9229. 'And men of holiness shall you be to Me' means a state of life then composed of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'men of holiness' as those who are led by the Lord, for the Divine which emanates from the Lord is holiness itself, 6788, 7499, 8127 (end), 8302, 8806. Consequently those who receive that emanation in faith and also in love are called holy ones. Anyone who imagines that a person is holy from any other source, or that anything present with a person is holy apart from that which comes and is received from the Lord is very much mistaken; for that which is the person's own, and is called his proprium, is evil.

The human proprium is nothing but evil, see 210, 215, 694, 874-876, 987, 1047, 4328, 5660, 5786, 8480, 8944.

To the extent that a person can be withheld from his proprium, the Lord can be present with him, and therefore to the same extent holiness resides with him, 1023, 1044, 1581, 2256, 2388, 2406, 2411, 8206, 8393, 8988 (end), 9014.

[2] The truth that the Lord is the Only Holy One, and that nothing is holy except that which emanates from the Lord, and so that which a person receives from the Lord, is evident from everywhere in the Word, as in John,

I make Myself holy, that they also may be made holy in the truth. John 17:19.

'Making Himself holy' means making Himself Divine by His own power. Consequently those who receive Divine Truth emanating from the Lord in faith and life are said to be 'made holy in the truth'.

[3] This also explains why after the Resurrection, when the Lord spoke to the disciples, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit, John 20:22. 'Breathing on (or into)' was a sign that represented the imparting of life through faith and love, as also in Genesis,

Jehovah breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man (homo) became a living soul. Genesis 2:7.

Other examples like this may be seen elsewhere, such as Psalms 33:6; 104:29-30; Job 32:8; 33:4; John 3:8. Therefore also the Word is said to be inspired because it comes from the Lord, and those who wrote the Word have been called 'inspired'. Breathing, and so breathing on or inspiring, corresponds to the life of faith, see 97, 1119, 1120, 3883-3896. This explains why the term spirit in the Word is derived from the word for wind, and holiness from the Lord is called Jehovah's wind, 8286, and why the Holy Spirit is the holiness emanating from the Lord, 3704, 4673 (end), 5307, 6788, 6982, 6993, 8127 (end), 8302, 9199.

[4] So also it says in John 1:33 that the Lord baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and in Luke 3:16 that He baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 'Baptizing' in the internal sense means regenerating, 4255, 5120 (end), 9088; 'baptizing with the Holy Spirit' means regenerating by means of the good of faith; and 'baptizing with fire' means regenerating by means of the good of love, 'fire' being the good of love, see 934, 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324. In John,

Who is not going to fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. Revelation 15:4.

In Luke the angel telling Mary about the Lord said,

That which is holy will be born from you. Luke 1:35.

And in Daniel,

I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, and behold, a vigilant and holy one came down from heaven. Daniel 4:13.

In these places 'that which is holy' and 'a holy one' stand for the Lord.

[5] Because the Lord alone is holy He is called in the Old Testament the Holy One of Israel, the Redeemer, the Saviour, and the Regenerator, as in Isaiah 1:4; 5:19, 24; 10:20; 12:6; 17:7; 29:19; 30:11-12, 15; 31:1; 37:23; 41:14, 16, 20; 43:3, 14; 45:11; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7; 54:5; 55:5; 60:9, 14; Jeremiah 50:29; 51:5; Ezekiel 39:7; Psalms 71:22; 78:41; 89:18. This is why the Lord in heaven, and consequently heaven itself, is called the dwelling-place of holiness, Jeremiah 25:30; 31:23; ¹ Isaiah 63:15; the sanctuary, ² Ezekiel 11:16; 24:21; and also the mountain of holiness, Psalms 3:4. It is also why the middle of the tent [of meeting], where the ark containing the law was, was called The Holy of Holies, Exodus 26:33-34; for the law in the ark in the middle of the tent [of meeting], represented the Lord in respect of the Word. For the law is the Word, 6752, 7463.

