8945. 'And you shall not go up to My altar by steps' means not raising themselves to more internal levels, that is, celestial ones. This is clear from the meaning of 'going up by means of steps' as raising oneself to higher or more internal levels (whether you say more internal or higher it amounts to the same thing, since more internal things are seen as higher ones, 2148, 3084, 4210, 4599); and from the meaning of 'altar' as the chief representative of the Lord, dealt with in 921, 2777, 2811. Thus 'going up by steps to My altar' means raising oneself to the Lord, consequently to more internal levels, which are celestial ones; for the Lord's presence is greater on more internal levels. The term 'celestial' is used for things in the inmost heaven, but 'spiritual' for those in the middle heaven. For heaven is divided into two kingdoms - the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. Those in the celestial kingdom are in the inmost or third heaven, and so are nearest the Lord; for they are governed by love to the Lord, possessing innocence and consequently wisdom in greater measure than all the rest. But those who are in the spiritual kingdom are in the middle or second heaven, and so are more remote from the Lord; and those there am governed by charity towards the neighbour, and through charity dwell with the Lord. Regarding those two kingdoms and the difference between them, see 2048, 2088, 2227, 2507, 2669, 2708, 2715, 2718, 3235, 3246, 3374, 3887, 4448, 4585, 4938, 4939, 5113, 5922, 6367, 6435, 7877.

[2] Let a brief explanation be given of what is implied by raising oneself towards more internal levels, that is, celestial ones, which is meant by 'going up by steps to the altar'. No one in the next life is allowed to be raised into heaven to a level higher than that of the good which governs him. If he is raised to some higher level the foul things about him are revealed, that is, the evils he loves, and the resulting falsities; for the more internal something is, the purer and holier it is in heaven. Those whose state is not so pure are kept in a lower sphere in which impurities go unnoticed or are not apparent; for such people are governed by grosser good and guided by duller truth.

[3] Sometimes it happens that those coming into heaven have a strong desire to go to a more internal heaven, believing that by doing this they will experience greater joy. To the end that this strong desire which clings to them may be removed, they are indeed raised to a more internal heaven. But when they get there they start to feel anguished, on account of those evils they love which are then perceptible to them; they also become visibly disfigured on account of the falsities that spring from the evils residing with them. Having perceived these things they cast themselves down from the more internal heaven, and do not attain a calm and peaceful state until they return to the position they occupied previously. These are the things that are meant by 'you shall not go up to My altar by steps, in order that your nakedness may not be revealed on it'.

[4] The same applies to those below heaven, if they have a strong desire to rise to heaven before they have been prepared for it. When they are raised there they feel torment almost hellish and seem to themselves to be like dead bodies. Their life becomes laboured, like that of those in the throes of death. Therefore they cast themselves down headlong from there, and after that no longer have any desire to rise above the state of life in which they live.

[5] It should be recognized that the Lord refuses heaven to no one in the next life, and that people can be allowed in as often as they wish. Heaven consists of communities of angels, who are governed by the good of love towards the neighbour and of love to the Lord. When introduced into heaven people are let into communities of such angels. But when the sphere of their life, that is, the life of their love, is out of agreement, conflict arises, as a result of which they feel anguished and cast themselves down from there. From this experience they learn about the life of heaven, and about the condition of their own life in comparison. They also learn from it that heaven does not become anyone's simply by his being received or let in, as the common idea is in the world, and also that a person must live in such a way in the world that he becomes fit to be with those in heaven. But see what has already been stated and shown from experience previously regarding these matters, in 3938, 4225, 4226, 4299, 4674, 5057, 5058, 7186, 7519, 8794, 8797. These are the considerations which are meant by the regulation that they must not go up by steps to the altar, in order that their nakedness may not be revealed on it, and also by a similar regulation at Exodus 28:42-43.

[6] The words 'going up by steps' are used because a raising to more internal levels is seen in the world of spirits - where celestial and spiritual realities are presented within forms similar to those in the world - as raising oneself by means of steps. I have often been allowed to see this representative sight. So it was too that in a dream Jacob saw angels going up to the Lord by the steps of a stairway, Genesis 28:12. Therefore also by 'steps' in the Word is meant going up to higher, that is, more internal levels, as in Ezekiel 40:6, 22, 26, 31, 34; and in Amos,

The Lord Jehovih Zebaoth builds His steps in the heavens. Amos 9:6.

2149. 'Behold, three men standing over him' means the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding. This becomes clear without explanation, for everyone knows that a Trinity exists, and that this Trinity is a Unity. That it is a Unity is quite evident in this chapter, as in verse 3 that follows where it is said, 'He said, My Lord, if now I have found grace in your eyes, do not now pass from over your servant', ¹ words that were addressed to the three men. In addition to this it is said -

In verse 10, And He said, 'I will certainly return to you.

In verse 13, And Jehovah said to Abraham.

In verse 15, He said, 'No, but you did laugh'.

In verse 17, And Jehovah said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am going to do?'

In verse 19, 'For I know him'.

In verse 20, And Jehovah said.

In verse 21, 'I will go down and I will see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which has come up to Me; and if not, I will know'.

In verse 23, Abraham said, 'Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?' In verse 25, 'Far be it from You to do such a thing, far be it from You'.

In verse 26, And Jehovah said, 'If I find fifty righteous persons, I will spare the whole place for their sakes'.

In verse 27, 'I have undertaken to speak to my Lord'.

In verse 28, 'Will You for five destroy the whole city?' And He said, 'I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there'.

In verse 29, He spoke to Him yet again. He said, 'I will not do it for the sake of the forty,.

In verse 30, 'Let not my Lord be incensed'. He said, 'I will not do it if I find thirty there'.

In verse 31, 'I have undertaken to speak to my Lord'. He said, 'I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty'.

In verse 32, 'Let not now my Lord be incensed. And He said, 'I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten'.

In verse 33, And Jehovah departed, when He had finished speaking to Abraham.

From all these places it becomes clear that the three men who appeared to Abraham meant the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding, and that in itself the Trinity is a Unity. The subject at this point in the internal sense is Jehovah's appearing to the Lord and the Lord's perceiving this, though not by means of an appearing such as was made to Abraham, for the event of the three men seen by Abraham is historically true, but it represents Divine perception or a perception received from the Divine which the Lord had when He was in the human. This perception is dealt with in what follows.

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