Versetto 8. Quando il Signore dai principi più intimi dell'anima cominciò a sistemare gli affetti in ordine celeste mediante la rigenerazione, quando separò ciò che poteva essere rigenerato dall'amore verso di sé, fornì alla mente le verità necessarie alla salvezza in ordine completo. [Nota: con riferimento agli ultimi due versi, il seguente passo è riportato negli Arcana Coelestia 6075: "Ricordati dei giorni dell'eternità, comprendi gli anni di generazione e generazione. Quando l'Altissimo diede un'eredità alle nazioni, quando separò i figli dell'uomo, stabilì i confini dei popoli secondo il numero dei figli d'Israele. Quando Jeshurun divenne grasso, abbandonò Dio. Egli sacrificò ai demoni, a dèi che non si avvicinavano, e i vostri padri non lo sapevano" (Deuteronomio 32:7-8, 15, 17). Questo passo ricorre nel canto profetico di Mosè, dove la Chiesa antica è trattata dai versi 7-15, e la posterità di Giacobbe dai versi 15-44; lo stato della Chiesa antichissima, che era prima del Diluvio, è significata dai giorni dell'eternità; e lo stato della Chiesa antica, che era dopo il Diluvio, dagli anni di generazione e generazione; lo stato del loro bene dall'eredità che l'Altissimo diede alle nazioni, e lo stato della loro verità dall'Altissimo che separa i figli degli uomini, nominando i confini del popolo secondo il numero dei figli d'Israele; questo numero, o dodici, denota tutte le verità di fede nel complesso. Come spiegato nella prefazione, in questo Studio del Libro del Deuteronomio si cerca di sviluppare il senso interno come si applica all'anima individuale, e non come si applica all'umanità nel suo insieme: ma l'un senso è coinvolto nell'altro; poiché la mente dell'uomo è un microcosmo, e un individuo nella rigenerazione deve passare attraverso gli stessi cambiamenti che l'umanità ha passato collettivamente. Abbiamo avuto la nostra antichissima Chiesa nell'innocenza dell'infanzia; la nostra antica Chiesa nel periodo della giovinezza; e il destino desiderato per noi dal Signore, se lo seguiremo, è che alla fine siamo portati a quello stato che è descritto dalla Nuova Gerusalemme nell'Apocalisse (Apocalisse 19:0-22:0), e dai versi 36-43 di questo capitolo; in cui l'innocenza dell'infanzia è unita alla saggezza dell'età adulta].

200. And I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. That this signifies that they will be in Divine good and thence in Divine truth, is evident from the signification of I will confess his name, as being that they may be according to the quality of the state of their life; for by confessing, when by the Lord, is meant to grant that they may be; for what the Lord says, or confesses, concerning a man or an angel who is in the good of love and faith, He grants and provides, because all the good of love and faith is from Him. This is why to say, in the Word, when said of the Lord, signifies to instruct, to enlighten and provide (see Arcana Coelestia 5361, 6946, 6951, 7019, 8095, 10234, 10290). That by name is meant the quality of the state of the life, may be seen above, n. 148. It is also evident from the signification of Father, when said by the Lord, as denoting the Divine good which is in Him and from Him, which will be treated of in what follows and from the signification of angels, as denoting Divine truth, which is also from the Lord (concerning which see above, n. 130). It is therefore evident that by I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels, is signified that they will be in Divine good and in Divine truth.

[2] The reason why by Father, when it is said by the Lord, is meant the Divine good which is in the Lord and from the Lord is, that the Lord called the Divine which was in Him from conception, which was the esse of His life, His Father, to which Divine He united His Human when He was in the world.

That the Lord called this His Father is quite evident from the fact that He taught that He himself was one with the Father; as in John,

"I and my Father are one" (10:30).

Again:

"Believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father (10:38).

Again:

"He that seeth me seeth him that sent me" (12:45).

Again:

"If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also; and from henceforth ye have known him, and have seen him. Philip said unto him, Lord, show us the Father. Jesus saith, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (John 14:6-17).

Again:

"If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also" (8:19).

Again:

"I am not alone, because the Father is with me" (16:32).

