5433. 'You have come to see the nakedness of the land' means that nothing would please them more than to know for themselves that they are not truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming to see' as wishing to know that a thing is so, and therefore as nothing would give greater pleasure than to know it; from the meaning of 'the nakedness' as a lack of truths, thus that they are not truths, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church (see 566, 662, 1067, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355, 4447, 4535). So that 'the nakedness of the land' here means a lack of truths known to the Church. The reason 'the nakedness' means a deprivation or lack of truths is that 'clothes' in general means truths, while each specific type of garment means some particular kind of truth, see 2576, 3301, 4545, 4677, 4741, 4742, 4763, 5248, 5319, and therefore 'the nakedness' means a lack of truths, as will also be seen from the places below that are quoted from the Word.

[2] The implications of this may be seen from what has been stated immediately above in 5472, where it is said that people who do not learn truths for truth's own sake and for their life's sake, but for the sake of material gain, inevitably think that the truths known to the Church are not truths. The reason for this is that the affection for gain is an earthly affection, whereas the affection for truth is a spiritual one. One or the other must have dominion, for no one can serve two masters. Consequently where one affection exists the other does not, so that where the affection for truth is present the affection for gain is absent, and where the affection for gain is present the affection for truth is absent. This being so, if the affection for material gain has dominion, then inevitably nothing pleases the person more than to know that truths are not truths. Yet nothing else pleases him more than when others believe that truths are truths. If the internal man looks downwards, that is to say, towards earthly things and makes these everything, he cannot possibly look upwards and have anything there since earthly things completely swallow up and smother everything. The reason for this is that the angels from heaven who are present with a person cannot dwell among earthly things; they therefore depart, in which case spirits from hell draw near who, while they are present with a person, cannot dwell among heavenly things. As a consequence he then thinks that heavenly things are of no importance, while earthly ones are everything. And when that person thinks that earthly things are everything, he believes himself to be more learned and wiser than everybody else, in that he himself does not accept the truths known to the Church, and at the same time says that they exist for those who are simple. The affection that moves a person is therefore either an earthly affection or else a heavenly one, for he cannot have his being simultaneously with angels from heaven and with spirits from hell; for if he did he would be left hanging between heaven and hell. But when he is moved by an affection for truth for truth's own sake, that is, for the sake of the Lord's kingdom (where Divine Truth is present) and so for the Lord's sake, he is among angels. He does not in this case despise material gain insofar as it enables him to lead his life in the world. But such gain is not his end in view, only the useful purposes it serves which are seen by him as intermediate ends leading on to an ultimate heavenly one. This being so, his heart is by no means at all set on material gain.

[3] The fact that 'the nakedness' means a lack of truths may also be seen from other places in the Word, as in John,

To the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write, Because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy, so that I have need of nothing - when you do not know that you are wretched and miserable, and needy, and blind, and naked.... Revelation 3:17.

Here being 'naked' stands for suffering from a scarcity of truth. In the same place,

I counsel you to buy from Me gold purified in the fire, and white garments to clothe you, and do not let the shame of your nakedness be manifested. Revelation 3:18.

'Buying gold' stands for acquiring good and making this one's own, 'that you may become wealthy' for acquiring it to the end that celestial and spiritual good may be present; 'white garments' stands for spiritual truths, 'the shame of nakedness' for the lack of any goodness or truth. For 'buying' means acquiring and making one's own, see 5374; 'gold' celestial and spiritual good, 1551, 1552; 'garments' truths, 1073, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 5319; while 'white' is attributed to truth because this comes from the light of heaven, 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319.

[4] In the same book,

Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is he who is awake and keeps his garments, so that he may not walk naked. Revelation 16:15.

'He who keeps his garments' stands for the person who hangs on to truths. 'So that he may not walk naked' stands for so that he is not without truths. In Matthew,

The King will say to those at His right hand, I was naked and you clothed Me around, and to those at His left, I was naked and you did not clothe Me around. Matthew 25:36, 43.

'Naked' stands for the good who acknowledge that within themselves no good or truth at all exists, 4958.

[5] In Isaiah,

Is not this the fast, to break your bread for the hungry, and that you may bring afflicted outcasts to your house, when you see the naked and cover him? Isaiah 58:7.

Here the meaning is similar. In Jeremiah,

Jerusalem sinned grievously, therefore she became a menstruous woman; all who honoured her despised her, for they saw her nakedness. Lamentations 1:8.

Here 'nakedness' stands for a lack of truths. In Ezekiel,

You reached full beauty, your breasts were formed and your hair had grown; but you were naked and bare. I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. You did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare. Ezekiel 16:7-8, 22.

