When Jesus died on the cross, there was an earthquake. Rocks were split. The centurion and his soldiers who had carried out the crucifixion orders were afraid.

In the heart of the temple, in the "holy of holies", in the very heart of Jerusalem, the sacred veil tore, from top to bottom.

The veil, "rent in twain"...

The veils in the tabernacle and later in the temple were important. They're described in great detail in Exodus and in 1 Kings. In Arcana Coelestia 2576, it says that, "Rational truths are a kind of veil or clothing to spiritual truths.... The veil represented the nearest and inmost appearances of rational good and truth....

And now, as Jesus dies on the cross, the veil tears. What does this mean?

Here's how Swedenborg describes the symbolism of this:

"...that once all appearances had been dispelled, the Lord entered into the Divine Itself, and at the same time He opened a means of access to the Divine Itself through His Human that had been made Divine." (Arcana Coelestia 2576)

Think about four watershed spiritual events:

1) The creation of the physical universe. (Current best guess: 13.8 billion years ago). Genesis 1:1-10

2) The beginning of life. (On earth, between 3.5 and 4.5 billion years ago.) Genesis 1:11-25

3) The beginning of spiritually conscious human beings. (Reasonable guess: 100,000 years ago). Genesis 1:26-31

4) The incarnation and resurrection of the Lord God Jesus Christ (2000 years ago).

God's love and wisdom have been flowing into the universe for a long time. Where you might expect entropy, instead we see a universe that seems to favor life and intelligence. Think what a fulfilling moment it must have been when God could tell that human minds were now responding to Him, after all that outpouring.

But the free response-ability has tragedy baked in, because we can also choose not to respond, and to go the opposite way.

As we humans grew more "sophisticated", God used new channels to reach us, notably prophets and spiritual leaders, and later the written word. And in those channels, from the earliest times, there are already prophecies that the Lord would one day come into the world in human form.

Why did He need to do that? He must have foreseen that people would need to have that human level of connection, in order for enough good and truth to exist for us to make the decisions that open us to salvation.

Let's go back to Swedenborg's description:

"... once all appearances had been dispelled the Lord entered into the Divine Itself..."

Throughout the Lord's life on earth, there was the appearance that he was a man, like us. He had a human body. He could be tired and hungry. He could be tempted (though unlike us, he always won). In his spiritual life, there were times when he felt keenly the appearance of his human separate from his Divine essence. At other times, that appearance thinned, and he felt his divinity more powerfully. As he grew up, and was baptized, and began his ministry, he must have been growing more and more fully aware of what was going on inside him -- the glorification of the human part of him. With the death of his body on the cross, the bodily human-ness was no longer in the way. That appearance was dispelled. A new connection was fully forged between the Divine and the human.

And then, there's the second part of Swedenborg's statement:

"at the same time He opened a means of access to the Divine Itself through His Human that had been made Divine."

The veil was torn. The old religion, which had placed ritual above real good, and where God was invisible, separated from human knowledge by a veil -- was torn. New light could reach people, through the new teachings of the Lord. We could respond to a God who, in His Divine Human, we now could understand and approach and love more deeply.

576. Having breastplates fiery, hyacinthine, and brimstone-like, signifies reasonings combating from the cupidities of the love of self and of the world, and from the falsities therefrom. This is evident from the signification of breastplates, as being armor for war, and in particular, defenses in combats (of which above, n. 557; also from the signification of "fire or fiery," as being the cupidity of the love of self, and thence of all evil (See above, n. 504; also from the signification of "hyacinth or hyacinthine," as being the cupidity of the love of the world and thus of all falsity (of which presently); and from the signification of "brimstone or brimstone-like," as being the lust of destroying the goods and truths of the church by falsities of evil see below, n. 578, here meaning falsity burning from these two loves. From this it can be seen that "breastplates fiery, hyacinthine, and brimstone-like," signify reasonings combating from the cupidities of the loves of self and of the world, and from the falsities from those loves.

[2] In regard to "hyacinthine," it signifies in the spiritual sense the heavenly love of truth, but in the contrary sense the diabolical love of falsity, and also love of the world; as can be seen from its being of the color of heaven, and that color signifies truth from a heavenly origin, so in the contrary sense, falsity from a diabolical origin. In the spiritual world the choicest colors appear; and these have their origin in good and truth; for colors there are modifications of heavenly light, thus of the intelligence and wisdom, that are with the angels in heaven. This is why hyacinthine, purple, and scarlet double-dyed were interwoven in the curtains of the tabernacle and in the garments of Aaron; for the tabernacle represented the heaven of the Lord, and the garments of Aaron the Divine truth of heaven and the church, and those things of which the tabernacle was constructed, and of which the garments of Aaron were woven, represented celestial and spiritual things, which are of Divine good and Divine truth.

[3] Thus:

The veil before the ark was of hyacinthine, purple, and scarlet double-dyed, and fine twined linen (See Exodus 26:31).