[3] Because the Lord is one with the Father, therefore He also declares

That all things of the Father are His, and His things are the Father's (John 17:10);

That all things that the Father hath are His (John 16:15);

That the Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son (John 3:35; 13:3);

Because all things are delivered to Him by the Father, no one knoweth the Son but the Father, nor any the Father except the Son (Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22); also, that no one hath seen the Father except the Son, who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18; 6:46); the Word was with God, and God was the Word, "and the Word was made flesh" (John 1:1, 2, 14).

From this latter passage it is also clear that they are one; for it is said, that the Word was with God, and God was the Word. It is plain, too, that the Human of the Lord was God; for it is said, and the Word was made flesh. Since then, all things of the Father are also the Lord's, and since He and the Father are one, therefore the Lord, when He ascended into heaven, said to His disciples,

"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18);

by which He taught that they should approach Him alone, because He alone can do all things; as He also said to them before,

"Without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5).

Hence it is evident how the following words are to be understood:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me" (John 14:6);

that is, that the Father is approached when the Lord is approached.

[4] Amongst many other reasons why the Lord so often spoke of the Father as another was this, that by Father, in the internal or spiritual sense, is meant the Divine good, and by Son, the Divine truth, each in the Lord and from the Lord; for the Word is written by correspondences, and is thus both for men and angels. The Father therefore is mentioned in order that the Divine good of the Lord may be perceived by the angels, who are in the spiritual sense of the Word; and the Son of God and the Son of man are mentioned, in order that the Divine truth in like manner may be perceived (as is evident from what has been shown in Arcana Coelestia, namely, that Father in the Word signifies good, n. 3703, 5902, 6050, 7833, 7834. That Father signifies the church as to good, thus the good of the church, and mother the church as to truth, thus the truth of the church, n. 2691, 2717, 3703, 5581, 8897. That the Lord called the Divine good which was in Him from conception, and which was the esse of life, whence His Human was derived, Father, n. 2803, 3704, 7499, 8328, 8897. That the Lord is acknowledged as the Father in heaven, because they are one, n. 15, 1729, 3690. That the Lord is also called Father in the Word, n. 2005. That the Lord is also a Father to those who are regenerating, because they receive new life from Him, and His life, n. 2293, 3690, 6492. That the Son of God, and Son of man is the Lord as to the Divine Human and as to the proceeding Divine truth, may be seen above, n. 63, 151, 166). Now, because all who are to come into heaven must be in good as well as in truth, for no man can be in the one unless he be at the same time in the other, since good is the being (esse) of truth, and truth is the manifestation (existere) of good, and as by the Father is signified the Divine good, and by angels Divine truth, both from the Lord, therefore it is said, I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. Similarly in the Evangelists:

"Everyone who shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 10:32).

"Everyone who shall have confessed me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God" (Luke 12:8).

[5] Because Father signifies the Divine good, and angels Divine truth, therefore also the Lord says,

"When the Son of man shall come in his own glory, that of the Father and of the holy angels" (Luke 9:26; Matthew 16:27).

Here the Lord calls His own glory, the glory of the Father and of the angels, for He says, in His own glory, that of the Father and of the holy angels; but in another place He says, in the glory of the Father with the angels; and in another place, in His own glory with the angels; as in Mark:

"When he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels" (8:38).

And in Matthew:

"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him" (25:31).

To what has been said above it must be added by way of appendix, that if it be assumed as doctrine, and acknowledged, that the Lord is one with the Father, and that His Human is Divine from the Divine in Himself, light will be seen in every particular of the Word; for what is assumed as doctrine, and acknowledged from doctrine, is in light when the Word is read. The Lord also, from whom all light proceeds and who has all power, enlightens those who are in this acknowledgment. But, on the other hand, if it be assumed and acknowledged as doctrine that the Divine of the Father is something else than the Divine of the Lord, nothing will be seen in light in the Word, because the man who is in that doctrine turns himself from one Divine to another and from the Divine of the Lord, which he may see, which is effected by thought and faith, to a Divine which he cannot see; for the Lord says:

"Ye have never heard the voice of the Father, nor seen his form" (John 5:37; and also chap. 1:18);

and to believe in and love a Divine which cannot be thought of under any form is impossible.