252. And will sup with him, and he with Me, signifies communicating to them the felicities of heaven. This is evident from the signification of "supping," as being to communicate the goods of heaven. "To sup" means to communicate, because "banquets," "feasts," "dinners," and "suppers" in the Word signify consociations by love, and thus a communication of love's delights, for all delights are of love. These things derive their signification from that of bread and of wine, which signify the good of love, celestial and spiritual; and from that of eating together, which signifies communication and appropriation. This was formerly signified by the paschal supper, and is at this day signified by the holy supper (See above, n. 146); and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 210-222). Mention is made of "supping," because weddings were celebrated at supper time, and weddings signify the conjunction of good and truth, and the consequent communication of delights. It is therefore said in Revelation:

Blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9);

and afterwards:

Come and be gathered together unto the supper of the great God (Revelation 19:17).

[2] As suppers signify consociations by love, and consequent communication of delights, therefore the Lord compared the church and heaven to a "supper," and also to a "wedding;" to a "supper" in Luke:

The master of the house made a great supper, and bade many; but all those that were called excused themselves. Therefore, being angry, he ordered his servant to bring in the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind; saying of those called, that none of them should taste of the supper (Luke 14:16-24).

(Nearly the same is meant by the wedding to which invitations were given in Matthew 22:1-15.) "Supper" here means heaven and the church; "those called who excused themselves" mean the Jews with whom the church then was; for the church specifically is where the Word is, and where the Lord is known through the Word. "The poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind," mean those who are spiritually such, and who were then outside the church. Heaven and the church are here likened to "a supper" and to "a wedding," because heaven is the conjunction of angels with the Lord by love, and their consociation among themselves by charity, and the consequent communication of all delights and felicities; the like is true of the church, since the church is the Lord's heaven on the earth. (That heaven is the conjunction of the angels with the Lord by love, and also their mutual consociation by charity, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 13-19, and a consequent communication of all delights and felicities, n. 396-400)

[3] In the Word it is said in many places that in heaven they will "eat together;" and this means in the spiritual sense that they are to enjoy blessedness and felicity; thus "eating together" has here a like significance as "supping." Thus in Luke:

They shall come from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and shall recline to eat in the kingdom of God (Luke 13:29).

And in Matthew:

Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline to eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of the heavens (Matthew 8:11).

Those who are to "come from the east, the west, the north and the south," are all who are in the good of love, and in the truths of faith therefrom. (That the "four quarters" in the Word have such a signification, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell. n. 141-153: that "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," mean the Lord in respect to the Divine Itself and the Divine Human,Arcana Coelestia 1893, 4615, 6098, 6185, 6276, 6804, 6847; consequently "to recline to eat with them" means to be conjoined with the Lord, and to be consociated one to another by love, and by such conjunction and consociation to enjoy eternal blessedness and felicity, and this from the Lord alone.)

[4] In Luke:

Jesus said, Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and be ye yourselves like unto men waiting for their Lord when He shall return from the wedding, that when He cometh and knocketh they may open unto Him. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching; verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to recline to eat, and drawing near, He will minister to them (Luke 12:35).

"The loins that are to be girded" mean the good of love (Arcana Coelestia 3021[1-8], 4280, 9961); "the lamps that are to be burning" signify the truths of faith from the good of love (Arcana Coelestia 9548, 9551, 9783); "girding Himself, making them to recline to eat, and ministering to them," signifies to bestow upon them every good.

[5] In the same:

Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations; I appoint unto you, even as My Father hath appointed unto Me, a kingdom, that ye may eat and drink at My table in the kingdom (Luke 22:28-30).

"To eat and drink at the Lord's table in the kingdom of God" is to be conjoined to the Lord by love and faith, and to enjoy heavenly blessedness.

[6] In Matthew:

Jesus said, I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this product of the vine, until that day when I will drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom (Matthew 26:29).

These words were spoken by the Lord after He instituted the Holy Supper; and "the product of the vine" signifies Divine truth from Divine good, and blessedness and felicity therefrom.

