854. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ. This symbolically means, because the people described are kept by the Lord in the goodness of love and so in truths of wisdom.
Priests in the Word mean people who possess the goodness of love, and kings people who possess truths of wisdom. So we are told above, "Jesus Christ makes us kings and priests" (Revelation 1:6), and also that the Lamb has "made us kings and priests" that we may "reign on the earth" (Revelation 5:10). And it can clearly be seen that the Lord will not make people kings and priests, but that He will make angels of those who possess truths of wisdom and the goodness of love from Him.
That kings mean people who possess truths of wisdom from the Lord, and that the Lord is called a king by virtue of His Divine truth, may be seen in nos. 20, 483, 664, 830 above. And priests mean people who possess the goodness of love from the Lord, because the Lord embodies Divine love and Divine wisdom, or to say the same thing, Divine goodness and Divine truth. Owing to His Divine love or Divine goodness, then, the Lord is called a priest, and owing to His Divine wisdom or Divine truth He is called a king.
That is why the heavens have been divided into two kingdoms, celestial and spiritual, and why the celestial kingdom is called the Lord's priestly kingdom, inasmuch as the angels in that kingdom are recipient vessels of Divine love or Divine goodness from the Lord; and why the spiritual kingdom is called the Lord's royal kingdom, inasmuch as the angels in it are recipient vessels of Divine wisdom or Divine truth from the Lord. But more on these two kingdoms may be seen in nos. 647, 725 above.
[2] We say that angels are recipient vessels of Divine goodness and Divine truth from the Lord, but it should be known that they are recipients perpetually, for no angel or mortal can so assimilate Divine goodness or Divine truth as to make it his own, but only to have them appear as though they were his own, because they are Divine. Consequently no angel or mortal can produce any good or truth that is good or true in itself. It is apparent, then, from this that they are kept in goodness and truth by the Lord, and are continually kept in them. If someone comes into heaven, therefore, and thinks that goodness or truth is so assimilated by him as to be his own, he is immediately sent down from heaven and instructed.
It can now be seen from this that the people's being priests of God and of Christ symbolically means, because they are kept by the Lord in the goodness of love and so in truths of wisdom.
[3] That priests in the Word mean people who possess the goodness of love from the Lord can be seen from many passages in it; but because I cited them in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), published in London, I wish only to present from there the following:
That priests represented the Lord with respect to Divine good (nos. 2015 6148).
That the priesthood was representative of the Lord with respect to His work of salvation, because it proceeded from the Divine goodness of His Divine love (no. 9809).
That the priesthood of Aaron and his sons and of the Levites was representative of the Lord's work of salvation in a sequential progression (no. 10017).
That priests and the priesthood therefore symbolize the goodness of love from the Lord (nos. 9806 9809).
That the two names, Jesus and Christ, symbolize both the Lord's priestliness and His royalty (nos. 3004, 3005, 3009).
That priests are responsible for matters having to do with the church, and kings for ones having to do with the civil state (no. 10793).
That priests are to teach truths and lead by them to goodness and so to the Lord (no. 10794).
That they are not to claim for themselves any authority over people's souls (no. 10795).
That priests are due respect because of their sacred functions, but that they are not to attribute the respect to themselves, but to the Lord from whom alone those sacred functions emanate. For the priesthood does not lie in the person, but is attached to the person (nos. 10796, 10797).
That priests in the Word who do not acknowledge the Lord symbolize the opposite (no. 3670).
