278. (5:7) And the first animal was like a lion. That this signifies the appearance in ultimates of the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord as to power and effect, is evident from the signification of a lion, as being Divine truth proceeding from the Lord as to power and effect, which will be explained in what follows. The reason why it denotes appearance in ultimates is because the cherubim were seen as animals, and the first was like a lion. It is said in ultimates because that appearance was before John when he was in the spirit, and he then saw all things in ultimates, in which celestial and spiritual Divine things are variously represented, sometimes by gardens and parks, sometimes by palaces and temples, sometimes by rivers and waters, sometimes by animals of various descriptions, as by lions, camels, horses, oxen, heifers, sheep, lambs, doves, eagles, and many others. Similar things were seen by the prophets by whom the Word was written, in order that the Word in its ultimates, which are the things contained in the sense of the letter, might consist of such things as are in the world, which were representations and correspondences of celestial and spiritual things, and thus serve for a basis and foundation to the spiritual sense. It was for this heaven also that the cherubim, by which are signified the guardianship and providence of the Lord that the higher heavens may not be approached except by the good of love and of charity, were seen by John, and also by Ezekiel, to have faces like animals. Because it is the Lord who guards and provides, and this by Divine truth and Divine good, thus by His Divine wisdom and intelligence, therefore there were seen four animals, respectively like a lion, a calf, a man and an eagle.

[2] By the lion was represented the power of Divine truth; by the calf, the Divine good as to protection; by the man, the Divine wisdom; and by the eagle, the Divine intelligence. These four are included in the Divine providence of the Lord as to the guardianship of the higher heavens, that they may not be approached except by the good of love and of charity.

That a lion signifies Divine truth proceeding from the Lord as to power, is evident from the following passages in the Word; as in Moses:

"Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up; he stooped down, he lay down as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?" (Genesis 49:9).

By Judah is here signified the Lord's Celestial Kingdom, where all are in power from the Lord by means of Divine truth; this power is meant by a lion's whelp, and by an old lion. By the prey from which he went up is signified the dissipation of falsities and evils; by stooping down is signified to put himself into power; by lying down is signified to be in security from every falsity and evil; therefore it is said, "who shall rouse him up?" (That by Judah in the Word is signified the Celestial Kingdom, may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 3634, 3881, 5603, 5782, 6363. That by prey, when said of that kingdom and concerning the Lord, is signified the dissipation of falsities and evils, and snatching away and deliverance from hell, Arcana Coelestia 6368, 6442; that by stooping, when said of the lion, is signified to put himself into power, n. 6369; and that to lie down, signifies a state of security and tranquillity, n. 3696).

[3] In the same:

"At this time it shall be said to Jacob and to Israel, What hath God wrought? Behold, the people riseth up as an old lion, and lifteth up himself as a young lion; he shall not lie down until he eat of the spoil" (Numbers 23:23, 24).

And in the same:

"He coucheth, he lieth down as an old lion; who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee" (24:9).

The subject here treated of is Jacob and Israel, by whom is signified the Lord's Spiritual Kingdom; their power is described by an old and a young lion rising, lifting himself up, and couching; the dissipation of falsities and evils is signified by eating of the spoil; and a state of security and tranquillity by he lieth down, who shall stir him up? (That by Jacob and Israel in the Word is signified the Lord's Spiritual Kingdom, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 4286, 4570, 5973, 6426, 8805, 9340. What the Lord's Celestial Kingdom is, and what His Spiritual Kingdom, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 20-28. That to couch denotes to put himself into power, that prey and spoil denote the dissipation of falsities and evils, and that lying down when said of a lion denotes a state of security and tranquillity, see above).

[4] Again in Nahum:

"Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions? where walked the lion, the old lion, the lion's whelp, and none making afraid?" (2:11).

By lions here also are signified those who are in power by means of Divine truth; by their dwelling is signified, where there are such in the church; by their feeding place are signified the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good; by their walking and none making afraid is signified their state of security from evils and falsities.

[5] Again, in Micah

"The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people, as a dew from Jehovah, as the drops upon the herb, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he go through, will tread down, and disperse in pieces, so that none delivereth. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine enemies, and all thine adversaries shall be cut off" (Micah 5:7-9).

By the remnant of Jacob are signified the truths and goods of the church; by dew from Jehovah is signified spiritual truth; by the drops upon the herb, natural truth. By a lion among the beasts of the forest, and by a young lion among the flocks of sheep, also by treading down and dispersing, so that none delivereth, is signified power over evils and falsities. On account of this signification it is said, "Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine enemies, and all thine adversaries shall be cut off"; for by enemies are signified evils, and by adversaries falsities (as may be seen Arcana Coelestia 2851, 8289, 9314, 10481).

