2669. 'Also, the son of the servant-girl I will make into a nation' means the spiritual Church which was to receive the good of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'the son of the servant-girl' and also of 'a nation'. 'The son of the servant-girl' or Ishmael, while he was in Abraham's house, that is, while he was with Abraham, represented the Lord's first rational, as shown in 2652, 2653, 2657, 2658. But now he has been separated he takes on another representation, namely that of the spiritual Church, 2666. A similar change of representation occurred previously with Lot who while with Abraham represented the Lord's external man, 1428, 1429, 1434, 1547, 1597, 1598, 1698, but once he had been separated from Abraham he represented the external Church and many states of that Church, 2324, 2371, 2399, 2422, 2459, and in the whole of Chapter 19. As regards 'nation' meaning good, see 1159, 1258-1260, 1416, 1849. Here the good of faith is meant since it has reference to the spiritual Church. Hence the words used here, 'Also, the son of the servant-girl I will make into a nation', mean the spiritual Church which was to receive the good of faith, which is charity.

[2] The Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth is celestial and spiritual, and therefore angels are distinguished into those who are celestial and those who are spiritual, see 202, 337. To celestial angels the Lord appears as the Sun, to spiritual as the Moon, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531. Men in a similar way are distinguished into those who are celestial and those who are spiritual. Those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood were celestial, dealt with in 607, 608, 784, 895, 920, 1114-1125, while those who belonged to the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood were spiritual, dealt with in 609, 640, 641, 765. For what the difference was between those two Churches, see 567, 607, and for what the difference is between what is celestial and what is spiritual, 81, 1155, 1577, 1824, 2048, 2069, 2088, 2227, 2507. The celestial are referred to by the Lord in the following,

He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. And when He has led out His own sheep He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.

The spiritual however are referred to in these words,

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. John 10:3-4, 16.

The good of love is that which constitutes the celestial Church, but the good of faith that which constitutes the spiritual Church. The truth of faith does not constitute the Church but leads into it.

1824. That 'a heifer' means those things that are the representatives of exterior celestial things, 'a she-goat' those that are the representatives of interior celestial, and 'a ram' those that are the representatives of spiritual-celestial, becomes clear from the sacrifices, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with later on when sacrifices are the subject. There are exterior celestial things and interior celestial things, as well as spiritual-celestial. Exterior celestial things are such as belong to the external man, interior celestial such as belong to the internal man, while spiritual-celestial are such as derive from both exterior and interior celestial things. The celestial itself consists in love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. That celestial flows in from the Lord, and indeed by way of the internal man into the external. In the interior man it is called the interior celestial, in the exterior the exterior celestial. The exterior celestial consists of every affection for good, and also indeed every pleasure which springs from the affection for good. Insofar as these two, that is, the affection for good and the pleasure springing from it, have the good of love and charity within them, they have what is celestial within them, and happiness too: The spiritual-celestial however consists of every affection for truth which has within it the affection for good, that is, the affection for truth which is begotten by the affection for good; thus it is faith that has charity within it, or faith which is begotten by charity.