49. Verse 26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, ¹ and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

To people in the Most Ancient Church with whom the Lord spoke face to face, the Lord appeared as Man. (Much can be told about those people, but this is not the time to do so.) For this reason they called nobody man except the Lord and whatever may have been His. They did not even call themselves man, but only the things which they perceived that they had from the Lord, such as every good stemming from love and every truth of faith. These things were said to be human because they were the Lord's.

[2] In the Prophets therefore, in the highest sense, 'man' and 'son of man' are used to mean the Lord. In the internal sense they are used to mean wisdom and intelligence, and so everyone who is regenerate, as in Jeremiah,

I looked to the earth, and behold, a void and an emptiness, and towards the heavens, and behold, they had no light. I looked, and behold there was no man; and all the birds of the air ¹ had fled. Jeremiah 4:23, 25.

In Isaiah where in the internal sense 'man' means a regenerate person, the Lord Himself as the One Man is meant in the highest sense,

Thus said Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and He who formed him, It was I that made the earth and it was I that created man upon it; My hands stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. Isaiah 45:11-13

[3] The Lord was therefore seen by the Prophets as Man, for example by Ezekiel,

Above the firmament in appearance like a sapphire stone there was the likeness of a throne, and above the likeness of a throne, there was a likeness, as the appearance of a Man upon it above. Ezekiel 1:26.

And the One whom Daniel saw was called 'a Son of Man', or what amounts to the same, Man,

I looked, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like the Son of Man was coming; and He came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and languages will serve Him. His dominion is the dominion of an age, which will not pass away, and His kingdom one that will not perish. Daniel 7:13-14.

[4] Moreover the Lord quite often calls Himself the Son of Man or Man, and, as is done in Daniel, foretells His entry into glory,

They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matthew 24:23, 30.

The literal sense of the Word is called 'the clouds of heaven', its internal sense 'power and glory'. The internal sense, in every single detail, focuses exclusively on the Lord and His kingdom. Consequently it is the spiritual sense which contains power and glory.

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8813. 'That there were voices and lightnings' means a Divine state in which revelation took place. This is clear from the meaning of 'voices', which are the sounds made by claps of thunder, as God's truths; and from the meaning of 'lightnings' as the radiance and brilliance which those truths possess, for God's truths are made brilliant and radiant by the fiery brightness of light that shines from the sun of heaven. This is why 'voices and lightnings' means a Divine state in which revelation takes place, a Divine state being meant by the fact that they come down out of the sky, and revelation by the fact that 'voices' and 'lightnings' mean God's truths. For the meaning of 'voices', which are the products of lightning from the sky, as God's truths, see 7573; and the fact that 'lightnings' means brilliant flashes from them which strike a person's inward eye, enlightening those guided by truth derived from good and bewildering those steeped in falsity arising from evil, is clear from places in the Word where 'lightnings' are mentioned, as in David,

The clouds dropped water, the skies gave voice; and Your arrows went out The voice of Your thunder went into the world, ¹ the lightnings lit up the earth, the earth was shaken violently and quaked. Psalms 77:17-18.

Here 'the voice of thunder' stands for God's truth, 7573, 'lightnings' for its brilliance, and 'the earth' for the Church. Consequently ' the lightnings lit up the earth' stands for the enlightenment of the Church by God's truth.

[2] Something similar occurs in the same author,

His lightnings will enlighten the earth, the earth will see and fear; the mountains will melt like wax before Jehovah. Psalms 97:4-5.

In the same author,

What Jehovah wills He does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in all deep places. He causes the vapours to go up from the ends of the earth, He makes lightnings for the rain. Psalms 135:6-7; Jeremiah 10:13; 51:16.

'Lightnings for the rain' stands for the brightness of the truth coming down from heaven. In John,

There were lightnings, voices, and thunders. Revelation 11:19; 16:18.

'Voices, lightnings, and thunders' stands for God's truths which enlighten the good and terrify the evil.

[3] In Ezekiel,

The appearance of the living creatures (who were cherubs) was like burning coals of fire, Like the appearance of lamps. It was moving between the living creatures, so that there was the brightness of fire, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures ran forth and back, in appearance like a flash of lightning. Ezekiel 1:13-14.

Here 'fire' stands for the good of love, and 'out of the fire went forth lightning' for God's truth derived from that good. The Lord's Divine providence, which is God's truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, is described here by 'the cherubs'.

[4] In Daniel, behold, one clothed in linen whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz, and his body was like tarshish; ² his face was like the appearance of lightning, and his eyes were like fiery torches. Daniel 10:5-6.

'A face like the appearance of lightning' stands for the love of truth; for truth radiated by love carries with it a characteristic, meant by 'lightning', which is like a flame flashing from fire.

[5] In Zechariah,

Jehovah will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning; and the Lord Jehovih will sound a blast on the trumpet, and move forward in storms of the south. Zechariah 9:14.

'The arrow which will go forth like lightning' stands for God's truth which strikes and penetrates, 'an arrow' being truth coming from doctrine, see 2686, 2709, so that 'an arrow from Jehovah' is truth coming from God.

[6] In Nahum,

The glitter of the sword, the lightning-flash of the spear, ³ and the multitude of the slain. Nahum 3:3

In Moses,

I will sharpen My flashing sword ⁴ . Deuteronomy 32:41.

This stands for the penetration of God's truth as experienced by the evil, 'sword' standing for truth engaged in conflict, 2799, 8294, and 'lightning' for its brightness which strikes the understanding and deprives it of the ability to see truth. Something similar occurs in Ezekiel 21:15, 28. From all this it is also evident that 'lightning' is used to mean God's truth in Matthew 28:3, and Luke 17:24.

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