1025. The symbolism of with your seed after you as those who are created anew can be seen from the symbolism of seed and from subsequent verses.

From the symbolism of seed: Seed on a literal level means descendants, but in an inner sense it means faith. And since no faith exists except where there is charity (as stated many times before [§§32, 34, 345, 379, 585, 590, 628, 859, 863, 880, 896:2]) charity is what seed really means in an inner sense.

From subsequent verses: The text is obviously speaking not only of people inside the church but also of people outside it and so of the entire human race. Wherever charity exists — even in the nations farthest removed from the church — seed exists, because heavenly seed is charity. After all, none of us can do good on our own; all goodness is from the Lord. The good that people of non-Christian nations do comes from him too. (These nations will be discussed below [§§1032-1033, 2589-2605, 2861, 3263:2], with the Lord's divine mercy.)

Section 255 above showed that God's seed is faith. Faith there and elsewhere means the charity that gives rise to faith, since no faith that really is faith can exist except the faith that comes of charity.

[2] This is also true in other places in the Word that mention seed. Where Abraham's, ¹ Isaac's, or Jacob's seed is spoken of, for instance, it symbolizes love, or charity. Abraham represented heavenly love, and Isaac, spiritual love, both of them belonging to the inner self. Jacob represented the same things but in the outer self. The symbolism holds true not only in the prophetic books but also in the narratives, or histories. ²

Heaven does not notice the Word's story line, only the things that the narrative details symbolize. The Word was written not just for us but also for angels. When we read the Word, taking it solely at face value, the angels grasp not the literal but the inner meaning. The mental images we form when reading the Word, tied as they are to matter, to the world, and to our bodies, turn into spirit- and heaven-oriented ideas among the angels. When we read about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for example, angels never think about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but about the attributes they represent and therefore symbolize.

[3] The case is similar with Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Of these individuals the angels are unaware; all that comes to their minds is the ancient church. With angels who are on a deeper level, it is not even that church but its faith that comes to mind, and also the state of the affairs being discussed, as seen in context.

Likewise when the Word mentions seed. Here, for instance, in speaking of Noah [and his sons], it says that a pact would be set up with them and with their seed after them. Angels do not picture those people's posterity — since there was no Noah, this being merely a name for the ancient church — but take seed to mean love for others, which was the essential component of faith in that church. ³ Again, where the narratives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob mention their seed, angels never take it to mean their personal descendants. They take it as speaking of everyone throughout the world whether inside or outside the church in whom heavenly seed (or charity) lodges. Angels at the deeper levels, in fact, perceive the actual love that is heavenly seed, without any reference to people.

[4] The following places indicate that seed symbolizes love, as well as everyone who possesses love. In a passage speaking of Abram:

Jehovah said, "To your seed I will give this land." (Genesis 12:7)

Again:

All the land that you see, to you I will give it, and to your seed, forever. And I will make your seed like the dust of the earth. (Genesis 13:15-16)

People who focus on the literal meaning have no idea that seed does not mean Abram's descendants or that the land does not mean the land of Canaan, especially because that land was indeed given to his descendants. People who focus on the inner meaning, though, as the whole of heaven does, see nothing else in Abram's seed than love, or in the land of Canaan than the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth. All they see in the gift of the land to those descendants is a representative meaning, which will be treated of elsewhere [§§1445-1448, 1606-1610], by the Lord's divine mercy. Again, in another place that speaks of Abram:

Jehovah led him outside and said, "Look up, now, toward the sky and count the stars, if you can count them;" and he said to him, "So will your seed be." (Genesis 15:5)

Here too, since Abram represented love, or the kind of faith that saves us, in the inner sense his seed means no other descendants than everyone in the whole world who is under love's influence.

[5] Likewise:

I will set up my pact between me and you and your seed after you, and I will give you and your seed after you the land of your travels — all the land of Canaan — as an eternal possession; and I will become their God. This is my pact that you shall keep, between me and you and your seed after you: that every male be circumcised to you. (Genesis 17:7-8, 10)

Once more, setting up a pact symbolizes the Lord's close connection, through love, with people throughout the world, and that love was represented by Abram. This shows what Abram's seed symbolizes: everyone in the whole world who is governed by love. The pact consisted in circumcision (the subject of the passage), which heaven never takes as circumcision of flesh but as circumcision of the heart — and this is the circumcision of people governed by love. Circumcision was a practice that represented rebirth through love, as Moses clearly explains:

Jehovah God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed, [to cause you] to love Jehovah your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you will live. (Deuteronomy 30:6)

These words show what the inner meaning of circumcision is. Wherever circumcision is mentioned, it simply means love and charity and consequently life.

