427. Till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. That this signifies that those who are in truths from good must first be separated, is evident from the signification of sealing, which denotes to distinguish and separate, and of which we shall speak presently; from the signification of the servants of God, as denoting those who are in truths from good (concerning which see above, n.6); and from the signification of forehead, which denotes the good of love. The basis of this signification of the forehead is correspondency; for everything in man's body, both internal and external, corresponds to heaven, the whole heaven in the Lord's sight being as one man and so arranged as to correspond to each and all things in man. The whole face, where the organs of the sensations of sight, smell, hearing, and taste, are situated, corresponds to the affections and thence to the thoughts in general, the eyes corresponding to the understanding, the nostrils to perception, the ears to hearing and obedience, and the taste to the desire of knowing and of becoming wise. But the forehead corresponds to the good of love, from which all these proceed, because it forms the highest part of the face, and embraces at once the anterior and primary parts of the brain, whence are man's intellectual [powers]. Hence the Lord looks upon the angels in the forehead, and the angels look to the Lord with the eyes; the reason of this is that the forehead corresponds to love, from which the Lord looks upon them, while the eyes correspond to the understanding, from which they look to the Lord. For the Lord permits Himself to be seen by means of the influx of love into their understandings. Concerning this fact see Heaven and Hell 141, 151), and that the whole heaven collectively represents one man (n. 68 to 87); and that therefore there is a correspondence of all things of heaven with all things of man (n. 87-102). From these things it is evident that being sealed on their foreheads, signifies to be in the good of love to the Lord from the Lord, and by means of that to be distinguished and separated from those who are not in that love. For the Lord looks upon them in the forehead, and fills them with the good of love, from which they look to Him with thought from affection. Others cannot be looked upon by the Lord in the forehead, because they avert themselves from Him, and turn to that opposite love, which fills and attracts them. That every one in the spiritual world, and also man as to his spirit, turns the face to the ruling love may be seen in Heaven and Hell 17, 123, 142-144, 153, 552).

[2] That to be sealed does not mean to be sealed, but to be brought into that state in which their quality can be known, so that they may be conjoined with those who are in a similar state, and separated from those who are in a dissimilar state, is signified by being marked, and by a mark, in the following passages.

In Ezekiel:

"And Jehovah said," to the man clothed in linen, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that mourn and that sigh for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. Go ye through the city after him, and smite; let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark" (9:4-6).

The subject is here the separation of the good from the evil. To be marked (or sealed) on the forehead has the same signification as in this passage in the Apocalypse, that is, to be distinguished and separated from the evil, and conjoined to the good. The casting-out of the evil, and their condemnation are also afterwards described. Those who are in good are described by the men that cry and sigh for all the abominations done in the midst of the city of Jerusalem. Those who mourn and sigh over the abominations are such as are not in evils and the falsities therefrom; mourning and sighing over them signify aversion and grief on account of them, Jerusalem denoting the church, and the city doctrine. The casting-out of the evil and their condemnation are afterwards described, by the command that they should go through the city after him and smite, and that their eye should not spare. To smite and to kill signify to be damned, for spiritual death is damnation, and is signified in the Word by natural death.

[3] In Isaiah:

"He will come to gather together all nations and tongues, that they may come and see my glory. And I will set a mark among them" (66:18, 19).

These words are spoken concerning the Lord, and the new church to be established by Him, and therefore concerning the new heaven and the new earth, as is evident from verse 22 of that chapter. By gathering together all nations and tongues, the same is signified as by gathering together the elect from the four winds (Matthew 24:31). To gather together signifies to call His own to Himself; nations signify those who are in good, and tongues, those who are in a life according to doctrine. To come and see the glory of the Lord, signifies to be enlightened in Divine Truth, and thus to experience heavenly joy; for the glory of the Lord signifies the Divine Truth, and the illustration and joy which it affords. To set a mark among them, signifies to distinguish and separate them from the evil, and conjoin them to the good.

