1093. Having great power.- That this signifies to whom belongs Omnipotence, both in the heavens and on earth, is evident from the signification of great power, when said of the Lord, as denoting Omnipotence. Omnipotence here signifies great power, because the term "great power," but not "Omnipotence," can be applied to an angel, which is according to the idea that man has of angels; but when by an angel is meant the Lord as to His proceeding Divine, then great power means Omnipotence. Omnipotence is also the Lord's because He is the God of heaven and of earth, and both heaven and earth were created by means of the Divine that proceeds from Him as a Sun, and by it also heaven and earth are maintained in existence and subsist. The proceeding Divine is what is called in John, "The Word, which was with God, and which was God," by which all things were made that were made, and by which also the world was made (chap. 1:1, 2, 10). The Omnipotence of the Lord both in the heavens and on earth is meant by the great power of the angel, because it is afterwards said that the earth was lightened with His glory; for when the Last Judgment was accomplished upon those who are meant by the harlot of Babylon, then the darkness was removed which had gathered between heaven and earth. But more will be said upon this subject below.

[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- It is evident from what has been said, that the thoughts of man are extensions into societies either heavenly or infernal, and that unless they were extensions they would have no existence. Man's thought is like the sight of his eyes, and, unless this had extension beyond itself, there would be either no sight, or blindness. But it is man's love that gives his thoughts their determination into societies, good love into heavenly societies, and evil love into infernal societies. For the whole heaven is arranged into societies, according to all the varieties of the affections that belong to love, generally, specifically, and in particular; while hell is arranged into societies according to the lusts (cupiditates) of the love of evil, opposite to the affections of the love of good.

[3] Man's love is comparatively like fire, and his thoughts are like the rays of light from it; if the love is good, then the thoughts, which are like rays, are truths; if the love is evil, the thoughts which go forth like rays are falsities. Thoughts from good love, which are truths, tend towards heaven; but thoughts from evil love which are falsities, tend towards hell, and are so completely conjoined with, and as it were ingrafted upon homogeneous societies, that is, such as are in similar love, that a man becomes entirely one with them.

[4] Man, by means of love to the Lord, is an image of Him. The Lord is Divine Love, and He appears as a Sun before the angels in heaven. Light and heat go forth from that Sun, light being the Divine Truth, and heat the Divine Good; the whole heaven, and all the societies of heaven, are from these. The Lord's love with a man who is an image of him, is as fire from that Sun, from which fire, light and heat similarly go forth; the light is the truth of faith, and the heat is the good of love, each of them being from the Lord, and each implanted in the societies with which such a man's love acts in unison. That man from creation is an image and likeness of God, is evident from Genesis (1:26); and He is an image and likeness of the Lord by means of love, because by means of love man is in the Lord and the Lord in him (John 14:20, 21). In a word, the very least thought that can exist is received in some society, not by the individuals or angels of the society, but by the affection of love from which and in which that society is; for this reason the angels are not conscious of the influx, neither does that influx disturb the society in any way.

[5] From these considerations the truth is evident that man is in conjunction with heaven while he lives in the world, and also in consociation with angels, although both men and angels are ignorant of it. They know nothing of this is because a man's thought is natural, and an angel's thought spiritual, and these make one only by correspondence. Since man by means of the thoughts of his love, is inaugurated into societies either of heaven or hell, therefore, on his entrance into the spiritual world, which takes place immediately after death, his character is known merely from the extension of his thoughts into societies, and in this way every one is explored. Man is also reformed by the admission of his thoughts into the societies of heaven, and he is condemned by the immersion of his thoughts in the societies of hell.

3078. 'Who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milkah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother' means the whole origin of that affection. This is clear from the representation of 'Bethuel', and also of 'Milkah and Nahor', as well as of 'Abraham'. What the specific representation is of each of these cannot be explained and presented intelligibly, the reason being that the initial affection for truth had its origin indeed in the Divine things acquired by the Lord within the natural man, 3019, but maternal elements were nevertheless there which could not be separated in an instant and from which also affection came. The nature of that affection in its origin is described in the internal sense by the details given here, that she was 'born to Bethuel, the son of Milkah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother'.

[2] Although it appears to be simple and a single entity, every affection nevertheless contains details within itself which are so countless that it cannot even be apprehended, let alone described by any idea. For present within every affection there is a person's whole life which he has acquired from his earliest childhood through to the time of life when that affection is active in him. Indeed even more is present there, namely that which at birth he derived by heredity from father and mother, grandparents, and great grandparents. In fact that affection constitutes the whole person such as he is. In the next life through a revelation of a person's affection one is sometimes enabled to see how far that person is moved by self-love, and how far by love of the world; to see how far he is moved by a love of the things of first importance such as the end in view and the purpose; also how far he is moved by a love of good and truth, and to see the nature of that good and truth; and to see as well how these are ordered, that is to say, whether joined together, close together, or separated; thus to see how far such good and truth do not accord with heavenly order or how far they do accord. All of these things are able to be seen, as has been stated, through the revelation of the affection because affection constitutes the whole person. The truth of this seems unbelievable to man, but it is still the truth.