AC 6343 - Power and Strength

AC 6343

You are my strength.
(Genesis 49:3)

That this means power in good by means of faith,
is evident from the representation of Reuben,
who here is "you,"
as being faith in the understanding;
and from the signification of "strength,"
as being the power that is in good.
As regards power, namely,
the power of thinking and willing,
of perceiving,
of doing what is good,
of believing,
and of dissipating falsities and evils,
it is all from good through truth;
good is the principal,
and truth is only the instrumental.
That there is meant the power that is in good,
is because "strength" means this power,
whereas "forces" mean the power of truth . . ..

That the Word is holy, and in its interiors most holy,
is very evident from the fact
that in every detail of the Word
there is the heavenly marriage,
that is, the marriage of good and truth, thus heaven;
and that in every detail of the inmost sense
there is the marriage of the Lord's Divine Human
with His kingdom and church;
indeed, in the supreme sense
there is the union of
the Divine Itself and the Divine Human in the Lord.
These most holy things
are in every detail of the Word
a manifest proof
that the Word has descended from the Divine.
That this is so may be seen from the fact
that where mention is made of good,
mention is made of truth also;
and where the internal is spoken of,
the external also is spoken of.
There are also words which constantly mean good,
and words which constantly mean truth,
and words which mean both good and truth;
and if they do not mean them,
still they are predicated of them, or involve them.
From the predication and meaning of these words
it is plain that, as before said,
in every detail there is the marriage of good and truth,
that is, the heavenly marriage,
and in the inmost and supreme sense
the Divine marriage which is in the Lord,
thus the Lord Himself.

He who does not know
that the expressions in the Word
are significative of spiritual and celestial things,
and that some are said of good, and some of truth,
cannot but believe that such expressions
are mere repetitions, said merely to fill up,
and therefore in themselves useless;
and from this it is
that those who think wrongly about the Word,
regard such expressions as ground for contempt;
when yet the veriest Divine things are stored therein,
namely, the heavenly marriage,
which is heaven itself;
and the Divine marriage,
which is the Lord Himself.
This sense is the "glory" in which the Lord is,
and the literal sense is the "cloud" in which is this glory.