9407. 'There was so to speak a work of sapphire [stone]' means that it is translucent with inner truths on that level, and that all things in it are translucent from the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'a work of sapphire' as the character of the literal sense of the Word when the internal sense is discerned within it, that is, when Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, as it is in heaven, shines through it. For the Word is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord. In origin it is Divine, but as it passes through the heavens it is celestial in the inmost heaven, spiritual in the second or middle heaven, spiritual-natural in the first or lowest heaven, and natural and worldly in the world; this last is its character in the sense of the letter intended for people there. From this it is evident that the sense of the letter, which is the lowest in order, contains a spiritual and a celestial level of meaning, and inmostly the Divine Himself. And since these inner levels are contained in the lowest or literal sense and are seen by those who understand the Word in a spiritual manner, that sense is represented by 'a work of sapphire', which lets rays of heavenly light through, that is, which is translucent.

[2] To give some idea of that translucence, let human speech serve to illustrate it. Such speech has its origin in the end a person has in view which he wishes to make known through speech. This end is his love; for a person has what he loves as his end in view. From that end arises the person's thought, and finally his speech. Anyone who stops to think properly about this can see and discern the truth of it. The fact that the end is the primary component of speech is clear from the general rule that all intelligence has an end within it, and devoid of the end it is not intelligence. And everyone knows that thought is a secondary component arising from the first, for nobody can speak without thinking or think without having an end in view. The fact that spoken words ensue from this, and that these are the final component, which is properly called speech, is also well known. All this being so, when a person pays attention to what another utters he pays attention not to the words the speaker uses but to the meaning conveyed by them which is present in the speaker's thought. And one who is wise pays attention to the end in view that has given rise to the thought expressed in speech, that is, he pays attention to what the speaker's aims are and what it is he loves. These three components are present in human speech, in which the spoken words serve as the outward form.

[3] This comparison enables one to gain some idea regarding the Word in the letter. For those in heaven pay attention to the Word in the letter and perceive things there in exactly the same way as anyone is accustomed to perceive a person's thought as it presents itself in spoken words, or in the inmost heaven as anyone is accustomed to perceive a person's aims or end in view. But the difference is that when someone reads the sense of the letter of the Word this is not heard or understood in heaven, only the internal sense, because in heaven they perceive solely the spiritual and celestial levels of the Word, not the natural level of it. The one sense accordingly passes over into the other, for they correspond to each other and only things which have a correspondence have been used in the writing of the Word. All this shows what to understand when reference is made to the translucent nature of the Word, meant by 'a work of sapphire'.

[4] But a person who is unable to think on a higher level of understanding, that is, on a level altogether above material things, cannot grasp any of this, not even the idea that it is possible for a sense to exist in the Word other than the one perceived in the letter. If that person is told that the letter holds within itself a spiritual sense which has to do with truth, and that this in turn holds within itself a celestial sense which has to do with good, and also that these senses shine through the literal sense, he will be taken aback at first, then dismiss the idea as nonsense, and finally ridicule it. Actual experience has shown me that this is what people are like in the Christian world at the present day, especially the learned, and that those who reason against that truth boast of being wiser than those who uphold it. Yet the learning in earliest times, which were called golden and silver ages, had consisted in speaking and in writing in ways in which no attention was be paid to the literal meaning other than to enable hidden wisdom to shine through it, as becomes perfectly clear from the oldest books, including those by gentile authors, as well as from fragments in their languages. For their knowledge was primarily the knowledge of correspondences and the knowledge of representations, which forms of knowledge at the present day are some of those which have been lost.

[5] The reason why there appeared under the Lord's feet 'so to speak a work of sapphire' and why this means the translucence of the Word in the sense of the letter is that 'stone' in general means truth, and 'precious stone' truth shining through from what is Divine and the Lord's. For the meaning of 'stone' in general as truth, see 643, 1298, 3720, 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789, 3798, 6426, 8609, 8940-8942. As for 'precious stone' being truth shining through from what is Divine and the Lord's, this was meant by the twelve precious stones in Aaron's breastplate, which was called the Urim and Thummim, 3862, 6335, 6640.

[6] Something similar occurs in Ezekiel,

Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, you were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering - ruby, topaz, diamond, tarshish, shoham, and jasper, sapphire, chrysoprase, emerald, and gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and your pipes was within you; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were perfect in your ways on the day you were created. Ezekiel 28:12-13, 15.

This refers to Tyre, by which the Church in respect of interior cognitions or knowledge of truth and good is meant, 1201. Its intelligence and wisdom as these had been in its infancy or earliest period are described by those precious stones. 'The day you were created' means the first state when they were regenerated, for 'creation' in the Word means the regeneration or new creation of a person, 16, 88.

[7] Similar things are meant by 'the precious stones' in John,

The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. Revelation 21:19-20.

This refers to the holy Jerusalem coming down from heaven, by which a new Church among gentile nations is meant, after the present-day Church in our European world has been laid waste. 'The precious stones that are its foundations' are God's truths shining through on the lowest level of order.