[7] The signification of "feast" is like that of "supper," in Isaiah:

In this mountain shall Jehovah make unto all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees (Isaiah 25:6);

here the coming of the Lord is treated of, and "a feast of fat things" signifies the appropriation and communication of goods, and "a feast of wines on the lees," or the best wine, the appropriation of truths. (That "fat things" signify the goods of love, see Arcana Coelestia 353, 5943, 10033; and also the delights of love, n. 6409; and that "wine" signifies the good of charity, which in its essence is truth, n. 1071, 1798, 6377)

[8] The "wedding to which the ten virgins were invited" has a like meaning, of which in Matthew:

The kingdom of the heavens is like unto ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were prudent, and five were foolish. The foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them; but the prudent took oil in their vessels with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept. But at midnight a cry arose, Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the prudent, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are going out. But the prudent answered, saying, Peradventure there will not be enough for us and you; go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. Afterward came the other virgins, saying, lord, lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say to you, I know you not (Matthew 25:1-12).

This treats of conjunction with the Lord by love and faith; this the "wedding" moreover signifies; "oil" signifies the good of love, and "lamps" the truth of faith. To make clear that in every particular that the Lord spoke there is a spiritual sense, I will lay open the particulars of the spiritual sense of this parable. "The kingdom of the heavens," to which the ten virgins are likened, means heaven and the church; "the ten virgins" signify all who are of the church ("ten" all, and "virgins" those who are in the affection of spiritual truth and good, which affection constitutes the church), therefore "Zion" and "Jerusalem," by which the church is signified, are called in the Word "virgins," as "the virgin Zion," and "the virgin Jerusalem," and in Revelation it is said that "virgins follow the Lamb." "The lamps that they took to go forth to meet the bridegroom" signify the truths of faith; "the bridegroom" means the Lord in respect to conjunction with heaven and the church by love and faith; for "a wedding" is treated of, which signifies that conjunction. "The five prudent virgins" and "the five foolish" signify those of the church who are in faith from love, and those who are in faith apart from love (the same as "the prudent and foolish" in Matthew 7:24, 26). "Midnight, when the cry arose," signifies the Last Judgment, and in general the end of man's life, when he will be adjudged either to heaven or to hell; "the foolish virgins then saying to the prudent, Give us of your oil, and the prudent answering that they should go to them who sell," signifies the state of all after death-that those who have not the good of love in faith, or the truth of faith from the good of love, then wish to acquire it for themselves, but in vain, since such as man's life has been in the world such he remains. From this it is clear what is signified by "the prudent virgins" going in to the marriage, and that the foolish who said, "Lord, Lord, open to us," received for answer, "Verily I say unto you, I know you not." "I know you not" signifies that the Lord was not conjoined to them, since spiritual love conjoins, and not faith without love; for the Lord has His abode with those who are in love, and in faith therefrom, and these He knows because He Himself is there.

6804. 'And God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob' means on account of being joined to the Church through the Lord's Divine Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'the covenant' as a joining together, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob', with whom a covenant had been made, as the Lord's Divine Human. 'Abraham' represents the Lord in respect of the Divine itself, 'Isaac' in respect of the Divine Rational, and 'Jacob' in respect of the Divine Natural, see 1893, 2011, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 3194, 3210, 3245, 3251, 3305 (end), 3439, 4538, 4570, 4615, 6098, 6185, 6276, 6425. When Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are mentioned in the Word those patriarchs are not meant in the spiritual sense, as may be recognized from the consideration that names never pass through into heaven. Only what is really meant by the people who are referred to - real things, the essential nature of real things, and the states of real things, that is to say, aspects of the Church, of the Lord's kingdom, and of the Lord Himself - passes through.

