477. The identification of the human being with the earliest church has been stated and demonstrated many times before [§§277, 288]. In the highest sense, the Lord himself is the only human being [§49]. The heavenly type of church acquires its name as human from this, because it is a likeness of the Lord [§§50-51]. The spiritual type of church does too, because it is an image of him. But in common usage, a human being is defined as anyone who has a human intellect, [on the supposition that] the intellect makes us human, and [that] having more of it makes one person more human than another; although distinctions among us would [better] be based on the degree of our loving belief in the Lord.
[2] What is mainly called the human is the earliest church and every true religion, and consequently the people in such a religion, or people characterized by love for and faith in the Lord. The Word makes this clear, as in Ezekiel:
I will multiply humankind — the whole, entire house of Israel — upon you, [mountains of Israel]. I will multiply human and animal upon you so that they may multiply and reproduce. And I will cause you to live as in your ancient times, and I will do good to you beyond that at your beginnings. And I will cause humankind — my people Israel — to walk upon you. (Ezekiel 36:10-11, 12)
The ancient times here symbolize the earliest church, the beginnings symbolize the ancient churches, and the house of Israel and the people Israel symbolize the early [Christian] church, or the church among non-Jews. All these churches are being referred to as human beings.
[3] In Moses:
Remember the days of old, understand the years of generation after generation, when the Highest One gave an inheritance to the nations; when he divided the children of humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. (Deuteronomy 32:7-8)
The days of old mean the earliest church, while "generation after generation" means the ancient churches. The ones being called children of humankind are those who believed in the Lord; their belief is "the number of the children of Israel." A regenerate individual is called a human being in Jeremiah:
I looked at the earth and there — void and emptiness; and to the heavens, and these had no light! I looked, and there — not a human! And every bird of the heavens had flown away. (Jeremiah 4:23, 25)
The earth stands for the outer self and heaven for the inner, the human stands for love of goodness, and the bird of the heavens stands for comprehension of truth.
[4] In the same author:
Look! The days are coming when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of human and the seed of animal. (Jeremiah 31:27)
The human stands for the inner self and the animal for the outer. In Isaiah:
Keep your distance from humans, whose breath is in their nose, for how much are they worth? (Isaiah 2:22)
The person stands for someone in the church. In the same author:
Jehovah will send humankind far away, but a great [portion] will be left in the middle of the land. (Isaiah 6:12)
This is about the devastation of a person to the point where no good or truth remains. In the same author:
The residents of the land will be destroyed by fire, and the humanity left behind will be a pittance. (Isaiah 24:6)
Humanity here stands for those who possess faith. In the same author:
The paths have been abandoned; the traveler on the path has ceased. They have nullified the compact; they have despised the cities; they have thought nothing of humankind. The land mourns and droops. (Isaiah 33:8-9)
This time "humankind" actually refers to humankind, or a human being, which in the Hebrew [here] is enosh. 1 In the same author:
I will make humankind more precious than pure gold, and humanity [more precious] than Ophir's gold. Therefore I will shake heaven, and the earth will quake out of its place. (Isaiah 13:12-13)
Here humankind [in the Hebrew] is called enosh the first time, adam the second time. 2
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