69. (Verse 15) And his feet like unto burnished brass, as if they burned in a furnace. That this signifies the ultimate of Divine order which is the Natural, full of Divine love, is evident from the signification of feet, as being the Natural (concerning which seeArcana Coelestia 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952); when therefore it is said of the Lord, it denotes the ultimate of Divine order, because that is the Natural. It is also evident from the signification of burnished brass, or polished brass, as denoting natural good, concerning which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of burning, when said of the Lord, as denoting that it is from the Divine love (concerning which see n. 10055). It is said, as if they burned in a furnace, in order that the Divine love may be expressed in the greatest degree, and in its fullness; for the Divine is in its fulness when it is in its ultimate, and the ultimate is the Natural (as may be seen above, n. 66). It is clear then, that by His feet like fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, is signified the ultimate of Divine order, which is the Natural, full of Divine love. These things, as also those that precede, are spoken comparatively; as that His head and His hairs were white as white wool, as snow, and that His feet were like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; but it is to be observed, that all comparisons in the Word are significative, because in the same way as the things themselves, they are from correspondences (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3579, 4599, 8989).

[2] The reason why feet, when said of the Lord, signify the ultimate of Divine order, and that this is the Natural, is, that heaven is heaven from the Divine Human of the Lord, and that therefore heaven in the aggregate has reference to one Man. And, because there are three heavens, that the highest heaven has reference to the head, the middle heaven to the body, and the ultimate heaven to the feet. The Divine which constitutes the highest heaven is called the celestial Divine; that which constitutes the middle heaven is called the spiritual Divine, and that which constitutes the ultimate heaven is called the natural Divine from the spiritual and celestial. It is therefore clear why the Lord is in this place described as to His Divine Human, which is the Son of man, seen in the midst of the lampstands, not only as to His garments, but also as to His head, His chest and feet. (That the Son of man is the Lord as to the Divine Human, may be seen above, n. 63; and that the lampstands denote heaven, may be seen n. 62. But as these things are arcana hitherto unknown in the world, and nevertheless ought to be understood in order that the internal sense of this and the following parts of this prophetical book may be comprehended, they are therefore particularly and specifically described in the work, Heaven and Hell; as, that the Divine Human of the Lord constitutes heaven, n. 7-12, 78-86; that hence heaven in the aggregate has reference to one Man, n. 59-77; that there are three heavens, and that the highest refers to the head, the middle to the body, and the ultimate to the feet, n. 29-40.)

When these things are understood, it will be evident that by the feet of Jehovah, or of the Lord, in the Word, is signified the ultimate of Divine order, or the Natural; and because the external of the church, of worship, and of the Word, is the ultimate of Divine order in the church, and is the Natural, therefore this is specifically signified by the feet of Jehovah, or of the Lord.

[3] It was for this reason that, when the Lord was seen as an angel by the prophets, in other places, He was seen by them also in a similar manner. Thus by Daniel:

"I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz; his body also was like the beryl, and his eyes as torches of fire; his arms and his feet as the brightness of polished brass" (10:5, 6).

Similarly, the cherubs, which mean the Lord as to providence and protection (see Arcana Coelestia 9277, 9509, 9673), were seen by Ezekiel:

"Their feet sparkled as the brightness of polished brass" (1:7).

So also the Lord was afterwards seen as an angel, in the Apocalypse:

"I saw an angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow was about his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire" (10:1).

Because the Lord was thus seen as to the feet, therefore under the feet was seen, by some of the sons of Israel,

"as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as the substance of heaven in purity" (Exodus 24:10).

The reason why the Lord was not seen by them as to the feet, but under the feet, was, that they were not in the external of the church, of worship, and of the Word, but under it (as may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 248). Since the feet of Jehovah, or the Lord, signify the ultimate of Divine order, and this is specifically the external of the church, of worship, and of the Word, therefore this is called His footstool in the Word, as in Isaiah:

"The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; I will make the place of my feet honourable. And they shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet" (60:13, 14).

Again:

"Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool" (66:1).

In Jeremiah:

God "doth not remember his footstool in the day of anger" (Lamentations 2:1).

And in David:

"Adore ye Jehovah, towards his footstool" (Psalms 99:5).