Likewise the screen for the door of the tent (verse 36).

And the screen for the entrance of the court (Exodus 27:16).

The loops on the edge of the curtain of the tent were hyacinthine (Exodus 26:4);

The ephod was of gold, hyacinthine, purple, and scarlet double-dyed interwoven (Exodus 28:6);

And also the breastplate of judgment (verse 15);

When the camp set forward in the wilderness, Aaron and his sons spread a cloth of hyacinthine over the ark, over the table of faces, over the lampstand and the lamps, over the golden altar, and over all the vessels of ministry (Numbers 4:6, 7, 9, 11, 12).

This is because Divine truth proceeding from Divine love, which is signified by "the cloth of hyacinthine," embraces and protects all the holy things of heaven and the church, which the things covered represent.

[4] Because "hyacinthine" signified the celestial love of truth, it was commanded:

That the sons of Israel should make for themselves a fringe in the borders of their garments, and should put on it a cord of hyacinthine, that in looking upon it they might remember all the commandments of Jehovah and do them (Numbers 15:38, 39).

Here "the cord of hyacinthine" stands evidently for the remembrance of the commandments of Jehovah; the commandments of Jehovah are the essential truths of heaven and the church, and these are remembered only by such as are in a celestial love of truth.

[5] That "hyacinthine" signifies the love of truth can be seen from the following in Ezekiel:

Fine linen in broidered work from Egypt was thy spreading forth, to be for thy ensign; hyacinthine and purple from the isles of Elishah was thy covering. These were thy traffickers with choice wares, with bales of hyacinthine and broidered work, and with treasures of precious garments (Ezekiel 27:7, 24).

This is said of Tyre, which signifies the church in respect to the knowledges of truth; so, too, it signifies the knowledges of truth belonging to the church, and her "merchandise and tradings" mentioned in this chapter describe the acquisition of intelligence by means of such knowledges; "broidered work from Egypt" signifies the knowledge [scientia] of such things as are of the church; and because this has a lower place, and is thus round about or without, it is called "a spreading forth," and is said to be "for an ensign." "Hyacinthine and purple from the isles of Elishah" signify the spiritual affection of truth and good; therefore these are said to be "for a covering," a "covering" signifying truth. "Bales of hyacinthine and broidered work" signify all truths, spiritual and natural, and these together with the knowledges from the Word are meant by "the treasures of precious garments."

[6] As "hyacinthine" signifies the heavenly love of truth, so in the contrary sense it signifies the diabolical love of falsity; and in that sense also "hyacinthine" is mentioned in the Word. Thus in Ezekiel:

Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt in their youth. Oholah which is Samaria, and Oholibah which is Jerusalem. And Oholah committed whoredom while under me, and she doted on her lovers, the Assyrians her neighbors, which were clothed in hyacinthine, governors and rulers, all of them young men of desire, horsemen riding upon horses (Ezekiel 23:2-6).

Here "Samaria" and "Jerusalem" signify the church, "Samaria" the spiritual church, and "Jerusalem" the celestial church, which are called "Oholah" and "Oholibah" because these names mean a "tent," and a "tent" signifies the church in respect to worship; "woman" also in the Word signifies the church; "they committed whoredom in Egypt" signifies the falsification of the truths of the church by the knowledges [scientifica] of the natural man; "she doted on the Assyrians" signifies the falsification by reasonings from those knowledges [scientifica]; "Asshur and Assyria" signify reasonings; they are said to be "clothed in hyacinthine" by reason of fallacies and falsities, which in external form appear to be truths because they are from the sense of the letter of the Word wrongly applied. And because of this same appearance they are also called "governors and rulers, young men of desire, riding upon horses," for those who reason from self-intelligence appear to themselves and to others of like character to be intelligent and wise, and the things they speak to be truths of intelligence and goods of wisdom, when yet they are falsities which they love because they are from what is their own [proprium]; "governors and rulers" signify principal truths, and "those riding upon horses" signify the intelligent.

[7] In Jeremiah:

Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman and of the hands of the refiner; their garments ¹ are hyacinthine and purple; all are the work of the wise (Jeremiah 10:9).

This treats of the idols of the house of Israel, which signify doctrinals that are false, because they are from self-intelligence; therefore they are called "the work of the workman and of the hands of the refiner, and all the work of the wise," and this because these doctrinals appear to them to be truths and goods; "silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz," signifies what appears in external form to be truth and good, because from the sense of the letter of the Word. From this it can be seen that "hyacinthine" signifies the love of what is false because it is from self [proprium] or from self-intelligence. "Hyacinthine" also signifies the love of the world, because the love of the world corresponds to the love of falsity, as the love of self, which is signified by "fire," corresponds to the love of evil; for all evil is from the love of self, and all falsity is from the love of the world which has its origin in the love of self; for spiritual evil, which is meant by the love of the world, is in its essence falsity, as spiritual good is in its essence truth (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 15).

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