641. Because, then, the Lord's merit and righteousness are purely Divine, and things purely Divine are such that if they were to be applied and ascribed to man he would instantly die and like a stick of wood thrown into the naked sun, would be so completely consumed that scarcely a particle of his ashes would be left; the Lord approaches angels and men with His Divine by means of light tempered and accommodated to the capacity and quality of each one, thus by means of what is brought down to man's level and adapted; and in the same way by means of heat. [2] In the spiritual world there is a sun, in the midst of which is the Lord; from that sun the Lord flows in by means of light and heat into the whole spiritual world, and into all who are there. All the light and all the heat of that world are from this source. From that sun the Lord also flows with the same light and the same heat into the souls and minds of men. That heat in its essence is the Lord's Divine love, and that light in its essence is His Divine wisdom. The Lord adapts that light and that heat to the capacity and quality of the recipient angel and man, doing this by means of the spiritual auras or atmospheres that convey and transfer them. The Divine Itself which immediately encompasses the Lord, constitutes that sun. That sun is far off from the angels, as the sun of the natural world is from men, in order that it may not come into naked and thus untempered contact with them; since otherwise they would be consumed like a stick of wood thrown into the naked sun, as said above. [3] All this makes clear that the Lord's merit and righteousness, being purely Divine, can in no possible way be transferred by imputation into any angel or man; and if even the least drop thereof, not so tempered as above stated, were to touch them, they would instantly writhe as if struggling with death, with feet contorted and eyes staring, and would become lifeless. In the Israelitish church this was known by their being taught that no man could see God and live. [4] The sun of the spiritual world, such as it was after Jehovah God had assumed the Human, and had added thereto redemption and a new righteousness, is described in these words in Isaiah:
The light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when Jehovah shall bind up the breach of His people (Isa. 30:26). This chapter from beginning to end treats of the Lord's coming. What would take place if the Lord were to come down and draw near to any wicked person, is also described in the following words in the Apocalypse:
They hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb (Rev. 6:15, 16). It is said, "the anger of the Lamb" because their terror and torment when the Lord draws near appear to them like wrath. [5] This may be still more evidently inferred from the fact, that if any impious person is admitted into heaven, where charity and faith in the Lord reign, darkness invades his eyes, giddiness and madness invade his mind, pain and torment his body, and he becomes like one dead. What then, if the Lord Himself, with His Divine merit, which is redemption, and His Divine righteousness, were to enter into man? The apostle John himself could not endure the presence of the Lord, for we read:
That when he saw the Son of man in the midst of the seven lampstands, he fell at His feet as one dead (Apoc. 1:17).
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