Again:

"We will go into his habitation; we will bow ourselves at his footstool" (Psalms 132:7).

And in Nahum:

"The clouds of Jehovah are the dust of his feet" (Nahum 1:3).

That cloud denotes the external of the Word, or the Word as to the letter, may be seen above, n. 36; and because cloud denotes the external of the Word, it also denotes the external of the church and of worship, for the church and worship are from the Word. It is said the dust of His feet, because those things which are in the sense of the letter of the Word, which sense is natural, appear scattered.

3769. 'And there was a large stone over the mouth of the well' means that it, that is to say, the Word, was closed up. This becomes clear without explanation. The Word is said to be closed up when it is understood purely according to the sense of the letter and everything there is taken for doctrine. It is even more closed up when those things are acknowledged as doctrine which show favour to the desires that go with self-love and love of the world, for these especially roll the large stone over the mouth of the well, that is, they close the Word up. In this case people neither know nor wish to know that any interior sense exists within the Word. Yet they can see that the Word has an interior sense from the many places where the interior sense is used to explain the literal, and also from the generally accepted teachings within the Church which, by means of various explanations, are brought to bear on the literal sense.

[2] What is meant by the Word's being closed up becomes particularly clear from the Jews who explain every single thing literally, and as a consequence believe that they have been chosen in preference to everybody else in all the world, and that the Messiah is coming who will lead them into the land of Canaan and will exalt them above all nations and peoples of the world. For the Jews are governed by loves of an earthly and bodily nature, which are such that they close the Word altogether so far as interior teachings are concerned. What is more, they do not even know whether any heavenly kingdom exists, whether they are going to live after death, what the internal man is, or even the existence of anything spiritual, let alone that the Messiah has come to save souls. The fact that the Word is in their case closed up may also be seen quite clearly from the consideration that although they live among Christians they nevertheless accept nothing whatever of Christian teaching, in accordance with the following words in Isaiah,

Say to this people, Hearing hear, and do not understand; and seeing see, and do not comprehend. Make the hearts of this people fat and their ears heavy, and plaster over their eyes. And I said, How long, O Lord? And He said, Until cities have been laid waste till no inhabitant [is left], and houses till no man [is left], and the land has been laid waste as a desolation. Isaiah 6:9-11; Matthew 13:14-15; John 12:40-41.

[3] To the extent that someone is under the influence of self-love and love of the world, and of the desires that go with these loves, the Word is to him closed up. For those loves have self as the end in view, an end which fosters natural light but extinguishes heavenly light. As a result people see clearly the things that belong to self and the world but nothing whatever of those that belong to the Lord and to His kingdom. When this is so they may indeed read the Word, but their end in view is the increase of personal position and wealth, or that they may be seen by others; or else they read it because it is the done thing and therefore merely from force of habit, or they read it as a religious duty, but without any amendment of life in view. To these people the Word has in different ways become closed up, for some so closed that they do not wish to know anything at all apart from that which their own teachings - whatever these may be - declare.

[4] If anyone were to say, for example, that the power of opening and of shutting heaven has not been granted to Peter but to faith rooted in love, which faith is meant by Peter's keys, they would never acknowledge it because self-love and love of the world stand in the way. Or if anyone were to say that the saints ought not to be worshipped but the Lord alone, they would not accept that either. Nor would they believe it if someone were to say that the bread and wine in the Holy Supper mean the Lord's love towards the whole human race and man's love for the Lord in return. And if anyone were to say that faith - other than the good of faith, which is charity - does not achieve anything, they would give a completely contrary explanation. And so it would be with everything else. People like these can see nothing at all of the truth contained in the Word and do not wish to see it. Instead they adhere rigidly to their own doctrinal opinions. They do not even wish to hear of the existence of the internal sense in which the holiness and the glory of the Word reside. Indeed when they hear about the existence of it they are revolted because of their detestation of the mere mention of it. So the Word has been closed up. Yet the Word is such that it is open right into heaven, and through heaven towards the Lord, and is closed only in relation to man, that is, insofar as he is subject to the evils of self-love and love of the world where the ends in view of his life are concerned, and is subject to false assumptions resulting from those evils. From this one may see what is meant by 'a large stone over the mouth of the well'.