9371. THE INTERNAL SENSE.

Verses 1-2. And He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and bow yourselves afar off; and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah; and they shall not come near; and the people shall not come up with him. “And He said unto Moses,” signifies that which concerns the Word in general; “come up unto Jehovah,” signifies conjunction with the Lord; “thou and Aaron,” signifies the Word in the internal sense and the external sense; “Nadab and Abihu,” signifies doctrine from both senses; “and seventy of the elders of Israel,” signifies the chief truths of the church which are of the Word, or of doctrine, and which agree with good; “and bow yourselves afar off,” signifies humiliation and adoration from the heart, and then the influx of the Lord; “and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah,” signifies the conjunction and presence of the Lord through the Word in general; “and they shall not come near,” signifies no separate conjunction and presence; “and the people shall not come up with him,” signifies no conjunction whatever with the external apart from the internal.

780. In order that the Lord could be constantly present with me, He has revealed to me the spiritual sense of His Word, in which Divine truth is illuminated by its own light, and in this He is continually present. For it is through the spiritual sense and in no other way that He is present in the Word. His presence passes through the light shed by the spiritual sense into the shadow which covers the literal sense. This may be compared with the sun's light in daytime obscured by an intervening cloud. I proved above that the literal sense of the Word is like a cloud, and its spiritual sense is the glory, and the Lord Himself is the sun which gives light, so that the Lord is the Word. It is clear from the following passages that the glory in which the Lord is to come (Matthew 24:30) means Divine truth in its own light, which contains the spiritual sense of the Word:

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way for Jehovah. The glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it, Isaiah 40:3, 5.

Shine, for your light has come and the glory of Jehovah has risen upon you, Isaiah 60:1-end.

I shall make you to be a covenant for the people, a light for the nations; and my glory I shall not give to another, Isaiah 42:6, 8; 48:11.

Your light will burst forth like the dawn, the glory of Jehovah will gather you up, Isaiah 58:8.

The whole earth will be filled with the glory of Jehovah, Numbers 14:21; Isaiah 6:1-3; 66:18.

In the beginning was the Word. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. He was the true light. And the Word was made flesh, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, John 1:1, 4, 9, 14.

The heavens will tell the glory of God, Psalms 19:1.

The Glory of God will give light to the Holy Jerusalem, and the Lamb will be its lantern; and the nations who are saved will walk in its ¹ light, Revelation 21:23-24.

There are many other similar passages. The reason why glory means Divine truth in its fulness is that everything magnificent in heaven is so because of the light, which is radiated from the Lord. And the light radiating from Him as the sun of heaven is in its essence Divine truth.

Mga talababa:

1097. And Canaan shall be his servant. That this signifies that such as make worship consist solely in externals are among those who may perform vile services to the men of the church, is evident especially from the representatives in the Jewish Church. In the Jewish Church the internal church was represented by Judah and Israel; by Judah the celestial church, by Israel the spiritual church, and by Jacob the external church. But those who made worship consist solely in externals were represented by the Gentiles, whom they called strangers, and who were their servants, and performed menial services in the church. As in Isaiah:

Strangers shall stand and feed your flock, and the sons of the stranger shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers; but ye shall be called the priests of Jehovah; the ministers of our God shall ye be called; ye shall eat the wealth of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves (Isaiah 61:5-6).

Here celestial men are called the “priests of Jehovah” spiritual men the “ministers of our God;” those who make worship consist solely in externals are called the “sons of the stranger” who should serve in their fields and vineyards.

[2] Again:

The sons of the stranger shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee (Isaiah 60:10), where in like manner their services are mentioned.

In Joshua concerning the Gibeonites:

Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall not be cut off from you a servant, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God; and Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, especially for the altar of Jehovah (Joshua 9:23, 27).It may be seen elsewhere who were represented by the Gibeonites, because of the covenant made with them, in spite of which however they were among those who served in the church. Concerning strangers, a law was delivered, that if they would receive peace and open their gates, they should be tributary and serve (Deuteronomy 20:11; 1 Kings 9:21-22). Everything written in the Word concerning the Jewish Church was representative of the kingdom of the Lord. The kingdom of the Lord is such that everyone in it, whosoever and whatsoever he may be, must perform some use. Nothing but use is regarded by the Lord in His kingdom. Even the infernals must perform some use, but the uses which they perform are most vile. Among those who in the other life perform vile uses are those who have had merely external worship, separated from internal.

[3] Moreover the representatives in the Jewish Church were of such a nature that there was no thought about the person that represented, but only about the thing represented thereby; as for instance in the case of the Jews, who were by no means celestial men, and yet represented them; and Israel again was by no means a spiritual man, yet represented him; and so it was with Jacob and the rest. The same was the case with the kings and priests, by whom was represented the royalty and holiness of the Lord. This is very evident from the use of inanimate things for representation, as Aaron’s garments, the altar itself, the tables for bread, the lamps, the bread and wine, besides oxen, bullocks, goats, sheep, kids, lambs, pigeons, and turtledoves. And because the sons of Judah and Israel only represented the internal and external worship of the Lord’s church, and yet more than others made all worship consist in externals, they above all others may be called “Canaan” according to his signification here.