5585. 'Saying, You will not see my face' means that no compassion will show itself. This is clear from the meaning of 'face', when used in reference to a person, as his interiors, that is to say, his affections and consequent thoughts, dealt with in 358, 1999, 2434, 3527, 3573, 4066, 4796, 4797, 5102. But when used in reference to the Lord, for the Lord is represented in the highest sense by 'Joseph', 'face' means mercy and compassion, and therefore 'not seeing his face' means a lack of mercy or absence of compassion. Not that the Lord lacks any compassion, for He is pure mercy; but when the intermediary that effects the joining to Him is not present it does seem to a person as though there is no compassion in the Lord. The reason for this is that if no intermediary effecting the joining together is present, no acceptance of good takes place. And if there is no acceptance of good, evil is present instead. If at this time the person calls out to the Lord because evil prompts him to do so, thus for selfish reasons in defiance of anyone else's needs, he is not heard, in which case it seems as though no compassion shows itself.

[2] As regards 'Jehovah's (or the Lord's) face' meaning mercy, this is evident from the Word; for understood properly 'Jehovah's (or the Lord's) face' is Divine love itself, and being Divine love it is the face of mercy since mercy is the expression of love towards the human race set in such miseries. The truth that 'Jehovah's (or the Lord's) face' is Divine Love may be seen from the Lord's face when He was transfigured in the presence of Peter, James, and John; that is, when He displayed His Divinity to them,

His face shone like the sun. Matthew 17:2.

It has been shown already that 'the sun' is Divine Love, see 30-38, 1521, 1529-1531, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4321 (end), 4696. The Lord's actual Divinity had never previously appeared in any face; but His Divine Human had so appeared, through which, seemingly within which, Divine Love - which in relation to the human race is Divine Mercy - showed itself. This Divine Mercy within the Divine Human is called 'the angel of His face' in Isaiah,

I will cause the mercies of Jehovah to be remembered. He has rewarded ¹ them according to His mercies, and according to the abundance of His mercies; and He became their Saviour. And the angel of His face saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them. Isaiah 63:7-9.

The expression 'the angel' is used because 'angels' in the Word means in the internal sense some attribute of the Lord, 1925, 2821, 4085, in this case His mercy, which is why the phrase 'the angel of His face' is used.

[3] 'Jehovah's (or the Lord's) face' is not only mercy but also peace and goodness since these are attributes of mercy, as may also be seen from the following places: In the Blessing,

Jehovah make His face shine upon you and be merciful to you. Jehovah lift up His face upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:25-26.

Here it is quite evident that 'making His face shine' means showing mercy, and 'lifting up His face' means granting His peace. In David,

God be merciful to us and bless us, and make His face shine upon us. Psalms 67:1.

Here also 'face' stands for mercy. In the same author,

Turn us back, O God, and make Your face shine, that we may be saved. Psalms 80:3, 7, 19.

Here the meaning is similar. In the same author,

Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and my pursuers. Make Your face shine upon Your servant. Psalms 31:15-16.

Likewise in Psalms 119:134-135. In Daniel,

Hear, our God, the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and make Your face shine upon Your sanctuary that has been made desolate. Daniel 9:17.

Here also 'making His face shine' stands for showing mercy.

[4] In David,

Many are saying, Who will cause us to see good? Lift up the light of Your face upon us. Psalms 4:6-7.

'Lifting up the light of His face' stands for His imparting good because of His mercy. In Hosea,

Let them seek My face; when they are in distress, in the morning let them seek Me. Hosea 5:15.

In David,

Seek My face! Your face, O Jehovah, will I seek. Psalms 27:8-9.

In the same author,

Seek Jehovah and His strength; seek His face continually. Psalms 105:4.

'Seeking Jehovah's face' stands for seeking His mercy. In the same author,

I, in righteousness, shall see Your face. Psalms 17:15.

And in Matthew,

See that you do not despise any of these tiny ones; for I say to you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 18:10.

'Seeing God's face' stands for the enjoyment of peace and good because of His mercy.

[5] But the contrary of this is the hiding or concealment and also the turning away of the face, by which showing no compassion is meant, as in Isaiah,

In an overflowing of My anger I hid My face from you for a moment; but with eternal mercy I will have mercy on you. Isaiah 54:8.

'An overflowing of anger' stands for temptation in which, because the Lord does not seem to show mercy, the words 'I hid My face from you for a moment' are used. In Ezekiel,

I will turn My face away from them. Ezekiel 7:22.

In David,

How long, O Jehovah, will You forget me [as if] for ever? How long will You hide Your face from me? Psalms 13:1

In the same author,

Do not hide Your face from me; do not cast aside Your servant in anger. Psalms 17:8, 9.

In the same author,

Why, O Jehovah, do You abandon my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? Psalms 88:14.

In the same author,

Make haste, answer me, O Jehovah. MY spirit is consumed. Do not hide Your face from me, lest I become like those going down into the pit. Cause me to hear Your mercy in the morning. Psalms 143:7-8.

And in Moses,

My anger will flare up against this people on that day, so that I forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they will be devoured. I will certainly hide My face on that day, because of all the evil which they have done. Deuteronomy 31:17-18.

'Anger flaring up' stands for turning oneself away, 5034, and 'hiding one's face' for not showing any compassion.

[6] These actions are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord, for the reason that although He is never angry and never turns away or hides His face He is said to do so because that is how it seems to someone under the influence of evil. For the person under the influence of evil turns himself away and hides the Lord's face from himself; that is, he removes His mercy from himself. The fact that it is the evils present with a person that do this is also clear from the Word, as in Micah,

Jehovah will hide His face from them at that time, inasmuch as they have rendered their deeds evil. Micah 3:4.

In Ezekiel,

Because they transgressed against Me, therefore I hid My face from them. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them and have hidden My face from them. Ezekiel 39:23-24.

In particular in Isaiah,

Your iniquities are what separate you from your God, and your sins what cause. His face to hide from you. Isaiah 59:2.

From these and many other places one may see the internal sense, which shows itself in various places and is discovered by one who is looking for it.

Сноски:

575. Verse 17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those that sat on them, signifies the falsifications of the Word by reasonings from fallacies. This is evident from the signification of "horses," as being the understanding of the Word (See above, n. 355, 364, 372, 373, 381, 382); here its falsifications, because it is said that "he saw the horses in vision" (of which presently); also from the signification of "those that sat on them," as being those who understand the Word (respecting which see the passages above cited), but here it means reasonings from fallacies respecting the meaning of the Word, because the sensual man and its reasoning from fallacies are treated of (See above, n. 569), and because it is said that he saw them "in vision," and not as before "in the spirit;" to see "in vision" signifying here to see from fallacies.

[2] Visions, which and from which a man or the spirit of man sees, are of a twofold kind; there are real visions and visions that are not real; real visions are visions of such things as really appear in the spiritual world, corresponding altogether with the thoughts and affections of angels, consequently they are real correspondences. Such were the visions that the prophets had who prophesied truths; such also were the visions that appeared to John, and that are described throughout Revelation. But visions that are not real have the same appearance in the external form as real visions, but not in the internal form; they are produced by spirits by means of phantasies. Such visions those prophets had who prophesied vain things or lies. All such visions, because they are not real are fallacies, and thus they also signify fallacies. And as "the horses and those that sat on them" were seen by John in such visions, they signify reasonings from fallacies, and thence falsifications of the Word.

[3] As the prophets, by whom the Word was written, had real visions, and others who were also called prophets had visions that were not real, but their visions were vain and are called "lies," it is important that it should be known what visions are. All things that really appear in the spiritual world are correspondences, for they correspond to the interiors of angels, which are the things of their minds, that is, of their affection and of their thought therefrom, and therefore such things are signified by them. For the spiritual, which is of the affection and the consequent thought of the angels, clothes itself with such forms as appear in the three kingdoms of the natural world, the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral, and all these forms are correspondences, such as appeared to the prophets, and which signify the things to which they corresponded. But in the spiritual world there can be appearances also that are not correspondences; and these are produced by spirits, especially evil spirits, by means of phantasies, for by means of phantasies such spirits can present to the view palaces, and houses full of decorations, also decorated garments; they can also induce upon themselves beautiful faces, and other like appearances; but as soon as the phantasy ceases all these things vanish, because they are external in which there is nothing internal. As such visions are from phantasies they signify fallacies because they deceive the senses and fallaciously present to view things like real things. Because such fallacies are here signified, it is said, "I saw horses in vision." As reasonings from fallacies are here treated of, what fallacies are is to be told.

[4] There are many fallacies in natural, in civil, in moral, and in spiritual affairs; but as fallacies in spiritual things are the fallacies here meant, I wish to show by some examples what and of what nature fallacies in spiritual things are. The sensual man is in fallacies, because all the ideas of his thought are from the world and enter through the bodily senses; from these, therefore, he thinks and draws conclusions respecting spiritual things. Moreover, the sensual man does not know what the spiritual is, and believes that there can be nothing above nature, or if there is, that it is natural and material. He cannot at all comprehend that anything can exist in the spiritual world like the objects in the natural world, that is, that there can appear there paradises, shrubberies, flower beds, grass plots, palaces, houses. Sensual men declare that such things are phantasies, although they know that like things were seen by the prophets when they were in the spirit. They do not believe that such things exist in the spiritual world, because they suppose anything that cannot be seen with the eyes or perceived by some sense of the body is a nonentity.

[5] Those who judge from fallacies cannot at all apprehend that man after death has a complete human form, and that angels have that form; they deny therefore that men after death are human forms; they say that they are something breathlike, without eyes, ears, or mouth, consequently without sight, hearing, or speech, flitting about in the air, and waiting for the resurrection of the body, that they may see, hear, and speak. This they say and believe because they think from the fallacies of the bodily senses. They who reason and draw conclusions from the fallacies of the senses attribute all things to nature, and scarcely anything to the Divine; if they attribute creation to the Divine, they imagine, nevertheless, that all things were transferred into nature, and that all the effects that appear flow from nature alone, and nothing from the spiritual world; as when they see the wonderful things that pertain to silk-worms, butterflies, bees, the wonderful things in the generation of all animals from eggs, and innumerable other like things, they imagine nature to be the sole artificer of these things, and are unable to think at all about the spiritual world and its influx into the natural, and about the existence and subsistence of such wonderful things as being from that source; and yet the truth is that the Divine flows in continually through the spiritual world into the natural, and produces such things, and that nature was created to serve for the clothing of these things that proceed and flow in from the spiritual world. But to specify all the fallacies in respect to spiritual things pertaining to the sensual man of the church, would be too lengthy; some of them may be seen mentioned in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 53).