1607. Because all the land that you see — to you I will give it symbolizes the kingdom of heaven and the fact that it would be the Lord's. This can be seen from the symbolism of the land — here the land of Canaan, since it says the land that you see — as the kingdom of heaven. The land of Canaan represented the Lord's kingdom in the heavens (heaven) and his kingdom on earth (the church), a symbolism that has been discussed several times earlier [§§1, 115, 620, 1025:4, 1066, 1413, 1437, 1585].
Many places in the Word indicate that the Lord was given a kingdom in heaven and on earth. In Isaiah, for example:
A child has been born, a son has been given to us, and sovereignty will be on his shoulder; and his name will be called Miraculous, Counselor, God, Hero, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
In Daniel:
I was seeing in visions at night, and there! In the clouds of the heavens, it was as if the Son of Humankind was coming. And he came to the Ancient One, 1 and they brought him before the [Ancient One]. And he was given power to rule, and glory, and kingship; and all peoples, nations, and tongues will serve him. His ruling power is eternal power that will not pass away, and his kingship one that will not perish. (Daniel 7:13-14)
The Lord himself also says this; in Matthew:
Everything has been turned over to me by my Father. (Matthew 11:27; and Luke 10:22)
In another place in Matthew:
Authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Matthew 28:18)
In John:
You have given your Son authority over all flesh, so that to all that you have given him he may give eternal life. (John 17:2-3)
The same thing is meant by sitting on his right side, as in Luke:
From this time now, the Son of Humankind will be sitting on the right side of God's strength. (Luke 22:69)
[2] All authority in the heavens and on earth was given to the Son of Humankind, but it is important to realize that the Lord had authority over everything in the heavens and on earth before he came into the world. He was God from eternity, and Jehovah, as he himself clearly says in John:
Now make me glorious — you, Father, in your own self — with the glory that I had in you before the world existed. (John 17:5)
And in the same author:
Truly, truly, I say to you: before Abraham existed, I existed. 2 (John 8:58)
After all, he was Jehovah and God to the people of the earliest church (the church before the Flood) and was visible to them. He was also Jehovah and God to the ancient church (the church after the Flood). And he was the one whom all the rituals of the Jewish religion represented and whom the Jews would worship. The reason he says that all authority in heaven and on earth was given to him, as if it was then happening for the first time, is that "Son of Humankind" means his human quality. Once this quality had become one with his divine quality, it too was Jehovah and at that same time possessed authority. This could never have happened before he had acquired his glory — that is, before his human nature had also come to have life in itself, through union with his divine nature, and so had likewise become divine, had become Jehovah. He says so in John:
Just as the Father has life in himself, he has also granted the Son to have life in himself. (John 5:26)
[3] His human nature, or outer self, is also what Daniel calls Son of Humankind in the passage quoted above; and Isaiah in the passage quoted refers to it with the words "A child has been born and a son has been given to us."
He now saw and was promised that he would be given the kingdom of heaven and all power in the heavens and on earth, which is symbolized by the words "All the land that you see — to you I will give it, and to your seed after you forever." This was before his human quality had become one with his divine quality, which happened when he completely overcame the Devil and hell. That is to say, it happened when he rid himself of all evil — the only incompatible element — by his own power and his own strength.
Footnotes:
1. The Latin phrase here translated "Ancient One" is antiquum dierum, "Ancient of Days." The Latin is a literal rendering of an Aramaic expression, עַתִּיק יוֹמִין (‘attîq yômîn), understood to refer to God. It appears only in chapter 7 of Daniel: at verse 13, as quoted here, and in verses 9, 22. [RS]
2. Previous English editions (Swedenborg [1749-1756] 1995-1998, Swedenborg [1749-1756] 1983-1999) have taken note of the fact that the verb of the original Greek in this verse is actually in the present tense ("I am"), not in the past tense ("I existed"). The deviation from the original is striking because it obscures the implicit connection between this verse and Exodus 3:14, in which Jehovah declares his identity by saying, in the present tense, "I am who I Am," and uses "I Am" as his name. [LHC]
