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:
2 Kings 21
1
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzi-bah.
2
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
3
For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
4
And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
5
And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
6
And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
7
And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
8
Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
9
But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.
10
And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets, saying,
11
Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols:
12
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.
13
And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.
14
And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;
15
Because they have done that which was evil in my sight,and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.
16
Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.
17
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
18
And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
19
Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
20
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did.
21
And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them:
22
And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD.
23
And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house.
24
And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.
25
Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
26
And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.
