9305. 'To bring you to the place which I have prepared' means being brought into heaven by Him according to goodness of life and of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'bringing to the place', that is, into the land of Canaan, as bringing into heaven, for 'the land of Canaan' means the Church, and also heaven, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705, 3686, 4447, 5136, 6516 (bringing the children of Israel into that land represented the bringing of faithful believers into heaven); and from the meaning of 'preparing', when it refers to heaven, meant by 'the land of Canaan', as granting it in mercy to those with whom goodness of life and of faith is present, for it is they for whom heaven is said to have been prepared, as in Matthew,

Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, O blessed of My Father, take possession, as an inheritance, of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matthew 25:34.

In Mark,

To sit at My right hand and at My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. Mark 10:40.

And in John,

I go away to prepare a place for you. And if I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. John 14:2-3.

'Preparing heaven' means preparing those who are to be brought into heaven; for heaven is granted according to their degree of preparation, that is, of their reception of good. Heaven exists within a person, and the place a person has in heaven is determined by the state of life and faith that is his. For people's place there corresponds to their state of life, and therefore also a place seen in the next life is in accord with a state of life, and in itself is a state, 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381.

2706. That 'God was with the boy' means the Lord's presence with those who are spiritual is clear from the meaning of 'God being with someone' and from the meaning of 'the boy'.

With regard to 'God's being with someone' meaning the Lord's presence, this may be seen without any explanation. The Lord is indeed present with everyone, for from no other source does life flow, and He governs every specific detail of it. This is so even with the worst of men, and in hell itself. But the nature of His presence varies according to the way His life is received. In the case of those who receive the life of the love of His good and truth wrongfully and who pervert it into the loves of what is evil and false, the Lord is present and as far as possible overrules for good their ends in view. But His presence with them is called 'absence' - an absence to the degree that evil is distant from good, and falsity from truth. With those however who do receive the life of the love of the Lord's good and truth it is referred to as 'presence', a presence to the degree of reception. The Lord's presence may be compared to the sun which is present with its heat and light in all plant life according to the reception of it.

With regard to 'the boy' meaning the spiritual as regards truth, this has been stated above. But here he means those who are spiritual because he represents the member of the spiritual Church, also the spiritual Church itself, and in the universal sense the Lord's spiritual kingdom. For when it is said that anyone means that which is spiritual, as here where 'the boy' means the spiritual as regards truth, those who are spiritual are included in the meaning, since the spiritual does not exist without a subject. The same applies to everything else spoken of in the abstracted sense.