293. (Verse 11) Saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power. That this signifies merit and justice pertaining to the Divine Human of the Lord, and that from it is all Divine truth, Divine good and salvation, is evident from the signification of thou art worthy, O Lord, as being the merit and justice pertaining to the Lord's Divine Human, concerning which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of glory and honour, when said of the Lord, as being Divine truth and Divine good which are from Him (concerning which see above, n. 288); and from the signification of power as being salvation. The reason why power here signifies salvation is that all Divine power respects salvation as an end; for a man is reformed, and afterwards introduced into heaven, and is there withheld from evil and falsity and held in good and truth, from the Divine power; and this no one can do but the Lord alone. Those who claim that power to themselves, are entirely ignorant of what salvation means, for they do not know what reformation is, nor what constitutes heaven with man; and to claim to themselves the Lord's power, is to claim power over the Lord Himself, which power is called the power of darkness (Luke 22:53).

[2] That power, when said of the Lord, has chiefly respect to salvation, is evident from the following passages, as in John:

Jesus said, "Father thou hast given" to the Son "power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him" (17:2).

Again:

"As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (1:12).

Again:

"I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing" (15:5).

In Mark:

"They were astonished at his doctrine; for he taught them as one having authority" (1:22).

And in Luke:

"With authority and power he commandeth the unclean Spirits, and they come out" (4:36).

The same may be seen in many other passages.

The Lord also has power over all things, because He is God alone; but the salvation of the human race is the principal object of power, because for the sake of that the heavens and all worlds were created, and salvation is the reception of the Divine proceeding.

[3] The reason why by thou art worthy, O Lord, is signified the merit and justice which pertain to the Lord's Divine Human is that the words signify that He merited; and the merit of the Lord consists in the circumstance that when He was in the world He subjugated the hells and reduced to order all things in the heavens, and that He glorified His Human, and this from His own power, and thus saved all the human race who believe in Him, that is, who love to do His precepts (see John 1:12, 13). This merit is also called justice in the Word, and the Lord as to His Divine Human is thence called Jehovah our Justice (Jeremiah 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16). (Concerning this merit, or this justice of the Lord, more may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 293, 294; and in the references to Arcana Coelestia there, n. 300-306).

10286. 'The man who makes an ointment like it' means imitations of Divine things produced by [human] cunning. This is clear from the meaning of 'making that which is like it' as imitating it; and from the meaning of 'ointment' as Divine Truths which are the Lord's alone and come from the Lord alone, dealt with above in 10264. The reason why imitations produced by [human] cunning is meant is that all imitation of Divine things by a person is a product of that cunning. The nature of all this may be recognized from what has been stated and shown above in 10284; but further light may be shed on it by certain things that go on among spirits. Those of them who attribute everything to fortune and their own prudence and nothing to the Divine, as they did in the world, know how to employ various methods to imitate Divine things. They can produce palaces almost like those in the heavens; they can produce views containing plantations of trees and open countryside very similar to those the Lord provides for good spirits; they can adorn themselves with brilliant garments, indeed sirens can make themselves appear in almost angelic beauty. But all this is the product of a cunning that involves the use of delusions. Yet all those things which they can do, however much they may seem to outward appearance to be similar, are inwardly foul. This is also revealed instantly by the Lord to good spirits, for unless it were revealed they would be led astray. The outward appearance is taken away, and when this has been taken away the devilish interior is exposed. It is taken away by the shedding of light from heaven, which disperses the feeble light that accompanies delusions and that those spirits rely on to produce such imitations. From all this one may recognize what the imitation of Divine things that is a product of [human] cunning is like. But things done in reliance on the Lord are inwardly heavenly; and the more interior they are, the more heavenly they are; for Divine things increase in perfection the more and more internal they are, so much so that finally they possess perfection and beauty that are beyond description.

[2] The situation is similar with the imitation of what is good and true by those who lead an evil life. Those of them who know how to make a pretence of good affections and of some form of charity towards the neighbour and love to God, and together with those affections talk about and proclaim the truths of faith seemingly from the heart, dwell in a similar feeble and delusive light. When therefore the outward appearance which makes a pretence of those inner things is taken away, the hellish nature lying within, which is nothing but evil and the falsity of evil, is revealed. And at the same time the fact that such evil constitutes their love, and the falsity of that evil their faith, is in like manner presented to view. From all this it is again evident what imitating Divine things by means of human endeavour is, dealt with above in 10284.