Apocalypse Revealed (Coulsons) n. 938

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938. [verse 4] 'And they shall see His face, and His Name shall be in their foreheads' signifies that they will turn to the Lord and the Lord to them, because they have been conjoined by means of love. That by 'to see the face of God and the Lamb', or of the Lord, is not understood to see His face [is plain], because no one can see His face such as it is in His own Divine Love and Wisdom and live, for He is the Sun of heaven and of the whole spiritual world. For to see His face, such as He is in Himself, would be as if one should enter into the sun, by the fire of which he would be consumed in a moment. But the Lord sometimes presents Himself to be seen outside of His own Sun, but then He veils Himself and presents Himself to their sight. This is done by means of an angel, as also He had done in the world in the presence of Abraham, Hagar, Lot, Gideon, Joshua and others; and therefore those angels were called 'angels' and also 'Jehovah', for Jehovah's presence was in them from afar. [2] But by 'they shall see His face' here is not understood to see His face in that manner, but to see the truths that are in the Word from Himself, and by their means to recognise and acknowledge Him. For the Divine truths of the Word make the light that proceeds from the Lord as the Sun. The angels are in these truths, and because they make the light, they are as mirrors in which the Lord's face is seen. That by 'to see the Lord's face' is signified to turn to Him will be stated below. By 'the Lord's Name in their foreheads' is signified that the Lord loves them and turns them to Himself. By 'the Lord's Name' is signified the Lord Himself, because there is signified every quality of His by which He is recognised, and in accordance with which He is worshipped (n. 81, 584); and by 'the forehead' is signified love (n. 347, 605), and by 'written in the forehead' is signified the Lord's love in them (n. 729). From these considerations it can be established what is properly signified by these words. [3] But the reason why it is signified that they turn to the Lord and the Lord to them is because the Lord looks at all, who have been conjoined with Him by means of love, in the forehead, and in this manner turns them to Himself; and therefore the angels in heaven turn the face only to the Lord and the Sun, and this takes place in every turning of their body, which is a wonderful thing. Consequently [this fact] is in the common saying, 'that they have God continually before their eyes'. It is similar with the spirit of the man who is living in the world and has been conjoined with the Lord by means of love. But concerning this turning of faces to the Lord many remarkable things may be seen in ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM (n. 129-144), and in the work concerning HEAVEN AND HELL published in 1758 at London (n. 17, 123, 143, 144, 151, 153, 255, 272).


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