50. What the Most Ancient Church understood by 'the image of the Lord' exceeds everything one can say about it. Man is totally unaware of the fact that the Lord is governing him by means of angels and spirits, and that at least two spirits and two angels are present with everyone. By means of the spirits he is in communication with the world of spirits, and by means of the angels with heaven. Without this communication with the world of spirits by means of the spirits, and with heaven by means of the angels, and so by means of heaven with the Lord, a person cannot exist at all. His entire life depends upon that link, and if the spirits and angels were to withdraw he would perish instantly.

[2] As long as a person remains unregenerate he is governed in an entirely different way from when he is regenerate. As long as he is unregenerate, evil spirits reside with him, who have such dominion over him that angels, though present, can accomplish little more than simply distract him from plunging into utter evil and so divert him towards something good. Indeed they use his own unregenerate desires to divert him towards good, and his illusions of the senses to do so towards truth. At that point he is in communication with the world of spirits by means of the spirits who reside with him, but not in the same way with heaven, for the reason that evil spirits have dominion and angels simply forestall them.

[3] When however he is regenerate it is the angels who then have dominion, and they breathe into him every kind of good and truth, as well as a horror and dread of evils and falsifies. Angels do indeed lead, yet they are but servants, for it is the Lord alone who, by means of angels and spirits, governs a person. Now because this is done through the ministry of angels, it is said here, in the plural first of all, 'Let Us make man in Our image'. Yet because it is still He alone who rules and disposes, it is said in the following verse, in the singular, 'God created him in His image'. This the Lord also states plainly in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, He who formed you from the womb, I Jehovah make all things, stretching out the heavens Alone, spreading out the earth by Myself. Isaiah 44:24.

Angels themselves also profess that no power at all resides with themselves but that they act from the Lord alone.

875. For the hour of his judgment is come. That this signifies the separation of those who live according to Divine truths, from those who do not live according to them, is evident from the signification of hour, as denoting state, in this case the last state of the church, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of judgment, as denoting the separation of the good from the evil; consequently, of those who live according to the Lord's Divine truths from those who do not. For the latter are evil, but the former are good. That the separation of these is signified by the Last Judgment, is evident from the things set forth in the small work concerning The Last Judgment. That it is the separation of those who live according to Divine truths, from those who do not live according to them, is evident from the passages in the Word where the Last Judgment is treated of, as in Matthew 25, where the separation of the sheep from the goats is described. The sheep are those who have done good, and the goats those who have not done good. Also from the passages in the Word where it is said that every one shall be judged according to his works, that is, according to his life:

As in Matthew 16:27; John 5:29; Apoc. 14:13; 20:12, 13; 22:12; and elsewhere. See also above (n. 785).

The reason why it is called the hour of judgment is, that hour signifies not only time but also state, like day, week, month, year, and time in general; as may be seen above (n. 571, 610, 664, 673, 747, 761). And concerning the signification of hour in particular, see above (n. 194, 488, 673).

Hour and day are so often mentioned in the Word because of the spiritual sense which is in every part of it. For while man thinks of hour and day, and thence of time, the angels, who are in the spiritual sense of the Word, think of state. The reason is, that angels have no idea of time, because they have no days, weeks, months, and years, such as are in the world; but they have changes of state, by which they measure things successive; concerning which see the work on Heaven and Hell 162-169), where time in heaven is treated of.