233. I have been told from heaven that in the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, before He assumed a humanity in the world, the first two degrees existed actually, and the third degree potentially, as they do also in the case of angels, but that after assuming a humanity in the world, He put on in addition the third degree as well, which we call natural, so that He became in consequence a man like any other in the world, yet with the difference that this last degree, like the previous one, is infinite and uncreated, while the same degrees in an angel or person are finite and created. [2] Indeed, the Divine which previously filled every space and interval of space in the universe independently of space (nos. 69-72) did enter into and permeate even the lasts of nature. Before His assuming a human form, however, the Divine influx into the natural degree was conveyed indirectly through the angelic heavens, whereas after His assuming a human form it flowed directly from Him. It is owing to this that all the churches in the world prior to His advent were representative of spiritual and celestial qualities, whereas after His advent they became spiritually and celestially natural, and representational worship was abolished. It was owing to this also that the sun of the angelic heaven-which is, as we have already said, the first emanation of His Divine love and wisdom-shone with a greater radiance and splendor after He assumed human form than it did before He assumed it. [3] This, too, is meant by these words in Isaiah:
(In that day) the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days... (Isaiah 30:26)
This statement is made in reference to the state of heaven and the church after the Lord's advent into the world. Again, in the book of Revelation:
The countenance (of the Son of Man was seen) as the sun shines in its strength. (Revelation 1:16)
Also elsewhere, as in Isaiah 60:20, 2 Samuel 23:3, 4, Matthew 17:1, 2. The enlightenment of people indirectly through the angelic heaven, as was the case before the Lord's advent, may be likened to the light of the moon, which is the sun's light conveyed indirectly. And because this light after His advent became one conveyed directly, it is said in Isaiah that "the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun." So also in the book of Psalms:
In His day the righteous man shall flourish, and abundant peace, until the moon is no more. (Psalm 72:7)
This, too, is said in reference to the Lord.
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