427. Till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads, signifies that those who are in truths from good are first to be separated. This is evident from the signification of "to seal," as being to distinguish and separate (of which presently); also from the signification of "the servants of God," as being those who are in truths from good (of which see above, n. 6); also from the signification of "forehead," as being the good of love. It is from correspondence that "forehead" means the good of love; for all things pertaining to man in the whole body, whether within or without, correspond to heaven, for the universal heaven in the sight of the Lord is as one Man, so arranged as to correspond to each and all the things in man. The whole face, where the organs of sight, smell, hearing, and taste, are situated, corresponds to the affections and the thoughts therefrom in general, the eyes corresponding to the understanding, the nose to perception, the ears to hearkening and obedience, and the taste to the desire to know and be wise; but the forehead corresponds to the good of love, from which all these are, for it forms the highest part of the face, and directly encloses the front and primary part of the brain, which is the seat of man's intellect. This is why the Lord looks upon angels in the forehead, and the angels look to the Lord through the eyes; this is so because the forehead corresponds to the love, from which the Lord looks upon them, and the eyes correspond to the understanding from which they look to the Lord; for the Lord grants Himself to be seen through the influx of love into their understanding. (Respecting this see in the work on Heaven and Hell 145, 151; and that The Universal Heaven in its Whole Complex answers to One Man, n. 68-86; and that There is thence a Correspondence of all Things of Heaven with all Things of Man, n 87-102.) This makes clear the signification of "being sealed on the forehead," namely, to be in the good of love to the Lord from the Lord, and thereby to be distinguished and separated from those who are not in that love; for the Lord looks upon such in the forehead, and fills them with the good of love, from which they look to the Lord by thought from affection. The rest cannot be looked upon by the Lord in the forehead, for they turn away from Him and turn themselves to the opposite love, by which they are filled and attracted. (That everyone in the spiritual world, and man as well in respect to his spirit, turns the face to the ruling love, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 17, 123, 142-144, 153, 552)

[2] "To be sealed" means not to be sealed, but to be reduced to such a state that their quality may be recognized, and that they may thus be conjoined with those who are in a like state and separated from those who are in a dissimilar state. This is signified by "to be sealed," and by a "sign" in the following passages. In Ezekiel:

Jehovah said to the man clothed in linen, Pass through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and mark a sign upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and groan over all the abominations done in the midst thereof. And pass ye through the city after him and smite; let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity; but come not near against any man upon whom is the sign (Ezekiel 9:4, 6).

This also treats of the separation of the good from the evil; and "to mark on the forehead" has a similar signification as in this passage in Revelation, namely, to be distinguished and separated from the evil and to be conjoined to the good; the casting out and damnation of the evil are treated of afterwards. Those who are in good are described by those "that sigh and groan over all the abominations done in the midst of the city Jerusalem;" "those that sigh and groan over abominations" mean those who are not in evils and in falsities therefrom, "sighing and groaning over them" signifying aversion and grief because of them, "Jerusalem" meaning the church, and "city" the doctrine. Afterwards that they should "pass through the city after him and smite, and the eye should not spare," describes the casting out and damnation of the evil; "to smite and kill" signifying damnation, for spiritual death, which is damnation, is signified in the Word by natural death.

[3] In Isaiah:

He shall come for bringing together all nations and tongues, that they may come and see My glory. And I will set a sign upon them (Isaiah 66:18, 19).

This is said of the Lord, and of a new church to be established by Him, and thus of a new heaven and a new earth (as is evident from verse 22 that chapter). "Bringing together all nations and tongues" has a similar signification, as:

Gathering together the elect from the four winds (Matthew 24:31);

"to gather together" signifies to receive to Himself those who are His own; "nations" signify those who are in good, and "tongues" those who are in a life according to doctrine; "to come and see the glory of the Lord" signifies to be illustrated by Divine truth, and thus to enjoy heavenly joy; for "the glory of the Lord" signifies Divine truth, and illustration and joy from it; "to set a sign upon them" signifies to distinguish and separate them from the evil and conjoin them to the good.

[4] It is written of Cain:

That Jehovah set a sign upon him that no one might slay him (Genesis 4:15).

