8858. A person's whole character is determined by the nature of whatever dominates his life; this is what marks him off from others. His heaven is formed in accordance with it if he is good, or his hell if he is bad. For it constitutes his true will and so the true being of his life, which is unchangeable after death. From all this one may see what the life is like in a person who has been regenerated, and what it is like in one who has not been regenerated.

8886. 'The sabbath day' in the highest sense means the union of the Lord's Divine [Itself] and His Divine Human; in the internal sense it means the Divine Human joined to the heavens, and so means heaven and consequently the marriage of goodness and truth there. This is clear from what has been shown already in 8495. Since such things are meant by 'the sabbath', therefore in the representative Church it was most holy. It was that which was to be perpetually in the thoughts, that is, that which was to compose a heavenly life; for what a person thinks perpetually, that is, what reigns universally, composes his life, see 8853 8858, 8865, 8885. The Israelite nation had no thought, it is true, of the union of the Lord's Divine and His Divine Human, or of His union with heaven, or of goodness and truth joined together in heaven, which were meant by 'the sabbath', since they were concerned altogether with external things and not with anything internal. Yet they were commanded to hold the sabbath most holy, in order that Divine and heavenly realities might be represented in heaven. The situation as it was with them is evident from what has been shown already regarding that nation, and regarding a representative of the Church among them, in 3147, 3479, 3480, 3881 (end), 4208, 4281, 4288, 4289, 4293, 4307, 4444, 4580, 4680, 4825, 4844, 4847, 4899, 4912, 6304, 6306, 7048, 7051, 8301 (end).

9395. 'And half of the blood he sprinkled over the altar' means Divine Truth from the Lord's Divine Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'the blood' as Divine Truth, dealt with just above in 9393; and from the meaning of 'the altar' as a representative of the Lord's Divine Human, dealt with in 921, 2777, 2811, 4489, consequently the chief representative of worship of the Lord, 4541, 8935, 8940. The reason why this 'half of the blood', which was sprinkled over the altar, means Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Human and the other 'half of the blood', which was sprinkled over the people, verse 8 below, means this Divine Truth when accepted by a member of the Church, is this: A covenant was being established, and by 'a covenant' is meant being joined together, 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778, and the Lord comes to be joined to a member of the Church when Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord is accepted by a person. From this it is evident why blood was used, and when sprinkled over the altar and over the people was called the blood of the covenant, verse 8.