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Arcana Coelestia #3705

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3705. The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it. That this signifies the good in which He was, that it was from what was His own, is evident from the signification of “land,” as being here the good of the natural, concerning which in what follows; from the signification of “whereon thou liest,” as being that in which He was; and from the signification of “giving it to thee,” as being from what was His own; concerning which also in what follows. That the “land” signifies the good of the natural which will hereafter be represented by Jacob, is because by the “land of Canaan” is signified the Lord’s kingdom (see n. 1413, 1437, 1585, 1607, 1866); and because it signifies the Lord’s kingdom, it also in the supreme sense signifies the Lord (see n. 3038); for the Lord is the all in all of His kingdom, and whatever there is not from Him, and does not look to Him, is not of His kingdom. The Lord’s kingdom is also signified in the Word by “heaven and earth” (n. 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118); but in this case its interior is signified by “heaven,” and its exterior by “earth” (n. 82, 1411, 1733, 3355); consequently in the supreme sense “heaven” signifies the Lord as to His Divine rational, and “earth” as to his Divine natural; here therefore “the land whereon thou liest” signifies the good of the natural, in which He was and which was to be represented by Jacob. That “Jacob” denotes the Lord as to the Divine natural has already been frequently stated.

[2] Moreover, that the signification of “land” is various, see above (n. 620, 636, 1067, 2571, 3368, 3379); and this for the reason that Canaan, which is called the “holy land,” signifies the Lord’s kingdom in general; and when mention is made of “heaven” together with “land” (or “earth”), then, as before said, “heaven” signifies what is interior, and “earth” what is exterior; and consequently it also signifies the Lord’s kingdom on earth, that is, the church; and therefore it also signifies the man who is a kingdom of the Lord, or who is a church. Thus in such a man “heaven” signifies what is interior, and “earth” what is exterior; or what is the same, “heaven” signifies the rational, and “earth” the natural; for the rational is interior with man, and the natural exterior. And as “earth” has these significations, it also signifies that which makes man a kingdom of the Lord, namely, the good of love which is from the Divine; from all which it is evident how various are the significations of “earth” (or “land”) in the Word.

[3] That “to thee will I give it” signifies that it was from what was His own, may be seen from the signification of “giving,” in the Word, when it is predicated of the Lord; for as before shown, the Lord is Divine good and also Divine truth; and the former is what is called “Father,” and the latter “Son”; and whereas Divine good is of Himself, consequently His own, it follows that by “giving to thee,” when said by Jehovah, and predicated of the Lord, is signified that it is from what is His own. This shows what is signified in the internal sense by what the Lord so often said, that the Father “gave” to Him, that is, that He Himself gave to Himself; as in John:

Father, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee; even as Thou gavest Him authority over all flesh; that whatsoever Thou hast given Him, to them He should give eternal life. I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have accomplished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. I have manifested Thy name unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world; Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me. Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are from Thee; for the words which Thou gavest Me I have given them. I pray for them whom Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine; and all things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine (John 17:1-10); where by the Father “having given” is signified that they were from Divine good which was His; thus from what was His own.

[4] From all this it is evident how deep an arcanum lies concealed in each word that the Lord spoke; also how much the sense of the letter differs from the internal sense, and still more from the supreme sense. The reason why the Lord so spoke, was that man, who at that time was in total ignorance of any Divine truth, might still in his own way apprehend the Word, and thus receive it; and the angels in their way; for they knew that Jehovah and He were one, and that the “Father” signified the Divine good; hence also they knew that when He said that the Father “gave” to Him, it was that He Himself gave to Himself, and that thus it was from what was His own.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.

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Arcana Coelestia #2159

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2159. That the “servant” denotes the human that appertained to the Lord, before it was made Divine, may be seen from many passages in the Prophets. The reason is-as already shown several times-that until He had put it off and made it Divine the human that appertained to the Lord was merely a servant. The human that appertained to Him was from the mother, thus was infirm, having with it from the mother an hereditary which by means of the combats of temptations He overcame and utterly expelled, insomuch that nothing was left of that which was infirm and hereditary from the mother, nay, at last there remained not anything whatever from the mother. Thus He entirely put off all that was from the mother, and therefore was no longer her son, as also He himself says in Mark:

They said unto Him, Behold Thy mother and Thy brethren without seek for Thee: and He answered them, saying, Who is My mother, or My brethren? And looking round on them that sat about Him, He said, Behold My mother and My brethren; for whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and My mother (Mark 3:32-35; Matthew 12:46-49; Luke 8:20-21).

[2] And when He had put off this human, He put on the Divine Human, from which He called Himself the “Son of man,” as we find many times in the Word of the New Testament; and also the “Son of God;” and by the “Son of man” He meant the truth itself, and by the “Son of God” the good itself, which belonged to His Human Essence when this was made Divine. The former state was that of the Lord’s humiliation, but the latter that of His glorification (treated of before, n. 1999).

[3] In the former state, namely, that of humiliation, when as yet He had appertaining to Him an infirm human, He adored Jehovah as one other than Himself, and indeed like a servant; for relatively to the Divine the human is nothing else, on which account in the Word the term “servant” is predicated of that human, as in Isaiah:

I will defend this city to save it, for Mine own sake, and for My servant David’s sake (Isaiah 37:35),

where the Assyrians are treated of, in whose camp a hundred and eighty-five thousand were smitten by an angel. “David” denotes the Lord, who, as He was to come, in respect to the human is called a “servant.” (That in the Word “David” denotes the Lord, may be seen above, n. 1888.)

[4] In the same Prophet:

Behold My servant upon whom I will lean; My chosen, My soul is well pleased. I have put My spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment unto the nations (Isaiah 42:1),

manifestly concerning the Lord, of whom, when He was in the human, the terms “servant” and “chosen” are predicated.

Again:

Who is blind but My servant? and deaf, as the angel I will send? who is blind as the perfect one, and blind as the servant of Jehovah? (Isaiah 42:19),

where also the Lord is spoken of; and of whom in like manner the terms “servant” and “angel” are predicated when He was in the human.

[5] Again:

Ye are My witnesses, saith Jehovah, and My servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He (Isaiah 43:10).

Again:

Said Jehovah, My Former from the womb to be His servant; to bring Jacob again unto Him, and that Israel be gathered unto Him; and He said, Thou art a slight thing that thou shouldest be My servant, to set up the tribes of Jacob; I have given thee for a light of the nations to be My salvation unto the extremity of the earth (Isaiah 49:5-6),

where also the Lord and His human are manifestly treated of before He was made the “light of the nations,” and “salvation unto the extremity of the earth.” Again:

Who is among you that feareth Jehovah, that heareth the voice of His servant, who walketh in darkness, and hath no brightness? let him trust in the name of Jehovah, and lean upon His God (Isaiah 50:10).

“Servant” here also denotes the human that appertained to the Lord; and that He was in this human and taught the way of truth, is the “voice of the servant of Jehovah.”

[6] Again:

Jehovah goeth before you, and the God of Israel gathereth you. Behold, My servant shall act prudently, he shall be lifted up, and shall be exalted, and shall be raised up exceedingly (Isaiah 52:12-13).

It is evident that “servant” is here predicated of the Lord when He was in the human; for it is said of Him that He “shall be lifted up, exalted, and raised up.” Again:

He hath no form and no honor; we saw him, but there was no appearance; He was despised, a man of sorrows, acquainted with disease. Jehovah willed to bruise him; He made him infirm; if he shall make his soul guilt, he shall see seed, he shall prolong days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper by his hand; he shall see of the labor of his soul, he shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; and he himself hath carried their iniquities (Isa;. 53:2-3, 10-11).

Here, as in the whole of this chapter, the Lord’s state of humiliation is openly treated of; and it is also said that He was then in an infirm human, namely, that He was a “man of sorrows, acquainted with disease, infirm, was in the labor of His soul,” besides a number of other statements, in which state He is called “servant.”

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

John 1:18

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18 No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.