Arcana Coelestia volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 38which were of him; neither did they call themselves “men,” butonly those things in themselves—as all the good of love and all thetruth of faith—which they perceived they had from the Lord.These they said were “of man,” because they were of the Lord.[2] Hence in the prophets, by “man” and the “son of man,” inthe supreme sense, is meant the Lord; and in the internal sense,wisdom and intelligence; thus everyone who is regenerate. As inJeremiah:I beheld the earth, and lo, it was void and emptiness, and theheavens, and they had no light. I beheld and lo there was no man, andall the birds of the heavens were fled (Jer. 4:23, 25).In Isaiah, where, in the internal sense, by “man” is meant aregenerate person, and in the supreme sense, the Lord himself, asthe one man:Thus saith Jehovah the holy one of Israel, and his former, I havemade the earth, and created man upon it; I, even my hands, havestretched out the heavens, and all their army have I commanded (Isa.45:11–12).[3] The Lord therefore appeared to the prophets as a man, as inEzekiel:Above the expanse, as the appearance of a sapphire stone, thelikeness of a throne, and upon the likeness of the throne was the likenessas the appearance of a man above upon it (Ezek. 1:26).And when seen by Daniel he was called the “son of man,” that is,the man, which is the same thing:I saw, and behold, one like the son of man came with the clouds ofheaven, and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him nearbefore him; and there was given him dominion, and glory, and akingdom, that all people, and nations, and languages should serve him.His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Dan. 7:13–14).