Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10157

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10157. 'That I may dwell in their midst' means what is Divine and the Lord's, which is the All in all of heaven and of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'dwelling in the midst of the children of Israel', when it refers to Jehovah, as the Lord's presence and His influx through good in heaven and in the Church, dealt with in 10153. And since His presence there is meant, what is Divine and His, the All in all there, is also meant. For the Lord is present with the angels of heaven and with members of the Church not in what is their own but in what is His with them, thus in what is Divine, as accords with what has been shown above in 10151; and when the Lord is present in what is Divine and His in the heavens and in the Church He is also the All in all there. Therefore He constitutes heaven itself, which also explains why the whole of heaven presents an image of the Lord as to His Divine Human, and why heaven in its entirety is a human being, called the Grand Man, a subject dealt with at the ends of a number of chapters, see the places referred to in 9276(end), 10030(end). It also explains why 'man' (homo) in the Word means the Church and also heaven, 478, 768, 3636, and why those who are in heaven, and those who are truly in the Church, are said to be 'in the Lord', 3637, 3638, since the good of love to and the truth of faith in the Lord, received from the Lord, are present in them.


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