Gather yourselves from every side upon My sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth; ye shall eat fat to satiety, and drink blood even to drunkenness, of My sacrifice which I will sacrifice for you; ye shall be sated upon My table with horse, with chariot, with the mighty man, and every man of war. Thus will I put My glory among the nations (Ezek. 39:17-22);

everyone can see that by "blood" is not here meant blood, for it is said that they should "drink the blood of the princes of the earth, and this even to drunkenness;" and also that they should "eat fat even to satiety;" and then that they should be "sated with horse and with chariot." From this it is plain that something else than blood is meant by "blood," and something else than the princes of the earth by these "princes;" also something else than fat, and than horse and chariot, by "fat" and "horse" and "chariot;" but what is signified cannot be known except by means of the internal sense, which teaches that "blood" denotes Divine truth; "the princes of the earth," the primary truths of the church; "fat," Divine good; a "horse," the internal sense of the Word; and a "chariot," the very doctrine therefrom. That "blood" denotes Divine truth is evident from the passages above cited; also that "the princes of the earth" denote primary truths (n. 5044); "the earth," the church (n. 9325); a "horse," the internal sense of the Word (n. 2760-2762); and a "chariot," doctrine (n. 5321, 8215). [3] From all this it is now evident what is signified by the words of the Lord in John:

Jesus said, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye shall have no life in you. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him (John 6:53-56). (That "flesh" denotes Divine good, see n. 3813, 7850, 9127; and that "the Son of man whose flesh they were to eat and whose blood they were to drink" denotes the Lord as to Divine truth from Divine good, n. 9807.) [4] But that "fat," or "fatness," denotes Divine good, is evident in these passages:

In this mountain Jehovah shall make for all peoples a feast of fat things (Isa. 25:6). Attend unto Me, and eat ye good, and your soul shall be delighted in fatness (Isa. 55:2). I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness, and My people shall be sated with My good (Jer. 31:14). From all this it can be seen why all the fat of the sacrifice was to be burnt upon the altar, and why all the blood was to be poured forth at its side. [5] As "blood" and "fat" signified these Divine things, therefore the Israelitish people were wholly forbidden to eat fat and blood, as is evident in Moses:

It shall be a statute of eternity in your generations, that ye shall eat no fat and no blood (Lev. 3:17). Ye shall eat no fat, whether of ox, or sheep, or goat; everyone who shall eat the fat of the beast of which an offering is made by fire unto Jehovah, the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his peoples (Lev. 7:23, 25). Whosoever shall eat any blood, I will set My faces against the soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from the midst of his people (Lev. 17:10-14; also Deut. 12:23-25). [6] The reason why to eat fat and blood was so severely forbidden, was because by it was represented the profanation of Divine truth and Divine good; for the Israelitish and Jewish nation was in external things separate from internal, thus in no Divine truth and in no Divine good in respect to faith and love; but was in external worship without these; for they were in the love of self and of the world more than other nations, consequently in the evils that spring from this love, which are contempt for others, enmity, hatred, revenge, ferocity, and cruelty. Hence also it was that internal truths were not revealed to them, for if they had been revealed, they could not but have profaned them. (That such was the character of that nation, see the places cited in n. 9320, 9380.) Therefore they would have represented profanation if they had eaten blood and fat, for whatever was instituted among them was representative of the interior things of the church and of heaven. [7] From this again it is plain what is signified by "eating fat to satiety," and by "drinking blood, the blood of the princes of the earth, even to drunkenness," in Ezekiel 39:17-22 (of which above); namely, that when interior things were opened, then to those who were in them, that is, in faith and in love to the Lord, would be appropriated Divine truth and Divine good, which was done among the nations when the Lord came into the world; wherefore also it is there said, "Thus will I put My glory among the nations" (Ezek. 39:21). By "glory" is signified Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, such as it is in heaven (n. 9429); and by "nations" are signified all who are in good (n. 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849, 4574, 6005, 8771, 9256). [8] This the Lord Himself confirms when He says that "His flesh is food indeed, and His blood is drink indeed," and that "whoso eateth His flesh, and drinketh His blood, abideth in Him, and He in him" (John 6:55, 56); and also in His instituting the Holy Supper, in which they were to "eat His flesh and drink His blood" (Matt. 26:27, 28); by which is signified the appropriation of Divine good and Divine truth from Him; and the appropriation of Divine good and Divine truth from the Lord is possible with those only who acknowledge the Lord's Divine, for this is the first and essential thing itself of all things of faith in the church. For heaven cannot be unclosed to others, because the whole heaven is in this faith; thus the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord's Divine good, which is there meant by "blood," cannot be communicated to others. Therefore let everyone within the church take heed to himself lest he deny the Lord, and also lest he deny His Divine, for heaven is closed to this denial, and hell is opened to it, all such being separated from heaven, where the Divine of the Lord is all in all, because it makes heaven. And when heaven has been closed, a memory-knowledge of the truths of faith from the Word and the doctrine of the church is indeed possible; but not any faith which is faith, for faith which is faith comes from above; that is, through heaven from the Lord. [9] That the Lord so spoke, namely, that He called the Divine good that proceeds from Him His "flesh," and the Divine truth that proceeds from His Divine good His "blood," was because the Word, which is from Him, was the Divine that fills the universal heaven. Such a Word must exist by means of correspondences, consequently must be representative and significative in each and all things, for thus and no otherwise it conjoins the men of the church with the angels in the heavens. For when men perceive the Word according to the letter, the angels perceive it according to the internal sense; thus instead of the Lord's "flesh" they perceive Divine good, and instead of His "blood," Divine truth, both from the Lord. From this what is holy flows in through the Word.