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Arcana Coelestia #10360

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10360. And ye shall keep the Sabbath. That this signifies that the Divine Human of the Lord is to be worshiped, is evident from the signification of “keeping,” when said of the Divine, as being to worship; and from the signification of “the Sabbath,” as being in the supreme sense the union of the Divine which is called the “Father” and of the Divine Human which is called the “Son,” thus the Divine Human in which is this union. This union is signified by “the Sabbath,” because by the six days of labor which precede the seventh is signified every state of combat; for in the spiritual sense “labor” does not mean such labor as there is in the world, but such as those who are in the church endure before they enter the church and become the church, which labor is combat against evils and falsities of evil. A like “labor” (in the spiritual sense) was endured by the Lord when He was in the world; for He then fought against the hells, and reduced them and likewise the heavens into order, and at the same time He glorified His Human, that is, He united it to the Divine Itself which He had from conception (see n. 9715, 9809).

[2] The time and state when the Lord was in combats is signified by the six days of labor, but the state when the union had been effected is signified by the seventh day, which is called “the Sabbath,” from “rest,” because the Lord then had rest. Consequently by “the Sabbath” is signified also the conjunction of the Lord with heaven, with the church, with an angel of heaven, and with a man of the church. The reason is that all who are to come into heaven must first be in combats against evils and the falsities of evil, and when these have been separated they enter heaven and are conjoined with the Lord, and then they have rest. It is similar with men in the world. It is known that these must be in combats, that is, that they must undergo temptations, before the good and truth which make the church have been implanted in them; thus before they have been conjoined with the Lord, consequently before they have rest. From this it is evident whence it is that a state of combat is signified by the six days of labor, while rest and also conjunction are signified by the seventh day or the Sabbath.

[3] That the conjunction of good and truth also, is signified by “the Sabbath,” is because when a man is in combats he is in truths; but when truths have been conjoined with good, thus when the man is in good, he then has rest; in like manner as the Lord, when He was in the world, and fought with the hells, was in respect to His Human Divine truth; and when He had united His Human to the Divine Itself, He then, even in respect to His Human, became the Divine good, or Jehovah.

[4] (That the six days which precede the Sabbath denote the combats which precede and prepare for the heavenly marriage, which is the conjunction of good and truth, may be seen in n. 8510, 8888, 9431. As regards the former state, when man is in truths and at the same time in combats against evils and falsities of evils, which state is signified by “the six days of labor,” and as regards the latter state, when he is in good and is led by the Lord, which is signified by “the Sabbath,” see n. 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701, 8772, 9139, 9224, 9227, 9230, 9274, 9832. That when the Lord was in the world He made His Human first Divine truth, and afterward Divine good, see the places cited in n. 9199, 9315; and that He did this by the combats of temptations, see the places cited in n. 9528.)

[5] Therefore he who knows that by “the Sabbath” in the supreme sense is meant the union of the Divine Itself in the Divine Human of the Lord, may know what those things signify which are so often said in the Word about the Sabbath, as in Isaiah:

If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, so that thou doest not thine inclinations on the day of My holiness; but shalt call the Sabbath honorable delights to the Holy One of Jehovah; and shalt honor it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own desire, nor speaking a word; then shalt thou delight thyself upon Jehovah; and I will exalt thee on the high places of the earth, and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father (Isaiah 58:13-14);

He who is acquainted with the internal sense of the Word can plainly see that in this passage by “the Sabbath” is signified the state of conjunction of man with the Lord, thus the state when man is led by the Lord and not by himself, which state is when he is in good. For to be led by the Lord, and not by self, is to “turn away the foot from the Sabbath, not to do one’s own inclinations, not to do one’s own ways, not to find one’s own desire, and not to speak a word.” That in this case the church is in him, and also heaven, is signified by that “he shall be exalted on the high places of the earth, and shall be fed with the heritage of Jacob.” Moreover, that “the Sabbath” denotes the Divine Human in which is union, is signified by the Sabbath being called “a day of holiness and of delight to the Holy One of Jehovah.”

[6] And in Jeremiah:

If ye will hallow the Sabbath day, then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in the chariot and on horses (Jeremiah 17:24-25);

He who is not acquainted with the internal sense of the Word will suppose that these things are to be understood according to the sense of the letter, namely, that if they would hallow the Sabbath, kings and princes would enter in by the gates of the city Jerusalem, and would ride in the chariot and on horses. This however is not the meaning; but that those who reverently worship the Divine Human of the Lord shall be in the Divine truths of heaven and of the church; for by “Jerusalem” is meant the church; by “kings and princes,” its Divine truths; by “the throne of David,” heaven where the Lord is; by “chariot,” the doctrine of good and truth; and by “horses,” an enlightened understanding. (That “Jerusalem” denotes the church, see n. 2117, 3654; that “kings” denote Divine truths, n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148; that “princes” denote primary truths, n. 1482, 2089, 9954; that a “throne” denotes heaven, n. 5313; that “a chariot” denotes the doctrine of good and truth, n. 5321, 8215; and that “horses” denote an understanding which is enlightened, n. 2760-2762, 3217, 5321, 6534)

[7] As by “the Sabbath” was signified the Lord as to the Divine Human in which there is union, it was therefore commanded that the breads of faces should be set in order upon the table every Sabbath (Leviticus 24:8). That the Lord as to the Divine Human is meant by “bread” is known in the church. For this reason also when the Lord was in the world He called Himself “the Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:27-28; Luke 6:1-5).

