9315. When Mine angel shall go before thee. That this signifies a life in accordance with the commandments of the Lord, is evident from the signification of “going before thee,” when said of the Lord, who is here the “angel of Jehovah,” as being to teach the commandments of faith and of life, thus also a life in accordance with these commandments (that “to go,” and “to journey,” denote to live, see n. 1293, 3335, 4882, 5493, 5605, 8417, 8420, 8557, 8559); and from the signification of “the angel of Jehovah,” as being the Lord as to the Divine Human (of which above, n. 9303, 9306). That the Lord as to the Divine Human is meant by the “angel,” is because the many angels who appeared before the coming of the Lord into the world were Jehovah Himself in a human form, that is, in the form of an angel. This is very evident from the fact that the angels who appeared were called “Jehovah,” as for instance those who appeared to Abraham and were called “Jehovah” (Genesis 18:1, 13-14, 17, 20, 26, 33); also the angel who appeared to Gideon, of whom we read in Judges, and who also was called “Jehovah” (6:12, 14, 16, 22-24); besides others elsewhere. Jehovah Himself in the human form, or what is the same, in the form of an angel, was the Lord.

[2] At that time His Divine Human appeared as an angel; of which the Lord Himself speaks in John:

Jesus said, Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad. Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am (John 8:56, 58).

Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:5).

That Jehovah could not appear in any other way, is evident also from the words of the Lord in John:

Ye have not heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen His shape (John 5:37).

Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he who is with the Father, he hath seen the Father (John 6:46).

From these passages it may be known what is meant by the Lord from eternity.

[3] The reason why it pleased the Lord to be born a man, was that He might put on the Human actually, and make it Divine, in order to save the human race. Know therefore that the Lord is Jehovah Himself or the Father in a human form, which also the Lord Himself teaches in John:

I and the Father are one (John 10:30).

Jesus said, From henceforth ye have known and have seen the Father; He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:7, 9, 11).

All things that are Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine (John 17:10).

[4] This great mystery is stated in John in these words:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God. All thing were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father. No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath set Him forth (John 1:1-3, 14, 18);

“the Word” denotes the Divine truth which has been revealed to men; and because this could not be revealed except by Jehovah as a Man, that is, except by Jehovah in a human form, thus by the Lord, therefore it is said, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.” It is known in the church that by “the Word” is meant the Lord, because this is plainly said: “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father.” That the Divine truth could not be revealed to men except by Jehovah in a human form, is also clearly stated: “no man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath set Him forth.”

[5] From all this it is evident that the Lord from eternity was Jehovah, or the Father, in a human form; but not yet in the flesh, for an angel has no “flesh.” And because Jehovah or the Father willed to put on the whole human, for the salvation of the human race, therefore He took on the flesh also. Wherefore it is said “God was the Word, and the Word was made flesh.” And in Luke:

Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have (Luke 24:39);

by these words the Lord taught that He was no longer Jehovah under the form of an angel; but that He was Jehovah Man, which is also meant by these words of the Lord:

I came out from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go unto the Father (John 16:28).

(That the Lord when in the world made His Human Divine, see n. 1616, 1725, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2033, 2034, 2083, 2523, 2751, 2798, 3038, 3043, 3212, 3241, 3318, 3637, 3737, 4065, 4180, 4211, 4237, 4286, 4585, 4687, 4692, 4724, 4738, 4766, 5005, 5045, 5078, 5110, 5256, 6373, 6700, 6716, 6849, 6864, 6872, 7014, 7211, 7499, 8547, 8864, 8865, 8878; also that He expelled all the human that was from the mother, until at last He was not the son of Mary, n. 2159, 2649, 2776, 4963, 5157; see especially n. 3704, 4727, 9303, 9306, and what has been shown about these things in the passages cited in n. 9194, 9199)

5078. And the baker. That this signifies in those things in the body which are subject to the will part, is evident from the signification of a “baker,” as being that external sensuous, or sensuous of the body, which is subordinate or subject to the will part of the internal man. A “baker” has this signification because everything that serves for food, or that is eaten, such as bread, food in general, and all the work of the baker, is predicated of good, and therefore bears relation to the will part; for all good is of this part, just as all truth is of the intellectual part (as was said just above, n. 5077). (That “bread” is the celestial, or good, may be seen above, n. 1798, 2165, 2177, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976)

