Verse 23. And this desire is approved by the conscience instructed by Divine truth; and it selects from the faculties of the mind every thought and volition which is suitable for the purpose.

38. Saying, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last." (1:11) This symbolically means, who is the one and only reality from firsts to lasts, from whom springs all else, thus who is the one and only love, the one and only wisdom, and the one and only life in itself, and so the one and only Creator, Savior and Enlightener from Himself, and therefore the all in all of the church and heaven, who alone is infinite and eternal, and Jehovah, and who is the Lord.

That these words contain all these ideas, and infinitely more, may be seen in nos. 13 and 29 above. We said there that in the spiritual world the characters or letters of the alphabet all have symbolic meanings, and that the Lord therefore describes His Divinity and infinity by alpha and omega, which symbolically mean that He is the all in all things of heaven and the church.

Since every letter has a symbolic meaning in the spiritual world and so in the language of angels, therefore David composed the 119th Psalm in a progression ordered according to the letters of the alphabet, beginning with aleph and ending with tau, as can be seen from the beginnings of the verses there. Something similar is seen in the 111th Psalm, but not so obviously.

On this account, too, Abram was called Abraham, and Sarai was called Sarah, which came to pass because in heaven Abraham and Sarah were not taken to mean those people, but something Divine, as is also the meaning, for H involves infinity, because it is simply an aspirate sound.

More on this subject may be seen in no. 29 above.