85. Lack of information is another reason why these secrets — that a person of heavenly character is the seventh day, that this explains the consecration of the seventh day, and that it was named "Sabbath" for the idea of rest — have continued to lie hidden. No one knows what a heavenly person is, and few what a spiritual person is. Inevitably, in their ignorance, people have considered a spiritual person the same as a heavenly one, when a rather large difference separates the two (see §81).

In regard to the seventh day, evidence that a heavenly person is the seventh day or Sabbath can be found in the identity of the Lord himself as the Sabbath. As he says, "The Son of Humankind is lord even of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:28), meaning that the Lord is the true human being and the Sabbath itself.

He calls his kingdom in the heavens and on earth the Sabbath, or eternal peace and rest. ¹

[2] The earliest church (the subject here) more than all later ones was the Lord's Sabbath.

In every subsequent church, the inmost part, closest to the Lord, has also been the Sabbath.

The same holds true for all regenerate people when they develop a heavenly nature, as they are then likenesses of the Lord. They are past the six days of conflict, or labor.

In the Jewish church, all these considerations were represented by the work days and by the seventh day, the Sabbath. That church had no customs that did not represent something about the Lord and his kingdom.

The ark represented the same kind of thing in its travels and its repose. Its travels in the wilderness represented conflict and trial; its repose, a time of peace. So when it set out on a journey, Moses said, "Rise, Jehovah, and let your enemies scatter, and let those who hate you run from your face;" and when it came to rest, he said, "Come back, Jehovah, to the countless thousands of Israel." This is from Numbers 10:35-36. Verse 33. of the same chapter portrays the ark as setting out from the mountain of Jehovah "to find rest for them."

[3] Isaiah uses the Sabbath to paint a picture of the heavenly person's quiet rest:

If you turn your foot back from the Sabbath by not doing your own desire on my holy day; if you refer to those things that belong to the Sabbath as pleasures honoring the holiness of Jehovah, and you honor [the Sabbath] by not going your own ways and not gaining your own desire or speaking a word [of your own]; then you will be a pleasure to Jehovah, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth and will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob. (Isaiah 58:13-14)

Heavenly people act not on their own desire but on the Lord's pleasure, which is his desire. So they are blessed with inner peace and happiness (their being "lifted up on the heights of the earth") and at the same time with outer calm and enjoyment (their being "fed with Jacob's inheritance").

Footnotes:

3780. And he said to them, “Does he have peace?” means, did it (the goodness) not come from the Lord’s kingdom? This can be seen from the symbolism of peace, dealt with below.

On the story level, it is Laban’s peace that is being inquired after, but on an inner level it is the peace belonging to the goodness represented by Laban. Laban means goodness branching off from a shared stock—in other words, goodness as it exists among nations in the broader church, or the Lord’s kingdom (see just above at §3778). Clearly, then, the question means, did it not come from the Lord’s kingdom?

[2] As for peace, on the highest level it symbolizes the Lord himself, so on an inward level it symbolizes his kingdom. Peace is the Lord’s divine nature intimately affecting the goodness of the people in his kingdom.

This symbolism of peace can be seen from many passages in the Word, such as the following one in Isaiah:

A child has been born for us, a son has been given to us, on whose shoulder will be sovereignty; and his name will be called Miraculous, Counselor, God, Hero, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of [his] sovereignty and peace there will not be an end, on the throne of David and on his kingdom. (Isaiah 9:6, 7)

Obviously the Prince of Peace stands for the Lord. The increase of [his] sovereignty and peace stands for attributes of his kingdom and accordingly for the kingdom itself. In the same author:

The work of justice will be peace, and the labor of justice will be rest and safety forever. And my people will live in a dwelling of peace. (Isaiah 32:17, 18)

This is about the Lord’s kingdom, in which peace, rest, and safety come one after the other. A dwelling of peace stands for heaven.

[3] In the same author:

The angels of peace weep bitterly. The paths have been devastated; the traveler on the way has ceased. (Isaiah 33:7, 8)

The angels of peace stand for inhabitants of the Lord’s kingdom, consequently for the kingdom itself, and in the highest sense for the Lord. “The paths have been devastated, and the traveler on the way has ceased” means that there is no longer any truth anywhere. For the meaning of paths and ways as truth, see §§627, 2333. In the same author:

How gratifying on the mountains are the feet of the one who brings good news, who lets people hear about peace, who says to Zion, “Your monarch reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7)

Bringing good news and letting people hear about peace means [telling about] the Lord’s kingdom. In the same author:

The mountains will withdraw and the hills recede, but my mercy will not withdraw from you, and my compact of peace will not recede. (Isaiah 54:10)

In the same author:

The way of peace they do not know. Nor is there judgment in their course. (Isaiah 59:8)

In Jeremiah:

“I will gather my peace away from this people,” says Jehovah; “[I will gather away] compassion and mercy.” (Jeremiah 16:5)

In the same author:

The peaceful sheepfolds have been laid waste because of Jehovah’s burning heat. (Jeremiah 25:37)

In the same author:

The prophet who prophesies of peace—when Jehovah’s word comes [to pass], that prophet will be recognized, that Jehovah sent him. (Jeremiah 28:9)

In the same author:

“I know the plans that I am planning for you,” says Jehovah; “plans of peace.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

In Haggai:

Greater will the glory of this later house be than that of the earlier, because in this place I will put peace. (Haggai 2:9)

In Zechariah:

The seed of peace they will be. The grapevine will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its produce, and the heavens will yield their dew. (Zechariah 8:12)

In David:

Guard uprightness and see what is correct, because a man’s final possession is peace. (Psalms 37:37)

In Luke:

Jesus said to his disciples, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house,’ and if a child of peace is there, your peace will rest on it. But if not, it will return upon you.” (Luke 10:5, 6)

In John:

Peace I leave to you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. (John 14:27)

In the same author:

Jesus said, “I have said these things to you so that in me you may have peace.” (John 16:33)

In the highest sense of all these passages, peace symbolizes the Lord, and in a representative sense it symbolizes his kingdom and the goodness he bestows on it. So it symbolizes the divine quality that flows into what is good, or into good emotions, which causes joy and happiness to well up from deep within.

This clarifies what is meant by these words of blessing in Numbers 6:26: “Jehovah will lift his face toward you and give you peace.” It also clarifies the meaning of the ancient traditional greeting Peace to you!—the same greeting the Lord spoke to his apostles in John 20:19, 21, 26. See further remarks on peace in §§92, 93, 1726, 2780, 3170, 3696.