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Arcana Coelestia #9373

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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.

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

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Arcana Coelestia #2803

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2803. That the Divine Truth is the “son,” and the Divine Good the “father,” is evident from the signification of a “son,” as being truth (see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2633); and of a “father,” as being good; and also from the conception and birth of truth, which is from good. Truth cannot be and come forth [existere] from any other source than good, as has been shown many times. That the “son” here is the Divine Truth, and the “father” the Divine Good, is because the union of the Divine Essence with the Human, and of the Human Essence with the Divine, is the Divine marriage of Good with Truth, and of Truth with Good, from which comes the heavenly marriage; for in Jehovah or the Lord there is nothing but what is infinite; and because infinite, it cannot be apprehended by any idea, except that it is the being and the coming forth [esse et existere] of all good and truth, or is Good itself and Truth itself. Good itself is the “Father,” and Truth itself is the “Son.” But because as before said there is a Divine marriage of Good and Truth, and of Truth and Good, the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, as the Lord Himself teaches in John:

Jesus saith unto Philip, Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me ? Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in me (John 14:10-11).

And again in the same Evangelist:

Jesus said to the Jews, Though ye believe not Me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father (John 10:36, 38).

And again:

I pray for them; for all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and that they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee (John 17:9-10, 21).

And again:

Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself. Father, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee (John 13:31-32; 17:1).

[2] From this may be seen the nature of the union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord; namely, that it is mutual and alternate, or reciprocal; which union is that which is called the Divine Marriage, from which descends the heavenly marriage, which is the Lord’s kingdom itself in the heavens—thus spoken of in John:

In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:20).

And again:

I pray for them, that they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us, I in them and Thou in Me; that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:21-23, 26).

That this heavenly marriage is that of good and truth, and of truth and good, may be seen above (n. 2508, 2618, 2728, 2729 and following numbers).

[3] And because the Divine Good cannot be and come forth without the Divine Truth, nor the Divine Truth without the Divine Good, but the one in the other mutually and reciprocally, it is therefore manifest that the Divine Marriage was from eternity; that is, the Son in the Father, and the Father in the Son, as the Lord Himself teaches in John:

And now O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:5, 24).

But the Divine Human which was born from eternity was also born in time; and what was born in time, and glorified, is the same. Hence it is that the Lord so often said that He was going to the Father who sent Him; that is, that He was returning to the Father. And in John:

In the beginning was the Word (the “Word” is the Divine Truth itself), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1-3, 14; see also John 3:13; 6:62).

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

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Arcana Coelestia #10151

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10151. 'And the altar' means reception of what is Divine from the Lord in the higher heavens. This is clear from the meaning of 'sanctifying' as the reception of what is Divine from the Lord, dealt with above in 10149; and from the meaning of 'the altar' as that which was representative of the Lord in respect of Divine Good, dealt with in 9964, at this point in respect of Divine Good emanating from Him in the heavens where that Good is received, thus in the higher heavens. For these heavens receive the Lord as to His Divine Good, but the lower heavens receive the Lord as to His Divine Truth, in accord with what has been shown immediately above in 10150.

[2] It should be recognized that whatever served to represent the Lord Himself represented heaven also; for what is Divine, emanating from the Lord and received by angels, constitutes heaven. The angels themselves, as to what is properly their own, do not constitute heaven; only what is Divine, received by them from the Lord, does so. The truth of this may be recognized from the consideration that every one of them there acknowledges, believes, and also perceives that not a grain of good originates in themselves, only in the Lord, and that whatever originates in themselves is not good, so that - exactly as the Church teaches - everything good comes down from above. All this being so, it follows that what is Divine and the Lord's is what constitutes heavenly life among them, consequently constitutes heaven. All this goes to show how the idea that the Lord is the All in all of heaven should be understood, that the Lord dwells there in what is His own, and also that 'an angel' in the Word means some attribute that is the Lord's, ideas that have been the subject in various places in what has gone before.

[3] The situation is the same with regard to the Church. People there, as to what is properly their own, do not constitute the Church; only what is Divine, received by them from the Lord, does so. For no one there who fails to acknowledge and believe that the good of love and the truth of faith come entirely from God forms part of the Church, because he wishes to love God with what is his own and to believe in God with what is his own, which however no one is able to do. From this too it is evident that what is Divine and the Lord's constitutes the Church, just as it constitutes heaven. The Church furthermore is the Lord's heaven on earth, and therefore also the Lord is the All in all within the Church, just as He is in heaven, and dwells with people there in what is His own, just as He does with angels in heaven. Also, people of the Church who thus receive what is Divine and the Lord's in love and faith, they and no others, become angels of heaven after life in the world.

[4] That what is Divine and the Lord's constitutes His kingdom with a person, that is, heaven and the Church with him, is also the Lord's teaching in John,

The Spirit of truth will remain with you and will be in you. And you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. John 14:17, 20.

'The Spirit of truth' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, about which He says that it 'will remain with you'. After this He says that He is in the Father, they are in Him, and He is in them, meaning that they will be in what is Divine and the Lord's, and what is Divine and the Lord's will be in them, by which, it is evident, the Divine Human should be understood. Elsewhere in the same gospel He says,

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you cannot do anything. John 15:4-5.

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