21).

In these passages the Lord is treated of, and the “glory” denotes the Divine truth that is from Him.

[7] In Isaiah:

I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. Above Him stood the seraphim. And one cried unto another, Holy, holy, holy, Jehovah Zebaoth, the fullness of all the earth is His glory (Isaiah 6:1-3).

The heavens recount the glory of God (Psalms 19:1).

That the nations may fear the name of Jehovah, and the kings of the earth Thy glory; in that Jehovah hath built up Zion, and hath appeared in His glory (Psalms 102:15-16).

The glory of God shall enlighten the Holy Jerusalem, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof. And the nations that are saved shall walk in her light; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into it (Revelation 21:23-24).

“The holy Jerusalem” denotes the New Church; “the glory of God,” the Divine truth from the Lord therein; in like manner “her light in which they shall walk;” “the kings of the earth who shall bring their glory,” denote those who are in truths from good (n. 2015, 2069, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148). From all this it can now be seen what is signified by “the glory of Jehovah which tarried upon Mount Sinai” (see also n. 8427).

4527. I have spoken with some a few days after their decease, and who being recently arrived were in a light which to them differed but little from the light of this world, which caused them to doubt whether they had the light from any other source. They were therefore taken up into the entrance of heaven, where there was a light still clearer; and speaking with me from there, they said that they had never seen such a light; and yet this occurred after our sunset. They then wondered that spirits have eyes wherewith to see, and yet during their bodily life they had believed that the life of spirits is mere thought, abstracted from any subject, for they had not been able to think of any subject of thought because they had not seen it. And this being the case, they had imagined that as the spirit is mere thought it must be dissipated, like some breath of air or some fire, together with the body that had contained it, unless it were miraculously held together and kept in existence by the Lord. And they then saw how easily the learned fall into error regarding the life after death, and that above all others they believe nothing but what they see. They wondered therefore, not merely that they can think, but also that they can see, and enjoy all the other senses, and still more that they appear to themselves exactly like men, and see, hear, and converse with one another, and feel their own members by touch, and this more exquisitely than in the life of the body. At this they fell into amazement, that men living in this world know nothing of this, and they pitied the human race for their ignorance of such things consequent on their unbelief in them, and especially did they pity those who have more light than others, namely, those who are within the church and have the Word.

[2] Some of them had believed that after death men would be like ghosts, in which opinion they had confirmed themselves from the specters of which they had heard, but in regard to which they had imagined that such a specter must be some gross principle of life, which first exhales from the body’s life, but afterwards sinks back again into the corpse, and is thus extinguished. Some however had believed that they would not rise again until the time of the last judgment when the world would be destroyed, and they would then rise again with the body, which, though fallen into dust, would then be gathered together, and they would thus rise again with their bones and flesh. And as that last judgment or destruction of the world had been waited for in vain for many centuries, they had fallen into the error that they would never rise again; never thinking of what they had learned from the Word, and from which they had also sometimes spoken, saying that when a man dies his soul is in the hand of God, among the happy or the unhappy according to the life which he had made habitual to himself; nor thinking of what the Lord said about the rich man and Lazarus. But they were instructed that the last judgment of everyone is when he dies; and that he then appears to himself endowed with a body as in the world, and enjoys as here every sense, only more pure and exquisite because bodily things no longer stand in the way, and the things of the light of the world no longer darken those of the light of heaven; thus that they are as it were in a purified body, and that in the other life one could not possibly carry about a body of bones and flesh such as he had in the world, because this would be to be again encompassed with the dust of the earth.

[3] I have spoken on this subject with some on the very day their bodies were being entombed, who saw through my eyes their own corpse, the bier, and the funeral ceremony; and they said that they reject that body, which had served them for uses in the world in which they had been, and that they are now living in a body which serves them for uses in the world in which they are now. They also desired me to tell these things to their relatives who were mourning; but it was given me to reply, that if I should do so they would scoff, because that which they could not see with their own eyes they would believe to be nothing, and would set down as delusive visions. For men cannot be brought to believe that just as they see one another with their eyes, so spirits see one another with theirs; and that a man can only see spirits with the eyes of his own spirit, and that he sees them when the Lord opens his internal sight, as was done to the prophets, who saw spirits and angels, and also many things in heaven; and there is room for doubt whether those now living would have believed these things if they had lived at that time.