9807. And his sons. That this signifies the Divine truth that proceeds from the Divine good, is evident from the signification of “sons,” as being truths (see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704), here the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord’s Divine good, because they were the sons of Aaron, and by Aaron as high-priest was represented the Lord as to Divine good (as has been shown just above). That “sons” denote truths, is because all things in the internal sense of the Word are spiritual; and in the spiritual sense “sons” denote those who are born anew from the Lord, thus who are in truths from good, consequently abstractedly from persons, the truths themselves which are from good. These therefore are what are meant in the Word by “the sons of God,” “the sons of a king,” and “the sons of the kingdom.” They are also “the sons of the new birth,” or regeneration. Moreover, the truths and goods with a regenerated man, or one born anew from the Lord, are exactly like families in a large and long series from one father. There are those which bear relation to sons and daughters, to grandsons and granddaughters, to sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, and thus to relationships of many degrees, and therefore of many kinds. Truths and goods thus arranged are what in the spiritual sense are “sons,” “daughters,” “grandsons,” “granddaughters,” “sons-in-law,” “daughters-in-law,” in a word, relations of various degrees, and consequently of various kinds. That spiritual generations are in such an order has been shown by living experience, and at the same time it was said that the truths and goods with a regenerate man are in such an order for the reason that the angelic societies in heaven are in the same, and the truths and goods with man correspond to these societies; wherefore also the man whose truths and goods are in such a correspondence is a heaven in the least form.

[2] Anyone who knows that by “sons” are signified truths, and by “daughters” goods, can see many arcana in the Word, especially in the prophetic Word, that otherwise would be hidden; as also what is meant in particular by “the Son of man,” which the Lord often calls Himself in the Word. That the Divine truth which proceeds from His Divine Human is meant, is evident from the passages in which He is so named, and which may be here cited for the purpose of confirming at the same time that a “son” denotes truth; as in John:

The crowd said unto Jesus, How sayest Thou, the Son of man must be exalted? Who is this Son of man? Jesus answered them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness take you. While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be sons of light (John 12:34-36).

From these words it is evident that by “the Son of man” is signified the like as by “the light,” for when they inquired, Who is this Son of man? the Lord answered that He was the light in which they should believe (that this “light” denotes the Divine truth, see the places cited in n. 9548, 9684); thus it also denotes the Son of man.

[3] In Luke:

Blessed are ye when men shall hate you for the Son of man’s sake (Luke 6:22); where “for the Son of man’s sake” denotes for the sake of the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord; Divine truth is everything of faith in, and of love to, the Lord, and “being hated for the sake of this” is “blessedness.” Again:

The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, but ye shall not see it. Then they shall say unto you, Lo here! or Lo there! go not away, nor make search (Luke 17:22-23);

“to desire to see one of the days of the Son of man” denotes to see one of the states of Divine truth which is genuine. The subject here treated of is the end of the church, when there is no longer any faith, because no charity; at which time all genuine truth Divine will perish; and because truth Divine is signified by “the Son of man,” therefore it is said, “then they shall say, Lo here! or Lo there! search not,” which can be said of truth Divine from the Lord, but not of the Lord Himself.

[4] Again:

When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8).

That is, when truth Divine shall be revealed from heaven, it will not be believed. “The Son of man” here also denotes the Lord as to truth Divine, that is, the truth Divine which proceeds from the Lord. “The coming of the Lord” denotes the revelation of truth Divine at the end of the church.

[5] In Matthew:

As the lightning goeth forth from the east, and appeareth even unto the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. Then shall appear the sign, and then shall all the tribes of the earth wail, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory (Matthew 24:27, 30);

“the coming of the Son of man” denotes the revelation of truth Divine in the consummation of the age, that is, at the end of the church; “all the tribes of the earth which shall then wail,” denote all the truths and goods of faith and of love from the Lord, and thus to the Lord, in the complex; “the clouds of heaven in which He will come,” denote the literal sense of the Word; “power and glory” denote the internal sense, in the inmost of which the subject treated of is the Lord alone (see the further explication of these words in n. 4060).

[6] In like manner elsewhere:

I say unto you, Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming upon the clouds of heaven (Matthew 26:64).

From henceforth shall the Son of man be sitting at the right hand of the power of God (Luke 22:69).