[4] It is said of Cain, that Jehovah set a mark upon him, lest any should kill him (Genesis 4:15). Unless this interior fact of the Word be known, that by persons named in its historical parts, things are meant in the spiritual sense, or that every person there mentioned represents, and consequently signifies, something pertaining to the church and heaven, nothing further can be known than the literal history, which appears to be no more divine than other histories. But in every detail of the Word, both prophetical and historical, there is the Divine, which does not appear in the letter, except to those who are in the spiritual sense and acquainted with it. The interior spiritual fact contained in the history of Cain and Abel is that Abel represents the good of charity, and Cain the truth of faith; and this good and this truth are also called brethren in the Word. The truth of faith is called the first-born because truths which are afterwards to become the truths of faith, are first acquired and stored up in the memory, in order that good may take thence as from a storehouse what it can conjoin to itself, and thus cause them to be truths of faith. For truth is not of faith until man wills it and does it, and as far as man does this, the Lord conjoins him to Himself and to heaven, and from love flows in with good, and by means of good into the truths which he has acquired from his childhood, conjoins them to good, and causes them to become truths of faith. Before this has taken place, they are nothing more than cognitions and knowledges (scientiae), and these he believes as yet only in the same way that he believes what he hears from others which he can give up if he afterwards think differently, therefore this faith is the faith of another in himself, and not his own, and yet a man's faith must be his own, in order that it may remain with him after death. It becomes his own when he sees, wills, and does what he believes, for then it enters into the man, moulds his spirit, and becomes an integral part of his affection and thought; for the spirit of man in its essence is nothing else but his own affection and thought.

[5] That which is of affection is called good, and that which is of thought therefrom is called truth; nor does a man believe anything to be the truth, but that which belongs to his affection, that is, to the interior affection of his spirit. Wherefore what a man thinks from interior affection is his belief, and nothing else that he retains in his memory, whether from the Word or the doctrine of the church, from reading, from preaching, or from his own understanding, is faith, although he thinks that it is, and although it is declared and believed to be so at this day. This primary and first-begotten [principle] is represented and signified by Cain in the above historical part of the Word, for Cain was the first-begotten. When it is believed that such a faith saves man, and not the willing and doing of it, or a life according to it, then there arises the baneful heresy that faith alone saves whatever the life may be, and that there may be faith without life, although this is not faith, but merely knowledge exteriorly in the memory, and not interiorly in the life. If this be called faith it is historical faith, which is the faith one man has from another, and has no life in itself, until he who possesses it sees for himself that what he has received is true, and this first takes place when he wills and does it. When that heresy prevails, then charity, which is the good of life, is annihilated, and at length rejected as not essential to salvation. This was represented by Cain's slaying his brother Abel; for faith and charity or the truth of faith and the good of charity, are called brethren in the Word, as stated above.

[6] That Jehovah set a mark upon Cain lest he should be slain, signifies that he distinguished him from others, and preserved him, because saving faith cannot exist, unless historical faith precede, which is the knowledge of the things of the church and of heaven derived from others, in a word, the knowledge of such things as shall afterwards pertain to faith. For unless a man from his infancy received truths from the Word, from the doctrine of the church, or from preaching, he would possess none, and the Lord cannot act upon such a man, nor can he receive influx out of heaven from the Lord, for He operates and inflows by means of good into the truths which a man possesses and conjoins them, and thus makes charity and faith one. From these considerations it is evident what is signified by Jehovah setting a mark on Cain, lest any one should slay him, and by him that should slay him being avenged sevenfold. Besides, those who are only in historical faith, that is, in the knowledge of such things as belong to faith, - and such persons and faith are signified by Cain, - are also preserved, because they can teach others truths from the Word, for they teach from the memory.

[7] Since the forehead corresponds to the good of love, and therefore the Lord from His Divine Love looks upon angels and men in the forehead, as stated above, it was commanded that a plate of pure gold, upon which was engraved "Holiness to Jehovah," should be placed upon the mitre of Aaron on the forehead, concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

"And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, Holiness to Jehovah. And thou shalt put it on a thread of purple, upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be, that it may be upon Aaron's forehead, and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before Jehovah" (Exodus 28:36-38).

