Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7211

Previous Number Next Number Next Translation See Latin 

7211. 'And I will bring you to the land concerning which I lifted up my hand to give it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' means raising by Divine power to heaven, where the Divine Human is the All. This is clear from the meaning of 'bringing to the land' - the land of Canaan - as raising to heaven (for the meaning of 'the land of Canaan' as the Lord's kingdom or heaven, see above in 7196); from the meaning of 'lifting up the hand', when said of Jehovah or the Lord, as by Divine power (for the meaning of 'hand' as power, see 878, 4931-4937, 5327, 5318, 6947, 7011); and from the representation of 'Abraham Isaac, and Jacob' as the Lord in respect of the Divine itself and in respect of the Divine Human, dealt with in 6804, 6847, at this point in respect of the Divine Human since this is the All in heaven. The reason why the Divine Human is the All in heaven is that no one there, not even an angel of the inmost or third heaven, can form any picture in his mind of the Divine itself, as accords with the Lord's words in John,

Nobody has ever seen God. John 1:18.
You have never heard the Father's voice nor seen His shape. John 5:37.

For the angels are finite, and what is finite cannot form any mental picture of the Infinite. In heaven therefore unless they pictured God in human shape they would have no mental picture of Him, or only an unsuitable one, and so could not have become linked to the Divine, either through faith or through love. That being so, in heaven they perceive the Divine in human form; and this explains why the Divine Human in heaven is the All in the insights they have, and is consequently the All in their faith and love, as a result of which they are joined to Him and thus saved by Him, 6700.


This page is part of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church