9373. Come up unto Jehovah. That this signifies conjunction with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being to be raised toward interior things (see n. 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007), consequently also to be conjoined (n. 8760). That it denotes conjunction with the Lord, is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the the Lord, (n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315). A secret which also lies hidden in the internal sense of these words, is that the sons of Jacob, over whom Moses was the head, were not called and chosen; but they themselves insisted that Divine worship should be instituted among them (according to wh at has been said in n. 4290, 4293); and therefore it is here said, “and He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah,” as if not Jehovah, but another, had said that he should come up. For the same reason in what follows it is said that “the people should not go up” (verse 2); and that “Jehovah sent not His hand unto the sons of Israel who were set apart” (verse 11); and that “the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel” (verse 17); and lastly that Moses, being called the seventh day, “entered into the midst of the cloud.” For by “the cloud” is meant the Word in the letter (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 6832, 8106, 8443, 8781); and with the sons of Jacob the Word was separated from its internal sense, because they were in external worship without internal, as can be clearly seen from the fact that now, as before, they said, “all the words which Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (verse 3); and yet scarcely forty days afterward they worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah; which shows that this was hidden in their hearts while they were saying with their lips that they would serve Jehovah alone. But nevertheless those who are meant by “the called and the chosen” are those who are in internal worship, and who from internal worship are in external; that is, those who are in love to and faith in the Lord, and from this in love toward the neighbor.

2243. 'Whether they have brought it to a close according to the cry of it which has come to Me; and if not, I will know' means whether evil has reached its peak. This is clear from the meaning of 'cry' as falsity, dealt with just above in 2240. There are two kinds of falsity, as was mentioned at the end of that paragraph, namely falsity which comes from evil, and falsity which produces evil. Falsity coming from evil consists in everything a person thinks while he is subject to evil, that is to say, everything which supports evil. For example, when a person is subject to adultery he thinks that adultery is permissible, that it is right and proper, that it is the delight of life, that the birth of offspring is promoted by it, and many other ideas such as these. These are all falsities coming from evil.

[2] Falsity which produces evil however comes about when a person holds to some tenet of the religion he belongs to and as a consequence believes that it is good or holy, when in fact in itself it is evil. For example, a person who believes from his religion that some human being is able to save, and who therefore worships and venerates that human being, creates evil out of that falsity. The same applies to any other religious persuasion which in itself is false. Since falsity therefore both derives from evil and produces evil the word 'cry' occurs here and means, as a kind of general term, that which is implied by it, namely evil. This is also evident from the fact that the words 'whether they have brought it to a close according to the cry of it which has come to Me' include both 'the cry of it' in the singular, and 'they have brought it to a close' in the plural.

[3] What a close is has been shown in Volume One, in 1857. What more is implied by a close may be ascertained from the history of the Churches. The Most Ancient Church, which was called Man, was the most celestial of all, yet that Church in course of time so declined from the good that flows from love that at length nothing celestial was left. At this point it came to its close which is described by the state of those people prior to the Flood.

[4] The Ancient Church, which came after the Flood, and was called Noah, and was less celestial, also in course of time so fell away from the good flowing from charity that no charity at all was left; for it was changed partly into magic, partly into idolatry, and partly into a system of doctrine separate from charity. At that point it reached its close.

[5] Another Church then followed which was called the Hebrew Church and was less celestial and spiritual still, making a certain kind of holy worship consist in external religious observances. This Church as well was in course of time perverted in varying ways, and that sort of external worship was turned into idolatrous worship. At that point it reached its close.

[6] A fourth Church was established after that among the descendants of Jacob, which did not possess anything celestial or spiritual, only that which was the representative of such. Consequently that Church was a Church representative of celestial and spiritual things, for what their religious observances actually represented and meant they did not know. But that Church was established in order that some link might nevertheless exist between man and heaven, like that which exists between the representatives of good and truth, and good and truth themselves. This Church so went off in the end into falsities and evils that every religious observance became idolatrous, at which point it reached its close.

[7] Therefore once those consecutive Churches, each declining as indicated, had come and gone - and in the last of them the link between the human race and heaven had become severed so completely that the human race would have perished because no Church existed to provide such a link and a bond, see 468, 637, 931, 2054 - the Lord came into the world; and through the Divine Essence united to the Human Essence within Himself, He joined heaven and earth together. At the same time He established a new Church, called the Christian Church, in which, to begin with, good that is the fruit of faith was present, and people lived together in charity as brethren. But with the passage of time it departed in different directions, and today has become such that people do not even know that faith is grounded in love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. And although they assert from doctrine that the Lord is the Saviour of the human race, that they will rise again after death, and that there is a heaven and a hell, few nevertheless believe these things. Since this Church has become such, its close is not far away.

[8] These considerations show what the close is, namely that it is the time when evil has reached its peak. The situation is similar in particular, that is, with each individual; but how the close or climax comes about in the case of the individual will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on. Various places in the Word refer to the close and describe the state which comes before it as vastation and desolation, which is followed by visitation.

6857. Flowing with milk and honey. That this signifies the pleasantness and delight thence, is evident from the signification of “milk,” as being the celestial spiritual, or the truth of good (see n. 2184); and as it denotes the truth of good, it denotes also the pleasantness thereof, for these are conjoined; and from the signification of “honey,” as being delight (n. 5620). From what was shown above (n. 6854) it can be seen what is meant by “making to come up out of that land to a land good and broad, flowing with milk and honey,” namely, that they who had been detained in the lower earth in pits there until the Lord’s coming, should then be raised to heaven where are the good of charity and the truth of faith and the derivative pleasantness and delight. These things are specifically signified by these words; but in general are signified all of the spiritual church who are in temptation and are liberated from it.