4689. 'And bowed down to my sheaf' means worship. This is clear from the meaning of 'bowing down' as the expression of humility, dealt with in 2153, and therefore as worship; and from the meaning of 'Joseph's sheaf' here as the teaching concerning the Lord's Divine Human, dealt with in 4687, and so means the Divine Human which those in the more internal part of the Church worshipped. But those who are more external, that is, the adherents to faith separated from charity, do anything but worship it. Faith separated from charity leads to this lack of worship because, as stated above, the Lord is present within charity but not within faith except through charity, for charity is the means by which a joining together is effected. What is truth without good, and what is the understanding without the will? So what can faith be without charity, or what can confidence be without the essence of it?

[2] The fact that adherents to faith separated from charity do anything but worship the Lord's Divine Human has been proved to me quite clearly from this kind of people entering the next life from the Christian world, many of whom I have spoken to. For in that life it is not their lips that speak, as in the world, but people's hearts. Everyone's thoughts there are communicated far more perfectly than by the use of any speech in the world; nor are those there allowed to say anything other than what they think, and so what they believe. Many of those who have also preached the Lord in the world deny Him altogether in the next life. If one asks what end or purpose they had in view when they preached Him and also worshipped Him outwardly with reverence, one learns that they did so because the office they held required them to do so and because they thereby acquired important positions and wealth. And those who did not preach Him but did nevertheless confess Him did so because they were born inside the Church and would have earned themselves a bad reputation if they had spoken out against religion. Not a single person from the Christian world knows that the Lord's Human is Divine, and scarcely any that He alone rules heaven and the whole world, let alone that His Divine Human is the all in heaven. The truth of this could not have been plainly revealed because the Lord foresaw that the Christian Church would turn aside from charity to faith, thereby separating itself from Him, and so would not only cast aside but would also profane the holiness proceeding from His Divine Human. For faith separated from charity cannot do anything other than this.

[3] Faith is clearly separated from charity at the present day. For doctrinal reasons one Church separates itself from another, and any individual who believes something different from what official doctrine teaches is excommunicated and also vilified. But anyone who acts like a robber, mercilessly depriving others of their goods, provided he does not do so openly, or who practices deceit against his neighbour, or infects the works of charity with dishonour, or commits adultery, is for all that called a Christian, provided that he attends church services and utters what doctrine teaches. From this it is evident that at the present day doctrine constitutes the Church, not life, and that the fruits which people link with faith reside merely in doctrine and have no place at all in their minds.

4687. 'And behold, my sheaf arose and also stood up' means teaching concerning the Lord's Divine Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'a sheaf' as doctrinal teaching, dealt with immediately above; and from the meaning of 'arising and standing up' as that which is the highest and is going to reign and which they are going to worship. The highest object of worship is the Lord's Divine Human, as is evident from the descriptions which follow: The eleven sheaves bowed down to that sheaf, and in the second dream the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down to Joseph (meaning that which is highest and is going to reign and which they are going to worship), on account of which dreams Jacob says, 'Are we indeed to come - I and your mother, and your brothers - to bow down to you to the earth?' The Lord's Divine Truth is that which is represented by 'Joseph', as stated above, the highest aspect of it being the Lord Himself, and the highest among matters of doctrine being that His Human is Divine.

[2] So far as this highest matter of doctrine is concerned, the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial and was called Man more so than all others, worshipped the Infinite Being (Esse) and the Infinite Manifestation (Existens) of that Being. And because they could not have any perception of an Infinite Being, yet could have - from what they could perceive in their internal man, what they could experience with their senses in their external man, and what was visible to them in the world - some perception of the Infinite Manifestation of the Infinite Being, they therefore worshipped the Infinite Manifestation which held the Infinite Being within it. That Infinite Manifestation holding the Infinite Being within it they perceived as a Divine Man. They did so because they knew that the Infinite Manifestation was brought forth from the Infinite Being by means of heaven. And because heaven is the Grand Man corresponding to every single part of the human being - as has been shown at the ends of chapters before this one and will be shown at the ends of several more coming after it they were unable to have through perception any other conception of the Infinite Manifestation of an Infinite Being than that of a Divine Man. For whatever passes from the Infinite Being by way of heaven as the Grand Man presents an image of that Being in every single thing. When that celestial Church started to fall they foresaw that that Infinite Manifestation could not continue any longer to come into people's minds and that this being so the human race would perish. For this reason they received by revelation the knowledge that One was to be born who would make Divine the Human within Himself and in this way an Infinite Manifestation like that which had existed previously would come about, and would at length be one with the Infinite Being as this had also been previously. From this arose their prophecy concerning the Lord contained in Genesis 3:15.

[3] This whole matter is described in John as follows,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory as of the Only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-4, 14.

'The Word' is Divine Truth which in its Essence is the Infinite Manifestation of the Infinite Being, and is the Human of the Lord Himself. This Human is the source from which Divine truth now proceeds and flows into heaven, and through heaven into the minds of men. Consequently this Human rules and governs everything, even as it has done so from eternity; for it is one and the same with the Infinite being by virtue of His joining the Human to the Divine, which He effected by making even the Human within Him Divine. From this it may now be seen that the highest aspect of Divine truth is the Lord's Divine Human, and from this that the Church's highest matter of doctrine is that His Human is Divine.