[8] And therefore when the Lord was in the world, and united His Human to the Divine Itself, He abrogated the Sabbath in respect to representative worship, or in respect to its worship such as was with the Israelitish people; and made the Sabbath day a day of instruction in the doctrine of faith and of love. This is involved in what is written in John:

Jesus healing a certain man on the Sabbath day said to him, Take up thy bed and walk; and he took up his bed and walked. But the Jews said that it was not allowable to carry a bed on the Sabbath day, and sought to kill the Lord, because He loosed the Sabbath (John 5:8-10, 18).

By the “healing of the sick” is signified the purifying of man from evils and the falsities of evil; by a “bed” is signified doctrine; and by “walking” is signified life.

[9] (That all the healings of diseases which were performed by the Lord involve purification from evils and falsities, or restorations to spiritual life, see n. 8364, 9031, 9086; and that “to walk” denotes life, n. 519, 1794, 8417, 8420.) That a “bed” denotes doctrine is evident from the passages in the Word where a “bed” is mentioned, and also from the representatives in the other life, where when a bed appears and one lying on it, there is signified the doctrine in which he is; consequently beds appear there most highly adorned for those who are in truths from good. But no one can know that such things are signified by the above words of the Lord except by the internal sense, for the Lord spoke by correspondences, thus by significatives, because from the Divine.

  
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Arcana Coelestia #8420

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8420. Whether they will walk in My law, or not. That this signifies whether they can live a life of truth and good, is evident from the signification of “walking,” as being to live (see n. 519, 1794); and from the signification of the “law,” as being the Word (n. 2606, 3382, 6752); and because it denotes the Word, it denotes Divine truth (n. 7463), thus also the doctrine of good and of truth. Therefore “to walk in the law of Jehovah” denotes to live a life of truth and good according to doctrine. That “to walk in the law” denotes to live according to the law, is known to everyone, because the phrase is used in common speech. From this it is evident that “to walk” denotes to live, and also that in the very word “walk,” there is the signification of the spiritual sense; in like manner as in very many other expressions. This comes from no other source than the influx of the spiritual world into the ideas of thought, and thus into words; for without this influx who would ever say “walking” to express living? as “walking in the law,” “in the statutes,” “in the commandments,” “in the fear of God.” The case is very similar with “going,” as denoting to live (of which just above, n. 8417), and also with “journeying,” “advancing,” “sojourning.” That these expressions denote living, is because in the spiritual world there are no spaces, but instead thereof states of life (see n. 2625, 2684, 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381).

  
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Arcana Coelestia #7381

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7381. Say unto Aaron. That this signifies the influx of the internal law into the external law, is evident from the representation of Moses, as being the law Divine (see n. 6723, 6752); and from the representation of Aaron, as being the doctrine of good and truth (n. 6998, 7089); the doctrine of good and truth which Aaron represents is nothing else than the external law coming forth from the internal law, that is, through the internal law from the Divine; and from the signification of “saying,” as being influx (n. 6152, 6291, 7291). That “to say” here denotes influx is because Moses was to say to Aaron, and Moses is the internal law, and Aaron the external, and influx from the Divine takes place through the internal into the external. The internal law is the truth Divine itself such as it is in heaven, and the external law is the truth Divine such as it is on earth; thus the internal law is truth accommodated to angels, and the external law is truth accommodated to men.

[2] As the internal law which Moses represents is truth accommodated to angels, and the external law which Aaron represents is truth accommodated to men, I may here say something about them. Truth accommodated to angels is for the most part incomprehensible to men, as is evident from the fact that things are seen and said in heaven such as eye has never seen, nor ear has ever heard. The reason is that the things said among the angels are spiritual things which have been abstracted from natural things, and consequently are remote from the ideas and expressions of human speech; for man has formed his ideas from the things in nature, and indeed in grosser nature, that is, from those which he has seen in the world and upon the earth, and has touched by sense, which things are material. The ideas of interior thought with man, although they are above material things, nevertheless terminate in material things, and where they terminate, there they appear to be, and from this he perceives that which he is thinking. Hence it is evident how the case is with that truth of faith, and what is its quality, which falls into the thought of man, and is called the external law, and is represented by Aaron.

[3] To illustrate this by an example: man cannot possibly think without the idea of time and space, which idea adheres to almost everything which he thinks; if idea from time and space were taken away from man, he would not know what he is thinking; and scarcely whether he is thinking. But in the ideas of the angels there is nothing from time and space, but instead of these there are states, and this because the natural world is distinguished from the spiritual world by time and space. The reason why there are time and space in the natural world, and instead of these there are states in the spiritual world, is that in the natural world the sun seems by apparent revolutions to make days and years, and to divide the days into four times, night, morning, noon, and evening; and the years also into four times, winter, spring, summer, and autumn; and also to do this by means of variations of light and shade, and of heat and cold. From this come the ideas of time and of its variations. The ideas of space arise from measuring by times, and therefore where the one is, there is the other.

[4] But in the spiritual world, the sun of heaven, whence come spiritual light and spiritual heat, does not make apparent rotations and revolutions, and thus induce ideas of time and space. The light which is from that sun is truth Divine; and the heat which is from that sun is good Divine. From these arise with the angels ideas of states; states of intelligence and faith from truth Divine; and states of wisdom and love from good Divine. To the variations of these states with the angels correspond the states of light and shade in the world, and also states of heat and cold, which are from the sun when it makes times and measures spaces. From this example it may to a certain extent appear what is the quality of that internal truth, or truth accommodated to angels, which is called the “internal law;” and also what is the quality of that external truth, or truth accommodated to men, which is called the “external law;” also whence it is that the things which the angels speak among themselves are to man incomprehensible, and also unutterable.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.