9405. 'And they saw the God of Israel' means the Lord's coming and presence in the Word. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing', when it has reference to the Lord, as His coming and presence, dealt with in 4198, 6893. The fact that 'the God of Israel' means the Lord is clear from all those places in the Word where the expressions 'the Holy One of Israel' and 'the God of Israel' are used, see 7091. 'The God of Israel' is the God of the spiritual Church, since 'Israel' means that Church, dealt with immediately above in 9404. The Lord's coming and presence in the Word is what is meant by 'they saw the God of Israel' because the laws declared from Mount Sinai mean in a broad sense the whole of Divine Truth, thus the Word in every single part, 6752, 9401. The reason why the Lord's coming and presence in the Word is meant is that the Word is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and what emanates from the Lord is the Lord Himself. Consequently those who read the Word and at the same time look to the Lord, acknowledging that all truth and all good come from Him, and none whatever from themselves, receive enlightenment; they see truth and perceive good from the Word. That enlightenment is provided by the light of heaven, a light which is Divine Truth itself flowing from the Lord. For this Truth manifests itself before the eyes of angels in heaven as light, see 2776, 3195, 3339, 3636, 3643, 3862, 3993, 4302, 4413, 4415, 5400, 6032, 6313, 6608.
[2] The Lord's coming and presence in the Word is also meant by 'seeing the Son of Man' in Matthew,
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matt 24:30.
See 4060. 'Cloud' is the literal sense of the Word, and 'power and glory' its internal sense. The literal sense of the Word is called 'cloud' because that sense exists in the light of the world, whereas the internal sense is called 'glory' because this sense exists in the light of heaven, see Preface to Genesis 18, and 5922, 6343 (end), 6752, 8106, 8267, 8427, 8443, 8781, in addition to which the only subject in the internal sense of the Word is the Lord, and His kingdom and Church. This is what accounts for the holiness of the Word, and also for the Lord's coming to and presence with those who, as they read the Word, have in mind the Lord and the neighbour - the neighbour being the good of fellow citizen, country, the Church, and heaven, 6818-6824, 8123 - and not themselves, as stated above. He comes to them and is present with them because they allow themselves to be raised by the Lord into the light of heaven, unlike others who do not allow themselves to be so raised because they have their minds firmly fixed on self and the world. All this shows what is meant in the Word by seeing the Lord.
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