10131. 'And this is what you shall offer on the altar' means that which has regard in general to reception of the Lord in heaven and in the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'this is what you shall offer on the altar' as that which has regard in general to reception of the Lord in the heavens; for 'the altar' means what is Divine and the Lord's in the heavens, 10129, thus also the reception of Him, while 'this you shall offer on it' means that which has regard in general [to the reception]. For the words that come next refer to the burnt offerings of lambs that were to be presented daily, and these offerings represent in general that which has regard to reception of the Lord. By 'lambs' the good of innocence is meant, and the good of innocence is the one and only thing that receives the Lord. For without the good of innocence there can be no love to the Lord, nor can there be any charity towards the neighbour or any faith that has life within it; in general there can be no good that has what is Divine within it, see the places referred to in 10021. This is why 'this you shall offer on the altar' means that which has regard in general to reception of the Lord in heaven and in the Church. When the word 'heaven' is used the Church should also be understood, since the Lord's heaven on earth is the Church, and each individual person in whom the Church exists has heaven as well within him; for the Lord is within him, and where the Lord is, so is heaven. Furthermore the Church makes one with heaven, for they are linked together inseparably and are dependent each on the other. The Word is what joins them together; the Word has the Lord within it, and the Lord is the Word, John 1:1ff.

5672. 'Until Joseph's coming at midday' means up to when the internal would be present with light. This is clear from the meaning of 'until his coming' as up to when it was present; from the representation of 'Joseph' as the internal, dealt with in 5648; and from the meaning of 'midday' as a state of light, 1458, 3195, 3708. ¹ The reason 'midday' means a state of light is that the times of day, such as morning, midday, and evening, correspond to states of light in the next life; and states of light there are states of intelligence and wisdom, for the reason that the light of heaven holds intelligence and wisdom within it. The changing states of light there are like those times of day on earth - morning, midday, and evening. The states of shade akin to evening do not however have anything to do with the sun there, which is the Lord who is constantly shedding His light, but with the selfhood that is essentially the angels' own. For insofar as this selfhood takes over in their lives they pass into a state of shade or evening; but insofar as this selfhood gives way to the heavenly selfhood they move into a state of light. From this one may see where the correspondence of midday to a state of light has its origin.

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