[6] In Isaiah:

"The Lord said, Go, set a watchman, who shall behold and declare. And he saw a chariot, a pair of horsemen, a chariot of an ass, a chariot of a camel, and he hearkened a hearkening; a lion upon the watch tower cried aloud: O Lord! I stand continually in the daytime, and I am set upon my guard all the night; Babylon is fallen, is fallen" (21:6-9).

The subject here treated of is the advent of the Lord, and a new church at that time. By a lion upon the watch tower is signified the guardianship and providence of the Lord; therefore it is said, "I stand continually in the daytime, and I am set upon my guard all the nights." By a chariot and by a pair of horsemen is signified the doctrine of truth from the Word. By hearkening a hearkening is signified a life according to that truth. (That chariot signifies the doctrine of truth, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 2761, 2762, 5321, 8029, 8215: that horseman signifies the Word as to understanding may be seen, n. 2761, 6401, 6534, 7024, 8146, 8148).

[7] In the same:

"Like as a lion and a young lion roareth on his prey when a multitude of shepherds goeth out against him so shall Jehovah of hosts descend to war upon mount Zion, and upon the hill thereof" (31:4).

In this passage Jehovah is compared to a lion roaring, because by a lion is signified the power of leading out from hell, or from evils, and by roaring is signified defence against evils and falsities; therefore it is said, "so shall Jehovah of hosts descend to war upon mount Zion, and upon the hill thereof." Mount Zion and the hill thereof denotes the celestial church and the spiritual church; and the prey upon which the lion and the young lion is said to roar signifies deliverance from evils, which are from hell.

[8] To roar, when said of the lion, has the same signification in Hosea:

"I will not return to destroy Ephraim, they will go after Jehovah as a lion roareth" (11:9, 10).

In Amos:

"The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord Jehovih hath spoken, who will not prophesy?" (3:8).

In the Apocalypse,

"The angel cried with a loud voice, as a lion roareth" (10:3).

And in David:

"The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together and lie down in their dwellings" (Psalms 104:21, 22).

By these words in David is described the state of the angels of heaven when they are not in a state of intense love and wisdom therefrom; and, when they return into that state, the former state is described by the lions roaring after their prey, and seeking their food from God. The latter state is described by the sun arising, and their gathering themselves together, and lying down in their dwellings. By lions are meant the angels of heaven; by their roaring is meant desire; by prey and food are meant the good of love and the truth of wisdom; by the sun arising is meant the Lord as to love and wisdom thence; by their gathering themselves together, their returning into a celestial state; and by lying down in their dwellings, a state of tranquillity and peace (concerning these two states of the angels of heaven, see in the work, Heaven and Hell 154-161).

[9] Because Jehovah is compared to a lion from Divine truth as to power, therefore the Lord is called a lion in the Apocalypse:

"Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David" (5:5).

And because all power is from the Lord by means of Divine truth, therefore this is also signified by a lion; as in Moses:

"And of Gad he said, Blessed is he who hath given breadth to Gad; as a lion he dwelleth, he seizeth the arm, also the crown of the head" (Deuteronomy 33:20).

By Gad is signified, in the highest sense, omnipotence, and hence in the representative sense the power of truth (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia, n 3934, 3935). Hence it is said, "Blessed is he who hath given breadth to Gad," for by breadth is signified truth (see Arcana Coelestia 1613, 3433, 3434, 4482, 9487, 10179; that all power is from Divine truth, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell, in the article concerning the power of the angels of heaven, n. 228-233).

[10] Because by lion is signified power, therefore in the lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan, it is said,

"Saul and Jonathan were lovely, they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions" (2 Sam. 1:23).

By Saul in this passage, as a king, and by Jonathan, as the son of a king, is meant truth defending the church, the subject treated of being the doctrine of truth and good; for that lamentation was inscribed "to teach the sons of Judah the bow" (ver. 18). By the bow is signified that doctrine (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 2686, 2709, 6422).

[11] Because by the kings of Judah and Israel the Lord was represented as to Divine truth, and because by a throne was represented judgment, which is executed from Divine truth, and by lions were represented power, guardianship and defence against falsities and evils, therefore near the two stays of the throne built by Solomon there were two lions, and twelve upon the six steps on the one side and on the other (1 Kings 10:18-20). From these considerations it is evident what is signified by lions in the Word when the subject treated is the Lord, heaven and the church. Lions also, in the Word, in an opposite sense, signify the power of falsity from evil, by which the church is destroyed and devastated; as in Jeremiah:

"The young lions roar against him, they utter their voice, they reduce the earth to wasteness" (2:15).

