63. (Verse 13) And in the midst of the seven lampstands one like unto the Son of man. That this signifies the Lord, from whom is the all of heaven and of the church, is evident from the signification of "in the midst," as denoting in the inmost (see Arcana Coelestia 1074, 2940, 2973); and, because all things proceed from the inmost as light from the centre into the circumferences, therefore, "in the midst," signifies from whom. This is evident also from the signification of the seven lampstands, as denoting the New Heaven and the New Church (concerning which see above, n. 62); and from the signification of the Son of man, as denoting the Lord as to the Divine Human, and also as to Divine truth, because this proceeds from His Divine Human. From these considerations it is evident that the Lord appeared in the midst of seven lampstands, because from Him proceeds the all of heaven and of the church; for the good of love and the good of faith constitute heaven and the church, and that these are from the Divine is known in the Christian world, and because they are from the Divine, they are from the Lord, because the Lord is the God of heaven, and because the Divine of the Lord makes heaven (see the work, Heaven and Hell 2-6, and n. 7-12; and that this is His Divine Human, n. 78-86).

[2] That by the Son of man is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human, and also as to Divine truth, because Divine truth proceeds from His Divine Human, is evident from those passages in the Word where mention is made of the Son of man. Thus in John:

The multitude said unto Jesus, "How sayest thou that the Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man? Jesus answered them, Yet a little while the light is with you; walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you. While ye have the light believe in the light, that ye may be sons of light" (12:34-36).

From these words it is clear that by the Son of man is signified the same as by light; for when they inquired, "Who is this Son of man?" the Lord answered that He was the light in which they should believe. (That light is the Divine truth proceeding from the Divine Human of the Lord, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 126-140; and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 49; thus also that the Son of man is the Divine truth.) It is said in Luke:

[3] "Blessed are ye when men shall hate you for the Son of man's sake" (6:22).

For the Son of man's sake is for the sake of the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord. Divine truth is the all of faith and love to the Lord; and because they who are evil deny those things, and they who deny also hate them, and the good acknowledge them, therefore it is said, that these latter are blessed. Again, in the same:

[4] "The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, but ye shall not see it. Then they shall say to you, Behold here, or behold there; go not away, nor follow them" (17:22, 23).

To desire one of the days of the Son of man, is to desire something of genuine Divine truth. The end of the church is there meant, when there will be no longer any faith, because no charity, at which time all Divine truth will perish; and because Divine truth is signified by the Son of man, therefore it is said, "Then shall they say, Behold here, or behold there; follow them not." And in the same:

[5] "When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" (18:8);

that is, when Divine truth shall be revealed out of heaven, it will not be believed. The Son of man, in this place also, is the Lord as to Divine truth; the coming of the Lord is the revelation of Divine truth at the end of the church. (See Arcana Coelestia 3900, 4060.)

[6] And in Matthew:

"As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and glory" (24:27, 30).

(That by the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven, is there signified the revelation of Divine truth at the end of the church, may be seen above, n. 36.)

[7] And in the same:

"I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" (26:64).

And in Luke:

"Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God" (22:69).

The Son of man is the Lord as to the Divine Human, and as to Divine truth proceeding from It; to sit on the right hand of power, means that He has omnipotence; its being said that they should see this now, means, that Divine truth was in its omnipotence when the Lord in the world had conquered the hells, and reduced to order all things there and in the heavens, and that thus those would be saved who should receive Him in faith and love. (See Arcana Coelestia 9715. That to sit on the right hand denotes omnipotence, may be seen Arcana Coelestia 3387, 4592, 4933, 7518, 8281, 9133; that all the power of good is by truth, n. 6344, 6423, 8304, 9327, 9410, 9639, 9643. That Divine power itself is by Divine truth proceeding from the Divine Human of the Lord, see n. 6948; that the clouds in which the Son of man will come are the Word in the letter, which is Divine truth in the ultimate of order, see the preface to the eighteenth chapter of Genesis, Arcana Coelestia 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343, 6752, 8443, 8781; and that glory is the Divine truth itself, such as it is in the internal sense of the Word, see n. 4809, 5922, 8267, 9429.)

[8] From these considerations it is now evident what is signified by these words in the Apocalypse:

"I saw, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown" (14:14).

And in Daniel:

"I saw in the visions of the night, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of the heavens" (7:13).

