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:

20. To the seven churches, signifies to all who are in truths from good or in faith from charity. This is evident from the signification of "seven," as being all [persons]. For "seven," in the Word, signifies the beginning and end, thus an entire period and a full state, in like manner as a "week" (Arcana Coelestia 728, 6508, 9228); and because "seven" signifies what is full, it also signifies all, since all constitutes what is full, for fullness, as regards those that constitute a society (here, the church), means all; therefore when magnitude is treated of in the Word, "seven" signifies what is full; but when multitude is treated of, "seven" signifies all. "Three" also in the Word signifies what is full and all (as may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 2788[1-13], 4495, 7715); but "seven" is used in the Word where anything holy is treated of, and "three" in all other cases (Arcana Coelestia 10127); therefore "seven" is here used, because truths from good, which are the holy things of the church, are treated of. It is also evident from the signification of "churches" as being those who are in truths from good, or in faith from charity.

These are meant by "churches," because such truths constitute the church with everyone; for those who are not in truths from good, though born within the church, yet are not of the church, because there is no church in them. From this it is that the Lord's church consists of all those, wheresoever they are, who are a church, that is, who are in truths from good. (That the church, like heaven, is in man, and not outside of him, consequently that man who is in truths from good is a church, see Arcana Coelestia 3884; and in the work on Heaven and Hell 53, 54, 57.)

It is also said, who are in faith from charity, since this is similar; for truth is of faith, and good is of charity; for in fact, everything that man believes is called truth, and everything that man loves is called good.

(That every truth is from good, and that everything of faith is from charity, see in the small work, The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 84-107, 108-122; and Last Judgement (n. 33-39; also Heaven and Hell 364, 424, 482, 526.)

He who knows nothing of the internal sense of the Word, when he reads these things believes no otherwise than that by "seven churches" are meant the seven churches afterwards named (verse 1:11); whereas churches are not meant, but all who are of the church; because this is the spiritual sense of the Word.