AC 1853-1854 - Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace . . .

AC 1853
Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace.
(Genesis 15:15)
To "go to one's fathers"
is to pass from the life of the body into the life of the spirit,
or from the world into the other life.
"In peace," signifies that he shall lose nothing,
and thus that nothing shall be harmed . . ..

AC 1854
Thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
(Genesis 15:15)
That this signifies the enjoyment of all goods by those who are the Lord's,
is evident from the fact
that those who die and are buried do not die,
but pass from an obscure life into a clear one.
For the death of the body is merely the continuation
and also the perfection of the life,
and they who are the Lord's
then first come into the enjoyment of all goods,
which enjoyment is signified by "a good old age."
The expressions that they "died," were "buried,"
and were "gathered to their fathers," occur quite often,
but in the internal sense
these do not signify the same as in the sense of the letter.
In the internal sense
are such things as are of the life after death and are eternal;
but in the sense of the letter
are such as are of the life in the world and belong to time.

Consequently, when such expressions occur,
those who see into the internal sense, as angels do,
have no thoughts of such things as have to do with death and burial
but with such as have to do with the continuation of life;
for they look upon death as nothing else
than a casting off of the things
which belong to merely earthly matter and to time,
and as the continuing of life proper.
Indeed they do not know what death is,
for death does not enter into any of their thinking.
It is the same with people's ages.
By the phrase used here, 'at a good old age',
angels have no perception at all of old age;
indeed they do not know what old age is,
for they themselves
are constantly moving towards the life of youth and early manhood.
It is life such as this,
consequently the celestial and spiritual things belonging to it,
that are meant when the expression
'a good old age' and others like it occur in the Word.