Because all judgment is executed from truth, therefore it is said, that it is given to the Lord "to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man" (John 5:27); and that "the Son of man shall render to every one according to his deeds" (Matthew 16:27); and that "when the Son of man shall come, he shall sit upon the throne of his glory, and shall judge" (Matthew 25:31).

[9] And again in Matthew, it is said:

"He who soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the evil" (13:37, 38).

The good seed is Divine truth, therefore it is said that the Son of man soweth it; the sons of the kingdom are Divine truths in heaven and the church; for son denotes truth (see Arcana Coelestia 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623), and, in an opposite sense, falsity, which also is the son of evil.

[10] In the same:

"The Son of man hath not where to lay his head" (8:20);

by which is signified, that Divine truth had not a place anywhere, or with any man, at that time. Again it is said, that the Son of man would suffer and be put to death (Matthew 17:12, 22; 26:2, 24, 45; Mark 8:31; 9:12, 31); by which is signified, that thus they would treat Divine truth, consequently the Lord, who was Divine truth itself, as He also teaches in Luke:

"The Son of man must first suffer, and be rejected of this generation" (17:25).

[11] In Jeremiah:

"No man [vir] shall dwell there; neither shall a son of man [hominis] abide there" (49:18, 33).

In the same:

In the cities "no man shall dwell, nor shall a son of man pass through them" (51:43).

He who is not acquainted with the spiritual sense of the Word, believes that by cities here are meant cities, and that by man, and by a son of man, are meant a man and a son; also, that the cities were thus to be desolated, so that no one should be in them; but it is the state of the church as to the doctrine of truth which is described by those words; for cities denote the doctrinals of the church (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 402, 2449, 3216, 4492, 4493); and man is the essential truth thereof, conjoined with good (see n. 3134, 7716, 9007); thus the Son of man is truth. Because the Son of man signified Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, therefore the prophets also, through whom it was revealed, were called "sons of man," as Daniel (8:17); and Ezekiel (2:1, 3, 6, 8; 3:1, 3, 4, 10, 17, 25; 4:1, 16; 8:5, 6, 8, 12, 15; 12:2, 3, 9, 18, 22, 27). As most things in the Word have also an opposite sense, so also has the signification of a son of man, which in that sense denotes falsity opposed to truth. Thus in Isaiah:

"What art thou, that thou fearest man? he dies; and a son of man? he is as grass" (51:12).

And in David:

"Place not your trust in princes, in a son of man, with whom there is no salvation" (Psalm 146:3).

Princes denote primary truths (see Arcana Coelestia 2089, 5044); thus, in an opposite sense, primary falsities; and son of man denotes falsity itself.

4769. 'And killed a he-goat of the she-goats' means external truths received from delights. This is clear from the meaning of 'a he-goat of the she-goats' in the Word as natural truths, that is, truths belonging to the external man which give rise to the delights of life, and also as external truths received from delights, dealt with below. Truths belonging to the external man which give rise to the delights of life are Divine truths such as are present in the literal sense of the Word, which form the basis of the teachings of the genuine Church. These truths are meant strictly speaking by 'the he-goat', and the delights which spring from them are meant by 'the she-goats'. This being so, 'a he-goat of the she-goats' in the genuine sense means those who know truths of this kind and enjoy the delights that spring from them. But in the contrary sense 'a he-goat of the she-goats' means those who know external truths, that is, appearances of truth drawn from the sense of the letter which go along with their delights of life, such as things delighting the body, which are generally called pleasures, and those delighting the mind, which are generally called honours and gains. People of this kind are meant in the contrary sense by 'a he-goat of the she-goats'. In short, 'a he-goat of the she-goats' in this contrary sense means adherents to faith separated from charity, for these people take no other truths from the Word than those which are in agreement with their delights of life, that is, which accord with self-love and love of the world. And they reduce other truths to the same level by the use of interpretations, and in this way they present falsities as appearances of truth.

[2] This meaning of 'a he-goat of the she-goats' as adherents to faith separated from charity may be seen in Daniel,

Behold, a he-goat of the she-goats came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground; ¹ and this goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. Out of one of the four horns there came forth one little hoary, and it grew exceedingly towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the glorious [land]. Indeed, it grew even towards the host of heaven, and cast down to the earth some of the host, and of the stars, and trampled on them; and it cast down truth to the earth. Daniel 8:5, 9-10, 12.

This refers to the state of the Church in general, not merely to the state of the Jewish Church but also to the state of the Church that followed it, the Christian one; for the Word of the Lord is all-embracing. When used in reference to the Jewish Church 'a he-goat of the she-goats' means those who considered internal truths to be worthless; but they did accept external truths, insofar as these were in accord with their loves, which were their desire to be the greatest and to be the wealthiest people. Consequently they did not think of their expected Christ or Messiah as anyone other than a king who would exalt them above all nations and peoples throughout the world and would make these subject to them as the meanest slaves. This was the level to which they reduced their love of Him. As for what love towards the neighbour was, they had no knowledge at all, except as being associated with others with whom they shared the exalted position referred to above and as enjoying material gain.

[3] But when used in reference to the Christian Church 'a he-goat of the she-goats' means those who possess external truths received from delights, that is, who adhere to faith separated from charity, for these people too have no interest at all in internal truths. If they do teach these it is solely so that they may thereby earn acclaim, be raised to exalted positions, and acquire material gains. These are the delights their hearts are set on when they utter truths with their lips. What is more, by wrong interpretations of the truths of genuine faith they make these accord with their own loves. From this one may see what the words in Daniel that are quoted above mean in the internal sense. The phrase 'a he-goat of the she-goats' means adherents to faith separated from charity. The he-goat 'came from the west' means coming from evil, for 'the west' means evil, see 3708. It came 'across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground' means coming into the whole Church, for 'earth' or 'land' in the Word means nothing else than the earth where the Church exists, and so means the Church, 566, 662, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2928, 3355, 4435, 4447. 'The horns' it had means powers derived from falsity, 2832, 'a conspicuous horn between the eyes' meaning power derived from reasoning about the truths of faith, as becomes clear from what has been shown regarding the eye in 4403-4421, 4523-4534. 'The one horn which grew towards the south, the east, and the glorious [land]' means the expansion of power derived from faith separated from charity even into states lit by the light of heaven - states of goodness and truth; for 'the south' means a state of light, see 3708, 'the east' a state of goodness, 1250, 3249, 3708, 'the glorious [land]' a state of truth, as is clear from various places in the Word. 'It grew even towards the host of heaven, and cast down to the earth some of the host, and of the stars, and trampled on them' means that such a thing happened to cognitions of good and truth, for 'the hosts of heaven, and the stars' means cognitions of good and truth, 4697. From this one may see what is meant by 'it cast down truth to the earth', namely that faith itself was cast down, which in essence is charity; for faith looks to charity because it stems from it. That which in the Ancient Church was called truth is in the new one called faith, 4690.

[4] 'He-goat' is used with a similar meaning in Ezekiel,

Behold, I am judging between one member of the flock and another, between rams and he-goats. Is it a small thing to you? You feed off the good pasture and tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures; you drink the water that has settled down ² and stir up the rest with your feet. You butt with your horns all the weak [sheep] till you have scattered them abroad. Ezekiel 34:17-18, 21.

Here also 'he-goats' means adherents to faith separated from charity, that is, those who set doctrine above life and at length have no interest at all in life. Yet it is life that makes the human being, not doctrine separated from life; and it is life that remains after death, not doctrine except insofar as this teaches about life. Of these people it is said that they feed off the good pasture and tread down the rest of the pastures with their feet, and that they drink the water that has settled down and stir up the rest with their feet; also that with their horns they butt the weak [sheep] till they have scattered them.

[5] From this one may now see which persons are meant by 'the he-goats', and which by 'the sheep', that the Lord speaks of in Matthew,

Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the he-goats; and He will peace the sheep at His right hand, out the he-goats at the left, etc. Matthew 25:32-33.

The fact that 'the sheep' means those who have charity and therefore have the truths of faith, and that 'the he-goats' means those who do not have any charity even though they have the truths of faith - that is, they are adherents to faith separated from charity - is plain from each detail in this passage, where such people are described.

[6] Which ones are the adherents to faith separated from charity, meant by 'the he-goats', and what kind of people they are, may be seen from the following two places: In Matthew,

Every tree that does not make good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and by Your name cast out demons, and do many mighty works in Your name? But then I will confess to them, I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Matthew 7:19-23.

And in Luke,

Then you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He replying will say to you, I do not know where you are from. Then you will begin to say, We ate in Your presence and we drank; and You taught in our streets. But He will say, I tell you, I to not know where you come from; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity. Luke 13:25-27.

These are the ones who adhere to faith separated from charity and are called 'the he-goats'. But what is meant by 'he-goats' in the good sense, such as the ones used in sacrifices and those mentioned in various places in the Prophets, will in the Lord's Divine mercy be stated elsewhere.

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