9372. And He said unto Moses. That this signifies that which concerns the Word in general, is evident from the representation of Moses, as being the Word (of which below); and from the signification of “He said,” as involving those things which follow in this chapter, thus those which concern the Word (see n. 9370). (That Moses represents the Word, can be seen from what has been often shown before about Moses, as from the preface to Genesis 18; and n. 4859, 5922, 6723, 6752, 6771, 6827, 7010, 7014, 7089, 7382, 8601, 8760, 8787, 8805.) Here Moses represents the Word in general, because it is said of him in what follows, that he alone should come near unto Jehovah (verse 2); and also that, being called unto out of the midst of the cloud, he entered into it, and went up the mount (verses 16-18).

[2] In the Word there are many who represent the Lord in respect to truth Divine, or in respect to the Word; but chief among them are Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and John the Baptist. That Moses does so, can be seen in the explications just cited above; that so do Elijah and Elisha, can be seen in the preface to Genesis 18; and n. 2762, 5247; and that John the Baptist does so is evident from the fact that he was “Elias who was to come.” He who does not know that John the Baptist represented the Lord as to the Word, cannot know what all those things infold and signify which are said about him in the New Testament; and therefore in order that this secret may stand open, and that at the same time it may appear that Elias, and also Moses, who were seen when the Lord was transfigured, signified the Word, some things may here be quoted which are spoken about John the Baptist; as in Matthew:

After the messengers of John had departed, Jesus began to speak concerning John, saying, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? a reed shaken by the wind? But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft things are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, even more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold I send Mine angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee. Verily I say unto you, Among those who are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist; nevertheless he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he. All the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye are willing to believe, he is Elias who was to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 11:7-15; and also Luke 7:24-28).

No one can know how these things are to be understood, unless he knows that this John represented the Lord as to the Word, and unless he also knows from the internal sense what is signified by “the wilderness” in which he was, also what by “a reed shaken by the wind,” and likewise by “soft raiment in kings’ houses;” and further what is signified by his being “more than a prophet,” and by “none among those who are born of women being greater than he, and nevertheless he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he,” and lastly by his being “Elias.” For without a deeper sense, all these words are uttered merely from some comparison, and not from anything of weight.

[3] But it is very different when by John is understood the Lord as to the Word, or the Word representatively. Then by “the wilderness of Judea in which John was” is signified the state in which the Word was at the time when the Lord came into the world, namely, that it was “in the wilderness,” that is, it was in obscurity so great that the Lord was not at all acknowledged, neither was anything known about His heavenly kingdom; when yet all the prophets prophesied about Him, and about His kingdom, that it was to endure forever. (That “a wilderness” denotes such obscurity, see n. 2708, 4736, 7313.) For this reason the Word is compared to “a reed shaken by the wind” when it is explained at pleasure; for in the internal sense “a reed” denotes truth in the ultimate, such as is the Word in the letter.

[4] That the Word in the ultimate, or in the letter, is crude and obscure in the sight of men; but that in the internal sense it is soft and shining, is signified by their “not seeing a man clothed in soft raiment, for behold those who wear soft things are in kings’ houses.” That such things are signified by these words, is plain from the signification of “raiment,” or “garments,” as being truths (n. 2132, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 6914, 6918, 9093); and for this reason the angels appear clothed in garments soft and shining according to the truths from good with them (n. 5248, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216). The same is evident from the signification of “kings’ houses,” as being the abodes of the angels, and in the universal sense, the heavens; for “houses” are so called from good (n. 2233, 2234, 3128, 3652, 3720, 4622, 4982, 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997); and “kings,” from truth (n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148). Therefore by virtue of their reception of truth from the Lord, the angels are called “sons of the kingdom,” “sons of the king,” and also “kings.”

[5] That the Word is more than any doctrine in the world, and more than any truth in the world, is signified by “what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet;” and by, “there hath not arisen among those who are born of women a greater than John the Baptist;” for in the internal sense “a prophet” denotes doctrine (n. 2534, 7269); and “those who are born,” or are the sons, “of women” denote truths (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3704, 4257).

[6] That in the internal sense, or such as it is in heaven, the Word is in a degree above the Word in the external sense, or such as it is in the world, and such as John the Baptist taught, is signified by, “he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he;” for as perceived in heaven the Word is of wisdom so great that it transcends all human apprehension. That the prophecies about the Lord and His coming, and that the representatives of the Lord and of His kingdom, ceased when the Lord came into the world, is signified by, “all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” That the Word was represented by John, as by Elijah, is signified by his being “Elias who is to come.”

