8888. 'Six days you shall labour and do all your work' means the conflict which comes before and is preparatory to that marriage. This is clear from the meaning of 'six days' as states of conflict, conflict being meant by 'six', see 720, 737, 900, and states by 'days', 23, 487, 488, 493, 2788, 4850, 5672, 5962, 6110, 8426; and from the meaning of 'labouring and doing one's work' as attending to the necessary things of life, here those of spiritual life, which is life in heaven.

[2] Furthermore by the conflict which comes before and is preparatory to the heavenly marriage one should understand spiritual conflict or temptation. For before a person enters into the heavenly marriage, that is, before being regenerated, he is involved in conflict with the evils and falsities residing with him; these have to be removed before truth and good from the Lord can be received. They are removed - those evils and falsities - by means of the truths of faith; for a person not only learns through those truths what good is, but is also led to good by means of them. This state is the first that a person who is being regenerated passes through; and it is called the state which comes before and is preparatory to the heavenly marriage. But when the person is governed by good and is led by the Lord by means of good, he has entered into the heavenly marriage, and so is in heaven since the heavenly marriage is heaven. The first state is what is meant by the six days that come before the seventh, the second is what is meant by the seventh day. Regarding these two states with a person, see 7923, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701, 8722.

[3] Since the heavenly marriage, which is heaven, is meant by 'the sabbath', the Lord's kingdom in the heavens is called an everlasting sabbath, that is, everlasting rest and peace; and there the six days of labour are no more.

6996. 'Send, I beg You, through the hand [of another] You may send' means that Divine Truth going forth from the Divine Human will be uttered in an indirect way. This is clear from the representation of Moses, who says these words, as the Lord in respect of the Word, that is, of Divine Truth, dealt with in 6752; from the meaning of 'sending', when used in reference to the Lord, as going forth, dealt with in 2397, 4710; and from the meaning of 'sending through the hand' as through another to whom power will be given, power to utter Divine Truth going forth from the Lord's Divine Human. And since it comes through another to whom power has been given it comes in an indirect way. It was shown above in 6982, 6985, that Divine Truth going forth directly from the Lord's Divine Human cannot be heard or discerned by anyone, not even by an angel. If therefore it is to be heard and discerned an intermediary is required; heaven acts as that intermediary, and then the angels and spirits present with a person.

[2] This is plainly recognizable from the consideration that a person does not even hear the spirits who are present with him talking to one another; and if he did he would not discern what they said because spirits' speech does not contain any words used by men but is the universal speech of all languages. What is more, spirits cannot hear angels, and if they did they would not discern what they said, for angels' speech is even more universal. Still less can angels belonging to the inmost heaven be heard or understood, because their speech is not speech consisting of ideas but of the affections immanent in heavenly love. Since these kinds of speech are so remote from a person that he cannot by any means hear or discern them, then how remote must Divine speech be - if one may use that expression - which is infinitely superior to the kinds of speech in the heavens? (The expression 'Divine speech' is being used, but by it Divine Truth going forth from the Lord's Divine Human is meant.) This being so, it may be seen that if Divine Truth going forth from the Lord is to be heard and discerned, it must come to man by way of intermediaries, the final one being a spirit present with a person, whose entrance takes place either into the person's thought or by means of a living voice.

[3] The fact that Divine Truth coming forth directly from the Lord cannot be heard or discerned is also evident from correspondences and from the representatives based on them. That is to say, the things that man says present themselves among spirits in an altogether different form, and the things spirits say present themselves among angels in an altogether different form, as may be recognized from the spiritual sense of the Word and the literal sense of it; the literal sense, which is suitable for man, serves to denote and represent things contained in the spiritual sense. Since this sense cannot be perceived by man - still less the angelic sense - except insofar as it is able to be presented and revealed by means of such things as belong to the world and natural order, how can he discern Divine Truth coming directly from the Lord's Divine? That Truth is infinitely higher than angels' level of understanding and cannot be perceived in heaven either, except insofar as it passes through heaven and in so doing takes on a form suitable for and compatible with the perception of those who are there. This is accomplished by means of an influx that is marvellous and beyond all possible comprehension by anyone. These matters have been stated in order that people may know that Divine Truth going forth from the Lord cannot be heard or discerned by anyone without intermediaries.