1022. Genesis 9:9-10. "And I — yes, I — am setting up my pact with you and with your seed after you, and with every living soul that is with you: bird, beast, and every wild animal of the earth with you, from among all those coming out of the ark, including every wild animal of the earth."

And I — yes, I — am setting up my pact symbolizes the presence of the Lord in charity. With you symbolizes a spiritual person who has been reborn. And with your seed after you symbolizes those who are created anew. With every living soul that is with you symbolizes everything in general that has been reborn in us. A bird symbolizes our intellectual abilities in particular. A beast symbolizes what belongs to our new will in particular. Every wild animal of the earth symbolizes our lower capacities of intellect and will, coming from those higher ones. With you here again means with a spiritual person who has been reborn. From among all those coming out of the ark symbolizes people in the church. Including every wild animal of the earth symbolizes people outside the church.

252. The meaning of the woman as the church can be seen from the heavenly marriage described above in §155. The heavenly marriage is a relationship in which heaven (and so the church) is united to the Lord through its sense of self. In fact heaven and the church are to be found in the feeling of independent existence, because without it there could never be union. When the Lord in his mercy infuses our selfhood with innocence, peace, and goodness, it still seems to be our own, but it becomes heavenly and full of the greatest blessings, as you may see above at §164.

I cannot yet say, though, what a heavenly, angelic identity received from the Lord is like, nor a hellish, diabolical identity generated by ourselves. ¹ The difference between them is like the difference between heaven and hell.

Footnotes: