10579. 'For no one will see Me and live' means that the essential nature of the Divine Himself can be seen only through the Lord in heaven. This may be recognized from the truth that no one has ever seen Jehovah the Father, but that when He has been seen the Lord is the One who has been seen, because the Lord is the very face of Jehovah.

No one has ever seen Jehovah the Father

This is clear from the words of the Lord Himself in John,

Nobody has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. John 1:18.

In the same gospel,

You have never heard the Father's voice nor seen His shape. John 5:37.

In Matthew,

No one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him. Matthew 11:27.

[2] When Jehovah the Father has been seen the Lord is the One who has been seen This too is the Lord's teaching in John,

Jesus said, If you recognize Me you recognize My Father also, and from now on you recognize Him and have seen Him. Philip said, Lord, show us the Father. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you for so long and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. So why do you say, Show us the Father? John 14:7-9.

In the same gospel,

Abraham your father rejoiced to see My day, and saw it and was glad. Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:56, 58.

From these statements it becomes clear that the Lord - His Divine Human - is the One whom people have seen when they have seen Jehovah, thus that He is the face of Jehovah.

[3] The Lord is the face of Jehovah

This too is clear from the Word, as in Isaiah,

He became their Saviour. The angel of Jehovah's face delivered them; because of His love and His compassion He redeemed them, and took them and carried them all the days of eternity. Isaiah 63:8-9.

Similarly in Exodus,

Behold, I send an angel before you to keep you safe on the way, and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. Take notice of His face, lest you provoke Him, for He will not bear your transgression; for My name is in the middle of Him. Exodus 23:20-21.

[4] Before the Lord's Coming into the world, whenever Jehovah appeared to people He did so in the form of an angel; for when He passed through heaven He took on that form, which was a human form. For the whole of heaven, by virtue of what is Divine there, exists as one complete human being, as has been shown in much detail where the Grand Man, which is heaven, has been the subject; and this was how the Divine Human in those times came into being. And since Jehovah appeared in the human form of an angel it is evident that [this Divine Human] was nevertheless Jehovah Himself and that that actual form also was His, being what was Divine and His in heaven; and this was the Lord from eternity. But because Jehovah took on that human form by passing through heaven, and yet in order to save the human race it was necessary for Him to be a human being - in all reality and essentially such - He was pleased to undergo human birth, and so to take on a truly human form in which He - Jehovah Himself - was present. The Lord teaches that this is so in John,

Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. John 14:11.

And elsewhere,

I and the Father are one. John 10:30.

[5] The Lord's existence from eternity is also taught by Him in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 1:1-3, 14.

In the same gospel,

I came out from the Father and have come into the world; again I am leaving the world and going to the Father. John 16:28-29.

In the same gospel,

Jesus said, Father, glorify Me in Your Own Self with the glory I had with You before the world was. John 17:5.

And in the same gospel,

Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:58.

[6] These places show plainly that the Lord's Human as well is Jehovah, thus that His Human is Divine. It is on account of this that it says in John, The Word was God, and the Word became flesh, and also, 'Before Abraham was, I am', not 'I was', because Jehovah is I Am, Exodus 3:14.

From all this it may now be recognized that 'no one will see Me and live' means that the essential nature of the Divine Himself cannot be seen, except through the Lord in heaven. The expression 'through the Lord in heaven' is used because the Lord, being the Sun of heaven, is above the heavens, yet is present within them. Divine Truth is present within them, and Divine Truth emanating from the Lord as the Sun is the Lord in heaven; therefore the Divine Truth there is His face.

[7] It has been stated above in 10567, 10568, that things which are interior and Divine in the Word, the Church, and worship are meant by 'Jehovah's face'. The reason for this is that Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, thus the Lord in heaven, composes the things that are interior and Divine in the Word, the Church, and worship. This Truth is what is meant by 'Jehovah's face' wherever this is referred to in the Word, as in Matthew,

See that you do not despise any of these tiny ones; for I say to you that their angels in heaven always see the face of [My] Father who is in heaven. Matthew 18:10.

In the Book of Revelation,

The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the holy Jerusalem, and His servants will minister to Him. And they will see His face. Revelation 22:3-4.

[8] In Moses,

Jehovah will make His face shine upon you and be merciful to you. Jehovah will lift up His face upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:25-26.

In David,

Many are saying, Who will show us good? Lift up the light of Your face upon us, O Jehovah. Psalms 4:6.

In the same author,

How long, O Jehovah, do You hide Your face from me? Psalms 13:1.

In the same author,

To You my heart said, Seek My face! Your face, O Jehovah, I seek. Psalms 27:8.

In the same author,

God will be merciful to us and bless us; He will make His face shine upon us. Psalms 67:1.

In the same author,

Turn us back, O God, and make Your face shine, that we may be saved. Psalms 80:3, 7, 19.

In the same author,

Blessed are Your people, who walk in the light of Your face. Psalms 89:15.

In the same author,

O Jehovah, do not hide Your face from me. Psalms 102:2.

In the same author,

You hide Your face, they are dismayed. Psalms 104:29.

[9] Anyone can understand what 'Jehovah's face' serves to mean in these places, namely the Divine and everything which is an attribute of the Divine. Thus His 'face' serves to mean mercy, peace, and every kind of good, but in the universal sense Divine Truth since Divine Truth encompasses every kind of good. Both among people in the world and among angels in heaven Divine Good is embodied within Divine Truth; without it Divine Good does not exist, for truth is the receiver of good, thus also of mercy and peace. From this it now follows that where Divine Good does not exist within Divine Truth, neither does Jehovah's face. It also follows that where evil exists within falsity the Divine is not seen. This is what Jehovah's hiding His face and turning it away is used to mean in the following places: In Isaiah,

Your sins have hidden Jehovah's face from you. Isaiah 59:2.

