10095. 'And it shall be for Aaron and his sons by the statute of an age from among the children of Israel' means the law of order in the representative Church as regards the Lord's Divine Good and the Divine Truth emanating from that Good. This is clear from the representation of 'Aaron and his sons' as the Lord in respect of Divine Good and of the Divine Truth emanating from that Good, dealt with in 9806, 9807, 10068; from the meaning of 'the statute of an age' as a law of Divine order, dealt with in 7884, 7995, 8357; and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as the Church, dealt with in 4286, 6426, 6637, 9340. The reason why the representative Church is meant is that this Church was established among the children of Israel, see the places referred to in 9320(end).

7884. 'You shall keep it as a feast by an eternal statute' means worship of the Lord in keeping with the order of heaven for those belonging to the spiritual Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'an eternal statute' as the order of heaven, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'keeping a feast' as worship of the Lord, as just above in 7882. And since the children of Israel are the ones who are told to keep it as a feast, those belonging to the spiritual Church are meant. The reason why 'an eternal statute' means the order of heaven is that all the statutes which the children of Israel were commanded to observe were the kind that flowed from the order of heaven, and therefore also represented the things of heaven. By worship in keeping with the order of heaven one should understand all the good that is performed in keeping with the Lord's commandments. By the worship of God people at the present day mean primarily worship of the lips in church, and also morning and evening. Worship of God does not however consist essentially in that, but in a life of performing useful services; this worship is in keeping with the order of heaven. Worship of the lips is also worship, but it achieves nothing whatever without worship in the life one leads, since this is worship of the heart. If worship on the lips is to be true worship it must spring from this.