9849. 'As stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel' means out of mercy, for evermore for the spiritual kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'stones of remembrance' on the shoulders of the ephod as the preservation of good and truth out of mercy, for evermore (the fact that the preservation of good and truth is meant by 'stones on the shoulders' is clear from what has been shown in 9836; and the fact that mercy is meant by 'remembrance', when attributed to the Lord, will be clear from what follows below); and from the meaning of 'the sons of Israel' as the Lord's spiritual kingdom, dealt with above in 9842. There are places in the Word which say of Jehovah, that is, the Lord, that He remembers or does not remember. When either is said of Him the meaning is that whatever takes place then, whether preservation or deliverance, is done out of mercy. The same applies to places saying that He sees, hears, or knows, or does not see, hear, or know; His pity or failure to pity are meant there. Such things are said of Him on account of His being likened to a human being and on account of what seems to happen. For when a person turns away from the Lord, as is the case when he does anything bad, it seems to that person, since the Lord is now behind his back, as though the Lord fails to see him, does not hear or know him, indeed fails to remember him, when in fact the failure is in the person. It is because of this appearance therefore that in the Word such things are said of the Lord. The situation is completely different however when a person turns towards the Lord, as is the case when he does what is right, see the places referred to in 9306. Anyone may recognize that the Lord cannot really be said to remember or call to mind, because in Him things that are past and those that are future are eternal, that is, they are ever present from eternity to eternity.

[2] The fact that 'remembering', when attributed to the Lord, means having compassion, and so preserving or delivering out of mercy, is clear from the following places: In David,

Jehovah has made known His salvation, before the eyes of the nations He has revealed His righteousness. He has remembered His mercy and His truth to the house of Israel. Psalms 98:2-3.

In the same author,

Jehovah has remembered us in our lowly state, for His mercy is forever. Psalms 136:23.

In the same author,

Do not remember the sins of my youth, ¹ nor my transgressions. According to Your mercy remember me, for Your goodness' sake, O Jehovah. Psalms 25:7.

In the same author,

For their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented because of the multitude of His mercies. Psalms 106:45.

In the same author,

He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; ² Jehovah is gracious and merciful. He has given food to those fearing Him; forever He remembers ³ His covenant. Psalms 111:4-5.

In the same author,

Do not remember former iniquities. Let Your tender mercies come to meet [us]. Psalms 79:8.

[3] In Luke,

God has accepted His servant Israel, so that He remembered His mercy ... to perform mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant. Luke 1:54, 72.

In David,

What is man that You remember him? Psalms 8:4.

In the same author,

Remember me, O Jehovah, in the good pleasure of Your people. Psalms 106:4.

In the same author,

Jehovah has remembered us, He blesses [us]. Psalms 115:12.

In the first Book of Samuel,

If You will indeed look on the misery of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant ... 1 Samuel 1:11.

These words begin the vow made by Hannah, Samuel's mother; and verse 19 says that when she bore him Jehovah remembered her, that is, He looked on her misery and had mercy on her. 'Remember' has a similar meaning in many other places, such as Leviticus 26:41-42, 45; Numbers 10:9; Isaiah 43:25; 49:1; 64:9; Jeremiah 31:34.

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1999. That 'Abram fell on his face' ¹ means adoration is clear without explanation. Falling on one's face' was the reverent way in which the Most Ancient Church, and as a consequence the ancients, expressed adoration. The reason they expressed it in this way was that 'the face' meant the inward parts, and 'falling on one's face' ¹ represented a state of humiliation of those inward parts; and from this it became in the Jewish representative Church an act of reverence. True adoration or humility of heart entails prostration before the Lord face-downwards on the ground as the natural action resulting from it. Indeed humiliation of heart entails the acknowledgement of oneself as being nothing but uncleanness, and at the same time the acknowledgement of the Lord's infinite mercy towards such. When these acknowledgements are fixed in the mind, the mind itself casts itself down towards hell and prostrates the body. Nor does it raise itself until raised up by the Lord, as happens in all true humiliation, accompanied by a perception that such raising up is of the Lord's mercy. Such was the humiliation of members of the Most Ancient Church. It is different however with adoration which does not flow from humiliation of heart, see 1153.

[2] It is well known from the Word, in the Gospels, that the Lord adored and prayed to Jehovah, His Father, and that He did so as though to Someone other than Himself, even though Jehovah was within Him. But the state that the Lord experienced at such times was the state of His humiliation, the nature of which has been discussed in Volume One, namely this, that at such times as these He was in the infirm human derived from the mother. But to the extent He cast this off and took on the Divine His state was different, which state is called the state of His glorification. In the first state He adored Jehovah as Someone other than Himself, even though He was within Him, for, as has been stated, His Internal was Jehovah. In the latter state however, that is to say, the state of glorification, He spoke to Jehovah as to Himself, since He was Jehovah Himself.

[3] The truth of all this however cannot be grasped unless one knows what the internal is and how the internal operates into the external, and furthermore how the internal and external are distinct and separate and yet joined together. The matter may be illustrated however by means of something similar, namely by means of the internal with man and of its influx and operation into the external with him. For the fact that man has an internal, an interior or rational, and an external, see what has appeared already in 1889, 1940. Man's internal is that which makes him human and distinguishes him from animals. It is by means of this internal that man lives on after death and for ever, and by means of it the Lord can raise him up among angels. It is the prior or primary form from which anyone becomes and is a human being, and it is by means of this internal that the Lord is united to man. The heaven itself that is nearest to the Lord consists of these human internals, but being above even the inmost angelic heaven these internals therefore belong to the Lord Himself. In this way the entire human race is directly present beneath the eyes of the Lord. Distance, a visible feature of this sublunary world, does not exist in heaven, still less above heaven - see what has been mentioned from experience in 1275, 1277.

[4] These inward aspects of men possess no life in themselves but are recipient forms of the Lord's life. To the extent then that anyone is under the influence of evil, both that of his own doing and that which is hereditary, he has been so to speak separated from this internal which is the Lord's and resides with the Lord, and so has been separated from the Lord. For although that human internal is joined to the person and cannot be separated from him, yet to the extent he moves away from the Lord he does in a way separate himself from it, see 1594. But such separation is not a complete severance from that human internal - for if it were, man would no longer be able to live after death; but it is a lack of harmony and agreement with it on the part of his capacities which are beneath it, that is, of his rational and external man. Insofar as disharmony and disagreement are present there is no conjunction, but insofar as they are absent man is joined to the Lord by means of the internal, which is achieved in the measure that he is moved by love and charity, for love and charity effect conjunction. Such is the situation with man.

[5] But the Lord's Internal was Jehovah Himself, since He was conceived from Jehovah, who cannot be divided or become the relative of another, like a son who has been conceived from a human father. For unlike the human, the Divine is not capable of being divided but is and remains one and the same. To this Internal the Lord united the Human Essence. Moreover because the Lord's Internal was Jehovah it was not, like man's internal, a recipient form of life, but life itself. Through that union His Human Essence as well became life itself. Hence the Lord's frequent declaration that He is Life, as in John,

As the Father has Life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have Life in Himself. John 5:26.

And elsewhere besides this in the same gospel, 1:4; 5:21; 6:33, 35, 48; 11:25. 'The Son' is used to mean the Lord's Human Essence. To the extent therefore that the Lord was in the human which He received by heredity from the mother, He appeared to be distinct and separate from Jehovah, and worshipped Jehovah as Someone other than Himself. But to the extent He cast off this human, the Lord was not distinct and separate from Jehovah but one with Him. The first state, as has been mentioned, was the state of the Lord's humiliation, but the second the state of His glorification.

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