[8] God's truth shining through on the lowest level of order, which is the Word in the letter, is meant by 'sapphire' in particular, as in Isaiah,

O afflicted one and storm-tossed, and receiving no comfort! Behold, I am arranging your stones with antimony, and will lay your foundations in sapphires. Isaiah 54:11.

This too refers to the Church which will take the place of the former one, meant in verse 1 of that chapter by 'her that is desolate who is going to have more sons than the previously married one'. 'Arranging stones' stands for the Church's truths, 'foundations in sapphires' for truths shining through on lowest levels.

[9] 'Sapphire' is used with a similar meaning in Jeremiah,

Her Nazirites were brighter than snow, they were whiter than milk. Their bones ¹ were ruddier than pearls, ² polished like sapphire. ³ Lamentations 4:7.

'Nazirites' in the representative sense meant the Lord in respect of the Divine Natural, 3301, 6437, and therefore also Divine Truth emanating from Him as it exists on its lowest levels, that is, the Word in the sense of the letter. For 'the hair', which is implied by 'Nazirites' here, and is said to be 'brighter than snow and whiter than milk', means truth on its lowest levels, 3301, 5247, 5570, 'brightness' and 'whiteness' having reference to truth, 3301, 5319. 'Bones that were ruddy' means factual knowledge of truth, or truth on its lowest level, which acts as servant to all other levels, 6592, 8005, 'ruddiness' having reference to the good of love present in truths, 3300. From all this it is evident that 'sapphire' means truth on the lowest levels which is translucent with inner truths.

[10] In Ezekiel,

Above the expanse that was above the heads of the cherubs, in appearance like a sapphire stone, there was the likeness of a throne, and above the likeness of a throne there was the appearance of a man (homo) sitting upon it. Ezekiel 1:26; 10:1.

'The cherubs' are the Lord's protection and providence, guarding against access to Him except through good, 9277 (end). 'A throne over which there was the appearance of a man' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, 5313, 6397, 9039. From this it is evident that 'a sapphire stone' means truth translucent with inner truths; that is to say, 'a stone' means truth, and 'sapphire' translucence.

[11] The reason why all things of the Word are translucent with the Lord is that Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is the one and only source of everything there. For what is primary is the one and only vital element present in the things which follow and are derived from it, because they have their being in it and come into being from it; and the Divine Truth is the Lord. Here also lies the reason why the subject in the highest sense of the Word is the Lord alone, His love, providence, kingdom in heaven and on earth, and especially the glorification of His Human.

[12] The fact that the Divine Truth is the Lord Himself is evident from the consideration that whatever emanates from someone is the someone himself. What emanates for instance from a person when he speaks or acts originates in his will and understanding; and will and understanding constitute a person's life, thus the person himself. For the human being is not a human being by virtue of the shape of face and body but by virtue of an understanding that sees what is true and a will that intends what is good. From this it becomes clear that what emanates from the Lord is the Lord; and the fact that this is Divine Truth has been shown often in what has gone before.

[13] But anyone unacquainted with the arcana of heaven may suppose that the nature of Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord is no different from that of spoken words emanating from a human being. It is not spoken words however; rather It is the Divine filling the heavens, like light and heat from the sun filling the world. This may be illustrated by means of the spheres which emanate from the angels in heaven, dealt with in 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504-1520, 1695, 2401, 4464, 5179, 6206 (end), 6598-6613, 7454, 8063, 8630, 8794, 8797. In these places it has been shown and may be seen that they are spheres of the truth of faith and the good of love received from the Lord. But the Divine sphere which emanates from the Lord and is called Divine Truth spreads everywhere; as has been stated, it fills the whole of heaven and composes all of the life there. It appears before the eyes there as light, which enlightens not only angels' sight but also their minds. That same light is in addition what composes a person's understanding in the world. This is the meaning in John,

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. He was the true light which enlightens every person coming into the world. And the world was made by Him. John 1:4, 9-10.

These words refer to Divine Truth, which in this chapter is called 'the Word'; and Divine Truth or 'the Word' - it says - is the Lord Himself.

[14] That light, which is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, was described by the ancients as radiating rings of golden hue around the head and body of God represented as a human being. For the ancients had no thought of God except of Him in human form.

[15] When a person is governed by good, and because of good is guided by truths, this person is raised to that Divine light, and - according to the amount and essential nature of the good - to interior light. This provides him with a general enlightenment in which the Lord enables him to see countless truths and to perceive them from good. At this time that person is led by the Lord to discern and absorb those which are suitable to him. He is led to do so as regards the most specific things, in keeping with order, so far as it contributes to his eternal life. The words 'as regards the most specific things' are used because the Lord's providence reigns universally, and it does so because it is present in the most specific things. For specific things are at the same called what is universal, 1919 (end), 6159, 6338, 6482, 6483, 8864, 8865.

