AC 6873 - 3 Instructions From the Burning Bush; AC 6876 - "The God of Your Fathers"

AC 6873 - 3 Instructions From the Burning Bush

And Moses said unto God,
Behold I come unto the sons of Israel,
and say to them,
The God of your fathers has sent me unto you;
and they say to me, What is His name?
What shall I say unto them?
And God said unto Moses,
I AM WHO I AM;
and He said, Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel,
I AM has sent me unto you.
And God said further unto Moses,
Thus shall you say unto the sons of Israel,
Jehovah the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob,
has sent me unto you;
this is My name forever,
and this is My memorial unto generation and generation.
(Exodus 3:13-15)

"And Moses said unto God,"
means perception from the Divine;
"Behold I come unto the sons of Israel,"
means about those who are of the spiritual church;
"and say unto them,
The God of your fathers has sent me unto you,"
means that the Divine of the Ancient Church
will be with those who are of the spiritual church;
"and they say to me, What is His name?"
means His quality;
"what shall I say unto them?"
means what answer;
"and God said unto Moses,"
means the first instruction;
"I AM WHO I AM,"
means the Being and Coming-forth
of all things in the universe;
"and He said, Thus shall you say unto the sons of Israel,"
means the second instruction;
"I AM has sent me unto you,"
means that the Divine Coming-forth shall be in that church;
"and God said further unto Moses,
Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel,"
means the third instruction;
"Jehovah the God of your fathers,"
means the Divine of the Ancient Church;
"the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob,"
means the Divine Itself,
and the Divine Human, thus the Lord;
"has sent me unto you,"
means that He will be in their church;
"this is My name forever,"
means that the Divine Human
is the quality of the Divine Itself;
"and this is My memorial unto generation and generation,"
means that He must be worshiped perpetually.

AC 6876 - "The God of Your Fathers"

And say unto them,
The God of your fathers has sent me unto you.
(Exodus 3:13)

That this means that the Divine of the Ancient Church
will be with those of the spiritual church
is evident from the meaning of the "God of their fathers"
as being the Divine of the Ancient Church;
from the representation of the sons of Israel,
here meant by "you" as being those of the spiritual church;
and from the meaning of "being sent" as being to proceed;
here that he will be with them,
for it is said of the Divine of the Ancient Church
that this shall be in the spiritual church,
which is represented by the sons of Israel.

The Divine which was of the Ancient Church
was the Lord as to the Divine Human;
the Ancient Church had this from the Most Ancient,
and also from the fact
that Jehovah was seen by them in a human form.
When therefore they thought of Jehovah,
they did not think of a universal entity,
of which they could have had no idea,
but of the Human Divine,
into which they could determine their thought;
for in this way they could both think of Jehovah
and be conjoined with Him by love.
Those who were of the Ancient Church,
and especially those of the Most Ancient,
were much wiser than the people of our times,
and yet they could not think otherwise of Jehovah
than as of a Man, whose Human was Divine;
nor did there then flow into their thought
any unbecoming idea taken from the natural man,
and his infirmity and evil,
but that which flowed in concerning Him was all holy.
The angels themselves,
who so far excel men in wisdom,
cannot think otherwise of the Divine,
for they see the Lord in the Divine Human;
they know that an angel,
with whom all things are finite,
can have no idea whatever of the Infinite,
except by what is like the finite.

That in ancient times
they adored Jehovah under a human Divine
is very evident from the angels seen by
Abraham in human form, also afterward by Lot,
and likewise by Joshua, by Gideon, and by Manoah,
which angels were called "Jehovah,"
and were adored as the God of the universe.
At this day if Jehovah were to appear in the church as a man,
people would take offense,
and would think that He could not possibly be
the Creator and Lord of the universe,
because He was seen as a man;
and moreover they would not have any other idea of Him
than as of a common man.
In this they believe themselves wiser than the ancients,
not knowing that in this
they are altogether removed from wisdom;
for when the idea of the thought is directed
to a universal entity altogether incomprehensible,
the idea falls into nothing, and is totally dissipated;
and then in its place comes the idea of nature,
to which each and all things are attributed.
Consequently, at this day
the worship of nature is so common,
especially in the Christian world.