[6] All this shows why it is that the angels are called holy in Matthew 25:31; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26; Psalms 149:1; Daniel 8:13; also the prophets, Luke 1:70; and the apostles too, Revelation 18:20. Not that they are holy by their own virtue but that the Lord, who alone is holy and the only source of holiness, makes them so. For truths are meant by 'the angels', because they are those who receive truth from the Lord, 1925, 4085, 4295, 4402, 7268, 7873, 8192, 8301; teachings which present the truth that comes through the Word from the Lord are meant by 'the prophets', 2534, 7269; and all the truths and forms of the good of faith in their entirety which come from the Lord are meant by 'the apostles', 3488, 3858 (end), 6397.

[7] Consecrations ³ among the Israelite and Jewish people took place in order that the Lord who alone was holy might be represented, and in order that holiness, which He alone is the source of, might be represented. This is the reason for the consecration of Aaron and his sons, Exodus 29:1ff; Leviticus 8:10-11, 13, 30; the consecration of their garments, Exodus 29:21ff; the consecration of the altar in order that it might be most holy, ⁴ Exodus 29:37ff; the consecration of the tent of meeting, the ark of the Testimony, the table, all the vessels, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and its vessels, and the laver and its base, Exodus 30:26ff.

[8] The truth that the Lord is the real Holiness that was represented is evident also from the Lord's words in Matthew when they are seen in the internal sense,

Fools and blind! Which of the two is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy? And which of the two is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? Matthew 23:17-19.

'The temple' represented the Lord Himself, and so did 'the altar', while 'the gold' was a sign of the good that comes from the Lord, and 'the gift' or a sacrifice was a sign of things constituting faith and charity that come from the Lord.

The Lord was represented by 'the temple', see 2777, 3720, and by 'the altar', 2777, 2811, 4489, 8935, 8940. 'Gold' was a sign of good that comes from the Lord, 1551, 1552, 5658, and 'a sacrifice' a sign of worship springing from faith and charity that come from the Lord, 922, 923, 2805, 2807, 2830, 6905, 8680, 8682, 8936.

[9] From all this it is now evident why it is that the children of Israel were called a holy people in Deuteronomy 26:19 and elsewhere, or as in the present verse men of holiness. That is to say, they were so called because every single aspect of their worship represented Divine realities that are the Lord's, and celestial and spiritual things of His kingdom and Church. On this account they were called holy in a representative sense; they themselves were not holy on that account, because representatives had regard to the holy things that were represented, not to the person who represented them, see 665, 1097 (end), 1361, 3147, 3881 (end), 4208, 4281, 4288, 4293, 4307, 4444, 4500, 6304, 7048, 7439, 8588, 8788, 8806.

[10] On that account also was Jerusalem called holy, and Zion the mountain of holiness in Zechariah 8:3 and elsewhere, as well as in Matthew,

And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of dead holy ones were raised; and coming out of their tombs after the Lord's resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. Matthew 27:52-53.

Here Jerusalem is called 'the holy city', when in fact, quite to the contrary, it was unholy because the Lord was crucified there at that time, for which reason it is called 'Sodom and Egypt' in John,

Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Revelation 11:8.

Yet it is called holy, because it means the Lord's kingdom and the Church, 402, 2117, 3654. The appearance of 'dead holy ones' there, an event witnessed by some in vision, was a sign of the salvation of people who belonged to the spiritual Church, and of the raising of those people to the Holy Jerusalem, which is heaven - the people who had been kept up to that time on the lower earth, spoken of in 6854, 6914, 7091, 7828, 7932, 8049, 8054, 8159, 8321.

Notas a pie de página:

8988. '[His] master shall bring him to God' means the state he then enters in keeping with Divine order. This is clear from the meaning of 'bringing to God', when the subject is those who are imbued with truths and cannot be imbued with good, as causing them to enter a state in keeping with Divine order; for 'bringing to' means entering, and 'God' means Divine order, which is dealt with below. The fact that these things are meant is evident from the details contained in the rest of this verse. These describe the state of those imbued with truths and not with complementary good, that is to say, a state of everlasting obedience. For those living in this condition are in servitude compared with those imbued with good complementing truths. For being governed by good the latter's actions spring from affection; and those who act from affection do so from the will, thus from themselves since whatever forms part of a person's will is part of his true self; for indeed the essence (esse) of a person's life is his will. But those whose actions spring from obedience act not from their own will, but from their master's, thus not from themselves, but from another; therefore in comparison they are in servitude. Actions that spring from truths and not from good spring solely from the understanding, for truths have connection with the understanding and forms of good with the will; and actions that spring from the understanding and not from the will spring from that which stands outside and serves. The understanding has been given to a person in order that he may receive truths and introduce them into his will to become forms of good; for when truths become part of the will they are called forms of good.

