10528. 'And I will send an angel before you' means that which is Divine and the Lord's, from which the Church and its worship spring. This is clear from the meaning of 'an angel' in the highest sense as the Lord's Divine Human, and in the relative sense as that which is Divine and the Lord's in heaven among angels, and also in the Church among people on earth, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'sending before you' as preparing. For the meaning of 'an angel' in the highest sense as the Lord's Divine Human, see 1925, 3039, 6280, 6831, 9303, and in the relative sense as that which is Divine and the Lord's in heaven among angels, 1925, 2821, 4085, 6831, 8192. And from this it follows that 'an angel' also means that which is Divine and the Lord's among people on earth who receive it. For those people who have within themselves from the Lord the good of love to Him and the truths of faith in Him become angels after death; and those who become angels are also inwardly such while they live in the world. This is why John the Baptist is called 'an angel' in the Word, as in Luke,

This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send My angel ¹ before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You. Luke 7:27.

And the fact that 'angel' in this declaration means that which was Divine and the Lord's with him is evident in Malachi,

Behold, I send My angel, who will prepare the way before Me. And suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Malachi 3:1.

The reason why that which is Divine and the Lord's is meant by 'angel' in this instance is that John the Baptist represented the Lord in respect of the Word, as did Elijah, and the Word is Divine Truth that comes from the Lord. (For Elijah, that he represented the Word, see Preface to Genesis 18, and 2762, 5247(end); and that John the Baptist did so, 9372.) And it is because the Lord's Divine Human is meant in the highest sense by 'angel' that the words 'there will come to His temple the Lord, and the angel of the covenant' are used. 'The temple' is His Divine Human, as is evident in John 2:18-23. Both expressions - 'the Lord' and 'the angel' - are used because He is called 'the Lord' on account of Divine Good and 'the angel' on account of Divine Truth. And it is because Jehovah in the Word is the Lord Himself that it says, 'I send My angel, who will prepare the way before Me', this being said by Jehovah.

Mga talababa:

4085. 'And the angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob. And I said, Behold, here I am' means perception from the Divine, and presence within that obscurity. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' in historical narratives of the Word as perceiving - often dealt with already; from the meaning of 'the angel of God' as from the Divine (for when mentioned in the Word 'an angel' means something essentially the Lord's, that is, something belonging to the Divine, 1925, 2319, 2821, 3039, the reason being that no angel speaks from himself but from the Lord, especially when he does so in a dream, as he does here to Jacob. What is more, angels are such that they are annoyed if anything of what is good and true spoken by them is attributed to themselves; and so far as possible they remove any such ideas existing in others, especially in man. For they know and perceive that everything good and true which they think, will, and carry into effect originates in the Lord, and so in the Divine. And from this it may be seen that in the Word something essentially the Lord's, that is, something Divine, is meant by 'angels'); and from the meaning of 'in a dream' as within obscurity, dealt with in 2514, 2528. Presence within the natural, where it dwells in obscurity, is the meaning of Jacob's reply.