For Aaron, as the chief priest, represented the Lord as to the good of Divine Love, and therefore his garments represented such things as proceed from that love. The mitre represented intelligence and wisdom, and the forefront of it, love, from which are intelligence and wisdom, and so the plate of pure gold, upon which "Holiness to Jehovah" was engraved, was there placed upon a thread of purple. The pure gold of which the plate was made signifies the good of celestial love; the purple forming the thread upon which the plate was put, signifies the good of spiritual love, and spiritual love is the love of truth; the engraving of a signet signifies continuance to eternity; holiness to Jehovah signifies the Lord as to the Divine Human, from which every thing holy of heaven and of the church proceeds. These were upon the front of the mitre which was on the head of Aaron, because the mitre like the head, signifies Divine Wisdom, and the forehead, the Divine Good of Love. Aaron represented the Lord as to the good of love, as may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 9806, 9946, 10017). "Purple" signifies the love of truth (n. 9466, 9687, 9833); and the mitre signifies intelligence and wisdom (n. 9827).

[8] Since the forehead signifies the good of love, the Israelites were therefore commanded to bind upon their foreheads the precept concerning love to Jehovah.

Thus in Moses:

"And thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be for frontlets before thine eyes" (Deuteronomy 6:5, 8; 11:18; Exodus 13:9, 16).

It is said, that they should be for frontlets before the eyes, to represent the fact that the Lord looks upon angels and men in the forehead, because from Divine Love, and gives to angels and men the power to see Him from intelligence and wisdom, for the eyes signify the understanding. All man's understanding also is from the good of his love, and according to that which he receives from the Lord. That they should also bind them upon the hand represented the ultimates, because the hands are the ultimates of the powers of man's soul; therefore upon the forehead and upon the hand signifies in primaries and in ultimates. Primary and ultimate signify all, as may be seen above (n. 417). This precept was bound in this manner, because on it hang all the law and the prophets, that is the whole Word, consequently all things of heaven and of the church. That the law and the prophets hang on this precept, the Lord teaches in Matthew (22:35-38, 40). From this it is evident why kings at their coronation were in former times and are to-day anointed with oil upon the forehead and upon the hand. For kings formerly represented the Lord as to Divine Truth, and because this is received in the good of love which flows in from the Lord, therefore anointing was performed upon the forehead and upon the hand. The oil also, with which they were anointed, signifies the good of love. Therefore kings in the Word signify those who are in truths from good, and in an abstract sense truths from good; as may be seen above (n. 31). From these considerations it is clear what a sign or mark upon the forehead means, as mentioned here and in other passages in the Apocalypse (9:4; 14:1; 22:3, 4).

[9] But on the other hand, the forehead signifies the evil of love which is opposite to the good of love, and therefore what is hard, obstinate, shameless and infernal. Thus in Isaiah, "hardness" is described in these words:

"Thou art hard, for thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy forehead brass" (48:4).

In Ezekiel "obstinacy."

"The house of Israel will not hearken unto me; for all the house of Israel are of an obstinate forehead and hard of heart" (3:7).

In Jeremiah "shamelessness."

"Thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed" (Jeremiah 3:3).

"Infernal" in the Apocalypse (13:16; 14:9-11; 16:2; 17:5; 19:20; 20:4). For as the good of love is celestial, and therefore gentle, patient, and modest, so the evil opposite to that good is infernal, hard, obstinate, and shameless.

9807. 'And his sons' means Divine Truth emanating from Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of 'sons' as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, at this point Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, since they were Aaron's sons and Aaron as the high priest represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good, as shown immediately above. Truths are meant by 'sons' because everything in the internal sense of the Word is spiritual, and 'sons' in the spiritual sense are those who are born anew from the Lord, thus are in possession of truths springing from good, so that in the abstract sense - when the persons are not envisaged - 'sons' are the actual truths which spring from good. These truths therefore are what should be understood in the Word by 'the sons of God', 'the king's sons', and 'the sons of the kingdom'. They are also the sons of new birth or regeneration. Furthermore the truths and forms of good present with the person who has been regenerated or born anew from the Lord are exactly like families in wide and long lines of descent from the one same father. There are those which resemble sons and daughters, those which resemble grandsons and granddaughters, those which resemble sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, and so relationships belonging to many degrees, thus to many kinds. Truths and forms of good arranged like this are what sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, in short, relatives belonging to different degrees and therefore different kinds, denote in the spiritual sense. I have been shown by actual experience that spiritual generations follow one another in that kind of order. And at the same time I have been told that this being so the truths and forms of good with a person who has been regenerated follow in that kind of order, since the angelic communities in heaven are arranged in that way and the truths and forms of good present with a person correspond to those communities. Therefore also the person whose truths and forms of good possess that kind of correspondence is heaven in the smallest form it takes, 9279.