[7] The same is signified by these words in Matthew:

The disciples asked Jesus, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? He answered and said, Elias must needs first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias hath come already, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they wished. Even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them. And they understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist (Matthew 17:10-13).

That “Elias hath come, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they wished” signifies that the Word has indeed taught them that the Lord is to come, but that still they did not wish to comprehend, interpreting it in favor of the rule of self, and thus extinguishing what is Divine in it. That they would do the same with the truth Divine itself, is signified by “even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them.” (That “the Son of man” denotes the Lord as to truth Divine, see n. 2803, 2813, 3704)

[8] From all this it is now evident what is meant by the prophecy about John in Malachi:

Behold I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh (Malachi 4:5).

Moreover, the Word in the ultimate, or such as it is in the external form in which it appears before man in the world, is described by the “clothing” and “food” of John the Baptist, in Matthew:

John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, had His clothing of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:1, 4).

In like manner it is described by Elijah in the second book of Kings:

He was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins (2 Kings 1:8).

By “clothing,” or a “garment,” when said of the Word, is signified truth Divine there in the ultimate form; by “camel’s hair” are signified memory-truths such as appear there before a man in the world; by the “leathern girdle” is signified the external bond connecting and keeping in order all the interior things; by “food” is signified spiritual nourishment from the knowledges of truth and of good out of the Word; by “locusts” are signified ultimate or most general truths; and by “wild honey” their pleasantness.

[9] That such things are signified by “clothing” and “food” has its origin in the representatives of the other life, where all appear clothed according to truths from good, and where food also is represented according to the desires of acquiring knowledge and growing wise. From this it is that “clothing,” or a “garment,” denotes truth (as may be seen from the citations above; and that “food” or “meat” denotes spiritual nourishment, n. 3114, 4459, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5576, 5579, 5915, 8562, 9003; that “a girdle” denotes a bond which gathers up and holds together interior things, n. 9341; that “leather” denotes what is external, n. 3540; and thus “a leathern girdle” denotes an external bond; that “hairs” denote ultimate or most general truths, n. 3301, 5569-5573; that “a camel” denotes memory-knowledge in general, n. 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145, 4156; that “a locust” denotes nourishing truth in the extremes, n. 7643; and that “honey” denotes the pleasantness thereof, n. 5620, 6857, 8056). It is called “wild honey,” or “honey of the field,” because by “a field” is signified the church (n. 2971, 3317, 3766, 7502, 7571, 9139, 9295). He who does not know that such things are signified, cannot possibly know why Elijah and John were so clothed. And yet that these things signified something peculiar to these prophets, can be thought by everyone who thinks well about the Word.

[10] Because John the Baptist represented the Lord as to the Word, therefore also when he spoke of the Lord, who was the Word itself, he said of himself that he was “not Elias, nor the prophet,” and that he was “not worthy to loose the latchet of the Lord’s shoe,” as in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The Jews from Jerusalem, priests and Levites, asked John who he was. And he confessed, and denied not, I am not the Christ. Therefore they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? But he said, I am not. Art thou the prophet? He answered, No. They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. They said therefore, Why then baptizest thou, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet? He answered, I baptize with water; in the midst of you standeth one whom ye know not; He it is who is to come after me, who was before me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose. When he saw Jesus, he said, Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a man who was before me; for he was before me (John 1:1, 14, 19-30).

From these words it is plain that when John spoke about the Lord Himself, who was Truth Divine itself, or the Word, he said that he himself was not anything, because the shadow disappears when the light itself appears, that is, the representative disappears when the original itself makes its appearance. (That the representatives had in view holy things, and the Lord Himself, and not at all the person that represented, see n. 665, 1097, 1361, 3147, 3881, 4208, 4281, 4288, 4292, 4307, 4444, 4500, 6304, 7048, 7439, 8588, 8788, 8806.) One who does not know that representatives vanish like shadows at the presence of light, cannot know why John denied that he was Elias and the prophet.

[11] From all this it can now be seen what is signified by Moses and Elias, who were seen in glory, and who spoke with the Lord when transfigured, of His departure which He should accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:29-31); namely, that they signified the Word (“Moses” the historic Word, and “Elias” the prophetic Word), which in the internal sense throughout treats of the Lord, of His coming into the world, and of His departure out of the world; and therefore it is said that “Moses and Elias were seen in glory,” for “glory” denotes the internal sense of the Word, and the “cloud” its external sense (see the preface to Genesis 18, and n. 5922, 8427).

5248. And changed his garments. That this signifies as to what is of the interior natural, by putting on what is suitable, is evident from the signification of “changing,” as being to remove and reject; and from the signification of “garments,” as being what is of the interior natural (of which presently); hence it follows that what was suitable (signified by the new “garments”) was put on. “Garments” are often mentioned in the Word, and thereby are meant things beneath or without, and that cover things above or within; and therefore by “garments” are signified man’s external, consequently his natural, because this covers his internal and spiritual. Specifically by “garments” are signified truths that are of faith, because these cover the goods that are of charity. This signification has its origin from the garments in which spirits and angels appear clothed. Spirits appear in garments devoid of brightness, but angels in garments that are bright and are as it were made of brightness, for the very brightness around them appears as a garment, as appeared the raiment of the Lord when He was transfigured, which was “as the light” (Matthew 17:2), and was “white and flashing” (Luke 9:29). From their garments also the quality of spirits and angels can be known in respect to the truths of faith, because these are represented by garments, but truths of faith such as they are in the natural; for such as they are in the rational appears from the face and its beauty. The brightness of their garments comes from the good of love and of charity, which by shining through causes the brightness. From all this it is evident what is represented in the spiritual world by the garments, and consequently what is meant by “garments” in the spiritual sense. But the garments that Joseph changed, that is, put off, were the garments of the pit or prison, and by these are signified things fallacious and false, which in a state of temptations are excited by evil genii and spirits; and therefore by his “changing his garments” is signified rejection and change in respect to what is of the interior natural, and the garments he put on denoted such things as would be suitable, and therefore the putting on of things suitable is signified. See what has before been said and shown concerning garments: that what is celestial is not clothed, but what is spiritual and natural (n. 297); that “garments” denote truths relatively lower (n. 1073, 2576); that changing the garments was a representative of holy truths being put on, whence also came the changes of garments (n. 4545); that rending the garments was representative of mourning over truth lost and destroyed (see n. 4763 and what is signified by him that came in, not having on a wedding garment (n. 2132).

774. (Verse 1) And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. That this signifies reasonings from the natural man confirming the separation of faith from life is evident from the signification of a beast coming up out of the sea, as denoting things of the natural man. For by beasts, in the Word, are signified the affections of the natural man in both senses, as may be seen above (n. 650). And by the sea are signified the various things in that man, which have reference to his scientifics, both true and false, and to the thoughts and reasonings therefrom; as may also be seen above (n. 275, 342, 511, 537, 538, 600). From which it is clear that by the beast coming up out of the sea are signified reasonings from the natural man.

That they are reasonings confirming the separation of faith from life is evident from this, that the dragon is further described in this chapter. His reasonings from the natural man confirming the separation of faith from life are described by the beast coming up out of the sea, and the confirmations thereof from the letter of the Word; and the falsifications of that sense, by the beast coming up out of the earth; as will be seen below from verse 11 to the end of this chapter.

[2] That the dragon is further described in this chapter, and is also meant by the two beasts, is evident from the fact that it is said that the dragon gave to the beast coming up out of the sea his power and his seat, and great authority; and moreover that they worshipped the dragon that gave power to the beast; also, that the other beast that came up out of the earth, spake as a dragon, and that he exercised all the power of the first beast before the dragon. It is therefore clear that those who are signified by the dragon are described - in so far as they separate faith from life, and confirm that separation by reasonings from the natural man - by the beast coming up out of the sea. And also that in so far as they confirm the same by the letter of the Word and thereby falsify it, they are described by the beast coming up out of the earth. That this is the case, can be fully seen from the description of each in what follows.

[3] That reasonings from the natural man enter into the dogmas of those who make faith the only means of salvation, thus the very essential of the church, and so separate it from life, or from charity, which they do not acknowledge as a means of salvation and as an essential of the church, is but little seen, and, consequently, but little known by the advocates and teachers thereof, because their thought is continually fixed on those passages of the Word by means of which they confirm such reasonings. And because they are falsities which they confirm from the ultimate sense of the Word, which is the sense of the letter, they necessarily make use of reasonings from the natural man; for without these it would not be possible to make their falsities appear like truths. This, however, shall be illustrated by an example.

[4] In order to separate life or charity from faith, they say that

"1. By the fall of Adam man destroyed all freedom of doing good from himself; and 2. that consequently a man can in no wise fulfil the law; and 3. yet without the fulfilling of the law there is no salvation; and 4. that the Lord came into the world in order to fulfil the law, and that His righteousness and merit might be imputed to man; and that by that imputation man might be loosed from the yoke of the law, so far that nothing condemns him; and 5. that man receives the imputation of the Lord's merit by faith alone, and nothing by works."

That these things, for the most part, are reasonings from the natural man confirming the preconceived principle of faith alone and its connecting particulars, is evident from a survey of the details in their order.

1. . "By the fall of Adam, man destroyed his free-will, which is the freedom of doing good from himself." This reasoning is from falsities; for the freedom of doing good from oneself belongs to no man, and can belong to no one, because a man is only a recipient. Wherefore the good which a man receives is not his but the Lord's in him; nor indeed have the angels any good except from the Lord. And the more they acknowledge and perceive this, the more are they angels, that is, higher and wiser than the rest. Much less was it possible for Adam, who had not yet become an angel, to be in a state of good from himself. His integrity consisted in a fuller reception of good and truth, and thence of intelligence and wisdom from the Lord than that of his posterity. This was also meant by his being an image of God; for he who receives the Lord becomes an image; and he becomes this according to his reception. In a word, freedom consists in doing good from the Lord; and slavery in doing good from oneself. It is therefore clear, that the reasoning above mentioned arises from falsities flowing forth from fallacies, all of which are from the natural man. Moreover it is not true that hereditary evil was ingenerated in the whole human race by the fall of Adam. Its origin is from another source.

[5] 2. . "That consequently a man can in no wise fulfil the law." This is also reasoning from the natural man. The spiritual man knows that to do the law and to fulfil it in the external form does not save; but that so far as he observes the law in the external form, from the internal, it does save. The internal form, or the internal of the law, is to love what is good, sincere, and just; and its external is to do these things. This the Lord thus teaches in Matthew:

"Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside may be clean also" (23:26).

So far as man observes the law from an internal, so far he fulfils it; but not so far as he does this from an external, apart from an internal. The internal of man is his love and will. But to love what is good, sincere, and just, and, from love, to will these things, is from the Lord alone. Wherefore to be led by the Lord is to fulfil the law. But these things must be more fully illustrated in what follows.

[6] 3. . "Without the fulfilling of the law there is no salvation." This involves that if a man were able of himself to fulfil the law, he would be saved; this nevertheless is in itself false. And since it is false, and yet appears as if it were true because it is a received dogma, it must be confirmed by reasonings from the natural man. That it is false is clear from the fact that a man cannot do any good from himself, but that all good is from the Lord; and that a state of integrity such as that above stated concerning Adam, in which there is any good which is in itself good from man, is not possible. And because such a state of integrity is not possible and never can be, it follows that the law must be fulfilled by the Lord, according to what was just said above. Nevertheless, he who believes otherwise than that man is to do all things as of himself, although he does them from the Lord, is much deceived.

[7] 4. . "The Lord came into the world in order to fulfil the law, and that His righteousness and merit might be imputed to man; and that by such imputation man may be loosed from the yoke of the law to such an extent that, after justification by faith alone, nothing condemns him." This, is also reasoning from the natural man. The Lord came into the world in order to effect a judgment, and thereby bring into a state of order all things in the heavens and in the hells, and at the same time to glorify His Human. By means of that glorified Human all who have done, and who do, good from Him, and not from themselves have been and are saved; and thus not by any imputation of His merit and righteousness. For the Lord teaches:

"I came not to destroy the law and the prophets: I came not to destroy but to fulfil. Whosoever shall break the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens" (Matthew 5:17, 19).

[8] 5. . "Man receives the imputation of the Lord's merit by faith alone, and nothing by works." This is a conclusion deduced from the previous reasonings. And because those reasonings are from the natural man and not from the rational enlightened by the spiritual man, and consequently are from falsities and not from truths, it follows that the conclusion drawn from them falls to the ground. It is evident from these things, that in order to confirm any principle false in itself, reasonings derived from the natural man, and confirmations from the literal sense of the Word, are necessary. For reasonings will give the appearance of coherence to those passages which are chosen from the sense of the letter of the Word. Wherefore reasonings from the natural man are signified by the beast coming up out of the sea; and confirmations from the sense of the letter of the Word, by the beast coming up out of the earth.