8858. A person's whole character is determined by the nature of whatever dominates his life; this is what marks him off from others. His heaven is formed in accordance with it if he is good, or his hell if he is bad. For it constitutes his true will and so the true being of his life, which is unchangeable after death. From all this one may see what the life is like in a person who has been regenerated, and what it is like in one who has not been regenerated.

8864. 'I am Jehovah your God' means the Lord in respect of the Divine Human reigning universally, in every single aspect of goodness and truth. This is clear from the consideration that in the Word no one other than the Lord is meant by 'Jehovah', 1343, 1736, 2921, 3023, 3035, 3448, 5663, 6280, 6281, 6303, 8274, or likewise by 'Jehovah Zebaoth', 'the Lord Jehovih', and 'Jehovah God', 2921, 3023, 3448, 6303; and from the consideration that the Lord is called 'Jehovah' by virtue of the Divine Good, which is the Divine Being (Esse), and 'God' by virtue of Divine Truth, which is the Divine Coming-into-being (Existere), 6905, and also 709, 732, 1096, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921 (end), 4402. The reason why the Lord's Divine Human is what 'Jehovah God' is used to mean here is that the Lord in respect of that Divine Human is meant in the Word both by 'Jehovah' and by 'God'. Divine Good, which He is also in respect of the Human is meant by 'Jehovah', while Divine Truth, which He is because it goes forth from Him, is meant by 'God'.

[2] The reason why the Lord's Divine Human is meant by 'Jehovah God' is that the Divine Itself which is within the Lord cannot be seen in heaven or even perceived, thus cannot be received in faith and love; only the Divine Human can. The truth that the Divine Itself cannot be communicated to angels in heaven, still less to people on earth, except through the Divine Human is well known in the Churches from the Lord's words in the Gospels, where He says that He is the Door; that He is the Mediator; that nobody can come to the Father except through Him; that no one except Himself knows the Father; and that no one has seen the Father, not even some shape He might take. From all this it is evident that it is the Lord who is meant here by 'Jehovah God'. It is also well known that He is also the one who has redeemed the human race and delivered them from hell.

This truth is meant by the words that follow, by 'I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves'. From all this it is now evident that Jehovah God, who spoke from Mount Sinai, is the Lord in respect of the Divine Human.

[3] The reason why this is the first truth to be stated by the Lord from Mount Sinai is that it must be present, reigning universally in each and every truth that follows. For what is stated first must be held in mind and must be seen to reside universally in everything that follows. What 'universally reigning' describes will be seen below. The truths which were stated by the Lord are all of this nature. That is to say, truths stated first must reign in those stated next and incorporate them; these in turn must reign in and incorporate those after that, and so on sequentially. In the present chapter the truths stated next are the Ten Commandments, which are inward truths, and after these the statutes, which are outward truths. The latter and the former must have the Lord - His Divine Human - reigning within them, for they spring from Himself, and are Himself. For, to be sure, truths which are truths all emanate from Him; and the things which emanate from Him are Himself. The truth that the Lord's Divine Human is what must reign in every single part of faith is also well known in the Churches; for they teach that there is no salvation without the Lord, and that all the truth and good of faith comes from Him. Thus since He is the source of faith He is the faith present with a person; and if He is the faith He is also all the truth contained in teachings about faith that are drawn from the Word. This also is the reason why the Lord is called 'the Word'.

[4] The truth that what comes first must reign in what comes next, and so on sequentially, as stated above, is clear from the individual parts of the things spoken by the Lord, in particular from His prayer called the Lord's Prayer. All its parts follow one another in such a sequence that they constitute a pillar so to speak, widening from the top down to the base and holding inside itself the things that appear earlier in the sequence. What is first there is inmost, and what comes after in sequence adds itself gradually to the inmost and in that way grows wider. What is inmost then reigns in all the surrounding parts; it reigns universally, that is, in every detail, for it is essential to the existence of them all.

2807. 'Abraham said, God will see for Himself to the animal for a burnt offering, my son' means the reply: The Divine Human will provide those who are to be sanctified. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing to for oneself', when used in reference to God, as foreseeing and providing - for 'to see' in the internal sense nearest to the literal means to understand, 2150, 2325, whereas in the sense yet more interior it means having faith, 897, 2325, while in the highest sense it means foreseeing and providing; and also from the meaning of 'the animal for a burnt offering' as those members of the human race who are to be sanctified, dealt with just above in 2805. That 'the animal for a burnt offering' is here used to mean those who are spiritual is evident from what follows. The kinds of animals used for burnt offering and sacrifice each had a different meaning. That is to say, a lamb meant one thing, a sheep another, a kid and she-goat another, a ram and he-goat another, an ox yet another, as did a young bull and a calf. And young pigeons and turtle doves had meanings different again. It is quite clear that each kind of animal had its own meaning from the fact that it was laid down explicitly which kind were to be sacrificed on each particular day, at each particular religious festival, when atonement was being made, cleansing effected, inauguration carried out, and all other occasions. Which kinds were to be used on which occasions would never have been laid down so explicitly unless each one had possessed some specific meaning.

[2] Clearly all the religious observances or forms of external worship which existed in the Ancient Church, and subsequently in the Jewish, represented the Lord, so that the burnt offerings and sacrifices in particular represented Him since these were the chief forms of worship among the Hebrew nation. And because they represented the Lord they also at the same time represented among men those things that are the Lord's, that is to say, the celestial things of love, and the spiritual things of faith, and as a consequence of this represented the people themselves who were celestial and spiritual or who ought to have been so. This is why 'the animal' here means those who are spiritual, that is, those who belong to the Lord's spiritual Church. As regards 'God will see for Himself to the animal for a burnt offering, my son' meaning that the Divine Human will provide them, this is clear from the fact that here it is not said that 'Jehovah' will see to it but that 'God' will do so. When both of these names occur, as they do in this chapter, Jehovah is used to mean the same as 'the Father', and God the same as 'the Son', so that here the Divine Human is meant; and a further reason for the usage is that the spiritual man, whose salvation comes from the Divine Human, is the subject, see 2661, 2716.