I have even unto you an example that ye also should do as I have done to you. If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them (John 13:16, 17). So in other places the Lord compares Himself with others; for example, in John:

Jesus said, Even as the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you; abide ye in My love, as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love (John 15:9, 10). In the same:

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so sent I them into the world (John 17:16, 18). In the same:

As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you (John 20:21). In the same:

The glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them; that they may be one even as We are one, I in them, Thou in Me. Father, those whom Thou hast given Me, I will that where I am they also may be with Me, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me. I have made known unto them Thy name, and will make it known that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:22-24, 26). The Lord spoke of His conjunction with men in the same way as He spoke of His conjunction with the Father, that is, the conjunction of His Human with the Divine that was in Him, for the reason that the Lord is not conjoined with what is man's own [proprio], but with His own that is with man. The Lord removes what is man's own [proprium], and gives of His own, and dwells in that. That this is so is known in the church, as is clear from the customary prayer and exhortation to those who come to the sacrament of the Supper, in which are these words:

If with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive that holy sacrament (for then we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink His blood), then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us; and we are one with Christ, and Christ with us. (See also John 6:56. But these things may be better understood from what is shown in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 11, 12.) From this it follows that as the Divine of the Lord received by angels and by men makes heaven and the church with them, they are one with the Lord, as He and the Father are one. [3] That the meaning of these words of the Lord, that "He sitteth with His Father in His throne," may be more clearly seen, it must be known that "God's throne" is heaven (as was shown in the preceding article), and that heaven is heaven from the Divine that proceeds from the Lord, and this Divine is called Divine truth, but is Divine good united to Divine truth (as was said above). The Lord Himself is not in heaven, but is above the heavens, and is seen by those who are in the heavens as a sun. He is seen as a sun because He is Divine love, and Divine love is seen by the angels as solar fire; this is why "sacred fire" in the Word signifies love Divine. From the Lord as a sun light and heat proceed: the light that proceeds, since it is spiritual light, is Divine truth; and the heat, since it is spiritual heat, is Divine good. This, namely, the Divine good, is what is meant by "the Father in the heavens." (That the Lord is the Sun of Heaven, and that the light and heat therefrom are Divine truth united to Divine good, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 116-125, 126-140; and that Heaven is Heaven from the Divine that proceeds from the Lord, n. 7-12.) From this what is meant in the Word by "the Father in the heavens" and by "Heavenly Father" can be seen. Thus in Matthew:

Do good to your enemies, that ye may be sons of your Father who is in the heavens (Matt. 5:44, 45). In the same:

Ye shall be perfect, as your Father in the heavens is perfect (Matt 5:48). In the same:

Ye who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your Father who is in the heavens give good things to them who ask Him (Matt. 7:11). In the same:

He that doeth the will of the Father who is in the heavens shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 7:21). In the same:

Every plant which the heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up (Matt. 15:13). Also in other places (as in Matt. 5:16; 6:1, 6, 8; 12:50; 16:17; 18:14, 19, 35; Mark 11:25, 26; Luke 11:13). [4] That "Father" means the Divine good can be seen also from this passage in Matthew:

Despise not one of these little ones; for their angels do always behold the face of My Father who is in the heavens (Matt. 18:10);

that "they behold the face of the Father who is in the heavens" signifies that they receive Divine good from the Lord; that they do not see His face is evident from the Lord's words in John:

That no one hath ever seen the Father (John 1:18; 5:37; 6:46). The same can be seen from this passage in Matthew:

Call no man your Father on the earth, for one is your Father who is in the heavens (Matt. 23:9). It is plain that no one is forbidden to call his father on the earth "father," nor is this here forbidden by the Lord; but this was said because "Father" means the Divine good, and:

No one is good except the one God (Matt. 19:17). (The Lord spoke thus because "Father" in the Word of both Testaments means in the spiritual sense good, see Arcana Coelestia, n. 3703, 5902, 6050, 7833, 7834; and also heaven and the church in respect to good, n. 2691, 2717, 3703, 5581, 8897; and "Father," when said by the Lord, means the Divine good of His Divine love, n. 2803, 3704, 7499, 8328, 8897.)