1826. And a turtle-dove and a young pigeon. That this signifies the representatives of the spiritual things of the church, is evident from the signification of birds in general and of turtle-doves and pigeons in particular. That “birds” signify spiritual things, which are those of faith or of truth, and therefore are intellectual and rational things, was shown above (n. 40, 745, 776, 991); also that “doves” signify the goods and truths of faith (n. 870). What they signified in the sacrifices shall of the Lord’s Divine mercy be stated in what follows, where the sacrifices are treated of. In the Word, especially in the prophetic part, when celestial things are spoken of, spiritual things also are spoken of, and in this way they are conjoined; because the one is from the other, so that the one is the other’s (as before said, n. 639, 680, 683, 707, 793, 801).

639. That by the “ark” is signified the man of that church, or the church called “Noah” is sufficiently evident from the description of it in the following verses; and from the fact that the Lord’s Word everywhere involves spiritual and celestial things; that is, that the Word is spiritual and celestial. If the ark with its coating of pitch, its measurement, and its construction, and the flood also, signified nothing more than the letter expresses, there would be nothing at all spiritual and celestial in the account of it, but only something historical, which would be of no more use to the human race than any similar thing described by secular writers. But because the Word of the Lord everywhere in its bosom or interiors involves and contains spiritual and celestial things, it is very evident that by the ark and all the things said about the ark, are signified hidden things not yet revealed.

[2] It is the same in other places, as in the case of the little ark in which Moses was concealed, which was placed among the sedge by the riverside (Exodus 2:3); and to take a more lofty instance, it was the same with the holy ark in the wilderness, that was made after the pattern shown to Moses on Mount Sinai. If each and all things in this ark had not been representative of the Lord and His kingdom, it would have been nothing else than a sort of idol, and the worship idolatrous. In like manner the temple of Solomon was not holy at all of itself, or on account of the gold, silver, cedar, and stone in it, but on account of all the things which these represented. And so here-if the ark and its construction, with its several particulars, did not signify some hidden thing of the church, the Word would not be the Word of the Lord, but a kind of dead letter, as in the case of any profane writer. Therefore it is evident that the ark signifies the man of the church, or the church called “Noah.”