Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 5307

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5307. Shall we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God? That this signifies about the influx of truth in which is good from within, thus about the celestial of the spiritual, is evident from the signification of a "man," as being truth (see n. 3134, 3309, 3459); and from the signification of the "spirit of God," as being good from within, thus from the Divine. For the "spirit of God" denotes that which proceeds from the Divine, thus from good itself, because the Divine is good itself, and that which proceeds from it is truth in which is good, which is what is signified in the Word by the "spirit of God;" for the spirit itself does not go forth, but truth itself in which is good, or holy truth, the spirit being instrumental in bringing it forth. This truth in which is good is here the celestial of the spiritual, which is represented by Joseph. [2] It is known in the church that "Joseph" in the spiritual sense is the Lord, and therefore the Lord is called the "heavenly Joseph;" but it is not known what in the Lord Joseph represents. For the Lord is represented by Abraham, and also by Isaac, as well as by Jacob, and He is also represented by Moses and Elijah, by Aaron, by David, besides by many others in the Word, and yet not in the same way by one as by another. By Abraham the Lord is represented as to the Divine Itself, by Isaac as to the Divine rational, by Jacob as to the Divine natural, by Moses as to the law or historic Word, by Elijah as to the prophetic Word, by Aaron as to the priesthood, and by David as to the royalty. But what is represented by Joseph may be seen above (n. 3969, 4286, 4585, 4592, 4594, 4669, 4723, 4727, 4963, 5249). That which Joseph represents is called "the celestial of the spiritual from the natural," the only words by which it can be expressed. For the celestial is good from the Divine, and the spiritual is truth from that good, and thus is the truth of the good from His Divine Human. This the Lord was when He lived in the world; but when He had glorified Himself, He passed above it, and became the Divine good itself or Jehovah even as to the Human. [3] No more can be said in detail about this mystery, except that Joseph came to Egypt and first served in the house of Potiphar the prince of the guards and then was held in custody, but afterward became ruler over Egypt, in order that he might represent how the Lord progressively made the Human in Himself Divine, about which the Word was to be written, that it might contain Divine things in the internal sense; which sense was to be of service more especially to the angels (whose wisdom, which is incomprehensible and ineffable in comparison with human wisdom, consists in such things) and at the same time to men, who are especially fond of histories and revolve these in their minds, while the angels by influx from the Lord perceive in them what is Divine.


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