330. Out of every tribe and tongue. That this signifies from all those who are in truths as to doctrine and as to life, is clear from the signification of a tribe, as denoting all truths and goods in the aggregate (concerning which see above, n. 39); for those things are signified by the twelve tribes, and hence by every tribe is signified something of truth and good, therefore by out of every tribe is signified from all those who are in any kind of truth and good; and from the signification of tongue as denoting the doctrine of life and faith. That tribes signify all truths and goods in the aggregate, will be shown more fully in its proper article below. Similarly, that tongue signifies the doctrine of life and faith, thus religion. (Those [passages] only shall be adduced here that are shown in the Arcana Coelestia concerning the signification of the tribes, namely, the twelve tribes of Israel represented, and thence signified, all truths and goods in the aggregate, n. 3858, 3926, 4060, 6335; similarly the twelve apostles of the Lord the like, n. 2129, 3354, 3488, 6397. There were twelve, because twelve signifies all, n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913. Because the twelve tribes represented, and thence signified, all truths and goods in the aggregate, therefore they represented heaven and the church, n. 6337, 6637, 7836, 7891, 7996. The twelve tribes signify various things according to the order in which they are named, and thus also all things of heaven and the church with variety, n. 3862, 3926, 3939, 4603 et seq., 6337, 6640, 10335; therefore, replies could be given and were given by the Urim and Thummim, on which the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were engraven in precious stones, n. 3858, 6335, 6640, 9863, 9865, 9873, 9874, 9905.)

118. As for the Lord's actually appearing in heaven as the sun, this is something I have not simply been told by angels but have also been allowed to see a number of times; so I should like at this point to describe briefly what I have heard and seen concerning the Lord as the sun.

The Lord does not appear as a sun in the heavens, but high above them, and not directly overhead but in front of angels at a middle elevation. He appears in two places, in one for the right eye and in another for the left, noticeably far apart. For the right eye he looks just like a sun, with much the same fire and size as our world's sun. For the left eye, though, he does not look like a sun but like a moon, with similar brilliance but more sparkling, and with much the same size as our earth's moon; but he seems to be surrounded by many apparent lesser moonlets, each similarly brilliant and sparkling.

The reason the Lord appears in two places, so differently, is that he appears to people according to their receptiveness. So he looks one way to people who accept him through the good of love and another way to people who accept him through the good of faith. To people who accept him through the good of love, he looks like a sun, fiery and flaming in response to their receptivity. These people are in his heavenly kingdom. To people who accept him through the good of faith, though, he looks like a moon, brilliant and sparkling in response to their receptivity. These people are in his spiritual kingdom. ¹ This is because the good of love corresponds to fire, so that fire, in its spiritual meaning, is love; while the good of faith corresponds to light, so that light, in its spiritual meaning, is faith. ²

The reason he appears to the eyes is that the deeper levels of the mind see through the eyes, looking from the good of love through the right eye and from the good of faith through the left eye. ³ You see, everything on the right side of an angel or one of us corresponds to what is good and yields truth, while everything on the left side corresponds to that truth that comes from what is good. ⁴ "The good of faith" is, essentially, truth that comes from what is good.

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