[2] Anyone who knows that truths are meant by 'sons' and forms of good by 'daughters' can see many arcana in the Word, especially the prophetical part, which would otherwise lie hidden from view. For example he can see what is meant specifically by the Son of Man, which the Lord often calls Himself in the Word, namely Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Human, as is clear from the places where that title appears. Let these be quoted, in order that at the same time it may be established that 'the Son' means truth, as in John,

The crowd said to Jesus, Why do you say, The Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Jesus answered them, The light is with you for a brief while longer. Walk, as long as you have the light, lest the darkness overtakes you. As long as you have the light believe in the light, that you may be sons of the light. John 12:34-36.

From these words it is evident that 'the Son of Man' has the same meaning as 'the light'; for when the crowd asked, 'Who is this Son of Man?' the Lord answered that He was 'the light' in which they should believe. 'The light' means Divine Truth, see the places referred to in 9548, 9684, and so therefore does 'the Son of Man'.

[3] In Luke,

Blessed are you when people will hate you on account of the Son of Man. Luke 6:22.

'On account of the Son of Man' is on account of Divine Truth, which emanates from the Lord. Divine Truth constitutes the all of faith in and love to the Lord; and 'being hated' on account of these is blessedness. In the same gospel,

The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see. Then they will say to you, Behold here! or Behold there! Do not go away or go in search. Luke 17:22-23.

'Desiring to see one of the days of the Son of Man' means desiring to see one of the states of truth that is authentically God's. The subject here is the end of the Church, when no faith exists any longer because there is no charity, at which time every truth that is genuinely God's is going to perish. And since God's truth is meant by 'the Son of Man' it says, 'Then they will say, Behold here! or Behold there! Do not go in search', which may be said of God's truth emanating from the Lord, but not of the Lord Himself.

[4] In the same gospel,

When the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth? Luke 18:8.

That is, when God's truth is revealed from heaven there will be no belief in it. Here also 'the Son of Man' is the Lord in respect of God's truth, or God's truth emanating from the Lord, the Lord's coming being the revelation of God's truth at the end of the Church.

[5] In Matthew,

As the lightning comes from the east and is seen as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then the sign will appear, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matthew 24:27, 30.

'The coming of the Son of Man' stands for the revelation of God's truth at the close of the age, that is, at the end of the Church. 'All the tribes of the earth' who will mourn then are all the truths and forms of the good of faith and love in their entirety that are derived from the Lord and so are offered to the Lord. 'The clouds of heaven' in which He is going to come are the literal sense of the Word, 'power and glory' being the internal sense, the subject of which at its inmost level is the Lord alone. For further explanation of these matters, see 4060.

[6] Something similar occurs elsewhere in the same gospel,

I say to you, Hereafter you will see the Son of Man seated on the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven. Matthew 26:64.

And in Luke,

Hereafter the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Luke 22:69.

'The Son of Man' stands for Divine Truth emanating from the Lord. 'Sitting at the right hand of power' stands for the reality that in Him there is almighty power; for Divine Good exercises its almighty power through Divine Truth. The declaration that 'hereafter they would see this' means that Divine Truth would be in its almighty power, when the Lord in the world had overcome the hells and restored to order everything there and in the heavens, as a result of which those who received Him in faith and love could be saved, see 9715.

'Sitting at the right hand' means almighty power, see 3387, 4592, 4933 (end), 7518, 8281, 9133.

All the power good possesses is exercised through truth, 6344, 6423, 8304, 9327, 9410, 9639, 9643.

Actual Divine power consists in Divine Truth, 6948.