And in Isaiah:

A nation "whose darts are sharp, and all his bows bent, the hoofs of his horses are accounted as rock, his roaring as of a lion, he roareth as a young lion, he roareth and layeth hold of the prey" (5:28, 29).

Also in many other places, as in Isaiah 11:6; 35:9; Jeremiah 4:7; 5:6; 12:8; 50:17; 51:38; Ezekiel 19:3, 5, 6; Hosea 13:7, 8; Joel 1:6, 7; Psalms 17:12; 22:13; 57:4; 58:6; 91:13.

6832. 'In a flame of fire from the middle of a bramble bush' means God's love present in true factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'a flame of fire' as God's love, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'a bramble bush' as true factual knowledge. The reason why 'a bramble bush' means true factual knowledge is that all shrubs of every kind mean factual knowledge, whereas actual plantations of trees, being larger, mean cognitions and perceptions. Because it produces flower and berries 'a bramble bush' means true factual knowledge. True factual knowledge that the Church possesses consists in nothing else than the Word as it exists in the sense of the letter and also every one of the Church's representative forms and meaningful signs that existed among the descendants of Jacob. These in the external form they take are called true factual knowledge; but in their internal form they are spiritual truths. But truths in their internal or spiritual form could not be made visible to those descended from Jacob, for the reason that they were interested solely in things of an external nature and had no wish whatever to know about anything internal. Therefore the Lord appeared in a bramble bush (when the Lord appears to people He does so in a way suited to the kind of people they are, for a person cannot receive the Divine in any way other than that which is a way suited to the kind of person he is); and therefore also, when the Lord appeared on Mount Sinai He appeared to the people' as a fire burning even to the heart of heaven, and as darkness, cloud, and pitch darkness', Deuteronomy 4:11; 5:22-25; also Exodus 19:18. He would have appeared in an altogether different way if the people below the mountain who beheld Him had not been the kind of people they were. And because those people were interested solely in things of an external nature, when Moses went in to the Lord on Mount Sinai, it is said that he went into the cloud, Exodus 20:21; 24:2, 18; 34:2-5, 'the cloud' being the external aspect of the Word, see Preface to Genesis 18, and 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343 (end), and also consequently representatives in the Church which are seen in outward form.

[2] The truth that the Lord appears to each individual person in a way suited to the kind of person he is may be recognized from the consideration that the Lord appears to those in the inmost or third heaven as the Sun from which light beyond description radiates, the reason being that those there are governed by the good of love to the Lord. He appears to those in the middle or second heaven as the Moon, the reason being that there they are governed by love to the Lord in a more remote and obscure way; for they are governed by love towards the neighbour. But the Lord does not appear to those in the lowest or first heaven either as the Sun or the Moon, only as Light, a light far more brilliant than light in the world. And since the Lord appears to each in a way suited to the kind of person he is, He cannot appear to those in hell as anything other than dark cloud and pitch darkness. For as soon as the light of heaven which comes from the Lord shines into any hell, darkness and thick darkness are produced there. From all this one may now recognize that the Lord appears to each individual person in a way suited to the kind of person he is, for this is suited to the way he receives the Lord. And since the descendants of Jacob were interested solely in things of an external nature, the Lord appeared to Moses in a bramble bush, and also in a cloud when Moses went in to the Lord on Mount Sinai.

[3] The reason why 'a flame' is God's love is that love in its earliest origin is nothing other than fire or flame from the Lord as the Sun. The fire or flame of this sun is what supplies each individual person with the being (esse) of his life; it is that life-giving fire which fills a person's interiors with warmth, as one may recognize from what happens with love. To the extent that love increases in a person he warms up; but to the extent that it diminishes he cools off. This explain s why, when the Lord appeared in a vision, He appeared as fire and flame, as in Ezekiel,

The appearance of the four living creatures (who were cherubs) was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of lamps. It was moving between the living creatures as a bright fire, and out of the fire went forth lightning. Above the firmament that was over their heads, in appearance like a sapphire stone, there was the likeness of a throne, and over the likeness of a throne there was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it, above. And I saw the shape of burning coals, as the shape of fire, within it round about, from the appearance of His loins and upwards. But from the appearance of His loins and downwards I saw as it were the appearance of fire, whose brightness was round about it. Ezekiel 1:13, 26-28.

