9315. When Mine angel shall go before thee. That this signifies a life in accordance with the commandments of the Lord, is evident from the signification of “going before thee,” when said of the Lord, who is here the “angel of Jehovah,” as being to teach the commandments of faith and of life, thus also a life in accordance with these commandments (that “to go,” and “to journey,” denote to live, see n. 1293, 3335, 4882, 5493, 5605, 8417, 8420, 8557, 8559); and from the signification of “the angel of Jehovah,” as being the Lord as to the Divine Human (of which above, n. 9303, 9306). That the Lord as to the Divine Human is meant by the “angel,” is because the many angels who appeared before the coming of the Lord into the world were Jehovah Himself in a human form, that is, in the form of an angel. This is very evident from the fact that the angels who appeared were called “Jehovah,” as for instance those who appeared to Abraham and were called “Jehovah” (Genesis 18:1, 13-14, 17, 20, 26, 33); also the angel who appeared to Gideon, of whom we read in Judges, and who also was called “Jehovah” (6:12, 14, 16, 22-24); besides others elsewhere. Jehovah Himself in the human form, or what is the same, in the form of an angel, was the Lord.

[2] At that time His Divine Human appeared as an angel; of which the Lord Himself speaks in John:

Jesus said, Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad. Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am (John 8:56, 58).

Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:5).

That Jehovah could not appear in any other way, is evident also from the words of the Lord in John:

Ye have not heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen His shape (John 5:37).

Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he who is with the Father, he hath seen the Father (John 6:46).

From these passages it may be known what is meant by the Lord from eternity.

[3] The reason why it pleased the Lord to be born a man, was that He might put on the Human actually, and make it Divine, in order to save the human race. Know therefore that the Lord is Jehovah Himself or the Father in a human form, which also the Lord Himself teaches in John:

I and the Father are one (John 10:30).

Jesus said, From henceforth ye have known and have seen the Father; He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:7, 9, 11).

All things that are Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine (John 17:10).

[4] This great mystery is stated in John in these words:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God. All thing were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father. No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath set Him forth (John 1:1-3, 14, 18);

“the Word” denotes the Divine truth which has been revealed to men; and because this could not be revealed except by Jehovah as a Man, that is, except by Jehovah in a human form, thus by the Lord, therefore it is said, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.” It is known in the church that by “the Word” is meant the Lord, because this is plainly said: “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father.” That the Divine truth could not be revealed to men except by Jehovah in a human form, is also clearly stated: “no man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath set Him forth.”

[5] From all this it is evident that the Lord from eternity was Jehovah, or the Father, in a human form; but not yet in the flesh, for an angel has no “flesh.” And because Jehovah or the Father willed to put on the whole human, for the salvation of the human race, therefore He took on the flesh also. Wherefore it is said “God was the Word, and the Word was made flesh.” And in Luke:

Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have (Luke 24:39);

by these words the Lord taught that He was no longer Jehovah under the form of an angel; but that He was Jehovah Man, which is also meant by these words of the Lord:

I came out from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go unto the Father (John 16:28).

(That the Lord when in the world made His Human Divine, see n. 1616, 1725, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2033, 2034, 2083, 2523, 2751, 2798, 3038, 3043, 3212, 3241, 3318, 3637, 3737, 4065, 4180, 4211, 4237, 4286, 4585, 4687, 4692, 4724, 4738, 4766, 5005, 5045, 5078, 5110, 5256, 6373, 6700, 6716, 6849, 6864, 6872, 7014, 7211, 7499, 8547, 8864, 8865, 8878; also that He expelled all the human that was from the mother, until at last He was not the son of Mary, n. 2159, 2649, 2776, 4963, 5157; see especially n. 3704, 4727, 9303, 9306, and what has been shown about these things in the passages cited in n. 9194, 9199)

3735. And raiment to put on. That this signifies conjunction with Divine truth, is evident from the signification of “raiment,” as being truth (n. 1073, 2576), in the present case Divine truth, because the Lord is treated of; and from the signification of “putting on,” as being to be appropriated and conjoined. The nature of the internal sense of the Word may be seen from these and all other such significatives, namely, that when bread and raiment are treated of in the sense of the letter, and also when the matter in question is expressed historically, as here—“if God will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,” the angels who are with the man at the time think not at all of bread, but of the good of love, and in the supreme sense of the Lord’s Divine good; neither do they think of raiment, but of truth, and in the supreme sense of the Lord’s Divine truth. Such things as are in the sense of the letter are to them merely objective representatives for thinking concerning things heavenly and Divine; for such things are the vessels which are in the ultimate of order.

[2] Thus when in a holy state a man thinks of bread, as for instance of the bread in the Holy Supper, or of the “daily bread” in the Lord’s Prayer, then the thought which the man has about bread serves the angels who are with him as an objective representative for thinking about the good of love which is from the Lord; for the angels apprehend nothing of man’s thought about bread, but instead of this have thought concerning good, for such is the correspondence. In like manner when in a holy state a man thinks about raiment, the thought of the angels is about truth; and so it is with everything else in the Word. This shows what is the nature of the conjunction of heaven and earth by the Word, namely, that a man who reads the Word in a holy manner is by such correspondence conjoined closely with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord, even although the man thinks only of those things in the Word which are in the sense of its letter. The holiness itself then present with the man comes from an influx of celestial and spiritual thoughts and affections, such as angels have.

[3] That there might be such an influx and the consequent conjunction of man with the Lord the Holy Supper was instituted by the Lord, in connection with which it is expressly said that the bread and wine are the Lord; for the Lord’s “body” signifies His Divine love, and the reciprocal love in man such as is that of the celestial angels; and the “blood” in like manner signifies His Divine love, and the reciprocal love in man, but such as is that of the spiritual angels. From this it is manifest how much of the Divine there is in everything of the Word, notwithstanding man’s ignorance as to what it is and what its quality. Yet those who when in the world have been in the life of good, after death come into the knowledges and perceptions of all these things; for then they put off earthly and worldly things, and put on heavenly ones; and in like manner are in a spiritual and celestial idea like that of the angels.