9371. THE INTERNAL SENSE.

Verses 1-2. And He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and bow yourselves afar off; and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah; and they shall not come near; and the people shall not come up with him. “And He said unto Moses,” signifies that which concerns the Word in general; “come up unto Jehovah,” signifies conjunction with the Lord; “thou and Aaron,” signifies the Word in the internal sense and the external sense; “Nadab and Abihu,” signifies doctrine from both senses; “and seventy of the elders of Israel,” signifies the chief truths of the church which are of the Word, or of doctrine, and which agree with good; “and bow yourselves afar off,” signifies humiliation and adoration from the heart, and then the influx of the Lord; “and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah,” signifies the conjunction and presence of the Lord through the Word in general; “and they shall not come near,” signifies no separate conjunction and presence; “and the people shall not come up with him,” signifies no conjunction whatever with the external apart from the internal.

689. The reason why John's baptising prepared the way was that by this means, as shown above, people were introduced into the coming church of the Lord, and brought into the company of those in heaven who were awaiting and longing for the Messiah. They were thus protected by angels to prevent devils breaking out of hell and destroying them. This is why it says in Malachi, 'Who will endure the day of his coming' and 'so that Jehovah may not come and strike the land with a curse' (Malachi 4:6). Likewise in Isaiah:

Look, the cruel day of Jehovah is coming, a day of wrath and an explosion of anger. I shall make the heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place on the day of the explosion of His anger, Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22; 22:5, 12.

Also in Jeremiah that day is called a day of laying waste, of revenge and ruin (Jeremiah 4:9; 7:32; 46:10, 21; 47:4; 49:8, 26). In Ezekiel it is called a day of wrath, of cloud and thick darkness (Ezekiel 13:5; 30:2-3, 9; 34:11-12; 38:14, 16, 18-19). Equally in Amos (Amos 5:13, 18, 20; 8:3, 9, 13); in Joel, the great and terrible day of Jehovah, and who will endure it? (Joel 2:1-2, 11; 3:2, 4). In Zephaniah:

On that day there will be a shout. The great day of Jehovah is at hand, the day of the explosion of His anger is that day, the day of anguish and affliction, the day of laying waste and devastation. On the day of the explosion of Jehovah's anger the whole earth will be consumed, and He will bring about an ending with all the inhabitants of the earth, Zephaniah 1:7-18.

There are other passages too.

[2] From these it is plain that if the way had not been prepared by baptism for Jehovah to come down into the world, the effect of which in the heavens was to shut off the hells and to protect the Jews from total extinction, [all there would have been struck with a curse and would have perished] ¹ . Jehovah also says to Moses:

In a single moment, if I were to go up in your midst, I should consume the people, Exodus 33:5.

The truth of this is clearly to be seen from John's words to the crowds who came out to be baptised by him:

You brood of vipers, who has warned you to run away from the wrath to come? Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7.

For John also teaching about Christ and His coming when he baptised, see Luke 3:16; John 1:25-26, 31-33; 3:26. These passages make it plain how John prepared the way.

Note a piè di pagina:

3596. And blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed. That this signifies that it has been conjoined, is evident from the signification of “being blessed,” as being to be conjoined (n. 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584). How the case is with the appropriation and conjunction of the truth represented by Jacob may be seen from what has been said above. But as these subjects are of such a nature as to transcend the apprehension of the natural man, and cannot be seen except in the light in which is the rational or internal man, in which light at the present day there are but few, because few are being regenerated, therefore it is better to illustrate them no further, for the illustration of things unknown and transcending the apprehension does not bring them into light, but into more shade. Moreover such things are to be built upon ideas of natural truths, through which they are to be apprehended, and at the present day these also are wanting. This is the reason why the words just preceding have been explained so briefly, and merely as to the internal sense of the expressions.

[2] From what has been said it may be seen what is involved in the statement that Isaac asked hunting of his son, that he might eat of it before he blessed him, and that he did not bless him till after he had eaten, and thus that after eating followed the blessing of him who prepared and brought the dainties-as is also evident from Isaac’s words (here concerning Jacob), “he brought to me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed.” The reason referred to appears from the internal meaning of the rituals of the Ancient Church; for with them eating signified appropriation and conjunction-conjunction that is to say with him with whom or of whose bread they had eaten. Food in general signified what is of love and charity, that is, the same as celestial and spiritual food-bread what is of love to the Lord, and wine what is of charity toward the neighbor. When these had been appropriated, the persons were conjoined; thus they spoke to each other from affection, and were consociated together. Feasts with the ancients were nothing else, nor was anything else represented in the Jewish Church by their eating together of the holy things, nor was anything else represented in the primitive Christian Church by their dinners and suppers.