9517. 'The faces of the cherubs shall be towards the mercy-seat' means the interiors looking unceasingly towards good, thus towards the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'the mercy-seat' as the good of love, from which comes the hearing and reception of all things that belong to worship, dealt with above in 9506, thus also as the Lord since all the good of love originates in the Lord and is the Lord Himself as He resides with angel and man; from the meaning of 'the faces' as the interiors, dealt with immediately above in 9516; and from the meaning of 'the cherubs' as watchfulness and providence, guarding against access to the Lord except through the good of love, dealt with in 9509.

[2] What happens is this: Heaven and the Church, or the angels of heaven and members of the Church, receive protection from the Lord by having their interiors raised towards Him; and when they are raised they are suffused with the good of love to Him and the good of love towards the neighbour. This is what being raised towards the Lord is; and in this way, as has been stated, angels in heaven and members of the Church receive protection. Those who are raised by the Lord turn their face constantly towards the Lord, because the Lord keeps them joined to Himself through the good of love, whereas those who are not raised turn their face away from the Lord. All this shows what is meant by the requirement that the faces of the cherubs should be 'towards the mercy-seat'. But regarding that turning of themselves towards the Lord something will in the Lord's Divine mercy be stated from experience elsewhere.

8722. 'And also all this people will come upon their place in peace' means that those belonging to the spiritual Church will be governed by good and thus led by good. This is clear from the meaning of 'people' as those belonging to the spiritual Church, for by 'people' one should understand the children of Israel, who represent the spiritual Church; from the meaning of 'coming to their place' as arriving at the state to which they are going to be led, which state is a state of good, since those who belong to the spiritual Church are led through truth to good, and when they arrive at good they come to their place, 'place' meaning state, see 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381; and from the meaning of 'peace' as the Divine within good, for 'peace' in the highest sense is the Lord, and is therefore the influence inmostly at work within good and is the very essence (esse) of the happiness of those governed by good. As long as a person is governed by truth and not as yet by good he has no serenity; but when he is governed by good he does have serenity and so is 'in peace'. The reason for this is that evil spirits cannot attack good but flee from it the moment they are aware of it; but they can attack truth. So it is that when people are governed by good they are 'in peace'. These are the things that are meant by 'all the people will come upon their place in peace'. What it is to be led by the Lord through truth, and what it is to be led by Him through good, see 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701.