Arcana Coelestia #477
477. 'Man' is the Most Ancient Church. This has been stated and shown quite often already, for in the highest sense the Lord Himself alone is Man. From this the celestial Church, being the likeness of Him, is referred to as 'Man', and then from this the spiritual Church is so called because it was an image of Him. But in a general sense everyone is called man who has human understanding, for a person is man, one person more so than the next, by virtue of his understanding. Nevertheless one person ought to be distinguished from the next according to faith inherent in love to the Lord.
[2] The Most Ancient Church, and every true Church, and so people who belong to the Church, that is, who do so by virtue of love to the Lord and of faith in Him, are pre-eminently called 'Man'. This is clear from the Word, as in Ezekiel,
I will cause man to multiply upon you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. I will cause man and beast to multiply upon you so that they multiply and are fruitful, and I will resettle you 1 to be as in your ancient times, and I will do more good than in your early days. I will cause man to walk upon you, even My people Israel. Ezekiel 36:10-12.
Here the Most Ancient Church is meant by 'earliest times', the Ancient Churches by 'early days', and the Primitive Church, or Church among gentiles, by 'the house of Israel' and 'the people of Israel', all of which Churches are called Man.
[3] In Moses,
Remember the days of old, understand the years of generation after generation. When the Most High gave to the nations an inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. Deuteronomy 32:7-8.
Here the Most Ancient Church is meant by 'the days of old' and the Ancient Churches by 'generation after generation'. Those people are called 'sons of man' whose faith was in the Lord, which faith is 'the number of the sons of Israel'. A regenerate person is called 'man' in Jeremiah,
I looked to the earth, and behold, a void and an emptiness, and at the heavens, and they had no light. I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air' had flown away. Jeremiah 4:23, 25.
Here 'earth' stands for the external man, 'heaven' for the internal man; 'man' stands for a love of good, and 'the birds of the air' 2 for an understanding of truth.
[4] In the same prophet,
Behold, the days are coming when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. Jeremiah 31:27.
Here 'man' stands for the internal man, 'beast' for the external man. In Isaiah,
Turn yourselves away from the man in whose nostrils there is breath, 2 for of what account is he? Isaiah 2:22.
'Man' stands for the member of the Church. In the same prophet,
Jehovah will remove man far away, and there will be many forsaken places in the midst of the land. Isaiah 6:12.
This refers to the vastation of man, so that good and truth are no more. In the same prophet,
The inhabitants of the land will be scorched and few men (homo) left. Isaiah 14:6.
Here 'men' (homo) stands for people who have faith. In the same prophet,
The highways have been laid waste, the wayfarer has ceased. He has made the covenant worthless, despised cities, had no regard for man; the land mourns and languishes. Isaiah 33:8-9.
This stands for the man who in Hebrew is Enosh. In the same prophet,
I will make a man (homo) more precious than pure gold, and a man (homo) than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will jolt heaven, and the earth will be shaken out of its place. Isaiah 13:12-13.
The first reference to 'a man' here is Enosh, but the second is Adam.
Footnotes:
1 Kings 17
1
Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the foreigners of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word."
2
The word of Yahweh came to him, saying,
3
"Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.
4
It shall be, that you shall drink of the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."
5
So he went and did according to the word of Yahweh; for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.
6
The ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
7
It happened after a while, that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8
The word of Yahweh came to him, saying,
9
"Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you."
10
So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks: and he called to her, and said, "Please get me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink."
11
As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, "Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand."
12
She said, "As Yahweh your God lives, I don't have a cake, but a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die."
13
Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me of it a little cake first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son.
14
For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'The jar of meal shall not empty, neither shall the jar of oil fail, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the earth.'"
15
She went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, ate [many] days.
16
The jar of meal didn't empty, neither did the jar of oil fail, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by Elijah.
17
It happened after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so severe, that there was no breath left in him.
18
She said to Elijah, "What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!"
19
He said to her, "Give me your son." He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed.
20
He cried to Yahweh, and said, "Yahweh my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I stay, by killing her son?"
21
He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to Yahweh, and said, "Yahweh my God, please let this child's soul come into him again."
22
Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
23
Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, "Behold, your son lives."
24
The woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of Yahweh in your mouth is truth."