“The Son of man” denotes the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord; “sitting at the right hand of power” denotes that He has omnipotence, for Divine good has omnipotence by means of Divine truth; its being said that “from henceforth they shall see it” signifies that Divine truth was in its omnipotence after the Lord in the world had conquered the hells, and had reduced all things therein and in the heavens into order, and that in this way those could be saved who would receive Him in faith and love (see n. 9715). (That “sitting at the right hand” denotes omnipotence, see n. 3387, 4592, 4933, 7518, 8281, 9133; that good has all power through truth, see n. 6344, 6423, 8304, 9327, 9410, 9639, 9643; that the Divine power itself is Divine truth, n. 6948; that “the clouds in which the Son of man,” that is, Divine truth, “will come,” denote the Word in the letter, see the preface to Genesis 18 [in 2135]; and n. 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343, 6752, 8443, 8781; and that “glory” denotes the Divine truth itself, such as it is in the internal sense of the Word, see the preface to Genesis 18;and n. 4809, 5922, 8267, 9429.)

[7] From all this it can now be seen what is signified by these words in the book of Revelation:

I saw and behold a white cloud; and on the cloud one sitting like, unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown (Revelation 14:14).

I saw in the night visions, and behold there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto the Son of man (Daniel 7:13).

The Father gave Him to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man (John 5:27).

As all judgment is effected from truth, it is said that it was “given to the Lord to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man;” “the Son of man,” as before said, denotes the Divine truth; the Father from whom it proceeds, denotes the Divine good (n. 2803, 3704, 7499, 8328, 8897). As it pertains to Divine truth to execute judgment, therefore it is said that “when He shall come, the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His glory” (Matthew 1 9:28; 25:31); and that “the Son of man shall render to everyone according to his deeds” (Matthew 16:27).

[8] Further:

He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the seed are the sons of the kingdom; the tares are the sons of the evil one (Matthew 13:37-38);

“the good seed” denotes truth Divine, therefore it is said that “the Son of man soweth it;” “the sons of the kingdom” denote truths Divine in heaven and in the church, for a “son” denotes truth (see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623), and in the opposite sense, falsity, which also is “the son of the evil one;” “the kingdom” denotes heaven, and likewise the church.

[9] In John:

No man hath ascended into heaven, but He that came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in the heavens (John 3:13);

from this it is evident that “the Son of man” denotes the Divine truth in the heavens; for this comes down, and therefore ascends, because no one can ascend into heaven unless Divine truth comes down into him from heaven, because the influx is Divine, and not the other way about. And because the Lord is this truth, therefore He calls Himself “the Son of man who is in the heavens.”

In Matthew:

The Son of man hath not where to lay His head (Matthew 8:20);

here “the Son of man” denotes the Divine truth; “not having where to lay His head,” means that Divine truth had no place anywhere, or with any man, at that time.

[10] That “the Son of man was to suffer, and to be put to death” (Matthew 17:12, 23; 20:18; 26:2, 24, 45; Mark 8:31; 9:12, 31elsewhere), involves that such was the treatment of Divine truth, and consequently of the Lord, who was the Divine truth itself, as also He Himself teaches in John:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

No man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man stay therein (Jeremiah 49:18, 33).

In the cities shall no man dwell, neither shall any son of man pass through them (Jeremiah 51:43).

Anyone not acquainted with the spiritual sense of the Word will believe that by “cities” are here meant cities, and that by “man” and “the son of man” are meant a man and a son; and that the cities would be so desolated that no one would dwell there; but it is the state of the church in respect to the doctrine of truth which is described by these words; for “cities” denote the doctrinal things of the church (n. 402, 2449, 3216, 4492, 4493); “a man,” the truth itself of the church conjoined with good (n. 3134, 7716, 9007); therefore “the son of man” denotes truth.

[11] As by “the Son of man” was signified the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord, therefore also the prophets, through whom it was revealed, were called “sons of man,” as in Daniel 8:17; in Ezekiel 2:1, 3, 6, 8; 3:1, 3-4, 10, 17, 25; 4:1, 16; 8:5-6, 8, 12, 15; 12:2-3, 9, 18, 22, 27; and in many other passages.

[12] As most expressions in the Word have also an opposite sense, it is the same with the signification of “the son of man,” which in this sense denotes the falsity that is opposite to truth, as in Isaiah:

Who art thou, that thou art afraid of man that dieth, and of the son of man who is given as grass? (Isaiah 51:12); where “the son of man given as grass” denotes the memory-knowledge through which falsity arises.

In David:

Put not your trust in princes, in the son of man, in whom there is no salvation (Psalms 146:3); where “princes” denote primary truths (n. 2089, 5044), thus in the opposite sense, primary falsities; and “the son of man” denotes the falsity itself.

