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:

'The Lord's throne' signifies, in general, the whole heaven, and specifically, the spiritual heaven, and by extension, divine truth proceeding, and so, everything of heaven and the church.

In Genesis 41:40, this signifies things that are natural. (Arcana Coelestia 5313)

In Exodus 11:5, this signifies the falsified truths of faith that have wrongly receive attention. (Arcana Coelestia 7779)

'The throne built by Solomon,' as mentioned in 1 Kings 10:18-20, signifies both royalty and judgment.

In Isaiah 66:1, this signifies celestial and spiritual things which when they relate to the Divine are like natural things to man's spiritual and celestial. (Arcana Coelestia 2162[8])

In Matthew 25:31, this signifies judgment. (Arcana Coelestia 4809[3])

In Revelation 1:4, this signifies the universal heaven. 'Throne' signifies heaven and judgment.

'Throne,' as in Revelation 4:2, signifies a representation of judgment, because the things which John saw were representative visions. He saw them as he described them, but they were forms representative of things to come.

In Revelation 8:2, this signifies the church regarding doctrine.

'Throne,' as in Revelation 12:5, signifies the angelic heaven.

'Throne' also signifies the government of falsity and evil in Revelation 2:13, 8:2, Daniel 7:9, Haggai 2:22, and Isaiah 14:13.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 8 [2], 289)