AC 9409 - the external sense alone is only part of the story

AC 9409
And unto the sons of Israel who were set apart.
(Exodus 24:11)
That this signifies those who are in the external sense alone
separate from the internal . . .
are also in external worship apart from internal,
worshiping external things as holy and Divine,
and also believing that these things
are in themselves holy and Divine,
when yet they are holy and Divine only from internal things.

[3] Very differently would they have believed and done
if they had been willing to receive
the doctrine of love and faith in the Lord
and of charity toward the neighbor.
They would then have known and believed
that the burnt-offerings, sacrifices, meat-offerings,
drink-offerings, and eating of the sacrifices,
did not purify them from any guilt and sin;
but that they were purified by the worship of God,
and by repentance from the heart;
in like manner that the washings of garments and of the body
do not make anyone clean,
but purifications of the heart;
in like manner also that the fire of the altar,
and the fires of the lamp, and also the showbreads,
and likewise the oil of anointing,
were not holy of themselves,
but by virtue of the internal things which they signified;
and that when they were in holy internal things,
they were then holy,
not from themselves,
but from the Lord,
from whom is everything holy.
The sons of Israel would have known these internal things
if they had received the doctrine of love and charity,
because this teaches what the external things infold.
From this doctrine also the internal sense of the Word is known,
because the internal sense of the Word
is the very doctrine itself
of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor,
which also the Lord teaches, saying that
"on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets"
(Matt. 22:37-40).

[4] The case is nearly the same at this day in the Christian world,
in which, as there is no doctrine of love to the Lord
and of charity toward the neighbor,
it is scarcely known what celestial love is,
and what spiritual love, which is charity.
Therefore they are in external things
apart from anything internal . . ..
So it is that at the present day also
the external sense of the Word,
without doctrine as a rule and guide,
may be bent wherever one pleases.