8946. 'In order that your nakedness may not be revealed on it' means the mental picture of those things, which in that event is full of falsities, will then be disclosed. This is clear from the meaning of 'nakedness' as being made destitute of truths, dealt with in 5433, thus a mental picture full of falsities; and from the meaning of 'being revealed' as being disclosed. The implications of all this have been explained immediately above in 8945. Those implications are that the character of any man, spirit, or angel's life becomes apparent - both the life of his thought in regard to truths, and the life of his will in regard to forms of good - if he is raised to a more internal level in heaven. For the more internal the level in the heavens, the purer the good is and the purer the truth. In order therefore that falsities belonging to thought and evils belonging to the will may not be seen but remain hidden, people are held back on lower levels, where they are in dimmer light relatively. From all this also one may see what the words 'no one can see Jehovah and live' were used to mean. For Jehovah is pure love, and from Him radiates pure light; to be seen in these is to be destroyed. Therefore also the angels themselves in heaven are protected by a cloud, 6849; and therefore all in hell are veiled by thick mists, 3340, 8137, 8138, 8814, 8819, since mists are falsities.

8814. 'And a heavy cloud on the mountain' means the Divine state in relation to those about to receive. This is clear from the meaning of 'a cloud' as truth adjusted for those about to receive, that is, the Word in the letter, dealt with in 8443, 8781, at this point God's truth adjusted for the people descended from Jacob. Because they were in great darkness so far as God's truths were concerned, 'a heavy cloud' is spoken of here, 'in the thickness of a cloud' above in verse 9, and the smoke of the fire 'like the smoke of a furnace' in verse 18 below. How much darkness they were in may be recognized from what has been mentioned above regarding that nation in 8788, and also from the consideration that things involving the internal man were not revealed to them, only those involving the external. For they did not apprehend or have any wish to apprehend internal things, because these were contrary to their kinds of love, which were that they should be highest of all in the world and also richest of all, and that all nations elsewhere should be as nothing in comparison with themselves. Where these kinds of love prevail heavenly kinds cannot be received, for the former snuff out and smother the latter. This is the reason why Jehovah, that is, the Lord, appeared to them in a dense and heavy cloud. A similar situation exists in the next life, where those steeped in falsities arising from evil are surrounded by a dense, black cloud, how dense and black being determined by the nature and amount of the falsities. This sight appears before the eyes of everyone there; even so, the sun there is shining constantly. Regarding these matters, see what has been stated already in 6832, 8137, 8138. Ordinarily the Divine appears in the next life to everyone according to the nature of their faith and love.