He who does not know this arcanum of the Word that the persons named in its histories mean in the spiritual sense things, or that every person there mentioned represents and thence signifies something of the church and of heaven, can know nothing beyond the historical things of the letter, in which nothing more of the Divine appears than in other histories; and yet there is in the Word, both prophetical and historical, and in each and all things of it, something Divine that does not appear in the letter except to those who are in the spiritual sense and who know it. The spiritual arcanum in the history of Cain and Abel is this: "Abel" represents the good of charity, and "Cain" the truth of faith, and that good and that truth are called in the Word "brethren;" and the truth of faith is called "the firstborn" because the truths that are afterwards to become truths of faith are first acquired and stored up in the memory, that from it, as from a storehouse, good may draw what it may conjoin to itself and make the truths to be truths of faith. For truth does not become of faith until man wills it and does it; but so far as man does this the Lord conjoins him to Himself and to heaven, and from love flows in with good, and through good into the truths that the man has acquired from childhood, and conjoins them to good and makes them to be truths of faith; before this they are nothing but the cognitions and knowledges, in which as yet man has no other faith than such as he has in things heard from another, from which he can withdraw if he afterwards thinks differently; therefore this faith is not his own but that of another in him; and yet if a man's faith is to remain with him after death it must be his own faith; and it becomes his own when he sees, wills, and does what he believes, for it then enters into the man and forms his spirit, and comes to be of his affection and thought; for man's spirit in its essence is nothing but his affection and thought.

[5] That which is of the affection is called good, and that which is of the thought therefrom is called truth; and man believes nothing to be true except what is of his affection, but of the interior affection that pertains to his spirit; consequently that which a man thinks from interior affection is his faith, and whatever other things he holds in his memory, whether he has drawn them from the Word or from the doctrine of the church, by reading or from preachings, or from his own understanding, are not faith, however much he thinks that they are, and it is at present said and believed that they are. This first-begotten and primary thing is what "Cain" represents and signifies in this history, for Cain was the first-begotten. When this, and not willing and doing the truth, that is, living according to it, is believed to be the faith that saves man, then there springs up a pernicious heresy that faith alone saves, whatever the life may be, and that there may be faith apart from the life; and yet this is not faith, but mere knowledge residing outside of man in his memory, and not within him in the life. If this is called faith it is historical faith, which is having in oneself another's faith, and such a faith does not receive life until the man sees that what he has thus imbibed is true, and this he first sees when he wills and does it. When that heresy prevails, charity, which is the good of life, is destroyed, and at length rejected as not essential to salvation. This was represented by Cain's slaying his brother Abel; for faith and charity, or the truth of faith and the good of charity, are called in the Word "brethren," as was said above.

[6] That "Jehovah set a sign upon Cain lest he should be slain" signifies that He distinguished him from others and preserved him, because saving faith cannot be given unless historical faith precedes, and this is knowing from others the things of the church and heaven; in a word, it is a knowledge of such things as faith afterwards consists of; for unless man from infancy imbibed truths from the Word, or from the doctrine of the church, or from preachings, he would be empty, and into an empty man no operation could fall, and no influx out of heaven from the Lord could come, for the Lord operates and flows in through good into truths with man, and conjoins these, and thus makes charity and faith to be one. From this can be seen the signification of "Jehovah set a sign upon Cain that no one might slay him, and that whosoever should slay him vengeance should be taken on him sevenfold." Moreover, those who are in mere historical faith, that is, in a knowledge of such things as constitute faith, who are the persons or which is the faith meant by "Cain," these are preserved also because they can teach truths from the Word to others, which they do from memory.

[7] Because the "forehead" corresponds to the good of love, and therefore the Lord from Divine love looks upon angels and men in the forehead, as was said above, it was commanded that a plate of pure gold, upon which was written "Holiness to Jehovah," should be placed upon the miter of Aaron on the forehead, concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

Thou shalt make a plate, pure gold, and grave upon it with the engravings of a signet, Holiness to Jehovah. And thou shalt put it on a thread of blue; over against the faces of the miter it shall be, that it may be upon Aaron's forehead, and may be constantly on his forehead, that they may have acceptance before Jehovah (Exodus 28:36-38).

For Aaron as high priest represented the Lord in relation to the good of Divine love, therefore his garments represented such things as proceed from that love; the miter represented intelligence and wisdom; and the front part of it love, from which are intelligence and wisdom; therefore the plate of pure gold, upon which was engraved "Holiness to Jehovah," was placed upon a thread of blue; "pure gold" of which the plate was made signifies the good of celestial love; the "blue" of which the thread was made, on which was the plate, signifies the good of spiritual love (spiritual love is the love of truth); "the engraving of a signet" signifies endurance to eternity; "Holiness to Jehovah" signifies the Lord in respect to the Divine Human from which proceeds all the holiness of heaven and the church; these were upon the front of the miter which was upon Aaron's head, because the "miter" signifies the like as the head, namely Divine wisdom, and the "forehead" the Divine good of love. (That Aaron represented the Lord in relation to the good of love, see Arcana Coelestia, 9806, 9946, 10017; that "blue" signifies the love of truth, n. 9466, 9687, 9833; and the "miter" signifies intelligence and wisdom, n. 9827)

[8] Because the "forehead" signifies the good of love, the sons of Israel were commanded to bind the commandment respecting love to Jehovah upon their foreheads, as is taught in Moses:

Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be for frontlets before thine eyes (Deuteronomy 6:5 (Deuteronomy 6:6, 8; 11:18; Exodus 13:9, 16).