2708. And he dwelt in the wilderness. That this signifies in what is relatively obscure, is evident from the signification of “dwelling,” as being to live (see n. 2451); and from the signification of “wilderness,” as being that which has little vitality (see n. 1927); here what is obscure, but relatively. By what is relatively obscure is meant the state of the spiritual church relatively to the state of the celestial church, or the state of those who are spiritual relatively to that of those who are celestial. The celestial are in the affection of good, the spiritual in the affection of truth; the celestial have perception, but the spiritual a dictate of conscience; to the celestial the Lord appears as a Sun, but to the spiritual as a Moon (n. 1521, 1530, 1531, 2495). The former have light from the Lord, but giving both sight and the perception of good and truth, like the light of day from the sun; but the latter have light from the Lord like the light of night from the moon, and thus they are in relative obscurity. The reason is that the celestial are in love to the Lord, and thus in the Lord’s life itself; but the spiritual are in charity toward the neighbor and in faith, and thus in the Lord’s life indeed, but more obscurely. Hence it is that the celestial never reason about faith and its truths, but being in perception of truth from good, they say that it is so; whereas the spiritual speak and reason concerning the truths of faith, because they are in the conscience of good from truth; and also because with the celestial the good of love has been implanted in their will part, wherein is the chief life of man, but with the spiritual in their intellectual part, wherein is the secondary life of man; this is the reason why the spiritual are in what is relatively obscure (see n. 81, 202, 337, 765, 784, 895, 1114-1125, 1155, 1577, 1824, 2048, 2088, 2227, 2454, 2507).

[2] This comparative obscurity is here called a “wilderness.” In the Word a “wilderness” signifies what is little inhabited and cultivated, and also signifies what is not at all inhabited and cultivated, and is thus used in a twofold sense. Where it signifies what is little inhabited and cultivated, or where there are few habitations, folds of flocks, pastures, and waters, it signifies what has relatively little life and light-as what is spiritual, or those who are spiritual, in comparison with what is celestial, or those who are celestial. But where it signifies what is not inhabited or cultivated at all, or where there are no habitations, folds of flocks, pastures, or waters, it signifies those who are in vastation as to good and in desolation as to truth.

[3] That a “wilderness” signifies what is comparatively little inhabited and cultivated, or where there are few habitations, folds of flocks, pastures, and waters, is evident from the following passages.

In Isaiah:

Sing unto Jehovah a new song and His praise from the end of the earth; ye that go down to the sea, and the fullness thereof, the isles and the inhabitants thereof; let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up, the villages ¹ that Kedar doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains (Isaiah 42:10-11).

In Ezekiel:

I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil wild beast to cease out of the land, and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods; and I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing; the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield her fruit (Ezekiel 34:25-27);

here the spiritual are treated of.

In Hosea:

I will bring her into the wilderness, and will speak to her heart; and I will give her her vineyards from thence (Hos. 2:14-15); where the desolation of truth, and consolation afterwards, are treated of.

In David:

The folds of the wilderness do drop, and the hills are girded with rejoicing; the pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are covered over with corn (Psalms 65:12-13).

[4] In Isaiah:

I will make the wilderness a pool of waters, and the dry land springs of waters. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar of Shittim, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree; that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it (Isaiah 41:18-20); where the regeneration of those who are in ignorance of truth, or the Gentiles, and the enlightenment and instruction of those who are in desolation, are treated of; the “wilderness” is predicated of these; the “cedar, myrtle, and oil-tree” denote the truths and goods of the interior man; the “fir-tree” denotes those of the exterior.

In David:

Jehovah maketh rivers into a wilderness, and watersprings into dry ground; He maketh a wilderness into a pool of waters, and a dry land into watersprings (Psalms 107:33, 35); where the meaning is the same.

In Isaiah:

The wilderness and the parched land shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose; budding it shall bud; in the wilderness shall waters break out, ² and streams in the desert (Isaiah 35:1-2, 6).

In the same:

Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail; and they that be of thee shall build the deserts of old (Isaiah 58:11-12).

In the same:

Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become Carmel, and Carmel be counted for a forest; and judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness in Carmel (Isaiah 32:15-16); where the spiritual church is treated of, which though inhabited and cultivated is called relatively a “wilderness;” for it is said, “judgment shall dwell in the wilderness and righteousness in Carmel.” That a “wilderness” denotes a comparatively obscure state, is plain from these passages by its being called a “wilderness” and also a “forest;” and very evidently so in Jeremiah:

O generation, see ye the Word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? or a land of darkness? (Jeremiah 2:31).

[5] That a “wilderness” signifies what is not at all inhabited or cultivated, or where there are no habitations, folds of flocks, pastures, and waters, and thus those who are in vastation as to good and in desolation as to truth, is also evident from the Word. This kind of “wilderness” is predicated in a double sense, namely, of those who are afterwards reformed, and of those who cannot be reformed. Concerning those who are afterwards reformed (as here in regard to Hagar and her son) we read in Jeremiah:

Thus saith Jehovah, I remember for thee the mercy of thy youth, thy going after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown (Jeremiah 2:2); where Jerusalem is treated of, which here is the Ancient Church that was spiritual.

