Arcana Coelestia # 85
85. That the celestial man is the seventh day, and that the seventh day was for that reason made holy and called the Sabbath from a word for 'rest', are as yet undisclosed arcana. This is because people have not known what the celestial man is, and few what the spiritual man is. In their ignorance they could not avoid making the latter the same as the celestial, when in fact there is a vast difference between them; see 81. As regards the seventh day and the celestial man's being the seventh day or Sabbath, this is clear from the fact that the Lord Himself is the Sabbath, for which reason He also says,
The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. Mark 2:28.
These words embody the concept that the Lord is Man himself, and the Sabbath itself. He gives the name Sabbath, or eternal peace and rest, to His kingdom in heaven and on earth. The Most Ancient Church, which is the subject here, was the Lord's Sabbath more than any subsequent Church.
[2] Every subsequent inmost Church has been a Sabbath of the Lord, and so is every regenerate person when he becomes celestial, since he is a likeness of the Lord. Six days of conflict or labour precede this. In the Jewish Church these things were represented by the work days, and by the seventh which was the Sabbath; for in that Church, everything that had been ordained was representative of the Lord and His kingdom. The Ark too had a similar representation when it was travelling and when it came to rest. Its travels through the wilderness represented conflicts and temptations, and its resting represented states of peace. This is why when it travelled Moses said,
Arise, O Jehovah, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee from Your face. 1 And when it came to rest he said, Return, O Jehovah, to the myriads of the thousands of Israel. Numbers 10:35-36.
The same portion of Scripture speaks of the Ark 'travelling from the mountain of Jehovah to search out rest for them'. ibid. Verse 33.
[3] The Sabbath is used to describe the celestial man's rest in Isaiah,
If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, so that you do not your desire on My holy day, and you call the things which belong to the Sabbath delights honourable to the Holiness of Jehovah, and you honour it so that you do not your own ways, nor find your own desire and speak your own words, then you will be delightful to Jehovah, and I will have you carried over the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob. Isaiah 58:13-14.
The celestial man is such that he does not base his actions on his own desires but on what pleases the Lord; this is his desire. In this way he enjoys inward peace and happiness, here expressed by 'being carried up over the high places of the earth'. At the same time he enjoys outward contentment and joy, meant by 'being fed with the heritage of Jacob'.
სქოლიოები:
1. literally, faces
Ezekiel 47:1-12
1
He brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward; (for the forefront of the house was toward the east;) and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar.
2
Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the way outside to the outer gate, by the way of [the gate] that looks toward the east; and behold, there ran out waters on the right side.
3
When the man went forth eastward with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the ankles.
4
Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the knees. Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through [the waters], waters that were to the waist.
5
Afterward he measured one thousand; [and it was] a river that I could not pass through; for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through.
6
He said to me, Son of man, have you seen [this]? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river.
7
Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.
8
Then he said to me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into the Arabah; and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea [shall the waters go] which were made to issue forth; and the waters shall be healed.
9
It shall happen, that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters are come there, and [the waters of the sea] shall be healed, and everything shall live wherever the river comes.
10
It shall happen, that fishermen shall stand by it: from En Gedi even to En Eglaim shall be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish shall be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
11
But the miry places of it, and its marshes, shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt.
12
By the river on its bank, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall its fruit fail: it shall bring forth new fruit every month, because its waters issue out of the sanctuary; and its fruit shall be for food, and its leaf for healing.