'The clouds' in which the Son of Man, that is, Divine Truth, will come are the Word in the letter, Preface to Genesis 18, and 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343, 6752, 8443, 8781; and 'the glory' is Divine Truth itself as it exists in the internal sense of the Word, Preface to Genesis 18, and 4809, 5922, 8267, 9429.

[7] All this now makes clear what the following words in the Book of Revelation mean,

I saw, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud one was sitting, like the Son of Man, having on His head a crown of gold. Revelation 14:14.

And in Daniel,

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of the heavens One like the Son of Man came. Daniel 7:13.

In John,

The Father has given Him [authority] to execute judgement also, because He is the Son of Man. John 5:27.

The basis on which all judgement is executed is truth, and this explains why it says that [authority] to execute judgement has been given to the Lord because He is the Son of Man. 'The Son of Man', as has been stated, is Divine Truth; 'the Father' from whom that Truth springs is Divine Good, 2803, 3704, 7499, 8328, 8897. The fact that 'executing judgement' rests with Divine Truth explains why it says that when the Son of Man comes He will sit on the throne of His glory, Matthew 19:28; 25:31, and that the Son of Man will repay everyone according to his deeds, Matthew 16:27.

[8] In Matthew,

He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the seed are the sons of the kingdom, the tares are the sons of the evil one. Matthew 13:37-38.

'The good seed' is God's truth, therefore it says that 'the Son of Man' sows it. 'The sons of the kingdom' are God's truths in heaven and in the Church. For 'son' means truth, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, and in the contrary sense falsity, which is also meant by 'son of the evil one'; and 'the kingdom' means heaven, and also the Church.

[9] In John,

No one has gone up into heaven except Him who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in the heavens. John 3:13.

From these words it is evident that 'the Son of Man' means Divine Truth present in the heavens. This Truth comes down from there and then goes up, for no one can go up into heaven unless Divine Truth has come down into Him from heaven; the flow starts from God, not from the opposite direction. And since the Lord is that Truth He calls Himself 'the Son of Man who is in the heavens'. In Matthew,

The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. Matthew 8:20.

'The Son of Man' stands for Divine Truth; 'having nowhere to lay His head' stands for the fact that at that time there was no place for Him anywhere, that is, with any person.

[10] The declarations that the Son of Man is about to suffer and will be killed, in Matthew 17:12, 22; 20:18; 26:2, 24, 45; Mark 8:31; 9:12, 31; and elsewhere, imply that this was how Divine Truth was treated, and therefore how the Lord was treated since He was Divine Truth itself, as He also says in John, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. John 14:6.

In Jeremiah,

No man (vir) will dwell there, nor will any son of man stay in it. Jeremiah 49:18, 33.

And in the same prophet,

Not a man (vir) will dwell in the cities, nor will any son of man pass through them. Jeremiah 51:43.

Anyone who has no knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word will suppose that 'the cities' here is used to mean cities, and 'a man' and 'son of man' to mean a man and a son, and that the cities would be made so desolate that no one would be there. But it is the state of the Church so far as the teaching of truth is concerned that is being described. For 'cities' are the doctrinal teachings of the Church, see 402, 2449, 3216, 4492, 4493; 'a man' is the Church's truth itself joined to good, 3134, 7716, 9007, 'son of man' accordingly meaning truth.

[11] Since 'son of man' meant Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, the prophets too through whom it was revealed were called sons of man, as Daniel and Ezekiel were - Daniel 8:17; Ezekiel 2:1, 3, 6, 8; 3:1, 3-4, 10, 17, 25; 4:1, 16; 8:5-6, 8, 12, 15; 12:2-3, 9, 18, 22, 27; and in many other places.

[12] The majority of expressions in the Word have also a contrary sense, and this applies equally to the meaning of the expression son of man, which in that contrary sense is falsity opposed to truth, as in Isaiah,

What are you that you are afraid of man (homo), [who] dies, and of the son of man, [who] is given grass? Isaiah 51:12.

'Grass given to the son of man' is factual knowledge that gives rise to falsity. In David,

Do not put your trust in princes, in the son of man who has no salvation. Psalms 146:3.

'Princes' are primary truths, 2089, 5044, and so in the contrary sense primary falsities, while 'the son of man' is falsity itself.