In Moses:

Jehovah’s portion is His people, Jacob is the line of His inheritance; He found him in a desert land, and in a waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He made him understand, He kept him as the pupil of His eye (Deuteronomy 32:9-10).

In David:

They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way, they found no city of habitation (Psalms 107:4); where those who have been in desolation of truth and are being reformed are treated of.

In Ezekiel:

I will bring you to the wilderness of the peoples, and I will judge with you there, as I judged with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt (Ezekiel 20:35-36); where in like manner the vastation and desolation of those who are being reformed are treated of.

[6] The journeyings and wanderings of the people of Israel in the wilderness represented nothing but the vastation and desolation of believers before reformation; consequently their temptation, if indeed they are in vastation and desolation when they are in spiritual temptations; as may also be seen from the following passages in Moses:

Jehovah bare them in the wilderness as a man beareth his son, in the way, even unto this place (Deuteronomy 1:31).

And in another place:

Thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to afflict thee, to tempt thee, and to know what is in thy heart; whether thou wouldest keep His commandments or no. He afflicted thee, He suffered thee to hunger, He made thee to eat manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that thou mightiest know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).

And again in the same chapter:

Lest thou forget that Jehovah led thee in the great and terrible wilderness, where were serpents, fiery serpents, and scorpions; a thirsty land where was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; He fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that He might afflict thee, and might tempt thee, to do thee good at thy latter end (Deuteronomy 8:15-16).

Here the “wilderness” denotes vastation and desolation, such as those are in who are in temptations. By their journeyings and wanderings in the wilderness forty years, all the state of the combating church is described-how of itself it yields, but conquers from the Lord.

[7] By the “woman who fled into the wilderness,” in John, nothing else is signified than the temptation of the church, thus described:

The woman who brought forth a son, a man child, fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God; there were given unto the woman two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place; and the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a flood, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. But the earth helped the woman; for the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth (Revelation 12:6, 14-16).

[8] That “wilderness” is predicated of a church altogether vastated, and of those who are altogether vastated as to good and truth, who cannot be reformed, is thus shown in Isaiah:

I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and die for thirst; I clothe the heavens with thick darkness (Isaiah 50:2-3).

In the same:

Thy holy cities were become a wilderness, Zion was become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation (Isaiah 64:10).

In Jeremiah:

I beheld and lo Carmel was a wilderness, and all her cities were broken down at the presence of Jehovah (Jeremiah 4:26).

In the same:

Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden My portion under foot; they have made My pleasant portion a wilderness of desolation, they have made it a desolation, it hath mourned unto Me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart. Spoilers are come upon all the hillsides in the wilderness (Jeremiah 12:10-12).

In Joel:

The fire hath devoured the folds of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field, the water brooks are dried up, the fire hath devoured the folds of the wilderness (Joel 1:19-20).

In Isaiah:

He made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities thereof (Isaiah 14:17); where Lucifer is spoken of. In the same:

The prophecy of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south, it cometh from the wilderness, from a terrible land (Isaiah 21:1).

The “wilderness of the sea” denotes truth vastated by memory-knowledges and the reasonings from them.

[9] From all this it may be seen what is signified by the following concerning John the Baptist:

It was said by Isaiah, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way for the Lord, make His paths straight (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23; Isaiah 40:3);

which means that the church was then altogether vastated, so that there was no longer any good, nor any truth; which is plainly manifest from the fact, that then no one knew that man had any internal, nor that there was any internal in the Word, and thus that no one knew that the Messiah or Christ was to come to eternally save them. Hence it is also manifest what is signified by John being in the wilderness until the days of his appearing to Israel (Luke 1:80); and by his preaching in the wilderness of Judea (Matthew 3:1-17 and following verses); and by his baptizing in the wilderness (Mark 1:4); for by that he also represented the state of the church. From the signification of a “wilderness” it may also be seen why the Lord so often withdrew into the wilderness (see for examples Matthew 4:1; 15:32 to the end; Mark 1:12-13, 35-40, 45; 6:31-36; Luke 4:1; 5:16; 9:10, John 11:54, and the following verses). From the signification of a “mountain” also it is manifest why the Lord withdrew into the mountains (as in Matthew 14:23; 15:29-31; 17:1; 28:16-17; Mark 3:13-14; 6:46; 9:2-9; Luke 6:12-13; 9:28; John 6:15).

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