[4] Nobody can deny that all the several details of this vision are signs that represent aspects of the Divine; but unless one knows what is meant by 'the cherubs', 'the burning coals of fire, like the appearance of lamps', 'a throne', 'the appearance of a man upon it', 'his loins from which fire emanated upwards and downwards, and the brightness radiating from the fire', one can have no knowledge of the real holiness hidden within all those several details. 'The cherubs' are the Lord's Providence, see 308; 'the throne' is heaven, or - to be exact - Divine Truth that emanates from the Lord to form heaven, 5313; 'the appearance of a man upon the throne above' is plainly the Lord's Divine Human; and 'loins' are conjugial love and all heavenly love that derives from it, 3021, 4277, 4280, 4575, 5050, 5062. This love was represented by 'the shape of burning coal, as the shape of fire, whose brightness was round about it'.

[5] In Daniel,

I saw, until thrones had been placed, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was a flame of fire; His wheels were burning fire. A river of five issued and came forth from before Him. Daniel 7:9-10.

The Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love was seen in this vision too as a flame of fire. In John,

He who sat on the white horse, His eyes were like aflame of fire. Revelation 19:11-12.

'He who sat on the white horse' is the Lord in respect of the Word, as is explicitly stated in verses 13, 16, of that chapter. Thus 'the flame of fire' is Divine Truth contained in the Word, which radiates from the Lord's Divine Goodness. In the same book,

In the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe. His head and hair were white, like white wool, like snow; but His eyes were like a flame of fire. Revelation 1:13-14.

Here also 'eyes like a flame of fire' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Goodness.

[6] The meaning of 'a flame of fire' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is also evident in David,

The voice of Jehovah falls like a flame of fire. Psalms 29:7.

'The voice of Jehovah' stands for Divine Truth. In order that Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good might be represented, the people were commanded to make a lampstand of pure gold with seven lamps and to place it in the tent of meeting by the table where the loaves of the presence were, and to keep the lamps burning unceasingly before Jehovah, Exodus 25:31-end; 37:17-24; 40:24-25; Leviticus 24:4; Numbers 8:2; Zechariah 4:2. The lampstand with its seven lamps served to represent Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good.

[7] In order also that Divine Good itself might be represented they were commanded to have perpetual fire on the altar,

Fire shall burn on the altar and not be put out; the priest shall kindle pieces of wood on it at every dawn. Fire shall burn unceasingly on the altar and not be put out. Leviticus 6:12-13.

The fact that the ancients were very well acquainted with the use of fire to represent Divine Love may be recognized from the spread of that representative from the Ancient Church even to nations far away whose worship was idolatrous and who, as is well known, established an everlasting sacred fire and placed in charge of it virgins, who were called the vestal virgins.

[8] In the contrary sense 'fire' and 'flame' mean filthy kinds of love, such as those of vengeance, cruelty, hatred, and adultery, and in general the cravings that spring from self-love and love of the world. This too is clear from very many places in the Word, of which let just the following be quoted: In Isaiah,

Behold, they have become as stubble, the fire has burned them; they do not save themselves from the power of the flame. ¹ There will be no coal to be warmed by [nor] fire to sit in front of. Isaiah 47:14.

In Ezekiel,

Behold, I will kindle in you a five, which will devour in you every green tree and every dry tree. The blazing flame ² will not be put out, and all faces from south to north will be scorched by it. Ezekiel 20:47.

Here 'fire' and 'flame' mean desires for what is evil and false which annihilate everything good and true in the Church, and thereby lay it waste.

[9] In Luke,

The rich man said to Abraham, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Luke 16:24.

People who do not know that a person's vital heat has a different origin from that which is the source of elemental fire cannot possibly do anything else but think that by hell fire is meant fire like that found in the world. In the Word however this latter kind of fire is not meant but the fire of love, thus the fire of a person's life, emanating from the Lord as a Sun. And when this fire comes among those engrossed in pursuits contrary to it, it is turned into the fire of evil desires which, as stated above, belong to vengeance, hatred, and cruelty, and which well up from self-love and love of the world. This is the fire that torments those who are in hell, for when the restraint placed on their evil desires is relaxed, one sets upon another and they torment one another in dreadful and indescribable ways. For each has the wish for supremacy and wants to take from the other the things he has by hidden or open devices. When one or two have such desires hatreds consequently develop within the group, and these lead to the savage deeds that are performed, especially by the use of devices involving magic and the use of figments of the imagination, devices which are countless and totally unknown in the world.

[10] People who do not believe in the existence of spiritual things, especially those who worship nature, cannot at all be led to believe that the warmth present in living persons, which constitutes the actual life within them, has a different origin from that which is the source of worldly heat. For they are not even aware, let alone able to acknowledge, that there is a heavenly fire radiating from the Lord as a Sun, and that this Fire is pure love. Consequently they are unaware of countless instances in the Word in which no other kind of fire is meant; nor are they aware of countless manifestations of it in the human being, who is an organ made to receive that fire.

Imibhalo yaphansi: