Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 6366

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6366. Thy father's sons shall bow down to thee. That this signifies that truths will submit themselves of their own accord, is evident from the signification of "bowing down," as being to submit themselves; and from the signification of the "father's sons," as being the truths that are from spiritual good, for the "sons of Israel" denote spiritual truths (see n. 5414, 5879, 5951), and "Israel" is spiritual good (n. 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833). That these truths will submit themselves of their own accord, is because when celestial love, which is represented by Judah, flows into the spiritual truths which are represented by the sons of Israel, it disposes them into order, and thus submits them to the Lord; for the celestial has this efficacy through influx into spiritual things, that is, good through influx into truth. For this reason also the Lord's celestial kingdom is the inmost or third heaven, thus is nearest the Lord; and His spiritual kingdom is the middle or second heaven, thus is further away from the Lord. It is from this order that the Lord flows into the spiritual kingdom, both mediately through the celestial kingdom, and also immediately. The influx is of such a nature that the spiritual kingdom is kept in order by means of the celestial kingdom, and in this way is submitted to the Lord. The influx from the celestial kingdom is effected by means of love toward the neighbor, for this is the external of the celestial kingdom and the internal of the spiritual kingdom; hence the conjunction of both (see n. 5922).


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