49. Verse 26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, ¹ and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

To people in the Most Ancient Church with whom the Lord spoke face to face, the Lord appeared as Man. (Much can be told about those people, but this is not the time to do so.) For this reason they called nobody man except the Lord and whatever may have been His. They did not even call themselves man, but only the things which they perceived that they had from the Lord, such as every good stemming from love and every truth of faith. These things were said to be human because they were the Lord's.

[2] In the Prophets therefore, in the highest sense, 'man' and 'son of man' are used to mean the Lord. In the internal sense they are used to mean wisdom and intelligence, and so everyone who is regenerate, as in Jeremiah,

I looked to the earth, and behold, a void and an emptiness, and towards the heavens, and behold, they had no light. I looked, and behold there was no man; and all the birds of the air ¹ had fled. Jeremiah 4:23, 25.

In Isaiah where in the internal sense 'man' means a regenerate person, the Lord Himself as the One Man is meant in the highest sense,

Thus said Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and He who formed him, It was I that made the earth and it was I that created man upon it; My hands stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. Isaiah 45:11-13

[3] The Lord was therefore seen by the Prophets as Man, for example by Ezekiel,

Above the firmament in appearance like a sapphire stone there was the likeness of a throne, and above the likeness of a throne, there was a likeness, as the appearance of a Man upon it above. Ezekiel 1:26.

And the One whom Daniel saw was called 'a Son of Man', or what amounts to the same, Man,

I looked, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like the Son of Man was coming; and He came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and languages will serve Him. His dominion is the dominion of an age, which will not pass away, and His kingdom one that will not perish. Daniel 7:13-14.

[4] Moreover the Lord quite often calls Himself the Son of Man or Man, and, as is done in Daniel, foretells His entry into glory,

They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matthew 24:23, 30.

The literal sense of the Word is called 'the clouds of heaven', its internal sense 'power and glory'. The internal sense, in every single detail, focuses exclusively on the Lord and His kingdom. Consequently it is the spiritual sense which contains power and glory.

Voetnoten:

88. When the spiritual man becomes celestial he is called 'God's work', because the Lord alone fought on his behalf and created, formed, and made him. This is why it is said here that 'God finished His work on the seventh day', and why it is twice said that 'He rested from all His work'. Time and again in the Prophets man is called 'the work of Jehovah's hands and fingers', as in Isaiah, when someone who is regenerate is the subject,

Thus said Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and He who formed him, Seek signs from Me concerning My sons, and over the work of My hands command Me. I made the earth, and created man upon it; it was I, My hands stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. For thus said Jehovah who created the heavens and who is God, who formed the earth and made it: He who established it did not create it an emptiness; He formed it to be inhabited. It was I Jehovah, and no god else besides Me. Isaiah 45:11-12, 18, 21.

It is clear from these verses that the new creation, or regeneration, is the work of the Lord alone. Each of the verbs, create, form, and make, is quite different in its usage, as in these verses from Isaiah where it is said that 'He created the heavens, formed the earth and made it'. Also elsewhere in Isaiah,

Every one who is called by My name, I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, I have also made him. Isaiah 43:7.

The same applies in the previous and in the present chapters, as for example here in verse 3, 'He rested from all His work which God had created when making it'. Wherever these verbs occur the internal sense possesses a distinct concept, as it also does when the Lord is called Creator, or Former, or Maker.