49. Verse 26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, ¹ and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

To people in the Most Ancient Church with whom the Lord spoke face to face, the Lord appeared as Man. (Much can be told about those people, but this is not the time to do so.) For this reason they called nobody man except the Lord and whatever may have been His. They did not even call themselves man, but only the things which they perceived that they had from the Lord, such as every good stemming from love and every truth of faith. These things were said to be human because they were the Lord's.

[2] In the Prophets therefore, in the highest sense, 'man' and 'son of man' are used to mean the Lord. In the internal sense they are used to mean wisdom and intelligence, and so everyone who is regenerate, as in Jeremiah,

I looked to the earth, and behold, a void and an emptiness, and towards the heavens, and behold, they had no light. I looked, and behold there was no man; and all the birds of the air ¹ had fled. Jeremiah 4:23, 25.

In Isaiah where in the internal sense 'man' means a regenerate person, the Lord Himself as the One Man is meant in the highest sense,

Thus said Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and He who formed him, It was I that made the earth and it was I that created man upon it; My hands stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. Isaiah 45:11-13

[3] The Lord was therefore seen by the Prophets as Man, for example by Ezekiel,

Above the firmament in appearance like a sapphire stone there was the likeness of a throne, and above the likeness of a throne, there was a likeness, as the appearance of a Man upon it above. Ezekiel 1:26.

And the One whom Daniel saw was called 'a Son of Man', or what amounts to the same, Man,

I looked, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like the Son of Man was coming; and He came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and languages will serve Him. His dominion is the dominion of an age, which will not pass away, and His kingdom one that will not perish. Daniel 7:13-14.

[4] Moreover the Lord quite often calls Himself the Son of Man or Man, and, as is done in Daniel, foretells His entry into glory,

They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matthew 24:23, 30.

The literal sense of the Word is called 'the clouds of heaven', its internal sense 'power and glory'. The internal sense, in every single detail, focuses exclusively on the Lord and His kingdom. Consequently it is the spiritual sense which contains power and glory.

Footnotes:

765. Up to now the subject has been the temptation of the member of the Church called Noah. Verses 6-10 have first of all dealt with his temptation involving things of the understanding, which are truths of faith. After that verses 11-12, have dealt with his temptation involving things of the will, which have in view the good deeds of charity. The purpose of the temptations was that the member of the Church, that is, that the new Church, might be born again by means of them, during the time that the Most Ancient Church was dying out. As stated already, this Church was quite different in disposition from the Most Ancient Church; that is to say, it is a spiritual Church, whose nature is such that this individual is born again by means of doctrinal matters concerning faith. Once these have been implanted, conscience is instilled into him to prevent his doing things contrary to the truth and good of faith. In this way charity is conferred on him which then governs his conscience, from which he accordingly starts to act. From these considerations it becomes clear what a spiritual man is; he is not one who imagines that faith without charity saves, but one who makes charity the essential element of faith, and acts from it. To bring such a person or Church into being was the end in view, and this is why this Church itself is dealt with next. The fact that it is the Church which is dealt with next becomes clear also from the repetition so to speak of the same point, for it is said here that, 'On that very day Noah went in, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, Noah's sons, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark', which is similar to verse 7 above, though that verse reads, 'And Noah went in, and his sons and his wife, and his sons' wives with him into the ark'. Since the subject is now the Church however, the sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth are mentioned by name; and when so mentioned by name they mean the member of the Church. But when they are called 'sons without the addition of their names they mean truths of faith. In addition, what has been stated already in verses 8-9, about beasts and birds going into the ark is repeated once again in verses 14-16, but with certain changes that are here fitting and applicable to the Church.