491. Comparisons can be drawn to illustrate the propositions that God bestowed freedom, not only on every human being, but also on every animal, and indeed an analogous faculty even on inanimate objects, giving each the power to receive it according to its nature; and that God intends good to all, but this is turned into evil by the objects upon which it acts. The atmosphere enables everyone to breathe, and likewise every animal and wild beast, every bird, the owl as much as the dove; it also enables birds to fly. Yet the atmosphere is not to blame for the opportunity given to creatures of contrary nature and character. The ocean affords in itself a home and provides food for every fish; but it is not to blame for one fish swallowing another, or for the crocodile turning its food into poison to kill people. The sun provides light and heat for all, but the objects it acts upon, the various plants on earth, receive them in different ways; a good tree or shrub does so in one way, a thorn or briar in another, and a harmless plant in a different way from a poisonous one.

[2] Rain from the upper levels of the atmosphere falls to the ground everywhere, and the ground supplies water from this source to every tree, plant and grass, each of which uses the water to serve its own needs. This is what is meant by the faculty analogous to free will: the plants freely suck up the water through their openings, pores and passages, which in warm weather stand open, and the earth merely provides moisture and elements, which the plants take up in a manner reminiscent of thirst and hunger. It is much the same with people. The Lord flows in to provide every person with spiritual heat, which is in essence the good of love, and with spiritual light, which is in essence the truth of wisdom. But the way the person receives these depends upon which way he turns, whether to God or to himself. That is why the Lord says where He teaches us about love towards the neighbour:

So that you may be sons of the Father, who makes the sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous, Matthew 5:45.

And in another passage He speaks of Him desiring the salvation of all.

9481. 'In accordance with all that I show you, the pattern of the dwelling-place' means a representative of heaven where the Lord is. This is clear from the meaning of 'the pattern of the dwelling-place' as a representative of heaven; for 'the pattern' means a representative, and 'the dwelling-place' means heaven. The reason why 'the pattern' means a representative is that Divine realities in heaven are also manifested in visible shapes, which are representatives. For the meaning of 'the dwelling-place' as heaven where the Lord is, see 8269, 8309. What the representatives that appear in heaven are like is clear in the prophets, for example in John's Book of Revelation, in which he describes lampstands, Chapter 1:12ff; a throne with twenty-four thrones around it, and four living creatures before the throne, Chapter 4:2ff; a book sealed with seven seals, Chapter 5; horses going out when the seals were opened, Chapter 6; angels who are clothed in various ways and have bowls, Chapters 9, 10, 15, 16; a white horse, Chapter 19; and at length a new Jerusalem, its walls, gates, foundations, height, breadth, and length, Chapters 21, 22. Similar sights are also described by other prophets.

[2] All those sights are representatives such as appear unceasingly in heaven before angels' eyes, manifesting in visible shapes the Divine celestial realities that belong to the good of love and the Divine spiritual realities that belong to the good of faith. Such realities taken all together were represented by the tabernacle and its contents, that is, the ark itself, the table on which loaves were laid, the altar of incense, the lampstand, and everything else. Therefore when these objects, being outward forms of Divine celestial and spiritual realities, were beheld by the people while they were engaged in holy acts of worship, such realities as were represented by those objects were brought to notice in heaven. These, as stated above, were the Divine celestial realities that belong to the good of love to the Lord and the Divine spiritual realities that belong to the good of faith in the Lord. All the representatives of that Church had that kind of effect in heaven. It should be realized that a person always has spirits and angels present with him and that a person cannot live without them. It should likewise be realized that through them the person is linked to the Lord, and that in this way the human race, and heaven too, is kept in being. From this one can see what purpose was served by the representatives and also the ritual observances of the Church established among the Israelite nation. One can also see what purpose is served by the Word, in which all things mentioned in the sense of the letter correspond to Divine realities that exist in heaven, thus in which all the objects mentioned are representative and all the words used carry a spiritual meaning. This is what brings about the linking of a person to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord. Without that link the person would have no life whatever, for without being linked to the actual Essential Being (Esse) of life, from which the Coming-into-Being (Existere) of life emanates, no one has life.

[3] But these considerations are unintelligible to those who think that life exists essentially in a person himself and that a person lives without spirits or angels, thus without influx from the Divine by way of heaven. But in actual fact anything that is not linked to the Divine perishes and ceases to exist. Indeed nothing can ever come into being without that which is prior to itself, thus without the Divine, who is the First and is self-existent Being (Esse) or Jehovah; nor consequently can it remain in being, for remaining in being is constant coming-into-being. Because 'the dwelling-place' means heaven where the Lord is, it also means the good of love and faith, since these compose heaven; and because all good comes from the Lord, and heaven is called heaven by virtue of its love to and faith in the Lord, 'the dwelling-place' also means in the highest sense the Lord, as is evident in Isaiah 63:15; Jeremiah 25:30; Ezekiel 37:26-27; Psalms 26:8; 43:3; 90:1; 91:9; Exodus 15:13; Deuteronomy 12:5, 11; and other places. From this it is clear that the tabernacle was called Jehovah's sanctuary and dwelling-place for the reason that it represented the realities mentioned above.