5915. And I will sustain thee there. That this signifies continuous influx of spiritual life from the internal celestial, is evident from the signification of "sustaining," when it is said by Joseph, by whom is represented the internal celestial, as being the influx of spiritual life from the internal celestial; sustenance in the spiritual sense being nothing else than the influx of good and of truth through heaven from the Lord. From this are the angels sustained, and from this is the soul of man (that is, his internal man) sustained. To this sustenance corresponds the sustenance of the external man by food and drink; and therefore by "food" is signified good, and by "drink," truth. Such also is the correspondence, that when a man is partaking of food, the angels with him are in the idea of good and truth, and wonderful to say with a difference according to the species of the food. Thus when a man in the Holy Supper receives the bread and the wine, the angels with him are in the idea of the good of love and the good of faith (n. 3464, 3735), for the reason that bread corresponds to the good of love, and wine to the good of faith; and because they correspond, they also signify the same in the Word. [2] That man's soul (that is, the internal man) is sustained by spiritual food and drink, that is, by good and truth, is evident from the Lord's words in Moses:
Man doth not live by bread only, but by every utterance of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4);
the "utterance of the mouth of Jehovah" is the good and the truth which proceed from Him. In John:
Labor not for the food which perisheth, but for the food which remaineth into eternal life, which the Son of man will give you (John 6:27). Again:
The disciples besought Jesus, saying, Master, eat. He said to them, I have food to eat that ye know not (John 4:31, 32). And concerning drink, in the same:
Jesus said, If anyone thirst, let him come unto me and drink; whosoever believeth in Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow streams of living water (John 7:37, 38).
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