Arcana Coelestia # 9807
9807. 'And his sons' means Divine Truth emanating from Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of 'sons' as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, at this point Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, since they were Aaron's sons and Aaron as the high priest represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good, as shown immediately above. Truths are meant by 'sons' because everything in the internal sense of the Word is spiritual, and 'sons' in the spiritual sense are those who are born anew from the Lord, thus are in possession of truths springing from good, so that in the abstract sense - when the persons are not envisaged - 'sons' are the actual truths which spring from good. These truths therefore are what should be understood in the Word by 'the sons of God', 'the king's sons', and 'the sons of the kingdom'. They are also the sons of new birth or regeneration. Furthermore the truths and forms of good present with the person who has been regenerated or born anew from the Lord are exactly like families in wide and long lines of descent from the one same father. There are those which resemble sons and daughters, those which resemble grandsons and granddaughters, those which resemble sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, and so relationships belonging to many degrees, thus to many kinds. Truths and forms of good arranged like this are what sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, in short, relatives belonging to different degrees and therefore different kinds, denote in the spiritual sense. I have been shown by actual experience that spiritual generations follow one another in that kind of order. And at the same time I have been told that this being so the truths and forms of good with a person who has been regenerated follow in that kind of order, since the angelic communities in heaven are arranged in that way and the truths and forms of good present with a person correspond to those communities. Therefore also the person whose truths and forms of good possess that kind of correspondence is heaven in the smallest form it takes, 9279.
[2] Anyone who knows that truths are meant by 'sons' and forms of good by 'daughters' can see many arcana in the Word, especially the prophetical part, which would otherwise lie hidden from view. For example he can see what is meant specifically by the Son of Man, which the Lord often calls Himself in the Word, namely Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Human, as is clear from the places where that title appears. Let these be quoted, in order that at the same time it may be established that 'the Son' means truth, as in John,
The crowd said to Jesus, Why do you say, The Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Jesus answered them, The light is with you for a brief while longer. Walk, as long as you have the light, lest the darkness overtakes you. As long as you have the light believe in the light, that you may be sons of the light. John 12:34-36.
From these words it is evident that 'the Son of Man' has the same meaning as 'the light'; for when the crowd asked, 'Who is this Son of Man?' the Lord answered that He was 'the light' in which they should believe. 'The light' means Divine Truth, see the places referred to in 9548, 9684, and so therefore does 'the Son of Man'.
[3] In Luke,
Blessed are you when people will hate you on account of the Son of Man. Luke 6:22.
'On account of the Son of Man' is on account of Divine Truth, which emanates from the Lord. Divine Truth constitutes the all of faith in and love to the Lord; and 'being hated' on account of these is blessedness. In the same gospel,
The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see. Then they will say to you, Behold here! or Behold there! Do not go away or go in search. Luke 17:22-23.
'Desiring to see one of the days of the Son of Man' means desiring to see one of the states of truth that is authentically God's. The subject here is the end of the Church, when no faith exists any longer because there is no charity, at which time every truth that is genuinely God's is going to perish. And since God's truth is meant by 'the Son of Man' it says, 'Then they will say, Behold here! or Behold there! Do not go in search', which may be said of God's truth emanating from the Lord, but not of the Lord Himself.
[4] In the same gospel,
When the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth? Luke 18:8.
That is, when God's truth is revealed from heaven there will be no belief in it. Here also 'the Son of Man' is the Lord in respect of God's truth, or God's truth emanating from the Lord, the Lord's coming being the revelation of God's truth at the end of the Church.
[5] In Matthew,
As the lightning comes from the east and is seen as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then the sign will appear, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matthew 24:27, 30.
'The coming of the Son of Man' stands for the revelation of God's truth at the close of the age, that is, at the end of the Church. 'All the tribes of the earth' who will mourn then are all the truths and forms of the good of faith and love in their entirety that are derived from the Lord and so are offered to the Lord. 'The clouds of heaven' in which He is going to come are the literal sense of the Word, 'power and glory' being the internal sense, the subject of which at its inmost level is the Lord alone. For further explanation of these matters, see 4060.
