7313. That they may serve Me in the wilderness. That this signifies worship in what is obscure, is evident from the signification of “serving Jehovah,” as being worship; and from the signification of a “wilderness,” as being that which is not inhabited and cultivated (see n. 2708, 3900); in the spiritual sense that which is obscure in respect to the good and truth of faith. That “wilderness” here denotes such obscurity is because in general they of the spiritual church, who are represented by the sons of Israel, are in obscurity in respect to the truths of faith (n. 2715, 2716, 2718, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3833, 4402, 6289, 6500, 6865, 6945, 7233); specifically because they are in obscurity when they emerge from a state of infestations and temptations. For they who are in infestations are surrounded by falsities, and are shaken like a reed by the wind, thus from doubt to affirmative, and from affirmative to doubt; and therefore when they newly ascend out of this state they are in obscurity, but this obscurity is then gradually enlightened. As there is such a state with those who are being infested, therefore the sons of Israel were brought into the wilderness in order that they might represent this state, in which were those of the spiritual church before the Lord’s coming; and also the state in which they who are of that church are at this day, and are being vastated in respect to falsities.

41. Verse 8. I am the Alpha and the Omega, Beginning and End, signifies that He governs all things from firsts through ultimates, and thus all things of heaven to eternity. This is evident from the signification of "the Alpha and the Omega," as being the first and the last, or in firsts and in ultimates; and He who is in firsts and in ultimates also governs intermediates, thus all things. These things are said of the Lord's Divine Human, for they are said of Jesus Christ, by which name His Divine Human is meant (See above, n. 26). By means of this the Lord is in firsts and in ultimates. But that He governs all things from firsts through ultimates, is an arcanum that cannot as yet be perceived by man; for man knows nothing of the successive degrees into which the heavens are divided, and into which also the interiors of man are divided; and he scarcely knows that man as to flesh and bones is in his ultimates. Neither does he perceive how intermediates are governed from firsts through ultimates; and yet in order that He might thus govern all things, the Lord came into the world that even to ultimates, that is, even to flesh and bones, He might assume the Human and glorify it, that is, make it Divine. That the Lord put on such a Human, and took it with Him into heaven, is known in the church from this, that He left nothing of His body in the sepulcher; also from His own words to His disciples:

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

By this Human, therefore, the Lord is in ultimates; and by making even these ultimates Divine, He put Himself into the Divine power of governing all things from firsts through ultimates. If the Lord had not done this, the human race on this earth would have perished in eternal death. But this arcanum is not carried further because more must be known whereby an idea of the Divine government from firsts through ultimates may be formed and acquired. (Yet some thing may come into the understanding from what is shown in the Arcana Coelestia, namely, that interior things flow in successively into external things, even into what is extreme or ultimate, and that there they have existence and subsistence, n. 634, 6239, 6465, 9216-9217; that interior things not only flow in successively, but they also form what is simultaneous in the ultimate, and in what order, n. 5897, 6451, 8603, 10099; therefore, that all interior things are held together in connection, from what is first by means of what is ultimate n. 9828, and in the work on Heaven and Hell 297; that from this there is strength and power in ultimates, n. 9836; that from this also what is ultimate is more holy than what is interior, n. 9824; that from this "the first and last [or ultimate]" signify all things, n. 10044, 10329, 10335. On the successive degrees into which the heavens are divided, and into which also the interiors of man are divided, see the work on Heaven and Hell 38.) It is said also, that the Lord is "Beginning and End," and by this is meant that He is from eternity to eternity; but neither can this be explained to the apprehension further than has been done above n. 23 which see.