247. Of the Ancient Churches.

The first and Most Ancient Church on this earth, which is described in the first chapters of Genesis, was a celestial church, and the chief of all the rest (n. 607, 895, 920, 1121-1124, 2896, 4493, 8891, 9942, 10545). Of the quality of those in heaven who belonged to it (n. 1114-1125). They are in the highest degree of light (n. 1116-1117). There were various churches after the flood, called in one word, the Ancient Church, concerning which (n. 1125-1127, 1327, 10355). Through how many kingdoms of Asia the Ancient Church was extended (n. 1238, 2385). The quality of the men of the Ancient Church (n. 609, 895). The Ancient Church was a representative church, and its representatives were collected into one by certain men of the Most Ancient Church (n. 519, 521, 2896). The Ancient Church had a Word, but it was lost (n. 2897). The quality of the Ancient Church when it began to decline (n. 1128). The difference between the Most Ancient and the Ancient Churches (n. 597, 607, 640-641, 765, 784, 895, 4493). The Most Ancient Church and the Ancient were also in the land of Canaan, and hence came the representatives of the places therein (n. 3686, 4447, 4454). Of the church that began from Eber, which was called the Hebrew Church (n. 1238, 1241, 1343, 4516-4517). The difference between the Ancient and the Hebrew Churches (n. 1343, 4874). Eber instituted sacrifices which were wholly unknown in the Ancient Churches (n. 1343). The Ancient Churches agreed with the Christian Church as to internals, but not as to externals (n. 3478, 4489, 4772, 4904, 10149). In the Most Ancient Church there was immediate revelation; in the Ancient Church, revelation by correspondences; in the Jewish Church, by a living voice; and in the Christian Church, by the Word (n. 10355). The Lord was the God of the Most Ancient Church, and was called Jehovah (n. 1343, 6846). The Lord is heaven, and He is the church (n. 4766, 10125, 10151, 10157). The Divine of the Lord makes heaven, see the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 7-12 and (Heaven and Hell 78-86) 78-86); and thus also the church, since what constitutes heaven with man, constitutes also the church, as was shown in the doctrine above.

9375. 'Nadab and Abihu' means teachings derived from both senses. This is clear from the fact that they were Aaron's sons; therefore when the Word is meant by 'Aaron', teachings are meant by 'his sons', teachings derived from the inward sense of the Word being meant by the older son, and teachings derived from the outward sense of it by the younger. Teachings derived from the inward sense of the Word and teachings derived from the outward sense of the Word make one with each other; for people alert to what lies on an inward level are aware also of what lies on an outward level. The Lord's Church exists everywhere on an inward level and on an outward level. The Church on an inward level resides in the heart, the Church on an outward level resides on the lips; that is, the inward Church resides in the will, the outward in action. When the inward level in a person makes one with the outward what resides in the heart then lies also on the lips, or what resides in the will then lies in action. Or what amounts to the same thing, what lies on the lips is then the heart speaking, and what lies in action is then the will acting, without any disagreement between the inward and the outward. Thus it is also faith speaking and love or charity acting, that is, it is the Lord, who is the Source of faith and charity, speaking and acting.

[2] Since Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons, represented teachings derived from the Word, they were therefore killed when they introduced worship based on teachings different from those derived from the Word. This was represented by the following incident involving them, recorded in Moses,

Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his censer and put fire in it, onto which they placed incense, and in so doing offered to Jehovah foreign ¹ fire, which He had not commanded them. Therefore fire went out from before Jehovah and devoured them, so that they died before Jehovah. And Moses said to Aaron, This is what Jehovah spoke, saying, In those who are near Me ² I will be sanctified. Leviticus 10:1-3.

'Foreign fire in the censer' means teachings derived from a source other than the Word. For 'fire' means the good of love and 'incense' the truth of faith rising from it, and the good of love and the truth of faith are the realities which go to make teachings derived from the Word. From this it is evident why they were devoured by fire 'from before Jehovah'. 'Being sanctified through those who are near' means with those who are joined to the Lord through the good of love and the truth of faith derived from the Word. For the meaning of 'fire' as the good of heavenly love, see 934, 4906, 5071 (end), 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 7852, 9055; and the meaning of 'incense' as faith rising from the good of love will be shown elsewhere.

Mga talababa:

4963. 'And Joseph' means the celestial of the spiritual from the rational. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph' as the celestial-spiritual man that comes from the rational, dealt with in 4286. Here therefore, since the Lord is the subject, the Lord's Internal Man is represented by him. Everyone born a human being is external and internal. His external man is that which is seen with the eyes; it is that which enables him to live in association with other people and enables him to carry out what belongs properly to the natural world. But the internal man is one that is not seen with the eyes; it is what enables a person to live in association with spirits and angels and to carry through what belongs properly to the spiritual world. Everyone has an internal and an external, that is, the internal man and the external man exist, to the end that through man heaven may be joined to the world. For heaven flows by way of the internal man into the external and from that influx gains a perception of what exists in the world, while the external man in the world gains from the same influx a perception of what exists in heaven. It is to this end that the human being has been created the way he has.

[2] The Lord's Human too had an External and an Internal because it pleased Him to be born like any other human being. The External, or His External Man, has been represented by 'Jacob' and after that by 'Israel', but His Internal Man is represented by 'Joseph'. The latter - the Internal Man - is what is called the celestial-spiritual man from the rational; or what amounts to the same, the Lord's Internal, which was the Human, was the celestial of the spiritual from the rational. This, and the glorification of it, are dealt with in the internal sense of the present chapter and those that follow it in which Joseph is the subject. What the celestial of the spiritual from the rational is has been explained already in 4286, 4585, 4592, 4594, namely that which comes above the celestial of the spiritual from the natural, represented by 'Israel'.

[3] The Lord was indeed born like any other human being. But it is well known that everyone who is born depends for his make-up on both his father and his mother; also that he derives his inmost self from his father, but his more external aspects, or those which clothe his inmost self, from his mother. That is to say, both what he derives from his father and what he derives from his mother are defiled with hereditary evil. But in the Lord's case it was different. That which He derived from His mother possessed a hereditary nature essentially the same as that existing in any other human being; but what He derived from His Father, who was Jehovah, was Divine. Consequently the Lord's Internal Man was unlike the internal of any other human being, for His Inmost Self was Jehovah. Being intermediate this is therefore called the celestial of the spiritual from the rational. But in the Lord's Divine mercy more will be said about this later on.