689. John's baptism prepared the way because, as shown above [677-678], it brought the baptized people into the Lord's church that was to come, and brought them into the company of those in heaven who were awaiting and desiring the Messiah. Therefore angels protected them by preventing devils from breaking out of hell and destroying them. This is why we read in Malachi, "Who can endure the day of his coming?" (Malachi 3:2), and "so that Jehovah will not come and strike the earth with a curse" (Malachi 4:6).

There are similar statements in Isaiah: "Behold, the cruel day of Jehovah has come, a day of indignation and wrath and anger. I will shake heaven, and the earth will quake out of its place in the day of the wrath of his anger" (Isaiah 13:9, 13; see also Isaiah 13:6; 22:5, 12).

In Jeremiah that day is called a day of devastation, vengeance, and disaster (Jeremiah 4:9; 7:32; 46:10, 21; 47:4; 49:8, 26). In Ezekiel it is called a day of anger, cloud, and darkness (Ezekiel 13:5; 30:2-3, 9; 34:11-12; 38:14, 16, 18-19). Amos, too, refers to it in similar terms (Amos 5:8, 18, 20; 8:3, 9, 13). We read in Joel: "Great and dreadful is the day of Jehovah. Who will endure it?" (Joel 2:11; see also Joel 2:1-2, 29, 31). Also in Zephaniah: "In that day there will be the sound of a cry. The great day of Jehovah is near. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and repression, a day of devastation and desolation. In the day of Jehovah's wrath the whole earth will be consumed, and he will make an end of all the inhabitants of the earth" (Zephaniah 1:7-18). There are similar statements in other passages as well.

[2] These passages make it clear that if baptism had not prepared the way for Jehovah as he was coming down into the world - a baptism that had the effect in heaven of closing off the hells and protecting the Jews from total annihilation - [all people there, as stated above, would have been struck with a curse and would have perished]. Likewise Jehovah says to Moses, "If I rise up among you, I will consume the entire population in a single moment" (Exodus 33:5). This is further reinforced by what John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him: "Brood of vipers, who warned you to escape from the impending anger?" (Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7). For references to John teaching about Christ and his Coming as he was baptizing, see Luke 3:16; , 31-33; 3:22 and following. All the passages just given clarify how John prepared the way.

5147. There was some of every kind of food for Pharaoh' means full of celestial good for nourishing the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'food' as celestial good, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the interior natural, dealt with in 5080, 5095, and also the natural in general, since the interior natural and the exterior natural make one when they correspond. And because food exists to provide nourishment, 'every kind of food for Pharaoh' means full of celestial good for nourishing the natural. It is said that this food was in the highest basket, meaning that the inmost degree of the will was full of celestial good. For good from the Lord flows in by way of the inmost degree in a person; and from there it passes degree by degree, so to speak down a flight of steps, to what is more exterior. For in relation to other degrees the inmost one exists in the most perfect state, and can therefore receive good from the Lord directly, in a way the lower ones cannot. If these were to receive good from the Lord directly, they would either obscure it or pervert it, since they are less perfect in comparison with the inmost degree.

[2] As regards the influx of celestial good from the Lord and the reception of it, it should be recognized that the will part of the human mind is the receiver of good and the understanding part is the receiver of truth. The understanding part cannot possibly receive truth so as to make this its own unless at the same time the will part receives good; and vice versa. For one flows as a result into the other and disposes that other to be receptive. All that constitutes the understanding may be compared to forms which are constantly varying, and all that constitutes the will may be compared to the harmonies resulting from those variations. Consequently truths may be compared to variations, and forms of good may be compared to the delights which those variations bring. And this being pre-eminently the case with truths and forms of good it is evident that one cannot exist without the other, as well as that one cannot be brought forth except by means of the other.

[3] The reason 'food' means celestial good is that angels' food consists in nothing else than forms of the good of love and charity, and that these serve to enliven angels and to rejuvenate them. Especially when they are expressed in action or practice do those forms of good cause angels to feel rejuvenated, for they are the desires they have; for it is a well known fact that when a person's desires are expressed in action he feels rejuvenated and enlivened. Those desires also nourish a person's spirit when material food supplies nourishment to his body, as may be recognized from the fact that when no delight is taken in food it is not very nutritious, but when delight is taken in it, it is nutritious. The delight taken in food is what opens the meatus or channels which serve to convey it into the blood, whereas the opposite closes them. Among angels those delights are forms of the good of love and charity, and from this one may deduce that these are spiritual kinds of food which correspond to earthly ones. Also, just as forms of good are meant by different kinds of food, so truths are meant by 'drink'.

[4] In the Word 'food' is mentioned in many places, yet someone unacquainted with the internal sense will inevitably suppose that in those places ordinary food is meant. In fact spiritual food is meant, as in Jeremiah,

All the people groan as they search for bread. They have given their desirable things for food to restore the soul. Lamentations 1:11.

In Isaiah,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isaiah 55:1.

In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is near, and as destruction from the thunderbolt-hurler will it come. [s not the food cut off before our eyes, gladness and joy from the house of our God? The grains have rotted under their clods, the storehouses have been laid waste, the granaries have been destroyed, because the grain has failed. Joel 1:15-17.

In David,

Our storehouses are full, yielding food and still more food; our flocks are thousands, and ten thousands in our streets. There is no outcry in our streets. Blessed are the people for whom it is thus. Psalms 144:13-15.

In the same author,

They all look to You, that You may give them their food in due season. You give to them - they gather it up; You open Your hand - they are satisfied with good. Psalms 104:27-28.

[5] In these places celestial and spiritual food is meant in the internal sense when material food is referred to in the sense of the letter. From this one may see how the interior features of the Word and its exterior features correspond to one another, that is, how what belongs inwardly to its spirit and what belongs to its letter do so; so that while man understands those things according to the sense of the letter, the angels present with him understand the same things according to the spiritual sense. The Word has been written in such a way that it may serve not only the human race but heaven also, and for this reason all expressions are used to mean heavenly realities, and every matter described there is representative of these realities. This is so with the Word even to the tiniest jot.

[6] Furthermore the Lord Himself explicitly teaches that good is meant in the spiritual sense by 'food': In John,

Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. John 6:27.

In the same gospel,

My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. John 6:55.

'Flesh' means Divine Good, 3813, and 'blood' Divine Truth, 4735. And in the same gospel,

Jesus said to the disciples, I have food to eat of which you do not know. The disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought Him [anything] to eat? Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. John 4:33-34.

'Doing the will of the Father and finishing His work' means Divine Good when expressed in actions or practice, which in the genuine sense is 'food', as stated above.