Apocalypse Revealed＃883
883. "And He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. And He Himself will be with them their God." This symbolizes their conjunction with the Lord, which is of such a nature that the people are in Him and He in them.
His dwelling with them symbolizes a conjunction of the Lord with them, as we will see below. The people's being His people, and His being with them their God, symbolically means that they are the Lord's, and that He is their Lord. Moreover, because dwelling with them symbolizes conjunction, it symbolically means that they will be in the Lord and have the Lord in them. Otherwise there is no conjunction. That this is the nature of the conjunction is clearly apparent from the Lord's words in John:
Abide in Me, and I in you... I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)
And elsewhere:
At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)
He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. (John 6:56)
[2] The Lord's assuming a humanity and uniting it with the Divinity He had in Him from birth, which is called the Father, had as its goal a conjunction with people, as is apparent also in John:
For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth..., that they may be one as We are one: I in them, and You in Me. (John 17:19, 21-23, 26)
It follows from this that the conjunction is formed with the Lord's Divine humanity, that it is a reciprocal one, and that this is the only means of conjunction with the Divine called the Father.
[3] The Lord also teaches that the conjunction is formed by the Word's truths and by living in accordance with them (John 14:20-24; 15:7).
This, then, is what is meant by the Lord's dwelling with them and their being His people, and His being with them their God. So, too, elsewhere where the same words occur: Jeremiah 7:23; 11:4; Ezekiel 14:11; Jeremiah 24:7; 30:22; Ezekiel 11:20; 36:28; 37:23, 27; Zechariah 8:8; Exodus 29:45.
[4] To dwell with them symbolizes a conjunction with them because to dwell symbolizes conjunction out of love, as may be seen from many passages in the Word. It may be seen also from the abodes of angels in heaven. Heaven is distinguished into countless societies, all of them different from each other in accordance with the differences in their love's affections, in general and in particular. Each society embodies one particular variety of affection, and the people in it have dwellings distinct from each other, depending on how close or akin they are within that variety of affection, and those who are the most closely related dwell together in the same house. Dwelling together, therefore, when said of married partners, symbolizes in the spiritual sense conjunction by love.
It should be known that conjunction with the Lord is not the same as His presence. Conjunction with the Lord is possible only with people who turn to Him directly, His presence with everyone else.
John 17
1
Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also Glorify you;
2
even as you gave him authority over all flesh, he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3
This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
4
I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
5
Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
6
I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.
7
Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you,
8
for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came forth from you, and they have believed that you sent me.
9
I pray for them. I don't pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
10
All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11
I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.
12
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you have given me I have kept. None of them is lost, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13
But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.
14
I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15
I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.
16
They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.
17
Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
18
As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.
19
For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
20
Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who believe in me through their word,
21
that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
22
The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one;
23
I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me.
24
Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25
Righteous Father, the world hasn't known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
26
I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them."
