642. 14:14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man. This symbolizes the Lord in relation to the Word.

A cloud symbolizes the Word in its literal sense, and a white cloud the Word in its literal sense as to what it is like interiorly. And the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word. Therefore we are told that on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man.

That a cloud symbolizes the Word in respect to its literal sense may be seen in nos. 24, 513 above. A white cloud symbolizes the literal sense of the Word as to what it is like interiorly because whiteness is predicated of truths in a state of light (nos. 167, 367), and the literal sense has interiorly within it spiritual truths, which appear in the light of heaven. That the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word may be seen in no. 44 above, and confirmed by numerous proofs in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 19-28.

[2] The Lord often said that His disciples would see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven. He said this in Matthew 24:30; 26:64, Mark 14:61-62, Luke 21:27, and no one knows that this symbolically means anything else than that when He comes to execute judgment He will appear on clouds in the sky. But this is not what it means. Rather it means that when He comes to judge, He will appear in the literal sense of the Word; and because He has now come, He has appeared therefore in the Word by revealing the existence of a spiritual meaning in every particular of the Word's literal sense, having the Lord alone in it as its subject, teaching that He alone is God of heaven and earth.

This is what is meant by the Lord's coming on the clouds of heaven.

That every particular of the Word's literal sense has in it a spiritual meaning, that this has the Lord alone in it as its subject, and that He alone is God of heaven and earth, is something we have shown in two Doctrines of the New Jerusalem - The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, and The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture.

[3] Because the Lord's coming on the clouds of heaven means His coming in His Word, at a time when He is ready to execute judgment, and because this is the subject of the book of Revelation, therefore we are told there, "Behold, He is coming with clouds" (Revelation 1:7). And in the present verse, "I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man."

Moreover, in The Acts of the Apostles we are told:

...while they watched, (Jesus) was taken up (into heaven), and a cloud received Him out of their sight... And... two men... in white apparel... said, ."..This same Jesus, who was taken up... into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven." (Acts of the Apostles 1:9-11)

A cloud symbolizes the Word's literal sense because that sense is natural, and in the sight of angels, whose light is a spiritual light, Divine truth in natural light appears as a cloud - as a white cloud in the case of people who possess genuine truths from the Word's literal sense, as a dark cloud in the case of people who lack genuine truths, as a black cloud in the case of people caught up in falsities, and as a black cloud combined with fire in the case of people caught up in a faith divorced from charity, because they are engaged in evil practices. I have witnessed it.

76. "'I know your works.'" (2:2) This symbolically means that the Lord sees all a person's inner and outer qualities simultaneously.

Works are often mentioned in the book of Revelation, but few know what works mean. This much is known, that ten people may do works which outwardly appear alike, but which are nevertheless not alike within them all, because the works emanate from different ends and different causes, and it is the end and cause that make works to be either good or evil. For every work is a work of the mind. Consequently whatever the character of the mind, such is the character of the work. If the mind is an embodiment of charity, the work becomes an expression of charity. But if the mind is not an embodiment of charity, the work does not become an expression of charity. Yet the two may appear alike outwardly.

Works are visible in their outward form to people, but in their inward form to angels, and to the Lord they appear as they are from their inmost elements to their outmost ones.

Works in their outward form have an appearance not unlike that of unpeeled fruit, while works in their inward form have an appearance like that of the fruit inside the peel, where one finds countless edible parts, and at the center seeds containing once again countless constituents, which are far too small to be seen by the eyes, indeed which surpass the scope of the human intellect.

Such is the nature of all works, whose inward character the Lord alone sees, and which angels also perceive from the Lord when a person is doing them.

But more on this subject may be seen in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 209-220 and nos. 277-281; and also here below, nos. 141, 641, 868.

It can be seen from this that the declaration, "I know your works," means, symbolically, that the Lord sees all a person's inner and outer qualities simultaneously.