9305. To bring thee to the place which I have prepared. That this signifies a bringing by Him into heaven according to the good of life and of faith, is evident from the signification of “bringing to the place,” that is, into the land of Canaan, as being to bring into heaven, for by “the land of Canaan” is signified the church, and also heaven (see n. 1607, 3038, 3481, 3686, 3705, 4447, 5136, 6156); for by the bringing of the sons of Israel into that land was represented the bringing of the faithful into heaven; and from the signification of “preparing,” when said of heaven, which is signified by “the land of Canaan,” as being from mercy to bestow it upon those who are in the good of life and of faith; for heaven is said to be “prepared” for such; as in Matthew:

Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34).

To sit on My right hand and on My left hand is not Mine to give; but it is for those for whom it hath been prepared (Mark 10:40).

I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you unto Myself; that where I am, ye may be (John 14:2-3).

For to prepare heaven is to prepare those who are to be brought into heaven, because heaven is given according to the preparation, that is, according to the reception of good. For heaven is in the man; and there is a place for him in heaven according to the state of life and of faith in which he is; because place there corresponds to the state of life; and therefore also place appears in the other life according to the state of life, and in itself is the state (n. 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381).

4321. Although these things appear paradoxical and incredible to man, they nevertheless are not to be denied, because experience itself dictates them. If all things were denied the causes of which are not known, innumerable things that come forth in nature would be denied, the causes of which are known scarcely as to a ten-thousandth part; for the secret things therein are so many and so great that those which man knows are scarcely anything in comparison with those which he does not know. What then must be the secret things that come forth in the sphere which is above nature, that is, in the spiritual world! As for example these: That there is one only life, and all live from it, and everyone differently from another: that the evil also live from the same life, and likewise the hells, and that the inflowing life acts according to its reception: that heaven has been so ordered by the Lord as to bear relation to a man, whence it is called the Grand Man; and that in consequence all the things in man correspond thereto: that man without influx therefrom into everything in him, cannot subsist even for a moment: that all in the Grand Man keep in a constant situation according to the quality and the state of the truth and good in which they are; that situation there is not situation, but state, and therefore those appear constantly at the left who are at the left, those at the right who are at the right, in front those who are in front, behind those who are behind, in the plane of the head, the breast, the back, the loins, and the feet, above the head and below the soles of the feet, directly and obliquely, and at a less or greater distance, those who are there, however and to whatever quarter the spirit may turn himself: that the Lord as a Sun appears constantly to the right, and there at a middle height, a little above the plane of the right eye; and that all things there have relation to the Lord as the Sun and center, and thus to their only One from which they come forth and subsist, and as all appear before the Lord constantly in their own situation, according to their states of good and truth, they therefore appear in the same way to everyone, for the reason that the Lord’s life, and consequently the Lord, is in all who are in heaven. Not to mention innumerable other things.