432. Verse 5. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.

"Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand," signifies love to the Lord, and that all who are in that love are in heaven, and come into heaven. "Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand," signifies the light of truth from that good, and that all who are in that light are in heaven, and come into heaven. "Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand," signifies the good of life thence.

6834. 'And the bramble bush was not at all being consumed' means Divine Truth united to Divine Good in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'the bramble bush' as true factual knowledge, dealt with above in 6831, 6833, but in this instance as Divine Truth in the natural, since the description has reference to the Lord (the natural is meant because there truth takes the form of factual knowledge); and from the meaning of 'not being consumed by the fire' as not being reduced to nothing by the good of Divine Love, 'fire' being the good of Divine Love, see just above in 6832. Thus the fact that it was united to it, that is to say, Divine Truth was united to Divine Good in the natural, is what is meant by the words used here. It is their meaning in the highest sense, in which the Lord is the subject. The implications of this are as follows: The Divine Good of Divine Love is the actual fire of the sun in the next life. That fire is so hot that if its heat were to fall on someone, even on an angel of the inmost heaven, without a shield to moderate it, he would be deprived of all conscious feeling and would be destroyed. This is how hot God's love is in the Lord. But when the Lord was in the world and united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, He received in His Human the fire of that love and there united it to truth when He made Himself the law of God. This then is what one should understand by the statement that Divine Truth was united to Divine Good within the natural.