In Jeremiah,

On account of their wickedness I have hidden My face from this city. Jeremiah 33:5.

In Ezekiel,

I turn My face away from them, and they profane My secret place. Ezekiel 7:22.

And in Micah,

Jehovah will hide His face from them, as they have rendered their deeds evil. Micah 3:4.

But it should be recognized that Jehovah, that is, the Lord, never turns His face away from a person, but that a person ruled by evil turns his face away from the Lord; and since, when he does so, the Divine is behind his back the appearance is that the Divine hides Himself or turns Himself away. The reality is that all hellish spirits turn their back to the Lord as the Sun, but angels always turn their face towards Him; and as to their spirit people behave in the same way while they live in the world.

9434. 'And the sight of Jehovah's glory was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel' means Divine Truth beaming brightly with the good of love in heaven itself, but harmful and ruinous with those restricted to its outward level, separated from the inward. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sight of Jehovah's glory' as the appearance presented by Divine Truth emanating from the Lord (the fact that 'the sight of' means the appearance presented before the eyes is self-evident; and for the meaning of 'Jehovah's glory' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, see 9429); from the meaning of 'fire' as love in both senses, dealt with in 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, in this instance God's love itself; from the meaning of 'the top of the mountain' as the inmost part of heaven, for 'Mount Sinai' means heaven, 9420, 9427, and its highest point, which is called 'the top' and the peak, means its inmost part, 9422; from the meaning of 'devouring' as consuming, and so harming and ruining; and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those restricted to outward things, apart from inward ones, dealt with often above. From all this it becomes clear that 'the sight of Jehovah's glory was like a [devouring] fire on the top of the mountain' means Divine Truth beaming brightly with the good of love in heaven itself; and the statement that it was 'like a devouring fire in the eyes of the children of Israel' means that with those restricted to its outward level, apart from the inward, it was harmful and ruinous.

[2] The implications of all this are that there are two kinds of love which are complete opposites, heavenly love and hellish love. Heavenly love consists of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour; hellish love consists of self-love and love of the world. Those with whom hellish loves reign are in hell, whereas those with whom heavenly loves reign are in heaven. For love is what constitutes the actual life within a person; without the love there is no life whatever. In everyone the heat and fire that his life possesses originate in his love; without that animating heat and fire he has no life, as is plainly evident. From this it follows that the character of the love determines the character of the life, and therefore that the character of the love determines that of the person. This being so, anyone can know from what his loves are whether he has heaven within himself or hell. The love present in a person is like a fire or flame, and in addition constitutes, as has been stated, the fire or flame of life; and the faith present there is like the light radiating from that fire or flame, and in addition constitutes the light which enlightens the more internal parts of his understanding. This also reveals the character of the light which gives rise to faith among those governed by heavenly love and the character of the light which gives rise to faith among those ruled by hellish love. The latter kind of light gives rise to faith that is no more than persuasion, which in itself is not faith at all, only a conviction that something is so, dictated by selfishness and worldliness, see 9363-9369. In the Church at the present day spiritual life, which is eternal life, is thought to lie in faith alone, thus in faith without the good works of heavenly love. But anyone who gives thought to the matter can see from the things which have now been stated what the character of that life is.

[3] Something must be said next about what Divine fire, that is, Divine Love, is like among those governed by heavenly love and what it is like among those ruled by hellish love. Among those governed by heavenly love it is God's fire or love constantly creating and renewing the interior parts of the will and enlightening the interior parts of the understanding. But among those ruled by hellish love it is God's fire or love constantly harming and ruining; and the reason for this is that among these people God's love meets with contrary feelings that destroy it. For it is turned into the fire or love of self and the world, and so into contempt for others in comparison with themselves, into feelings of enmity towards all who do not support them, thus into feelings of hatred, feelings of vengeance, and finally the readiness to behave brutally. This is why Jehovah's fire appeared before the eyes of the children of Israel as a devouring or consuming one. For being restricted to outward things, apart from inward, they were ruled by selfish and worldly love.

[4] The fact that this fire was to them a devouring and consuming one is again evident elsewhere in Moses,

It happened, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said, Lo, Jehovah our God has caused us to see His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire. Why therefore should we die? For this great fire will devour us; if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more we shall certainly die. Deuteronomy 5:23-25.

See also what has been shown in 6832, 8814, 8819, and the places quoted in 9380 showing that the character of this people was such. There are other places in the Word in which 'devouring fire' is used in reference to the wicked and means ruination, for example in Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and gloom. Fire devours before them, ¹ and behind them a flame burns. The land before them is like the garden of Eden, but behind them a desolate wilderness. ² Joel 2:1-3.

[5] In Isaiah,

Jehovah will cause His glorious voice ³ to be heard, in the flame of a devouring fire. Isaiah 30:30.

In the same prophet,

Who among us will dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us will dwell with the hearths of eternity? Isaiah 33:14.

In the same prophet,

You will be punished ⁴ by Jehovah with the flame of a devouring fire. Isaiah 29:6.

In Ezekiel,

Your descendants will be devoured by fire. Ezekiel 23:25.

In these places 'a devouring fire' is the fire of desires that spring from self-love and love of the world, for this fire is that which consumes a person and ruins the Church. This was also represented by the fire that went out from before Jehovah, which devoured Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu, because they put foreign ⁵ fire in their censers, Leviticus 10:1-2. 'Putting foreign fire in censers' means introducing worship that springs from a love other than that which is heavenly. Such fire means selfish and worldly love, and every desire arising from it, see 1297, 1861, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, 7575, 9141.

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