[6] The symbolism of Abraham's seed as everyone throughout the world who has love is also demonstrated by the Lord's words to Abraham and to Isaac. To Abraham (after he had shown his willingness to sacrifice Isaac, as commanded):

I will surely bless you and surely multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the sand that is on the seashore, and your seed will inherit the gate of your foes, and in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed. (Genesis 22:17-18)

In these verses it is obvious that seed means everyone everywhere who has love.

[7] Just as Abraham represented heavenly love, as noted, Isaac represented spiritual love. Isaac's seed, then, symbolizes nothing else than every person in whom spiritual love (charity) is found. These words describe such a person:

Reside as an immigrant in this land and I will be with you and bless you; because to you and your seed I will give all these lands. And I will confirm the oath that I swore to Abraham your father and will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens. And I will give your seed all these lands, and in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed. (Genesis 26:3-4, 24)

It is evident that all the nations means those who live in charity. Heavenly love, represented by Abraham, is like the father of spiritual love, represented by Isaac, because spiritual things are born of heavenly ones, as already shown [§§775:2, 880:2].

[8] Jacob represented outward traits of the church springing from inner qualities. So he represented every trait of the outer self originating in love and charity. As a consequence, his seed symbolizes everyone in the whole world whose outward worship contains inward reverence and whose deeds of charity contain neighborly love from the Lord. This seed was mentioned to Jacob after he dreamed of the ladder:

I am Jehovah, God of Abraham your father and God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying, to you will I give it and to your seed, and your seed will be like the dust of the earth. And in you all the clans of the ground will be blessed, and in your seed. (Genesis 28:13-14; 32:12; 48:4)

[9] In addition to the passages in the Word that §255 above cites, the following indicate that seed has no other symbolism. In Isaiah:

You are Israel, my servant; Jacob, whom I have chosen; the seed of Abraham, my friend. (Isaiah 41:8)

This verse is talking about our regeneration, and it distinguishes Israel and Jacob, as so many other places do. Israel symbolizes the inner spiritual church, and Jacob, the outer part of that church. Both are called the seed of Abraham, that is, of the heavenly church, because heavenly, spiritual, and earthly elements come one after the other. In Jeremiah:

I had planted you as a superior grapevine through and through, the seed of truth. How could you turn into the degenerate [stems] of a foreign grapevine before my eyes? (Jeremiah 2:21)

This is about the spiritual church, which is the superior grapevine and whose charity — or faith rising out of charity — is called the seed of truth.

[10] In the same author:

As the army of the heavens cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so will I multiply the seed of David, my servant, and the Levites waiting on me. (Jeremiah 33:22)

Clearly the seed stands for heavenly seed, because David symbolizes the Lord. Everyone recognizes that David's seed was not the uncountable army of the heavens or the immeasurable sand of the sea. In the same author:

"Look! The days are coming," says Jehovah, "when I will raise up for David a just offshoot, and he will reign as monarch. He will act with understanding and exercise judgment and justice in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live securely. And this is his name that they will call him: Jehovah our justice. So look! The days are coming," says Jehovah, "when they will no longer say, ‘As Jehovah lives, who summoned up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,' but ‘As Jehovah lives, who summoned up and who withdrew the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north.'" (Jeremiah 23:5-6, 7-8)

In this passage, very different things are meant than those that appear in the letter. David does not mean David nor Judah Judah nor Israel Israel, but David means the Lord, Judah means a heavenly quality, and Israel means a spiritual one. Accordingly, the seed of Israel means those who have charity, or the faith that rises out of charity.

[11] In David:

You who fear Jehovah, praise him. All you seed of Jacob, give him glory. Be afraid of him, all you seed of Israel. (Psalms 22:23-24)

Here too the seed of Israel means no other kind of seed than the spiritual church. In Isaiah:

Its stump will be holy seed. (Isaiah 6:13)

This stands for remaining traces [of goodness and truth], which are holy because they are the Lord's. In the same author:

From Jacob I will bring forth seed, and from Judah, one to own my mountains; and the ones I have chosen will own it, and my servants will live there. (Isaiah 65:9)

This is about the heavenly church, both outer and inner. In the same author:

They will not bear children for turmoil. They are the seed of those blessed by Jehovah, as are their children with them. (Isaiah 65:23)

This is about the new heavens and the new earth, that is, the Lord's kingdom. The people in it, born or rather reborn of love, are called the seed of those blessed by Jehovah.

Footnotes:

2861. It happened after these words symbolizes the end of events centering on people within the church. This can be seen from the symbolism of words as events. In the original language, events are called words, so "after these words" means after these events had been brought to a close.

