Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10067

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10067. 'And sprinkle it over Aaron and over his garments' means a reciprocal uniting of Divine Good and Divine Truth within the Lord's Divine Human in the higher heavens. This is clear from the representation of 'Aaron' as the Lord in respect of Divine Good, dealt with in 9806, which is the Lord's Divine Good in the celestial kingdom, dealt with in 9946, or what amounts to the same thing, in the higher heavens; from the meaning of Aaron's 'garments' as a representative sign of the Lord's spiritual kingdom lying adjacent to His celestial kingdom, dealt with in 9814; and from the meaning of 'sprinkling over them' as uniting. For what was sprinkled or poured out over someone represented a uniting, as also previously with the blood sprinkled over the altar round about, 10064.

[2] The reason why the Lord's Divine Human in the heavens is what is meant is that the subject here and in what comes immediately after is the Lord's Divine [Being] in the heavens and His union with the angels there, so that the subject is the second state of the glorification of the Lord's Human, see 10057. So it is that here 'Aaron' represents the Lord in respect of Divine Good in the celestial kingdom and 'his garments' Divine Truth in the spiritual kingdom lying adjacent to the celestial kingdom; thus the Lord in respect of both in the higher heavens is represented. The reason why the Divine Human is what this Divine Good and Divine Truth come from is that nothing Divine is acknowledged and worshipped in the heavens other than the Lord's Divine Human; for the Divine [Being] which the Lord called His Father was the Divinity within Himself. The truth that in the heavens nothing Divine is acknowledged and worshipped other than the Lord's Divine Human becomes clear from the Lord's words recorded many times in the Gospels, such as the following,

All things have been delivered to Me by the Father. Matt 11:27; Luke 10:22.
The Father has given all things into the hand of the Son. John 3:34,35. The Father has given the Son power over all flesh. John 17:2. Without Me you can do nothing. John 15:5. Father, all Mine are Yours, and all Yours are Mine. John 17:10. All power in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Matt 28:18. Jesus said to Peter, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matt 16:19.

[3] The truth of all this is also evident from the consideration that no one can be joined through faith and love to the Divine [Being] Himself without the Divine Human; for it is impossible to form in the mind any idea of the Divine [Being] Himself, called the Father, because He is incomprehensible, and that of which it is impossible to have any mental picture forms no part of a person's belief nor thus of what he loves. Yet the most important of all the elements of worship is believing in God and loving Him above all else. That the Divine [Being] Himself, or the Father, is incomprehensible is also the Lord's teaching, in John,

Nobody has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. John 1:18.

In the same gospel,

You have never heard the Father's voice nor seen His shape. John 5:37.

[4] And that the Divine [Being] Himself, or the Father, is comprehensible within the Lord through His Divine Human is likewise His teaching, in John,

He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. John 12:45.

In the same gospel,

If you know Me you know My Father also, and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. He who sees Me sees the Father. John 14:6-11.

And in Matthew,

All things have been delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him. Matt 11:27; Luke 10:22.

The reason why it is also said that no one knows the Son except the Father is that 'the Son' is used to mean Divine Truth and 'the Father' Divine Good, each being within the Lord; and one cannot be known except from the other. That is why the Lord first says that all things have been delivered to Him by the Father, and afterwards that the Father is known to him to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him. For the meaning of 'the Son' as Divine Truth and of 'the Father' as Divine Good, each of which are the Lord's, see 2803, 2813, 3704, 7499, 8328, 8897, 9807. From all this it is now evident that the Divine [Being] in the heavens is the Lord's Divine Human.

[5] Next it must be stated what was represented by the blood of the second lamb being sprinkled over the altar round about, and by some of the blood and some of the anointing oil being sprinkled over Aaron and over his garments. From what has been stated and shown above in 10064-10067 it is evident that the uniting of Divine Truth to Divine Good and of Divine Good to Divine Truth within the Lord's Divine Human were meant. But the arcanum that lies hidden within this has not yet been disclosed. The arcanum is that the uniting of Divine Good and Divine Truth, thus of the Divine [Being] Himself, called the Father, and Divine Truth or the Son, was reciprocal. The uniting of Divine Truth to Divine Good is meant by the sprinkling of the blood over the altar, 10064. These when they have been united are meant by the blood on the altar, some of which was to be taken, 10065, and by the anointing oil, which means Divine Good, 10066. Consequently the reciprocal uniting of Divine Truth and Divine Good within the Lord's Divine Human is meant by the sprinkling of that blood together with the anointing oil over Aaron and over his garments, as shown earlier on in this paragraph 10067.