It is said "they shall be for frontlets before the eyes," as a representation that the Lord looks upon angels and men in the forehead, because from Divine love, and grants to angels and men to look at Him from intelligence and wisdom, for the "eyes" signify the understanding, and all man's understanding is from the good of his love and according to that which he receives from the Lord. That they bound these words upon the hand also represented ultimate things, because the hands are the ultimates of the powers of man's soul; therefore "upon the forehead and upon the hand" signifies in things first and last, and "first and last" signifies all things (as may be seen above, n. 417. This commandment was so bound because "on it hang the law and the prophets," that is, the whole Word, consequently all things of heaven and the church:

That on this commandment hang the law and the prophets the Lord teaches (Matthew 22:35-38, 40).

This also makes clear why kings, in former times and also at present, when crowned, were anointed with oil upon the forehead and upon the hand, and what this signifies; for kings formerly represented the Lord in relation to Divine truth, and because this is received in the good of love that flows in from the Lord, therefore they were anointed upon the forehead and upon the hand, the "oil" also with which they were anointed signifying the good of love. This is why kings in the Word signify those who are in truths from good, and in an abstract sense truths from good (See above, n. 31). From this it can be seen what "a seal upon the forehead" means, as also elsewhere in Revelation (Revelation 9:4; 14:1; 22:3, 4).

[9] But on the contrary, the "forehead" signifies that which is opposite to the good of love, namely, the evil of love, and thus what is hard, obstinate, shameless, and infernal. It signifies what is hard in Isaiah:

Thou art hard, for thy neck is a sinew of iron, and thy forehead brass (Isaiah 48:4).

It signifies what is stubborn in Ezekiel:

The house of Israel will not hearken unto Me; for the whole house of Israel are stubborn in forehead and hard in heart (Ezekiel 3:7, 8).

It signifies what is shameless in Jeremiah:

The forehead of a harlot remained to thee, thou didst refuse to be ashamed (Jeremiah 3:3).

It signifies what is infernal in Revelation (Revelation 13:16; 14:9-11; 16:2; 17:5; 19:20; 20:4); for as the good of love is heavenly, and thence mild, patient, and modest, so the evil opposite to that good is infernal, hard, stubborn, and shameless.

9828. 'And a belt' means a common bond to ensure that everything has the same end in view. This is clear from the meaning of 'a belt' or girdle as a common bond; for it gathers together, encloses, holds in connection within itself, and strengthens everything within, which without it would fall apart and drift away. The reason why it is a common bond whose purpose is to ensure that everything has the same end in view is that in the spiritual world the end in view holds sway, so much so that everything there should be called an end. For the Lord's kingdom, which is a spiritual world, is a kingdom of useful services, and such services there are ends in view, so that it is a kingdom of ends. But the ends there follow one another in various order, and they also stand in association with one another. The ends which follow one another are called middle ends, but those which stand in association with one another are called associate ends. All these ends have been so linked together and made subordinate to one another that without exception they have one end in view. This end is the Lord; and in heaven, among those who accept it, it is a love of and faith in Him. Love there is the end in view of all the powers of the will there, and faith is the end in view of all the powers of thought, which are those of the understanding.

[2] When every single thing has the same end in view all things are then held in uninterrupted connection and make one; for everything is then under the eye, government, and providence of the One who, acting in accord with the laws of subordination and association, turns everyone towards Himself, and thereby joins them to Himself. At the same time He turns all to face their companions, and thereby joins them to one another. This explains why the faces of all who are in heaven are kept turned towards the Lord, who is the Sun there, and so is the centre point in front of everyone's eyes; and the marvel is that He is there in whatever direction angels turn round to face, 3638. And since the Lord is present within the good of mutual love and within the good of charity towards the neighbour - for all are loved by Him, and are joined to one another by Him through love - their regard for their companions, which that love gives them, also serves to turn them towards the Lord.

[3] Those things therefore on last and lowest levels, gathering others together and enclosing them so they may be held, every single one, in such connection, were represented by belts or girdles, which in the spiritual world are nothing other than the forms of good and the truths present on lowest or outermost levels which enclose more internal ones. Celestial forms of good on lowest or outermost levels were represented by girdles that went around the loins, and spiritual forms of good and truths on those levels by girdles that went around the thighs and also around the breast.