[6] This refers to Jerusalem, by which the Ancient Church is meant - what it was like when it was first established and what it came to be like after that. That is to say, initially it was lacking in truths, after which it was furnished with them, but finally it cast them aside. In the same prophet,

If a man is righteous, one who has executed judgement and righteousness, he gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing. Ezekiel 18:5, 7.

'Covering the naked with clothing' stands for furnishing with truths those who desire truths. In Hosea,

Lest I strip her naked, present her as she was on the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a land of dryness, and slay her with thirst. Hosea 2:3.

'Stripping her naked' stands for leaving her without truths. In Nahum,

I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame. Nahum 3:5.

'Showing the nations its nakedness' stands for its ugliness. All ugliness is a result of the absence of truths, all beauty a result of the presence of them, 4985, 5199.

1042. 'I have given My bow in the cloud' means the state of a regenerate spiritual person, who is like a rainbow. Anyone may wonder that in the Word 'the bow in the cloud', or the rainbow, is taken as a sign of the covenant, for the rainbow is nothing else than something produced by the conversion of rays of sunlight in raindrops. It is a wholly natural phenomenon, unlike other signs of the covenant in the Church mentioned just above. But the fact that 'the bow in the cloud' represents regeneration and means the state of a regenerate spiritual person, nobody is able to know unless he is allowed to see and consequently know what exactly is involved. When spiritual angels, who have all been regenerate members of the spiritual Church, are in the next life manifested visibly as such, there appears around their head a rainbow so to speak. But the rainbows which appear accord completely with their state, and from this also their characters are recognized in heaven and in the world of spirits. The reason the likeness of a rainbow appears is that their natural things corresponding to spiritual present such visible shape. It is a conversion of spiritual light from the Lord within their natural things. These angels are those said to have been 'regenerated by water and the spirit' while celestial angels are those said to have been 'regenerated with fire'.

[2] In the case of; natural things, so that colour may be produced something dark and light, or black and white, is necessary. When rays of light from the sun fall on this, depending on the varying composition of the dark and light, or black and white, colours are produced from the modification of the inflowing rays of light. Some of those colours draw more, others less, on the dark and black, and some more, or less, on the light and white; and this is what gives rise to diversity of colour. Something comparable to this exists in spiritual things. In their case the intellectual side of the proprium, or falsity, constitutes 'the dark', and the will side of the proprium, or evil, which absorbs and extinguishes rays of light constitutes 'the black'. As for the 'light and white', these are the truth or good which a person imagines he does from himself, which reflects and casts back from itself the rays of light. The rays of light which fall on those things and so to speak modify them come from the Lord as the Sun of wisdom and intelligence; for the rays of spiritual light are no other and have no other source. It is because natural things correspond to spiritual that when in the next life that which is around a regenerate spiritual person is manifested visibly, there appears that which is similar to a bow in a cloud. This bow is a representation of the spiritual things present within his natural things. With the regenerate spiritual person an intellectual side of the proprium exists into which the Lord instills innocence, charity, and mercy. As is the person's reception of these gifts so is the appearance of his rainbow when manifested visibly - the more beautiful the more that the will side of his proprium has been taken away, disciplined, and reduced to a state of obedience.

[3] When the prophets had a vision of God, a bow as if in a cloud was also seen by them, as in Ezekiel's vision,

Above the firmament that was over the heads of the cherubim, in appearance like a sapphire stone, there was the likeness of a throne, and above the likeness of a throne, there was a likeness as it were of the appearance of a Man (Homo) upon it above. And I saw as it were the shape of coal burning bright, as the appearance of fire, within it round about from the appearance of His loins upwards. And from the appearance of His loins and downwards I saw as it were the appearance of fire, whose brightness was round about it, like the appearance of the bow when it is in the cloud on the day of rain; so was the appearance of brightness round about; this was the appearance of the likeness of the Glory of Jehovah. Ezekiel 1:26-28.

It may be clear to anyone that it was the Lord who was seen in this vision, and that on that occasion He represented heaven, for He Himself is heaven, that is, the All in all of heaven. He Himself is the 'Man' mentioned here, 'the throne' is heaven, 'the coal burning bright, as the appearance of fire, from the loins upwards' is the celestial element of love, 'the brightness of fire round about from the loins downwards, like the bow in the cloud' is the celestial-spiritual. In this way the celestial heaven, or heaven of celestial angels, was represented from the loins upwards, and the spiritual heaven, or heaven of spiritual angels, from the loins downwards. In fact the things that are below, from the loins down to the soles of the feet, mean in the Grand Man natural things. From this it is also clear that, when thus enlightened by spiritual light from the Lord, the natural things in man take on the appearance of 'the bow in the cloud'. The same appeased to John as well, see Revelation 4:2-3; 10:1.