[2] The reason why here and in the following verses of this chapter the external sensuous things of both kinds are treated of in the internal sense is that in the previous chapter the subject treated of was the Lord, and how He glorified or made Divine the interiors of His natural; here therefore the subject treated of is the Lord, and how He glorified or made Divine the exteriors of His natural. The exteriors of the natural are what are properly called the bodily things, or the sensuous things of both kinds together with their recipient organs, for these together constitute what is called the body (as s hown above, n. 5077). The Lord made the very bodily in Himself Divine, both its sensuous things and their recipient organs; and He therefore rose again from the sepulcher with His body, and likewise after His resurrection said to the disciples:

Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; feel Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have (Luke 24:39).

[3] Most of those who are of the church at this day believe that everyone is to rise again at the last day, and with his body; which opinion is so universal that from doctrine scarcely anyone believes otherwise. But this opinion has prevailed because the natural man supposes that it is only the body that lives; and therefore unless he believed that the body would receive life again, he would deny the resurrection altogether. But the truth of the matter is this. Man rises again immediately after death, and he then appears to himself in a body just as in this world, with a similar face, members, arms, hands, feet, breast, belly, and loins; so that when he sees and touches himself, he says that he is a man as in the world. Nevertheless what he sees and touches is not his external which he carried about in the world, but it is the internal which constitutes that very human which is alive, and which had an external about it, or outside of every part of it, by which it could be in the world and be adapted for acting and performing its functions there.

[4] The earthly bodily part is no longer of any use to him, he being in another world where are other functions, and other powers and abilities, to which the nature of his body there is adapted. This body he sees with his eyes, not those which he had in the world, but those which he has there, which are the eyes of his internal man and by which through the eyes of the body he had before seen worldly and earthly things. This body he also feels with the touch, not with the hands or the sense of touch which he enjoyed in the world, but with the hands and the sense of touch which he enjoys there, which is that from which his sense of touch in the world came forth. Moreover, every sense is more exquisite and more perfect there, because it is the sense of the internal of man freed from the external; for the internal is in a more perfect state, because it gives to the external the power of sensation; but when it acts into the external, as is the case in the world, sensation is dulled and obscured. Moreover, it is the internal which is sensible of the internal, and the external which is sensible of the external. Thus it is that men after death see one another, and are in company together according to their interiors. In order that I might be certain in regard to this matter, it has been given me to touch the spirits themselves, and often to converse with them about it (see n. 322, 1630, 4622).

[5] Men after death, who are then called spirits, and if they have lived in good, angels, marvel exceedingly that the man of the church believes that he is not to see eternal life until the last day when the world shall perish, and that he is then to be clothed again with the cast-off dust; when yet the man of the church knows that he rises again after death; for when a man dies, who does not then say that his soul or spirit is in heaven or else in hell? And who does not say of his children who have died that they are in heaven? And who does not comfort a sick person, or one appointed to die, by the assurance that he will shortly come into the other life? And he who is in the agony of death and is prepared, believes no otherwise; nay, from this belief many also claim for themselves the power of delivering others from places of damnation, and of admitting them into heaven, while saying masses on their behalf. Who does not know what the Lord said to the thief, “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43), and what He said of the rich man and Lazarus, that the former was carried into hell, but the latter borne by the angels into heaven (Luke 16:22-23)? And who does not know what the Lord taught concerning the resurrection, that “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Luke 20:38)?

[6] A man knows these things, and so thinks and speaks when he thinks and speaks from his spirit; but when he thinks and speaks from his doctrine, he says very differently-that he is not to rise again till the last day; when yet the last day to everyone is when he dies, and then also is his judgment, as indeed many say. What is meant by “being encompassed with skin, and from the flesh seeing God” (Job 19:25-26), may be seen above (n. 3540 at the end). These things are said in order that it may be known that no man rises again in the body with which he was clothed in the world; but that the Lord alone so rose, and this because He glorified His body, or made it Divine, while He was in the world.