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.

8644. 'The father-in-law of Moses' means the source of the good that was joined to God's truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'the father-in-law' as the good from which sprang the good that was joined to truth, dealt with in 6827; and from the representation of 'Moses' as God's truth, dealt with in 6752, 6771, 7010, 7014, 7382. The reason why 'the father-in-law' means the good from which sprang the good that was joined to truth is that the wife means good when the man means truth, 2517, 4510, 4823. Since the subject in what follows below is the joining together of Divine Good and Divine Truth, to the end that the arranging of truths into order may as a result take place with the member of the Church, it should be recognized that there is a difference between Divine Good and Divine Truth, in that Divine Good exists within the Lord, but that Divine Truth emanates from the Lord. They are like the fire of the sun and the light radiating from it. Fire exists within the sun but the light radiates from the sun; light holds no fire, only heat.

[2] Furthermore in the next life the Lord is the Sun, and He is the Light too. The Sun there, that is, He Himself, is Divine fire, which is the Divine Good of Divine Love. That Sun is the source of Divine light, which is Divine Truth emanating from Divine Good. This Divine Truth also holds within it Divine Good, though not such as it is in the Sun; it is modified for its reception in heaven. Unless it had been modified for reception, heaven could not have come into existence; for no angel can bear the flame coming from Divine Love. An angel would be consumed by it instantly, just as anyone would be the instant that the flame of the sun in the world breathed on him.

[3] But the way in which the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love is modified for reception cannot be known by anyone, not even by angels in heaven, because it is a modification of the Infinite for the finite. The Infinite is such that it lies far beyond all the power of understanding which the finite possesses, so far beyond that when that power of understanding tries to fix its attention on the Infinite it falls away like someone sinking into the depths of the sea and perishes. Regarding the Lord, that He is the Sun in heaven, that the Sun there is the Divine Good of His Divine Love, and that the Light from it is Divine Truth, the source of intelligence, see 1053, 1521-1533, 1619-1632, 2776, 3094, 3138, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3225, 3339, 3341, 3636, 3643, 3993, 4180, 4302, 4408, 4409, 4415, 4523, 4533, 4696, 7083, 7171, 7174, 7270, 8197.