10198. 'And Aaron shall burn on it' means the raising up by the Lord of worship springing from love and charity. This is clear from the meaning of 'burning incense' as the raising up of everything of worship springing from love and charity, dealt with above in 10177; and from the representation of 'Aaron', the high priest, as the Lord in respect of Divine Good and in respect of the work of salvation, dealt with in 9806, 9965, 10068. 'Burning incense' means the raising up of worship because 'the fire' was a sign of the good of love, so that all that came forth from the fire was a sign of such things as emanate from love. This was why not only the light but also the smoke was representative. For the meaning of 'the fire' as the good of love, see 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 10055; and the fact that 'the smoke' too represented it is clear in Isaiah,

Jehovah will create over every habitation of Zion a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a fire by night. Isaiah 4:5.

And in John,

The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power. Revelation 15:8.

The fact that 'the smoke of the incense' means the raising up of prayers, and so in general the raising up of everything of worship, is evident in the same book,

The smoke of the incense went up from the prayers of the saints. Revelation 8:4.

9514. 'And the cherubs shall be spreading out their wings upwards' means a raising accomplished by the truth of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'wings' as the truths of faith, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'spreading out the wings upwards' as being raised, for in the spreading out of the wings upwards the endeavour to raise oneself is present, the fulfillment of the endeavour being the actual raising up. From all this it is evident that 'the wings of the cherubs, outspread upwards' means a raising of good in the Lord's direction by means of the truths of faith; for access to Him through good is meant by 'the cherubs'. Something brief must be stated here to show what a raising of good by means of the truths of faith implies. There are two realities with which everything in heaven and also everything in the world have connection - good and truth. Good without truth is not good, and truth without good is not truth; for without truth good lacks any specific quality, and without good truth is devoid of anything to give it being. Indeed truth is the actual outward form taken by good, and the form must exist to give it specific quality; but the good is the essential being, the manifestation of which is the truth.

[2] The relationship of good to truth is altogether like that of the will to the understanding, in that the will is dedicated to the reception of good and the understanding to the reception of truth. The will receives specific quality from the understanding, and the understanding its essential being from the will. For the will is formed within the understanding and thereby clothes itself with a specific quality. The relationship of good to truth is also like that of the body to the arms and feet, or to the wings in the case of birds. A body without arms and feet or without wings cannot move itself; but with the use of them it does move. Furthermore in the Word the body corresponds to good, and its arms or wings to truths and also to the powers good possesses in and exercises through truths. From these comparisons which are also correspondences one may see what is implied by a raising of good by means of the truths of faith, which in general are called spiritual truths. As regards the meaning of 'wings' as the truths of faith, see what has been shown in 8764.