119. That the church is called mother is apparent from the following passages:

(Jehovah said,) "Contend with your mother...; ...she is not My wife, and I am not her Husband." (Hosea 2:2)

"You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes her Husband...." (Ezekiel 16:45)

"Where is the certificate of your mother's divorce, whom I have put away?" (Isaiah 50:1)

Your mother was like a vine..., planted by the waters, fruitful.... (Ezekiel 19:10)

"Mother" in those places refers to the Jewish Church.

(Jesus, stretching out His hand toward His disciples, said,) "My mother and My brothers are they who hear the word of God and do it." (Luke 8:21, cf. Matthew 12:48-50, Mark 3:33-35)

The church is meant by the Lord's disciples.

By the cross of Jesus stood His mother.... (And) Jesus...seeing His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing by, (also) said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" And He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" (Therefore) from that hour the disciple took her into his own [home]. (John 19:25-27)

The meaning here is that the Lord did not acknowledge Mary but the church as His mother. That is why He calls her "woman" and names her the mother of the disciple. He named her the mother of this disciple, John, because John represented the church in respect to its good acts of charity. These good acts are the church in actual practice. Therefore it is said that the disciple took Mary into his own [home].

(We explained in The Apocalypse Revealed that Peter represented truth and faith, James charity, and John works of charity - see nos. 5, 6, 790, 798, 879 - and that the twelve disciples together represented the church in all its elements - see nos. 233, 790 [798?], 903, 915.)

10291. 'Take for yourself sweet spices' means the affections for truth springing from good which must be present in the worship of God. This is clear from the meaning of 'spices' as perceptions of and affections for truth and good, dealt with in 10254. The reason why they are the ones that must be present in the worship of God is that 'the incense' that was made from them means the worship of God, which is the subject in what follows. The spices that are mentioned now are of an entirely different kind from the spices from which the anointing oil was prepared, which were the subject above in verses 23-24. Those too are called spices, though a different word is used in the original language. The spices from which the anointing oil was prepared mean perceptions of and affections for truth and good, in the same way as the present spices do; but the difference is that the earlier truths belong to the celestial group, whereas the later ones belong to the spiritual group. That those earlier truths belong to the celestial group may be seen in 10254; that these later ones belong to the spiritual group will be seen in what follows below.

[2] Something more must be stated briefly to show what belonging to the celestial group and belonging to the spiritual group imply. It has often been stated that heaven is divided into the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. The two kingdoms have different kinds of truth, as they do of good, the good of the celestial kingdom being the good of love to the Lord, and the good of the spiritual kingdom the good of charity towards the neighbour. All good has its own truths; celestial good has its own and spiritual good its own, and these are entirely different from each other. The nature of that difference becomes clear from what has been shown regarding both kingdoms in the places referred to in 9277.

[3] The reason why all good has its own truths is that good is given form by truths, see 10252, 10266, and also reveals itself through truths. Such good and truths are like a person's will and understanding, in that his will is given form by and also reveals itself through his understanding. What belongs to the will is called good, and what belongs to the understanding is called truth.