9405. 'And they saw the God of Israel' means the Lord's coming and presence in the Word. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing', when it has reference to the Lord, as His coming and presence, dealt with in 4198, 6893. The fact that 'the God of Israel' means the Lord is clear from all those places in the Word where the expressions 'the Holy One of Israel' and 'the God of Israel' are used, see 7091. 'The God of Israel' is the God of the spiritual Church, since 'Israel' means that Church, dealt with immediately above in 9404. The Lord's coming and presence in the Word is what is meant by 'they saw the God of Israel' because the laws declared from Mount Sinai mean in a broad sense the whole of Divine Truth, thus the Word in every single part, 6752, 9401. The reason why the Lord's coming and presence in the Word is meant is that the Word is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and what emanates from the Lord is the Lord Himself. Consequently those who read the Word and at the same time look to the Lord, acknowledging that all truth and all good come from Him, and none whatever from themselves, receive enlightenment; they see truth and perceive good from the Word. That enlightenment is provided by the light of heaven, a light which is Divine Truth itself flowing from the Lord. For this Truth manifests itself before the eyes of angels in heaven as light, see 2776, 3195, 3339, 3636, 3643, 3862, 3993, 4302, 4413, 4415, 5400, 6032, 6313, 6608.

[2] The Lord's coming and presence in the Word is also meant by 'seeing the Son of Man' in Matthew,

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matthew 24:30.

See 4060. 'Cloud' is the literal sense of the Word, and 'power and glory' its internal sense. The literal sense of the Word is called 'cloud' because that sense exists in the light of the world, whereas the internal sense is called 'glory' because this sense exists in the light of heaven, see Preface to Genesis 18, and 5922, 6343 (end), 6752, 8106, 8267, 8427, 8443, 8781, in addition to which the only subject in the internal sense of the Word is the Lord, and His kingdom and Church. This is what accounts for the holiness of the Word, and also for the Lord's coming to and presence with those who, as they read the Word, have in mind the Lord and the neighbour - the neighbour being the good of fellow citizen, country, the Church, and heaven, 6818-6824, 8123 - and not themselves, as stated above. He comes to them and is present with them because they allow themselves to be raised by the Lord into the light of heaven, unlike others who do not allow themselves to be so raised because they have their minds firmly fixed on self and the world. All this shows what is meant in the Word by seeing the Lord.

8781. 'Behold, I am coming to you in the thickness of a cloud' means that it will be made in a form utterly natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming to you' - when said by Jehovah to Moses, who represents the truth from God which the spiritual Church possesses, 8760 - as revelation; and from the meaning of 'the thickness of a cloud' as in a form utterly natural, like that in which the Old Testament Word exists in the letter. For the meaning of 'a cloud' as the Word in the letter, see preface to Genesis 18, and 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343 (end), 6752, 8106, 8443. 'Thickness' means dimness, such as that of a person's thought when it is lit solely by the inferior light of the senses, that is, by wholly natural light. It was in dimness such as this that the descendants of Jacob at that time thought about the Divine, and also that the Jews at the present day think about Him; for the Divine cannot be seen by anyone except in ways that are in keeping with his state of life and consequent discernment. So it is that heavenly light cannot be seen by those ruled by self-love and love of the world, which that nation more than others was ruled by, except as 'the thickness of a cloud'. The letter of the Word, especially the prophetical part, is nothing else in contrast to its internal sense. In its internal sense light exists such as may be compared to the light of the sun on top of clouds, the light which in the Word is called 'the glory'. This also explains why the Word says that Jehovah is carried on top of the clouds, rides above the clouds, flies above them, has His triclinium ¹ above them, that the Lord is going to come in the clouds of heaven, and many more statements like these, which would never have been made to describe Jehovah, that is, the Lord, unless they had meant the bright light of truth in which He is present in heaven, and 'clouds' had meant a shadowy light of truth in which those below heaven see.

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