Footnotes:

"And the people spake against God, and against Moses, 'Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.'" Numbers 21:5

Additional readings: Mark 10:17-31, Psalm 136

The children of Israel had been led out of hard bondage in Egypt and were on their way to a land of their own where they would be free. Yet hardly had they set forth when they began to complain "Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, and when we did eat bread to the full" (Exodus 16:3). Then the manna was given them every day a portion sufficient for their needs. Now, near the end of their journey to the land of Canaan, the people murmur again and speak the words of our text.

The Bible is the story of our spiritual development, of the states through which we pass in regeneration.

Love is the life of man, and those things in which we delight are as the food by which we live. We are born natural, and our first delights are natural delights. These natural delights are very real to us. The delights that come to us through the senses—sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell—are marvelous in their degree and appeal. Into these loves we are born. They form the basis of the life of the natural man. They urge us to explore and conquer the secret forces of the earth, to produce a multitude of things that add to our comfort and pleasure. They call forth the development of the arts and sciences; they sharpen the mind and develop many skills. They make life worth living to the natural man.

What has spiritual love or its delights to offer against the very definite and assured delights of the natural man?

The Lord began His sermon on the mount with the Blessings, blessed are the poor in spirit, they that mourn, that hunger and thirst after righteousness, that are persecuted and reviled. And further on in His Gospel He says, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23) and "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 16:25) and "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33). There are indeed rewards mentioned. It is said that those who give up will receive a hundredfold in this world, and in the world to come life everlasting. And we are told of the delights following upon serving the Lord and serving others—the delight of peace with the Lord and with men. But all these to the natural man seem vague and shadowy as compared to the apparently vivid and more real delights of the Egypt state, the delights of the love of self and the world. In Scripture language to be led out of Egypt is to be led out of slavery to our natural lusts into the freedom of heavenly love and it’s delights.

Do we really believe this? Do we know, acknowledge, and understand that our natural loves hold us in bondage, and that in the exercise of spiritual loves alone is freedom?

We are taught and affirm that the health of the spirit is of infinitely more consequence than the health of the body, and we know that many who are severely afflicted in body are strong in spiritual growth and health. The Word of God caters to the spirit of man. It gives light to his mind, nourishment to his soul, and the power to interpret life. It enables him to distinguish between right and wrong, giving him eternal standards which don’t change.

But when the Divine laws conflict with some of our worldly interests, many are prone to turn away with the excuse, "It will not do to mix religion with business." And when we think of heaven, do we not often think of it as a place where all our external delights will be satisfied, wishing it to be a place where we shall be given the delights we may have been denied in the world? Do we find it hard to believe that the delight's of heaven are something other than these, that with the angels the glories amid which they dwell are thought nothing of save as representatives of the interior spiritual things in which alone they place the reality and the joy of heaven? Do we murmur at the restraint which the Word puts upon our natural loves? Can it be said of us, "Our soul loatheth this light bread?"

It would be foolish as well as hypocritical to deny the value and desirability of our natural desires and the delight in their gratification, but they should not be the life of life to us, making heavenly delights vague and shadowy. The love of gratifying natural needs and wants may become so great that one will seek dominion over the whole world in the effort to amass to himself its riches. So laws have to be made to protect men from each other. Everyone is born into this love of self and the world. But we are told that we must be born again. Our first loves are not heavenly loves, and inmostly they have in them hatred for the Lord and for the heavenly kingdom. Yet the Lord in a marvelous way bends them to His service and gradually supplants them with love to Himself and to the neighbor.

He begins in our infancy, even before we are born, by planting "remains." In childhood, when the senses are most awake and plastic, He leads us—through our self-seeking love of finding out about all manner of things—to learn about the material world. This prepares the way for our taking part in the affairs of the world. So the mind is stored with various knowledges. But this is not all. If our development stopped here, there would be nothing heavenly in it. In John 1:12 we read, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God"—not by our natural inheritance, nor by our natural desires, nor by any process of purely human thought, but of God.

When mature thought is reached, when man can think and choose for himself, there is a disposition inseminated to obey the Lord rather than self, a perception that there is something higher and better than natural delights, the perception that if our natural desires are allowed to get control, we shall cease to be our own masters and become enslaved. How and when this change comes we may not tell. It may come quietly and imperceptibly; it may be an awakening at some great crisis of life. In either case it is not an instantaneous and complete change from earthly to heavenly. Natural loves still exist, and for a long time their delights will appear the greatest in life. We should not be discouraged by this. The Israelites, when they left Egypt, did not immediately come to their homes in the Holy Land. The Lord does not take away our natural delights. We may enjoy the good things in the world, but there must be the love of use to others to purify our enjoyment of them. Little by little, under the Divine providence, the hold of natural loves is loosened and heavenly loves are developed and increased. At first we give natural delights first place and uses last, but in time this order is reversed, and love to the Lord and the neighbor come first and natural delights become secondary.

"If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

"Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it" (Isaiah 58:13-14).