1093. Having great authority, signifies which has omnipotence, as in the heavens so upon the earth. This is evident from the signification of "great authority," as being, in reference to the Lord, omnipotence. "Great authority" here signifies omnipotence because according to the idea that man has of angels, great authority can be predicated of an angel, but not omnipotence; but when the Lord as to His Divine proceeding is meant by an angel, then "great authority" means omnipotence. Moreover, omnipotence belongs to the Lord because He is the God of heaven and the God of the earth, and by the Divine that proceeds from Him as a sun heaven and earth were created, and by it heaven with the earth is held together and subsists. The Divine proceeding is what is called in John, "the Word that was with God and that was God, by which all things were made that have been made, and by which also the world was made" (John 1:1, 2, 10). The Lord's omnipotence as in the heavens so upon the earth, is what is meant by "the great authority of the angel," because it is added, that "the earth was lightened by his glory;" for when the Last Judgment upon those who are meant by "the harlot or Babylon" was accomplished, the darkness that was interposed between heaven and earth was removed. But more upon this below.

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith)

[2] From what has been said it is clear that the thoughts of man are extensions into societies either heavenly or infernal, and that if there were no extensions there would be no thoughts. For man's thought is like the sight of his eyes; if sight had no extension out of itself, either there would be no sight or there would be blindness. But it is a man's love that determines his thoughts into societies, good love determining them into heavenly societies, and evil love into infernal societies; for the entire heaven is arranged into societies, generally, particularly, and most particularly, according to all the varieties of affections belonging to the love; while on the other hand, hell is arranged into societies according to the cupidities of the love of evil, which are opposite to the affections of the love of good.

[3] Man's love is comparatively like fire, and his thoughts are like rays of light therefrom. If the love is good, the thoughts, which are like rays, are truths. If the love is evil, the thoughts, which are like rays, are falsities. Thoughts from a good love, which are truths, tend towards heaven; while thoughts from an evil love, which are falsities, tend towards hell and conjoin themselves with homogeneous societies, that is, with societies of like love, and adapt themselves to them, and ingraft themselves into them, and so intimately that the man is wholly one with them.

[4] Through love to the Lord man is an image of the Lord. The Lord is the Divine love; and in heaven before the angels He appears as a sun. From that sun light and heat proceed; the light is the Divine truth and the heat is the Divine good. From these two is the whole heaven, and from them are all the societies of heaven. The Lord's love in a man who is an image of Him is like the fire from that sun, from which fire also light and heat proceed; the light is the truth of faith and the heat is the good of love; both of these are from the Lord, and both are implanted in the societies with which the man's love acts as one. That man from creation is an image and likeness of God is evident from Genesis (Genesis 1:26); and he is an image and likeness of the Lord by means of love, because by means of love he is in the Lord and the Lord is in him (John 14:20, 21). In a word, not the least thought can exist unless it finds reception in some society, not in the individuals or angels of the society, but in the affection of love from which and in which that society is; and for this reason the angels are not aware of the influx at all, and such influx in no way disturbs the society.

[5] From all this the truth is clear that while man is living in the world he is in conjunction with heaven and also in consociation with angels, although both men and angels are unconscious of it. They are unconscious of it because man's thought is natural and an angel's thought is spiritual, and these make one only by correspondence. Because man is inaugurated into societies either of heaven or hell by means of the thoughts of his love, so when he comes into the spiritual world, as he does immediately after death, his character is known merely by the extensions of his thoughts into societies; and thus everyone is explored; and he is reformed by the admissions of his thoughts into the societies of heaven, and is condemned by the immersions of his thoughts in the societies of hell.

3539. 'And put them on Jacob her younger son' means the affection for truth, that is, the life of good originating in truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Rebekah' as the Divine Truth of the Divine Rational, from the representation of 'Jacob' as the Divine Truth of the Divine Natural, and from the meaning here of 'putting on' as the communication, also the learning, of something, namely truths that clothe good, meant by 'Esau's clothes', 3537, accordingly the affection for natural truth, which affection is at this point the same as the life of good originating in truth. How these matters are to be understood may be known from what has been stated above in 3518. Yet because they are such as are completely unknown at the present day, let some explanation enabling them to be grasped be given. The subject in this chapter [in the highest sense] is the Lord and how He made His Natural Divine, and in the representative sense man's regeneration as regards his natural, see 3490.