[4] Such things are meant by 'girdles around the loins' in the following places: In Jeremiah,

Jehovah said to the prophet, Buy yourself a linen girdle, and place it over your loins; but you are not to pass it through water. I therefore bought a girdle, and placed it over my loins. Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Take the girdle, and go away to the Euphrates, and hide it in the cleft of a rock. At the end of many days I went away to the Euphrates, and took the girdle, and behold, it was ruined; it was profitable for nothing. Then Jehovah said, This people is evil, refusing to hear My words; and they have gone after other gods. Therefore they will be just like this girdle that is profitable for nothing. Jeremiah 13:1-12.

'A linen girdle' here is used to mean in the spiritual sense the Church's good, which encloses the truths there and holds them in connection within itself. The non-existence of the Church's good at that time, and the consequent dispersal of its truths, are the reason for its being said that the girdle was not to be passed through water; for 'water' means truth that purifies and thereby restores. 'The cleft of a rock' in which it was hidden is falsified truth; 'the Euphrates' is the full extent and boundary of the celestial realities that belong to good on its lowest level. Anyone unacquainted with the essential nature of the Word may think that the passage is no more than a comparison of the people and their ruination with a girdle and its ruination. But in the Word all comparisons and metaphorical ways of speaking are real correspondences, 3579, 8989. Unless each detail in this description were of a correspondential nature the prophet would never have been told not to pass the girdle through water, or to place it over his loins, or to go to the Euphrates and hide it there in the cleft of a rock. The reason why it says that the girdle should be placed over his loins is that by 'the loins', because of their correspondence, is meant the good of celestial love, 3021, 4280, 5050-5062. A girdle placed over the loins accordingly means being joined to the Lord through the good of love, the Word serving as the intermediary.

[5] The meaning of 'a girdle' as good that acts as a boundary and holds things together is also evident in Isaiah,

There will come forth a shoot from the trunk of Jesse. Righteousness will be the girdle of His loins, and truth the girdle of His thighs. Isaiah 11:1, 5.

This refers to the Lord. 'Righteousness' that will be 'the girdle of His loins' is the good of His love, which protects heaven and the Church. The requirement stated in Exodus 12:11 that when the children of Israel ate the Passover their loins were to be girded means that all things should be present in their proper order, made ready to receive good from the Lord and to take action, 7863. This explains why those who have been made ready are said to be 'girded', as is also said of the seven angels in the Book of Revelation,

Out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in linen, white and splendid, and girded around their breasts with golden girdles. Revelation 15:6.

[6] It is said of Elijah in 2 Kings 1:8 that he was a hairy man and wore a girdle of skin around his loins. Much the same is said of John,

John had a garment of camel hair and a skin girdle around his waist. Matthew 3:4.

The reason why Elijah and John were clothed and girded in this way was that both men represented the Word, and therefore their clothes mean the Word in its external sense, which is the natural sense. For 'hair' means the natural, 3301, 5247, 5569-5573, and 'camels' general facts within the natural, 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145. And 'skin' means the external, 3540, so that 'a girdle of skin' means that which collects together, encloses, and holds in connection the things within itself. For the representation of Elijah as the Word, see Preface to Genesis 18, and 2762, 5247 (end), and John the Baptist similarly, 9372.

[7] Since truths and forms of good are dissolved and dispersed by wicked deeds it says of Joab that after he had tricked and killed Abner he put the blood of war on his girdle that was on his loins, 1 Kings 2:5. This means that he dispersed and destroyed such truths and forms of good. This accounts for its being said, when truths have been dispersed and destroyed, that instead of a girdle there will be a falling apart, and instead of well-set hair, baldness, Isaiah 3:24. This refers to the daughters of Zion, by whom forms of good belonging to the celestial Church are meant. 'Instead of a girdle, a falling apart' stands for the dispersal of celestial good.

[8] It is also said in Ezekiel of Oholibah, who is Jerusalem, that when she looked at men portrayed on the wall, images of Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, girded with girdles on their loins, she fell in love with them, Ezekiel 23:14-16. Here truths which have been rendered profane are meant, for 'the Chaldeans' are those who outwardly claim to believe in truths but inwardly repudiate them, and in so doing render them profane. 'Men portrayed on the wall' are the appearances of truth in outward things, as in like manner are 'images portrayed in vermilion'. 'Girdles' with which their loins were girded are the forms of good which they fake to induce belief in their truths.

[9] From all this it may now be clear what it was that girdles gathering garments into one served to mean in the representative Church. Yet the natural man can scarcely be brought to believe that such things were meant, because he finds it difficult to put aside the natural idea of a girdle, and in general of garments, and instead adopt a spiritual idea, which is that of good holding truths in connection within itself. For the natural level on which a person sees things holds the mind down on that level, and it is not removed from there unless the sight of the understanding is able to be raised right up into the light of heaven and the person is for this reason able to think on a level virtually divorced from natural things. When this happens to a person spiritual ideas of the truth of faith and of the good of love, which the merely natural man cannot understand, enter in.