10. Verse 2. Who bare witness to the Word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, signifies to those who in heart acknowledge Divine truth, and the Divine of the Lord in His Human. This is evident from the signification of "bearing witness," as meaning to acknowledge in heart (of which hereafter), and from the signification of "the Word," or speech of God, as meaning Divine truth (SeeArcana Coelestia 4692, 5075, 9987); and from the signification of "[the testimony of] Jesus Christ," as meaning the acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine in His Human. This is signified by "the testimony of Jesus Christ," because "to testify" signifies to acknowledge in heart, and to acknowledge Jesus Christ in heart is to acknowledge the Divine in His Human; for he that acknowledges the Lord, and does not at the same time acknowledge the Divine in His Human, does not acknowledge the Lord; since His Divine is in His Human, and not out of it; for the Divine is in Its Human as the soul is in the body, consequently to think of the Lord's Human, and not at the same time of His Divine, is like thinking of a man abstractly from his soul or life, which is not thinking of a man.

[2] That the Lord's Divine is in His Human, and that together they are one person, the doctrine received throughout the Christian world teaches; which teaching is as follows: "Although Christ is God and Man, yet they are not two, but one Christ; one, but not by a change of the Divine into the Human, but the Divine took the Human to Itself. Altogether one, not by confusion of the two natures, but by unity of person; for as soul and body make one man, so God and Man are one Christ" (Athanasian Creed). From this it is manifest, moreover, that those who separate the Divine into three persons, when they think of the Lord as a second person, ought to think of both together, the Human and the Divine; for it is said that they are a single person, and that they are one, as soul and body are. Therefore those that think otherwise do not think of the Lord; and those that do not think of the Lord in that way are unable to think of the Divine that is called the Father's, for the Lord saith:

I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one cometh unto the Father but through Me (John 14:6).

Since this acknowledgment is signified by the "testimony of Jesus Christ," it is said that:

The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10).

"The spirit of prophecy" is the life and soul of doctrine (that "spirit" in the internal sense of the Word, signifies life or soul, may be seen Arcana Coelestia 5222, 9281, 9818; and that "prophecy" signifies doctrine, n. 2534, 7269); and the acknowledgment of the Lord is the very life or soul of all doctrine in the church. But of this more will be said in what follows.

[3] To "bear witness" is to acknowledge in heart, because spiritual things are treated of; and no one can bear witness respecting spiritual things except from the heart, because from no other source does he perceive that they are so. To bear witness of things that have existence in the world is to bear witness from knowledge, or from memory and thought, because the man has so seen or heard; but it is otherwise with things spiritual, for these fill the whole life and constitute it. The spirit of man, in which his life primarily resides, is nothing else than his will or his love, and his understanding and faith therefrom, and "heart" in the Word signifies the will and love, and understanding and faith therefrom. From this it is evident whence it is that by "bearing witness" in the spiritual sense, is meant to acknowledge in heart. Since by the "heart" is signified the good of love, and this alone is what acknowledges Divine truth, and the Divine of the Lord in His Human, and since that good is signified by "John," it is also said by John that he "bears witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ." So also in another place:

And he that hath seen hath borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye may believe (John 19:35);

and in another place:

This is the disciple that beareth witness of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his witness is true (John 21:24).

6516. 'In my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you are to bury me' means that it - the Church - was to be restored to life where the previous one had existed. This is clear from the meaning of 'a grave' and 'burying' as restoring to life, dealt with in 5551; and from the meaning of 'the land of Canaan' as the Lord's kingdom and the Church, dealt with in 1413, 1437, 1607, 1866, 3038, 3481, 3705, 4240, 4447. The reason Jacob wished to be buried in the land of Canaan, where Abraham and Isaac had been buried, and not in any other place was that his descendants were going to possess that land, and so he would be lying among his own people. But in the internal sense not this but something else is meant, namely regeneration and resurrection, because these are what the Church resides in. For 'burial' means in the internal sense regeneration and resurrection, 2916, 1917, 4621, 5551. While 'the land of Canaan' means the Church, as is evident from the places referred to above in the present paragraph, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob represent the Lord as regards the Divine itself and the Divine Human, and in the relative sense the Lord's kingdom as regards the internal aspect and the external aspect of it, 1965, 1989, 2011, 3245, 3305 (end), 4615, 6098, 6185, 6276. This then is what is meant in the internal sense by the burial of them in that land; and it explains why among Jews who believe in resurrection the conviction continues to exist that even though they have been buried in some other place they will nevertheless rise again in the land of Canaan.

[2] The reason why it is said that the Church was to be restored to life in the place where the previous one had existed is that the Lord's Church had existed in that land since most ancient times, see 3686, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517, 5136. It also explains why Abraham was told to go there and why the descendants of Jacob were led into it. And the reason for all this was not that the land was holier than all others but that since most ancient times all the locations there, both provinces and cities as well as mountains and rivers, had been representative of such things as belonged to the Lord's kingdom; and the actual names conferred on those locations implied such things. For every particular name supplied from heaven to a place or person implies some celestial or spiritual reality; and when the name has been supplied from heaven, that reality is perceived by them there. The Most Ancient Church too, which was celestial and was in contact with heaven, was one that used to confer names. The reason therefore why the Church was to exist again in that land was that a Word was going to be given in which every detail would be representative of and would mean some spiritual or celestial reality, and that Word would accordingly be understood in heaven no less than on earth. But this could not possibly have been accomplished unless also the names of places and persons had had spiritual meanings. This is the reason why the descendants of Jacob were led into that land, why prophets were raised up there through whom the Word was written, and therefore why a representative of the Church was established among Jacob's descendants. From all this one may see the reason for the statement that the Church was to be restored to life where the previous one had existed.

[3] The fact that names in the Word mean spiritual things may be seen in 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888, 4442, 5225, as well as in the multitude of places where explanations are given of what their meanings are. But the fact that in heaven they perceive what the meanings are of names used in the Word, and that they do this without prior instruction, is an arcanum unknown as yet to anyone and must therefore be described. When the Word is read the Lord comes in and teaches; also - and this is one of the marvels in the spiritual world - writings exist, which I have frequently seen and been able to read yet not understand. But good spirits and angels understand them perfectly well because those writings accord with the universal language they speak. I have been led to know that individual words used there, even individual letters, hold within themselves the kinds of things that belong to that world, thus spiritual things, and that these are perceived there from the breath that is used, and from the affection resulting from the uttering of those words, thus from the varying smooth or rough delivery of them. But it is probable that hardly anyone will believe this. This arcanum has been disclosed so that people may know that those in heaven perceive instantly what the meanings are of names used in the Word, because those names are registered in heaven.