698. Chapter 13: The Holy Supper

Without Knowing about the Correspondences of Physical Things with Spiritual Things, No One Can Know the Functions and Benefits of the Holy Supper

The assertion in this heading has already been partly explained in the chapter on baptism, where the point was made that without knowing that the Word has a spiritual meaning, no one can know what the two sacraments - baptism and the Holy Supper - entail and what they do for us (667-669). The heading just above says "without knowing about the correspondences of physical things with spiritual things"; this is the same thing, because correspondences turn the earthly meaning of the Word into a spiritual meaning in heaven. As a result, these two layers of meaning correspond to each other. Someone who knows correspondences, then, is in a position to know the spiritual meaning of the Word.

For a further definition and description of correspondences, see the chapter on Sacred Scripture from beginning to end [189-281]. See also the exposition of the Ten Commandments from first to last [282-335], and the individual correspondences that are explained throughout Revelation Unveiled.

851. That 'the ark rested' means regeneration becomes clear from the fact that 'the ark' means the member of this Church, and all that was in the ark means all that resided with that member, as shown extensively already. When therefore the ark is said 'to rest' it means that this member was being regenerated. The train of thought in the sense of the letter does indeed seem to imply that 'the ark's resting' means that the fluctuations following temptation, dealt with in the previous verse, have come to an end. But fluctuations, which are doubt and haziness concerning truths and goods, do not in that manner come to an end but persist for a long time, as will also be clear later on. From this it is clear that the continuity of thought in the internal sense is different. The substance of that thought, being arcana, can be revealed here, namely this: After he has undergone temptations the spiritual man becomes the Lord's 'rest' in the same way as the celestial man does. In the same way also he becomes 'the seventh', not however the seventh day, as the celestial man does, but 'the seventh month'. For details concerning the celestial man's being the Lord's rest or sabbath, and the seventh day, see 84-88. But as a celestial man and a spiritual man are different from each other the celestial man's rest is expressed in the original language by a word meaning the sabbath, whereas the spiritual man's rest is expressed by a different word, from which the name Noah derives which specifically means rest.