[2] But in addition to this the angels in heaven never fix their thoughts on specific persons; that would restrict their thoughts and remove them from that all-inclusive perception of real things that lies behind angelic speech. This explains why the things that the angels in heaven say are indescribable, far surpassing human thought, whose range does not extend to seeing things in their totality but is restricted to particular aspects. When one reads therefore in Matthew 8:11 that many will come from the east and the west and recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, the angels perceive the Lord's presence and the way people make the truth and goodness emanating from His Divine Human their own. Also when one reads in Luke 16:22 that Lazarus was carried into Abraham's bosom, the angels perceive that he was carried into heaven, where the Lord is present. This too goes to show that 'a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' means in the internal sense being joined through the Lord's Divine Human.

[3] The fact that the Divine Human is 'a covenant', that is, the actual joining together, may be seen from many places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

I will give You as a covenant of the people', a light of the nations. Isaiah 42:6.

In the same prophet,

I have given You as a covenant of the people, ¹ to restore the land, to share out the devastated inheritances. Isaiah 49:8.

In the same prophet,

Incline your ear and come to Me; hear, and let your soul live. So will I make with you an eternal covenant, even the sure mercies of David. Lo, I have given Him as a witness to the peoples, a prince and lawgiver to the peoples. ² Isaiah 55:3-4.

In Malachi,

Suddenly there comes to His temple the Lord whom you seek, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming. Malachi 3:1

In the second Book of Samuel,

He has established an eternal covenant for Me, to be set in order for all and to be kept safe. 2 Samuel 23:5.

[4] These places plainly refer to the Lord and to the joining of the human race to the Lord's Divine Being itself through His Divine Human. In respect of His Divine Human the Lord is the Mediator, and no one can come to the Divine Being itself within the Lord, called the Father, except through the Son, that is, the Divine Human, as is well known in the Church. Thus the Lord in respect of His Divine Human is the actual joining together. Can anyone in his thought begin to comprehend the Divine Being itself? And if he cannot do this in thought how can he be joined to the Divine itself in love? But the Divine Human anyone can comprehend in thought and be joined to in love.

[5] The meaning of 'a covenant' as a joining together may be seen in the fact that covenants between countries join them together. They are bargains made by both parties which must be kept if their alliance is to remain intact. These bargains or agreements are also called a covenant. On man's side the bargains or agreements that are called 'a covenant' in the Word are in a restricted sense the ten commandments or the Decalogue. In a wider sense they are all the statutes, orders, laws, testimonies, and commandments that the Lord decreed from Mount Sinai through Moses; and in an even wider sense they are the Books of Moses. The contents of these books were what the children of Israel were required on their side to carry out. On the Lord's side it is mercy and election.

[6] The ten commandments or the Decalogue are a covenant.

This is clear from the following places: In Moses,

Jehovah declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the ten words which He wrote on two tablets of stone. Deuteronomy 4:13, 23.

And since the two tablets of stone on which the ten commandments had been written were placed in the ark, Exodus 25:16, 21, 22, 31:18; 32:15, 16, 19; 40:20, the ark was called the ark of the covenant, Deuteronomy 31:9, 24-26; Joshua 3:3, 6, 14; 4:7; Judges 20:27; 2 Samuel 15:24; 1 Kings 8:21. In the last of these references Solomon says,

I have made a place there for the ark, where there is the covenant of Jehovah which He made with our fathers.

And in John,

The temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. Revelation 11:19.

[7] All the judgements and statutes which the Lord commanded the people of Israel through Moses are called a covenant; so too are the actual Books of Moses. In Moses,

According to the tenor ³ of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. Exodus 34:27.

What are called a covenant here were many regulations regarding sacrifices, feasts, and unleavened bread. In the same author,

Moses took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people, who said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear. Exodus 24:7-8.

In the second Book of Kings,

Josiah the king of Judah read before them all in the house of Jehovah the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of Jehovah. And he made a covenant before Jehovah, to establish the words of the covenant that were written in that book. And all the people took a stand on the covenant. The king commanded all the people to keep the Passover to Jehovah their God, in accordance with what was written in the book of the covenant. 2 Kings 23:2-3, 21.

