161. Internal Meaning of Ezekiel, Chapter 38

1-2 Those who are in the mere sense of the letter of the Word, and in a worship therefrom which is external without an internal, are meant by Gog. (2)

3-7 Everything and all things of that worship will perish. (2)

8-16 That worship will possess the church, and will vastate it, and it will thus be in externals without internals. (2)

17-19 The state of the church will therefore be changed. (2, 7)

20-23 And the truths and goods of religion will perish in consequence, and falsities will succeed in their place. (2)

2805. 'Where is the animal for a burnt offering?' means, Where are those members of the human race who are to be sanctified? This is clear from the representation of sacrifices, in particular burnt offerings. Burnt offerings and sacrifices were representative of internal worship, see 922, 923; they were made from the flock and from the herd - when from the flock, lambs, sheep, she-goats, kids, rams, or he-goats were used, when from the herd, oxen, young bulls, or calves, all of which meant various kinds of celestial and spiritual things - see 922, 1823, 2180; and by means of them people were sanctified, 2776. From all this it may become clear that Isaac's question, 'Where is the animal for the burnt offering?' means, Where are those members of the human race who are to be sanctified? The same is more plainly evident from what comes next, that is to say, from the reply made by Abraham his father, 'God will see for Himself to the animal for a burnt offering', verse 8, which means that the Divine Human will provide those who are to be sanctified; from the fact that later on he saw a ram behind him caught by its horns in a thicket, and offered that as the burnt offering, verse 13, which means members of the human race who belong to the Lord's spiritual Church; as well as from the details that follow after this in verses 14-17.