[2] In the case of man the situation is as follows: The end in view of regeneration is that a person may be made new as regards his internal man, and so as regards the soul or spirit. But he is unable to be made new or be regenerated as regards that internal man without also being made new as regards the external man. For although a person becomes a spirit after death he nevertheless takes with him into the next life those things that belong to his external man, namely natural affections, also matters of doctrine, as well as factual knowledge; in short he takes with him everything belonging to the exterior or natural memory, see 2475-2483. Indeed these things form the groundwork on which his interiors ultimately rest. The disposition of those exterior things therefore determines what the interior become when these latter enter into the former, for within those exterior things they undergo modification. From this it is evident that a person has to be regenerated or made new not only as regards the internal or rational man but also as regards the external or natural man. Except for this there would not be any correspondence. Regarding the correspondence that exists between the internal man and the spiritual things belonging to the internal man with the external man and the natural things belonging to the external man, see 2987, 2989-2991, 3002, 3493.

[3] The state of man's regeneration is described in the representative sense in this chapter as Esau and Jacob. At this point the nature of the first stage of that state is described, that is to say, when a person is being regenerated or before he has become regenerated. In fact this state is the complete reverse of the state in which a person has become regenerate. Indeed in the former state, that is to say, when a person is being regenerated or before he has become regenerated, things of the understanding, which are those of truth, seemingly take the lead; but once he has become regenerate those of the will, which are those of good, do so. The fact that things of the understanding or of truth seemingly take the lead in the first state was represented by Jacob claiming for himself Esau's birthright - see 3325, 3336 - and then claiming his blessing, the subject under discussion here. And the fact that the state is the complete reverse of the regenerate state is represented by Jacob's impersonating Esau, that is to say, being dressed in Esau's clothes and with the skins of the kids of the she-goats. Indeed in this state rational truth has not yet been so joined to rational good, or what amounts to the same, the understanding has not been so joined to the will, as to flow and act into the natural and set in order the things that are so reversed there.

[4] This also becomes clear from much experience, in particular from this. A person is able to discern in his understanding, and from this the natural is able to know many things that are good and true, but the will is unable as yet to act in accordance with those things. Take for example the truth that love and charity are the essential thing with a human being. He is able to see and confirm this in his understanding, but until he has been regenerated he is unable to acknowledge it in his will. There are also people totally lacking in love to the Lord and in charity towards the neighbour who can well grasp this truth. The same applies to the truth that love is the very life of man, and that the nature of his life is determined by that of his love; also the truth that all delight and all pleasantness stem from love, as do all gladness and all happiness, where again the nature of the love determines that of the gladness and the happiness. A person is also able to grasp in his understanding, even though the will disagrees with it or even opposes it, the truth that the happiest life originates in love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour because the Divine itself is flowing into that life, and conversely that the unhappiest life originates in self-love and love of the world because hell is flowing into that life.

[5] Consequently the understanding, but not the will, is able to perceive the truth that love to the Lord is the life of heaven, and that mutual love is the soul from that life. In the measure therefore that a person does not think from the life of his [unregenerate] will, and does not reflect on his own life from there, he perceives that truth in his understanding; but in the measure that he does think from the life of his [unregenerate] will he does not perceive it, indeed he refuses to believe it. It may also be perfectly clear to a person in his understanding that it is into humility, if it exists in him, that the Divine is able to enter, because in that state of humility self-love and love of the world, and therefore hellish things which stand in the way, are removed. But as long as his will is not a new will, and his understanding is not united to this, no humility of heart can exist in a person. Indeed, in the measure that a person leads an evil life, that is, in the measure that his will is bent on evil, such humility cannot be there in him, and also the truth spoken of above is unclear to him and he refuses to believe it. Therefore a person may also be able to perceive in his understanding that when humility is present in someone it is not there for the sake of a love of glory in the Lord but for the sake of Divine Love, in which case the Lord is able to enter in with goodness and truth and bring blessing and happiness to that person. But to the extent that the will is consulted, this truth is obscured. And the same is so with very many other circumstances.

[6] This ability of being able to understand what good and truth is even though he does not will it has been conferred on man to enable him to be reformed and regenerated. For this reason this ability exists with evil and good alike; indeed the ability is sometimes keener with the evil. But there is this difference - with the evil no affection for truth exists for the sake of life, that is, for the sake of the good of life which originates in truth, and so they are not capable of being reformed. But with the good there does exist the affection for truth for the sake of life, that is, for the sake of the good of life, and so they are capable of being reformed. The first state in the reformation of the latter however is a state in which truth taught by doctrine seems to them to be primary, and the good of life secondary, since truth is the source of their good actions. But their second state is a state in which the good of life is primary and truth taught by doctrine secondary, since good, that is, the will for good, is the source of their good actions. And when this is the case, because the will is joined to the understanding as in a marriage, the person is regenerate. These two states are the subject in the internal sense in these incidents involving Esau and Jacob.