[2] The condition however of one who serves the Lord by doing according to His commandments, and by being obedient in that kind of way, is not that of a slave; rather, it is that of one who is free. For perfect freedom consists for a person in being led by the Lord, 892, 905, 2870, 2872. The Lord breathes the good into the person's will from which his actions spring; and although that good comes from the Lord, the person nevertheless has the feeling that his actions are from himself, that is, he does them in freedom. This freedom exists with all who abide in the Lord; and coupled with it there is indescribable happiness.

[3] The reason why 'God' here means Divine order is that in the Word the name 'God' is used where truth is referred to, and 'Jehovah' where good is referred to, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921 (end), 4402, 7010, 7268, 8867. Therefore Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good is meant in the highest sense by 'God', and His Divine Good from which Divine Truth emanates is meant by 'Jehovah'. The reason for this is that Divine Good is Essential Being (Esse), and Divine Truth is the Coming-into-Being (Existere) from it, since what emanates from something comes into being from it. The situation with good and truth in heaven or among angels is similar, and that in the Church among men is similar. Good there is the essential being, and truth is the coming-into-being from it. Or what amounts to the same thing love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour is the essential being of heaven and the Church, while faith is the coming-into-being from it. All this makes plain why it is that 'God' can also mean Divine order; for Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is what constitutes order in heaven, so completely that it is order itself. For more about Divine Truth's being order, see 1728, 1919, 7995, 8700.

Therefore when man or angel receives Divine Truth from the Lord within good, there resides with him that order which exists in the heavens. As a consequence he is a heaven or kingdom of the Lord in particular; he is such in the measure that he is imbued with good from truths, and after this in the measure that he is endowed with truths from good. And - what is an arcanum - angels themselves appear in heaven in a human form that accords exactly with the truths present with them within good, together with beauty and brilliance which accord with the character of the good from truths. The souls of members of the Church present a similar appearance in heaven. The Divine Truth itself emanating from the Lord brings this about, as may be recognized from what has been shown at the ends of a number of chapters regarding heaven as the Grand Man, and its correspondence with individual aspects of a human being.

[4] This arcanum is what the following words are used to mean in John, in the Book of Revelation,

He measured the wall of the holy Jerusalem, a hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man (homo), that is, of an angel. Revelation 21:17.

Will anyone ever understand these words if he does not know what the holy Jerusalem, its wall, measure, the number 144, and so 'a man, that is, an angel' all mean? By the new or holy Jerusalem is meant the Lord's New Church, which is going to take the place of the Christian Church existing at the present time, 2117; by 'the wall' is meant the truths of faith which will defend that Church, 6419; by 'measuring' and 'the measure' is meant its state in respect of truth, 3104; by the number 144 is meant much the same as by 12, since 144 is the number that is the product of 12 multiplied by itself, and by these numbers all truths in their entirety are meant, see 7973. These meanings make plain what is meant by 'the measure of a man, that is, of an angel', namely actual truth emanating from the Lord in the form it assumes, which is that of a man-angel in heaven, as stated above. All this reveals the arcanum which the words quoted above embody; it reveals that they describe the truths of that Church which is going to take the place of the Christian Church existing at the present time.

[5] The fact that they are truths from good is described in the very next verse, in these words,

The construction of its wall was jasper, but the city was pure gold, like pure glass. Revelation 21:18.

'Jasper' means truth such as that Church's will be, for truths are meant by 'stones' generally, 1298, 3720, 6426, and truths that come from the Lord by 'precious stones', 643; and 'gold' means the good of love and wisdom, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658. Would anyone ever discern that such meanings are embodied in those words? Yet who can fail to see from them that countless arcana lie concealed in the Word, which are not at all made apparent to anyone except by means of the internal sense, and that this sense, like a key, is the means of opening up God's truths as they exist in heaven, and therefore heaven and the Lord Himself, who is the All in all of the Word in its inmost sense?