5199. Beautiful in look. That this signifies that were of faith, is evident from the signification of “beauty” and of “look.” Spiritual beauty is the affection of interior truth, and spiritual look is faith; hence by “beautiful in look” is signified the affection of the truth of faith (see n. 553, 3080, 3821, 4985). That spiritual beauty is the affection of interior truth, is because truth is the form of good. Good itself which is from the Divine in heaven is that from which angels have life; but the form of their life is given by means of the truths which are from this good. And yet beauty is not produced by the truth of faith, but by the affection itself within the truths of faith, which is from good. Beauty that is from the truth of faith alone is like that of a painted or sculptured face; but beauty from the affection of truth, which is from good, is like that of a living face animated by heavenly love; for such as is the love or affection that beams from the form of the face, such is the beauty. From this it is that the angels appear in ineffable beauty; from their faces beams forth the good of love through the truth of faith, which not only appear before the sight, but are also perceived from the spheres coming from them. The reason why they have beauty from this is that the universal heaven is a Grand Man, and corresponds to all things in man both in general and in particular; and therefore the man who is in the good of love, and hence in the truth of faith, is in the form of heaven, and consequently is in the beauty in which heaven is, where the Divine from the Lord is all in all. It is for this reason also that they who are in hell, being against good and truth, are horribly ugly; and that in the light of heaven they appear not as men, but as monsters. The reason why spiritual looking is faith, is that in the internal sense “to look” and “to see” are to understand, and in a still more interior sense are to have faith (see n. 897, 2150, 2325, 2807, 3863, 3869, 4403-4421).

897. In this place, the subject being the man of the Ancient Church when regenerated, by “seeing” is signified acknowledging and having faith. That “seeing” has this signification is evident from the Word; as in Isaiah:

Ye looked not unto the Maker thereof, and the Former thereof from afar ye have not seen (Isaiah 22:11),

speaking of the city of Zion; “not to see the Former from afar” is not to acknowledge, still less to have faith. Again:

Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and smear over their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and their heart should understand, and turn again, and be healed (Isaiah 6:10);

“to see with their eyes” denotes acknowledging and having faith. Again:

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light (Isaiah 9:2),

said of the Gentiles who received faith; as it is here said of Noah, that he “removed the covering and saw.” Again:

And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the Book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of thick darkness and out of darkness (Isaiah 29:18),

speaking of the conversion of the Gentiles to faith; “to see” denotes to receive faith. Again:

Hear, ye deaf and look, ye blind, that ye may see (Isaiah 42:18), where the meaning is similar.

In Ezekiel:

Who have eyes to see, and see not, who have ears to hear, and hear not; for they are a rebellious house (Ezekiel 12:2),

meaning who can understand, acknowledge, and have faith, and yet will not. That “to see” signifies to have faith, is evident from the representation of the Lord by the brazen serpent in the wilderness, on seeing which all were healed; as in Moses:

Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a standard; and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live; and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived (Numbers 21:8-9);

from which passage everyone can see that “to see” signifies faith; for what would seeing avail in this case, except as a representative of faith in the Lord? Hence also it is evident that Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, being so called from “seeing” signifies in the internal sense faith. (See what was said before about the firstborn of the church, n. 352, 367)