663. Verses 11, 12. And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them that saw them. And they heard a great voice out of heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither; and they ascended into heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.

"And after three, days and a half," signifies, when completed, thus the end of the old church, and the beginning of a new church; "the spirit of life from God entered into them," signifies enlightenment and the reception in some of the influx of Divine Truth from the Lord for the beginning of a new church; "and they stood upon their feet," signifies a new life such as the regenerated man of the church has; "and great fear fell upon them that saw them," signifies a state of anxiety with those who did not receive and acknowledge. "And they heard a great voice out of heaven, saying unto them," signifies the Lord's Divine Providence; "Come up hither," signifies separation and thence protection; "and they ascended into heaven in a cloud," signifies separation as to things internal, and their protection; "and their enemies saw them," signifies cognition and acknowledgment with those who are interiorly opposed to the goods and truths of the Word and of the church.

780. 'Of all flesh in which there was the spirit of life ¹ means a new creature, or the fact that they received new life from the Lord. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'flesh' as all mankind in general and a bodily-minded person in particular, as stated and shown already. Consequently 'flesh in which there was the spirit of life' ¹ means a person who has been regenerated, for the Lord's life, which is the life of charity and faith, is there within his proprium. Nobody is anything more than flesh, but when the life of charity and faith is breathed into him by the Lord, his flesh in that case is made alive, becomes spiritual and celestial, and is called 'a new creature', Mark 16:15, from having been created anew.

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