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.

347. As for the formation of faith, this takes place by a person approaching the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living by them. First: faith is formed by a person approaching the Lord, because faith which is real faith, that is, the faith which saves, is from the Lord and directed to the Lord. The Lord's words to His disciples show plainly that it comes from the Lord:

Remain in me, and I in you, because without me you can do nothing, John 15:4-5.

It is plain that it is faith directed to the Lord from the numerous passages which have been cited (337-338), stating that one must believe in the Son. Now since faith is from the Lord and directed to the Lord, it can be said that the Lord is faith itself, for its life and essence are in the Lord, and so come from Him.

[2] Secondly: the reason why faith is formed by a person learning truths from the Word is that faith essentially is truth; for all the ingredients of faith are truths. Thus faith is nothing but a collection of truths casting light in a person's mind. For truths teach not only that one should believe, but in whom one should believe and what one should believe. Truths must be taken from the Word, because it contains all the truths which lead to salvation; and they are effective because they have been given by the Lord, and are as a result imprinted upon the whole heaven of the angels. When therefore a person goes on to learn truths from the Word, he comes into communion and association with angels, without being aware of it. Faith devoid of truths is like seed devoid of kernel, which if milled produces only bran. But faith derived from truths is like good seed, which if milled produces flour. In short, the essentials of faith are truths; if these are not contained in it and compose it, faith is no more than the sound of a whistle; but when truths are contained in and compose faith, then it is the sound of something that brings salvation.

[3] Thirdly: faith is formed by a person living by truths, because spiritual life is living in accordance with truths, and truths do not really come alive until they are realised in deeds. Truths unconnected with deeds belong merely to a person's thinking; if they are not also accepted by the will, they merely stand at a person's door and so are not within him. For the will is the person himself, and thought is a person to the extent that it joins the will to itself, and the nature of thought is determined by this joining. A person who learns truths without putting them into practice is like someone scattering seeds over a field and not harrowing it; then the rain makes the seeds swell so that they become empty husks. But a person who learns truths and puts them into practice is like someone who sows seed and ploughs the seed in; then the rain makes the seeds grow into a crop, and they become a useful source of food. The Lord says:

If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them, John 13:17.

and in another passage:

The person who sows on good ground is the one who hears the Word and pays attention to it, so that he brings forth and produces fruit, Matthew 13:23.

Also:

Everyone who hears my words and acts upon them, I will compare to a prudent man, who built his house upon a rock; but everyone who hears my words and does not act upon them will be compared to a foolish man who built his house upon sand, Matthew 7:24, 26.

The Lord's words are all of them truths.

665. That to “set up a covenant” signifies that he would be regenerated, is very evident from the fact that there can be no covenant between the Lord and man other than conjunction by love and faith, and therefore a “covenant” signifies conjunction. For it is the heavenly marriage that is the veriest covenant; and the heavenly marriage, or conjunction, does not exist except with those who are being regenerated; so that in the widest sense regeneration itself is signified by a “covenant.” The Lord enters into a covenant with man when He regenerates him; and therefore among the ancients a covenant represented nothing else. Nothing can be gathered from the sense of the letter but that the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and so many times with their descendants, was concerned with them personally, whereas they were such that they could not be regenerated; for they made worship consist in external things, and supposed the externals of worship to be holy, without internal things being adjoined to them. And therefore the covenants made with them were only representatives of regeneration. It was the same with their rites, and with Abraham himself, and with Isaac, and Jacob, who represented the things of love and faith. Likewise the high priests and priests, whatever their character, even those that were wicked, could represent the heavenly and most holy priesthood. In representatives the person is not regarded, but the thing that is represented. Thus all the kings of Israel and of Judah, even the worst, represented the royalty of the Lord; and even Pharaoh too, who set Joseph over the land of Egypt. From these and many other considerations-concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter-it is evident that the covenants so often entered into with the sons of Jacob were only religious rites that were representative.