[6] That the uniting was reciprocal is absolutely clear from the Lord's words in the following places: In John,

I and the Fathera are one. Even thoughb you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father. John 10:30,38.

In the same gospel,

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. John 14:6-11.

In the same gospel,

Jesus said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. All Mine are Yours, and all Yours are Mine. John 17:1,10.

In the same gospel,

Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. And God will glorify Him in Himself. John 13:31,32.
From these places it becomes clear that the Divine Good of Divine Love, which is the Father, has been united to Divine Truth, which is the Son, in a reciprocal manner within the Lord, and that consequently His Human is Divine Good. The like is also meant when the Lord says that He came from the Father, and has come into the world, and is going to the Father, John 16:27-29; that all things which are the Father's are His, John 16:15; and that the Father and He are one, John 10:30.

[7] But a better way to understand these matters may lie in considering the reciprocal joining together of goodness and truth with a person who is being regenerated by the Lord, for, as has been stated previously, the Lord regenerates people just as He glorified His Human, 10057. When the Lord regenerates a person He instills truth that will become the truth of faith in the understanding part of the person's mind and good that will become the good of love in the will part of it. There He joins the two together, and when they have been joined together the truth of faith derives its life from the good of love, and the good of love receives the specific quality of its life from the truth of faith. This joining together is accomplished in a reciprocal or mutual manner by good; it is called the heavenly marriage and constitutes heaven with the person. The Lord dwells in this heaven as that which is His, for all the good of love springs from Him, as does all the joining of truth to good. The Lord cannot dwell in anything that is the person's own, because that is evil.

[8] This mutual joining together is what is meant by the Lord's words in John,

On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. John 14:20.

And in the same gospel,

All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them ... that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You, and they may be one in Us. John 17:10,21,22.

A mutual joining together is described in these words, yet they should not be taken to mean that a person joins himself to the Lord. Rather the Lord joins to Himself the person who abandons evils; for the abandonment of evils is left to the person's own responsibility, and when he abandons them the reciprocal joining together of the truth belonging to faith and the good belonging to love is effected by the Lord, and not at all by that person. For as is well known in the Church, a person left to himself cannot do anything good, and so left to himself cannot receive any truth in his good. This too the Lord affirms in John,

Abide in Me, and I in you. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you cannot do anything. John 15:4,5.

[9] Light may be cast on this mutual joining together by a person's understanding and will when joined together. His understanding is composed of truths and his will is composed of forms of good; the truths belong to the faith present in him and the forms of good to the love there. The person takes in the truths by hearing about them with his ears or reading about them with his eyes and stores them away in his memory. Those truths have to do either with circumstances involving public duties or with those involving private conduct; and they are called known facts. The person's love, which belongs to his will, employs the understanding to look at the facts stored away there and to choose from them those that are in accord with that love. It then draws and joins to itself those that are chosen, and uses them day by day to strengthen itself. The truths made living in this manner by love constitute the understanding part of the person's mind, while the actual forms of good belonging to his love constitute the will part of it. Those forms of the good of love are also like a fire burning there, while the truths which have been made living by the love and reside in the parts round about are like the light radiated from that fire. Gradually as the truths are kindled by that fire the desire is kindled in them for a mutual or reciprocal joining together. This leads to a mutual joining together that is everlasting.

[10] From all this it is clear that the good belonging to love is what effects the joining together and not the truth belonging to faith, except insofar as it has any of the good of love within it. Whether you say love or good it amounts to the same thing, for all good comes from love, and whatever comes from love is called good. Also whether you say love or the will, this too amounts to the same thing, for what a person loves, that he wills.

[11] It should be recognized that the things which have to do with circumstances involving public duties and private conduct, spoken of just above, join themselves together in the external man, whereas those which have to do with spiritual circumstances, spoken of previously, join themselves together in the internal man, and after that in the external man by way of the internal. For those that have to do with spiritual circumstances, namely those which are truths of faith and forms of the good of love to the Lord, and have regard to eternal life, link up with the heavens and open up the internal man. The extent to which this is opened, and the essential nature of that opening, is determined by the truths of faith - how many are received, and in what way they are received, within the good of love to the Lord and towards the neighbour, these loves being derived from the Lord. From this it is evident that thought remains on a merely external level in the case of those who fail to absorb the things which have to do with spiritual circumstances, and that it rises no higher than the level of the senses in the case of those who refuse to believe in their existence, however intelligent these people seem to be in what they say.

Notes

a The Latin means The Father and I but the Greek means I and the Father, which Sw. has in most other places where he quotes this verse.
b Reading si utique (even though) for si itaque (if therefore)


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