So far, from verse 13 to this one, the story has had to do with the salvation of spiritual people by the Lord's divine humanity-specifically, of people within the church who have goodness. They are the ones who are capable of being truly spiritual, because they have the Word and therefore know religious truth. Doctrinal truth, united to the goodness in our lives, makes us spiritual. That is the source of all spirituality.

Because people outside the church do not have the Word, they do not learn religious truth, as long as they live in this world. Even if they devote themselves to doing good out of love for their neighbor, they are not truly spiritual until they have been taught religious truth. Most non-Christian nations cannot be taught in this world, so in the Lord's providence and mercy, those individuals who have lived lives of mutual kindness and obedience receive instruction in the other world. Then they readily accept religious truth and become spiritual. (For this as the condition and destiny of non-Christians in the other world, see §§2589-2604.)

[2] Since the message so far has had to do with people within the church saved by the Lord's divine humanity, from here to the end of the chapter it has to do with people outside the church who are saved. They are symbolized by the children born to Abraham's brother Nahor by Nahor's wife Milcah and his concubine Reumah. This also follows in order. Anyone who does not know the Word's inner meaning would imagine that this is simply a genealogy for the house of Terah, introduced because of Rebekah, who became Isaac's wife, and because of Bethuel, whose two granddaughters, Leah and Rachel, became Jacob's wives. However, as has been said and shown time and again, all names in the Word have symbolic meaning (§§1224, 1264, 1876, 1888), and if they did not, the Word would not be divine but worldly. From this too it can be seen that the verses that follow form a series dealing with the Lord's spiritual church, but specifically that church as it exists among non-Christians. The image used is Abraham's brother Nahor, and the purpose is to symbolize people whose goodness makes them part of the fellowship, as it says below in §2863.

1032. And I am setting up my pact with you symbolizes the Lord's presence in every person who has charity; it refers both to those coming out of the ark and to every wild animal of the earth, that is, to people inside the church and to people outside the church. This can be seen from the remarks just above.

The Lord also enters into a pact with people outside the church, called "Gentiles" ¹ — that is, he binds himself to them through charity. This is the situation: People who belong to the church suppose that none of those outside the church, called Gentiles, can be saved, because they lack any knowledge of the faith and are therefore totally ignorant of the Lord. ² Church members say that without the faith and without any knowledge of the Lord there is no salvation. So they consign everyone outside the church to damnation. In fact many of these church members are the kind of people who subscribe to a doctrine (even a heretical one) that teaches them to consider anyone outside it — anyone whose opinion differs from theirs — incapable of salvation. The reality, however, is entirely different.

[2] The Lord has mercy on the whole human race. He wants to save everyone in the entire world and to draw all people to himself. The Lord's mercy is infinite; it does not allow itself to be restricted to the few within the church but reaches out to everyone on the face of the earth. When people are born outside the church and as a result into ignorance about the faith, it is not their fault; besides which, failure to believe in the Lord because of a lack of knowledge about him never condemns anyone.

What right-thinking person would ever assert that most of the human race will suffer eternal death because they were not born in Europe, whose population is relatively small? What right-thinking person would say that the Lord allowed such an immense number of people to be born in order to die an eternal death? This would be contrary to the divine nature and to mercy. What is more, people outside the church, called Gentiles, live a much more ethical life than those inside the church and embrace teachings of the genuine faith much more easily.

[3] Souls in the other world illustrate this even more clearly. The so-called Christian world yields up the worst of all — people who nurse a murderous hatred for their fellow humans and for the Lord and who are more adulterous than any others in the whole earth. Not so with souls from the other parts of the planet. A large number of those who had worshiped idols are disposed to abhor hatred and adultery and to fear Christians, since Christians are hateful and adulterous and want to hurt everyone else.

Non-Christians, in fact, are such that when angels teach them the truth of the faith and tell them that the Lord governs the universe, they easily pick it up, easily absorb the faith, and as a consequence reject their idols. ³ So non-Christians who have lived a moral life marked by charity for one another and by innocence are reborn in the other life. While they live in the world, the Lord is present with them in their charity and innocence, because not a whit of charity or innocence exists that does not come from the Lord.

The Lord also gives them the gift of a conscience for what is right and good, according to their religious tradition, and into this conscience he instills innocence and neighborly love. When innocence and neighborly love reside in their conscience, they allow themselves to absorb easily the truth of genuine faith that grows out of goodness. The Lord himself said the same thing in Luke:

Someone said to Jesus, "Lord, are there few who are saved?" He told them, "You will see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in God's kingdom but will see yourselves thrown out of doors. On the other hand, from the east and west and from the north and from the south will come those reclining [at table] in God's kingdom. And indeed there are people in the last place who will be first, and there are people in first place who will be last." (Luke 13:23, 28-29, 30)

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob mean everyone motivated by love, as shown above [§1025:2].

Footnotes: