2833. And Abraham went, and took the ram. That this signifies their liberation by the Lord’s Divine Human, is evident from the representation of Abraham, as being here the Lord as to His Divine Human (for when Jehovah, or the angel of Jehovah, speaks with Abraham, then “Jehovah,” or the “angel of Jehovah,” is the Divine Itself, and “Abraham” is the Divine Human); and also from the signification of a “ram,” as being the spiritual (n. 2830). It is hence manifest that Abraham’s going and taking the ram caught in the thicket by his horns, signifies the liberation of the spiritual by the Lord’s Divine Human. (That without the Lord’s coming into the world the spiritual could not possibly have been saved, may be seen above, n. 2661, 2716; and that they have salvation and liberation by the Lord’s Divine Human, n. 2716)

2716. As regards the second arcanum, namely, that the obscurity with the spiritual is illuminated by the Lord’s Divine Human, it is one which cannot be explained to the comprehension, for it is the influx of the Divine that would have to be described. But some idea of it may be obtained by considering that if the Supreme Divine Itself were to flow into such a good as has been described, defiled by so many evils and falsities, it could not be received; and if anything were received by the man who had such good, he would feel infernal torture and would thus perish. But the Lord’s Divine Human can flow in with such men and can illuminate such good, as the sun shines into the dense clouds and transforms them in the early morning into the glories of the dawn; and yet the Lord cannot appear before them as the light of the sun, but as the light of the moon. Hence it is evident that the cause of the Lord’s coming into the world was that the spiritual might be saved (see n. 2661).