[6] Something similar occurs elsewhere in the same gospel,
I say to you, Hereafter you will see the Son of Man seated on the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven. Matthew 26:64.
And in Luke,
Hereafter the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Luke 22:69.
'The Son of Man' stands for Divine Truth emanating from the Lord. 'Sitting at the right hand of power' stands for the reality that in Him there is almighty power; for Divine Good exercises its almighty power through Divine Truth. The declaration that 'hereafter they would see this' means that Divine Truth would be in its almighty power, when the Lord in the world had overcome the hells and restored to order everything there and in the heavens, as a result of which those who received Him in faith and love could be saved, see 9715.
'Sitting at the right hand' means almighty power, see 3387, 4592, 4933 (end), 7518, 8281, 9133.
All the power good possesses is exercised through truth, 6344, 6423, 8304, 9327, 9410, 9639, 9643.
Actual Divine power consists in Divine Truth, 6948.
'The clouds' in which the Son of Man, that is, Divine Truth, will come are the Word in the letter, Preface to Genesis 18, and 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343, 6752, 8443, 8781; and 'the glory' is Divine Truth itself as it exists in the internal sense of the Word, Preface to Genesis 18, and 4809, 5922, 8267, 9429.
[7] All this now makes clear what the following words in the Book of Revelation mean,
I saw, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud one was sitting, like the Son of Man, having on His head a crown of gold. Revelation 14:14.
And in Daniel,
I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of the heavens One like the Son of Man came. Daniel 7:13.
In John,
The Father has given Him [authority] to execute judgement also, because He is the Son of Man. John 5:27.
The basis on which all judgement is executed is truth, and this explains why it says that [authority] to execute judgement has been given to the Lord because He is the Son of Man. 'The Son of Man', as has been stated, is Divine Truth; 'the Father' from whom that Truth springs is Divine Good, 2803, 3704, 7499, 8328, 8897. The fact that 'executing judgement' rests with Divine Truth explains why it says that when the Son of Man comes He will sit on the throne of His glory, Matthew 19:28; 25:31, and that the Son of Man will repay everyone according to his deeds, Matthew 16:27.
[8] In Matthew,
He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the seed are the sons of the kingdom, the tares are the sons of the evil one. Matthew 13:37-38.
'The good seed' is God's truth, therefore it says that 'the Son of Man' sows it. 'The sons of the kingdom' are God's truths in heaven and in the Church. For 'son' means truth, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, and in the contrary sense falsity, which is also meant by 'son of the evil one'; and 'the kingdom' means heaven, and also the Church.
[9] In John,
No one has gone up into heaven except Him who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in the heavens. John 3:13.
From these words it is evident that 'the Son of Man' means Divine Truth present in the heavens. This Truth comes down from there and then goes up, for no one can go up into heaven unless Divine Truth has come down into Him from heaven; the flow starts from God, not from the opposite direction. And since the Lord is that Truth He calls Himself 'the Son of Man who is in the heavens'. In Matthew,
The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. Matthew 8:20.
'The Son of Man' stands for Divine Truth; 'having nowhere to lay His head' stands for the fact that at that time there was no place for Him anywhere, that is, with any person.
[10] The declarations that the Son of Man is about to suffer and will be killed, in Matthew 17:12, 22; 20:18; 26:2, 24, 45; Mark 8:31; 9:12, 31; and elsewhere, imply that this was how Divine Truth was treated, and therefore how the Lord was treated since He was Divine Truth itself, as He also says in John, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. John 14:6.
In Jeremiah,
No man (vir) will dwell there, nor will any son of man stay in it. Jeremiah 49:18, 33.
And in the same prophet,
Not a man (vir) will dwell in the cities, nor will any son of man pass through them. Jeremiah 51:43.
Anyone who has no knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word will suppose that 'the cities' here is used to mean cities, and 'a man' and 'son of man' to mean a man and a son, and that the cities would be made so desolate that no one would be there. But it is the state of the Church so far as the teaching of truth is concerned that is being described. For 'cities' are the doctrinal teachings of the Church, see 402, 2449, 3216, 4492, 4493; 'a man' is the Church's truth itself joined to good, 3134, 7716, 9007, 'son of man' accordingly meaning truth.
[11] Since 'son of man' meant Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, the prophets too through whom it was revealed were called sons of man, as Daniel and Ezekiel were - Daniel 8:17; Ezekiel 2:1, 3, 6, 8; 3:1, 3-4, 10, 17, 25; 4:1, 16; 8:5-6, 8, 12, 15; 12:2-3, 9, 18, 22, 27; and in many other places.
[12] The majority of expressions in the Word have also a contrary sense, and this applies equally to the meaning of the expression son of man, which in that contrary sense is falsity opposed to truth, as in Isaiah,
What are you that you are afraid of man (homo), [who] dies, and of the son of man, [who] is given grass? Isaiah 51:12.
'Grass given to the son of man' is factual knowledge that gives rise to falsity. In David,
Do not put your trust in princes, in the son of man who has no salvation. Psalms 146:3.
'Princes' are primary truths, 2089, 5044, and so in the contrary sense primary falsities, while 'the son of man' is falsity itself.
Jeremiah 51
1
Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.
2
I will send to Babylon strangers, who shall winnow her; and they shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her around.
3
Against [him who] bends let the archer bend his bow, and against [him who] lifts himself up in his coat of mail: and don't spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army.
4
They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.
5
For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Yahweh of Armies; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
6
Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; don't be cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of Yahweh's vengeance; he will render to her a recompense.
7
Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh's hand, who made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
8
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
9
We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go everyone into his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
10
Yahweh has brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.
11
Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it: for it is the vengeance of Yahweh, the vengeance of his temple.
12
Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Yahweh has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13
You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.
14
Yahweh of Armies has sworn by himself, [saying], Surely I will fill you with men, as with the canker worm; and they shall lift up a shout against you.
15
He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens:
16
when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.
17
Every man is become brutish [and is] without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
18
They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
19
The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and [Israel] is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is his name.
20
You are my battle axe and weapons of war: and with you will I break in pieces the nations; and with you will I destroy kingdoms;
21
and with you will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
22
and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein; and with you will I break in pieces man and woman; and with you will I break in pieces the old man and the youth; and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;
23
and with you will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with you will I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke [of oxen]; and with you will I break in pieces governors and deputies.
24
I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says Yahweh.
25
Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain, says Yahweh, which destroys all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand on you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain.
26
They shall not take of you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate for ever, says Yahweh.
27
Set up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough canker worm.
28
Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion.
29
The land trembles and is in pain; for the purposes of Yahweh against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
30
The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their strongholds; their might has failed; they are become as women: her dwelling places are set on fire; her bars are broken.
31
One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:
32
and the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened.
33
For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her.
34
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has, like a monster, swallowed me up, he has filled his maw with my delicacies; he has cast me out.
35
The violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
36
Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
37
Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.
38
They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions' cubs.
39
When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says Yahweh.
40
I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.
41
How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
42
The sea is come up on Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of its waves.
43
Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells, neither does any son of man pass thereby.
44
I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow any more to him: yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
45
My people, go away from the midst of her, and save yourselves every man from the fierce anger of Yahweh.
46
Don't let your heart faint, neither fear for the news that shall be heard in the land; for news shall come one year, and after that in another year [shall come] news, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
47
Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be confounded; and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48
Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come to her from the north, says Yahweh.
49
As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land.
50
You who have escaped the sword, go, don't stand still; remember Yahweh from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
51
We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion has covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of Yahweh's house.
52
Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will execute judgment on her engraved images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.
53
Though Babylon should mount up to the sky, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall destroyers come to her, says Yahweh.
54
The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55
For Yahweh lays Babylon waste, and destroys out of her the great voice; and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered:
56
for the destroyer is come on her, even on Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for Yahweh is a God of recompenses, he will surely requite.
57
I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up, says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies.
58
Thus says Yahweh of Armies: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.
59
The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief quartermaster.
60
Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
61
Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words,
62
and say, Yahweh, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor animal, but that it shall be desolate forever.
63
It shall be, when you have made an end of reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates:
64
and you shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