In David,

If your sons keep My covenant and My testimony which I have taught them, their sons also will sit even forever on your throne. Psalms 132:12.

[8] A covenant is a joining together through love and faith.

In Jeremiah,

Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, in which I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, for they made My covenant invalid. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put My law in the midst of them, and will write it on their heart, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Jeremiah 31:31-33.

'Putting the law in their midst, and writing it on their heart' is endowing with faith and charity, faith and charity being the means by which the joining together described by 'I will be their God, and they will be My people' is effected. In the same prophet,

I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not any more turn away from them, and I will do good to them. But I will put My fear into their heart so that they do not depart from Me. Jeremiah 32:40.

A joining together through love, which is a covenant, is meant by 'I will put My fear into their heart so that they do not depart from Me'.

[9] In Ezekiel,

I will make with them a covenant of peace; it will be an eternal covenant with them. And I will bless ⁴ them and will multiply them, and I will set a sanctuary in their midst, and it will be My dwelling-place among them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Ezekiel 37:26-27.

Here a joining together through love and faith, which are a covenant, is described by 'a sanctuary in their midst' and 'dwelling-place among them', and by 'I will be their God, and they will be My people'. In the same prophet,

When I passed by you and saw you, behold, it was your time, the time of love; ⁵ and I entered into a covenant with you, so that you would be Mine. Ezekiel 16:8.

This refers to Jerusalem, by which the Ancient Church is meant, 'entering into a covenant, so that you would be Mine' plainly being a marriage or spiritual joining together. Since 'a covenant' means a joining together a wife is also called in Malachi 2:14 the wife of a covenant, while a joining together that exists among brothers is called in Amos 1:9 a covenant of brothers. 'A covenant' is also used in David to mean a joining together,

I have made a covenant with My chosen one, I have sworn to David My servant. Psalms 89:3.

[10] The agreement in a covenant on the Lord's side is mercy and election. This is clear in David,

All the ways of Jehovah are mercy and truth to those keeping His covenant and His testimonies. Psalms 25:10.

In Isaiah,

The mountains will depart and the hills be removed, but My mercy will not depart from you, nor the covenant of My peace be removed, said Jehovah, who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54:10.

In Moses,

Jehovah your God, He is God, the faithful God keeping covenant and mercy with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to the thousandth generation. Deuteronomy 7:9, 11.

In the same author,

If you keep My covenant, you will be to Me a peculiar treasure from among all peoples. Exodus 19:5.

In the same author,

I will have regard for you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and confirm My covenant with you. Leviticus 26:9.

'Having regard for them' is viewing with mercy. 'Making them fruitful and multiplying them' is endowing with charity and faith, and those endowed with them are called 'the elect'. Thus the words used here have to do with election and so do those which say that they will be 'a peculiar treasure'.

[11] In the representative Church they also had signs of the covenant. These served to remind people of the joining together. Circumcision was one such sign, Genesis 17:11; for circumcision was a sign meaning purification from filthy loves. After these loves are removed, heavenly love is introduced, through which a joining together is effected. The sabbath too is called an eternal covenant, Exodus 31:16; and of the loaves of the presence it is said that to the children of Israel they should be for an eternal covenant, Leviticus 24:8-9. Blood in particular was a sign, as is clear in Moses,

Moses took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people, who said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear. Then Moses took the blood of the sacrifice of a peace-offering and sprinkled it over the people, and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant which Jehovah has made with you, upon all these words. Exodus 24:7-8.

In Zechariah,

Through the blood of your covenant I will let out the bound ones from the pit in which there is no water. Zechariah 9:11.

'The blood' was the covenant or sign of the covenant because it meant a joining together through spiritual love, that is, through charity towards the neighbour. This was why, when the Lord instituted the Holy Supper, He called His blood 'the blood of the new covenant', Matthew 26:28. From all this one may now see what 'the covenant' is used to mean in the internal sense of the Word.

Poznámky pod čarou: