1057. Whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, signifies that there are those who do not acknowledge the Divine authority of the Lord over heaven and earth, but regard it as transferred to a certain vicar, and from him to his vicars. This is evident from the signification of "names not written in the book of life," as being those who are not received in heaven (See n. 199, 222, 299); and as those are not received into heaven who do not acknowledge the Lord's Divine authority over heaven and earth, such are here meant. Also from the signification of "from the foundation of the world," as being from the establishment of the church. In the sense of the letter or the natural sense "the foundation of the world" means the creation of the world; but in the internal spiritual sense it means the establishment of the church; for the spiritual sense treats of spiritual things, while the natural sense treats of natural things which pertain to the world. For this reason the creation of the heaven and the earth in the first chapter of Genesis describes in the spiritual sense the new creation or establishment of the first and Most Ancient Church on this earth. (That this is described by the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia, where the contents of that chapter are explained.) Moreover, "to create" signifies in the Word to reform; and "the Creator" means the Lord as Reformer and Savior. (That "to create" signifies to reform, and that the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis in the spiritual sense describes the establishment of the Most Ancient Church can be seen above, n. 294, 739.)

[2] The establishment of the church is meant by "the foundation of the world" in these passages in the Word:

The king shall say to them on the right hand, Come and possess as an inheritance the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 15:34).

Jesus praying said, Father, for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).

Jesus said, The blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world shall be required of this generation (Luke 11:50).

That the establishment of the church is meant by "the foundation of the world" is evident from passages in the Word where mention is made of "founding the earth," "the founding of the earth," and "the foundation of the earth," which do not mean the founding or creating of the earth, but the establishment or creation of the church upon the earth. As in Zechariah:

Jehovah spreadeth abroad the heavens, and foundeth the earth, and formeth the spirit of man in the midst of him (Zechariah 12:1).

Here "spreading abroad the heaven and founding the earth," does not mean the spreading abroad of the visible heaven and the founding of the habitable earth, but the church as to its internals, which are called spiritual, and as to its externals, which are called natural. "To found" this and "to spread abroad" that means to establish; and therefore it is added, "and formeth the spirit of man in the midst of him," which signifies his reformation and regeneration.

[3] In Isaiah:

Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel, My hand hath founded the earth, and My right hand hath spanned the heavens (Isaiah 48:12-13).

"Founding the earth with the hand, and spanning the heavens with the right hand," has a similar signification here as above, as can be seen from what precedes and what follows in this chapter where the establishment of a New Church by the Lord is treated of. In the same:

Thou hast forgotten Jehovah thy Maker, that stretcheth forth the heavens and foundeth the earth (Isaiah 51:13).

Here again, "the heavens and the earth" signify the church as to its internal or spiritual things and its external or natural things; and "to stretch forth and found" signifies to establish.

[4] In the same:

I will put My words in thy mouth, and will cover thee with the shadow of My hand, to plant the heavens and to found the earth, and to say unto Zion, Thou art My people. Awake, awake, arise, O Jerusalem (Isaiah 51:16-17).

Here "to plant the heavens and to found the earth" evidently stands for the establishment of the church; for this is said to the prophet, that "the word should be put in his mouth, and that he should be covered with the shadow of the hand, to plant the heavens and to found the earth;" and a prophet cannot found the earth, but he can found a church; therefore it is also added, "to say unto Zion, Thou art my people. Awake, awake, arise, O Jerusalem," "Zion and Jerusalem," in the Word, meaning the church. In David:

The heaven is Thine and the earth is Thine; the world and the fullness thereof Thou hast founded them (Psalms 89:11).

Here too, "heaven and earth" signify the church; "the world" signifies the church as to good, and "the fullness thereof" signifies all the goods and truths of the church.

[5] In the same:

The earth and the world Jehovah hath founded upon the seas, and established upon the rivers. Who shall ascend into the mountain of Jehovah, and who shall stand in the place of His holiness? (Psalms 24:2-3).

The establishment of the church is described by "founding the earth and the world upon the seas, and establishing them upon the rivers," as can be seen above (n. 304, 518, 741). That the establishment of the church is signified is evident from what here follows, namely, "Who shall ascend into the mountain of Jehovah, and who shall stand in the place of His holiness?" "The mountain of Jehovah" means Zion, which signifies where the Lord reigns by means of the Divine truth, and "the place of His holiness" means Jerusalem, where the temple was, which signifies the church as to doctrine. All this makes clear that "the founding of the world" signifies the establishment of the church. For the "world" has a similar meaning as "heaven and earth;" and the expression "to found the earth" is used because the "earth" signifies the church on earth, and upon this heaven as to its holy things is founded. This also makes clear the signification of "the foundations of the earth" in the following passages. In Isaiah:

Do ye not know, do ye not hear, hath it not been declared to you from the beginning, do ye not understand the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21).

In the same:

The foundations of the earth are corrupted (Isaiah 24:18; likewise Isaiah 63:12; Jeremiah 31:37; Micah 6:2; Psalms 18:7, 15; 82:5).

(Continuation respecting the Second Kind of Profanation)

[6] Profaners of this kind are stupid and foolish in spiritual things, but are crafty and keen in worldly things, because they make one with the devils in hell; and because, as has been said above, they are merely sensual, and are therefore in what is their own [proprium], which draws its delight of life from the unclean effluvia that exhale from waste matters in the body, and that are emitted from dunghills; and these cause a swelling of their breasts when their pride is active and the titillation of these causes delight.

[7] That such is the source of their delight is made evident by their delights after death when they are living as spirits; for then more than the sweetest odors do they love the rank stenches arising from the gases of the belly and from outhouses, which to their smell are more fragrant than thyme. The approach and touch of these close up the interiors of their mind, and open the exteriors pertaining to the body, from which comes their quickness in worldly things, and their dullness in spiritual things. In a word, the love of having dominion by means of the holy things of the church corresponds to filth, and its delight to a stench indescribable by words, and at which angels shudder. Such is the exhalation from their hells when they are opened; but they are kept closed because of the oppression and occasional swooning which they produce.

9393. 'And Moses took half of the blood' means Divine Truth which has become a matter of life and of worship. This is clear from the meaning of 'the blood' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, dealt with in 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7850, 9127. The reason why it is Divine Truth which has become a matter of life and of worship is that it was the blood which Moses sprinkled over the people, verse 8, and this blood means Divine Truth which a person has accepted, thus that which has become a matter of life and of worship; for that Truth is said to have been accepted by a person which becomes a matter of life and so of worship. And it becomes a matter of life and worship when the person has an affection for it or loves it, or what amounts to the same thing, when he wills it, and - in willing it, and so in loving and having an affection for it - does it. Till then it is indeed present with him in his memory, and is at times called forth from there and comes before his inward sight or understanding, from where it passes back into his memory. However, as long as God's truth goes no deeper than this, though it resides with the person it has not been implanted in his life and will; for a person's life consists in his will. Therefore when truth is called forth from the memory into the understanding, then passes from the understanding into the will, and goes out from the will into action, that truth becomes part of the person's life and is called good. All this shows what is meant by Divine Truth which has become a matter of life. The situation is the same with truth which becomes part of worship. Worship springing from truth which does no more than cling in the memory and make its appearance from there in the understanding is not worship. But worship springing from truth that goes out from the will, and so from affection and love, is worship. In the Word this worship is called worship of the heart, but the other, worship of the lips alone.

[2] It has indeed been shown already in the places referred to above that 'blood' means Divine Truth emanating from the Lord. Nevertheless since the majority belonging to the Church at the present day take the blood in the Holy Supper to mean nothing other than the Lord's blood that was shed on the Cross, and in a more general sense His whole Passion of the Cross, let something further be stated briefly to show that blood is not what is meant there but Divine Truth emanating from the Lord. The reason why this is unknown within the Church is that nothing whatever is known at the present day about correspondences, nor consequently about the internal sense of the Word, the sense understood by angels when someone in the world reads the Word.

[3] It becomes clear from many places in the Word that 'blood' does not mean blood but God's truth, and plainly so from the following in Ezekiel,

Say to every bird of the air and to every wild animal of the field, Assemble and come, gather yourselves from all around to My sacrifice which I am sacrificing for you, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth. You will eat fat till you are glutted, and drink blood till you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I will sacrifice for you. You will be glutted at My table with horse and chariot, and with every man of war. Thus will I set My glory among the nations. Ezekiel 39:17-21.

It is plainly evident that 'blood' is not used here to mean blood, for it says that they were going to drink the blood of the princes of the earth, and the blood from the sacrifice, till they were drunk, when yet drinking blood, especially the blood of princes, is something abominable and was forbidden to the children of Israel on pain of death, Leviticus 3:17; 7:26; Leviticus 17:1-end; Deuteronomy 12:16-25; 15:23. It also says that they were going to be glutted with horse, chariot, and every man of war. Anyone therefore who does not know that 'blood' means Divine Truth, 'princes' leading truths, 'sacrifice' the things that belong to worship, 'horse' the understanding of truth, 'chariot' doctrinal teachings, and 'man of war' truth engaged in conflict against falsity is bound to be bemused by each of the words used in this passage.

[4] His response would be the same to the Lord's words in John,

Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the last day. My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. John 6:53-56.

But see what has been shown already regarding these words, in 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7850, 9127. The fact that flesh corresponds to good, as does bread, and that blood corresponds to truth, as does wine, has been told me very many times from heaven. I have likewise been told that angels understand the Word solely according to correspondences, and that as a result of this mankind is joined by means of the Word to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord.

[5] And in like manner I have been told that the Holy Supper was established by the Lord to be the means by which all things of heaven, that is, all things which are the Lord's, might be joined to members of the Church. For in the Holy Supper the flesh or bread is the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love towards the whole human race, and a person's love in return to the Lord, while the blood or wine is the Divine Truth emanating from the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love, and in turn the person's acceptance of it. In heaven, furthermore, eating and drinking those gifts implies making them one's own and joining them together. But see what has been shown already regarding these matters in 2165, 2177, 3464, 4211, 4217, 4581, 4735, 5915, 6789, 7850, 9323.