49. Verse 15. And His feet were like unto fine brass, as if glowing in a furnace, signifies the Divine good natural. "The feet" of the Lord signify His Divine natural; "fire" or "glowing" signifies good; and "fine brass" signifies the good of natural truth; therefore, by "the feet of the Son of man like unto fine brass, as if glowing in a furnace," is signified the Divine good natural. That "His feet" signify this is from correspondence. There is in the Lord, and therefore from the Lord the Divine celestial, the Divine spiritual, and the Divine natural; the Divine celestial is meant by the "head" of the Son of man; the Divine spiritual, by His "eyes," and by the "breast," which was girt about with a golden girdle; and the Divine natural, by His "feet."
[2] Because these three are in the Lord, therefore also they are in the angelic heaven; the third or highest heaven is in the Divine celestial; the second or middle heaven is in the Divine spiritual; and the first or ultimate heaven in the Divine natural. In like manner, the church on the earth; for the whole heaven before the Lord is as one man, in which they who are in the Lord's Divine celestial make the head; they who are in the Divine spiritual make the body; and they who are in the Divine natural make the feet. Hence, also, in every man, because he was created in the image of God, there are these three degrees, and, as these are opened, he becomes an angel either of the third, or of the second, or of the ultimate heaven. Hence, also it is, that in the Word there are three senses; the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural. This may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, particularly in chapter 3, which treats of these three degrees. That the feet, the soles, and the heels, correspond to natural things with man, and therefore in the Word signify things natural, may be seen in The Arcana Coelestia, published in London (n. 2162, 4938-4952).
[3] The Divine natural good is also signified by feet in the following places; in Daniel:
I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, behold a man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz; His body was like the beryl, and His eyes as torches of fire, His arms and His feet like the splendor of polished brass (Dan. 10:5-6).
In Revelation:
I saw an angel come down from heaven, his feet as pillars of fire (Rev. 10:1).
And in Ezekiel:
The feet of the cherubs were sparkling like the splendor of polished brass (Ezek. 1:7).
The reason why the angels and cherubs were seen thus, was because the Divine of the Lord was represented in them.
[4] The Lord's church being under the heavens, thus under the Lord's feet, it is therefore called "the footstool of His feet" in the following places:
The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, to decorate the place of My sanctuary; and I will render the place of My feet honorable; and they shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet (Isa. 60:13-14).
The heaven is My throne, and the earth is the footstool of My feet (Isa. 66:1).
God remembereth not the footstool of His feet in the day of anger (Lam. 2:1).
Adore Jehovah at the footstool of His feet (Ps. 99:5).
Lo, we heard of Him in Ephratah [Bethlehem]. We will go into His habitations; we will bow ourselves down at the footstool of His feet (Ps. 132:6-7).
Thence it is that:
They fell down at the Lord's feet adoring (Matt. 28:9; Mark 5:22; Luke 8:41; John 11:32).
Also that:
They kissed His feet and wiped them with their hairs (Luke 7:37, 38, 44-46; John 11:2; 12:3).
[5] As by "feet" is signified the natural, therefore the Lord said to Peter, when He washed his feet:
He that is washed, needeth not save to wash his feet, and the whole is clean (John 13:10).
"To wash the feet" is to purify the natural man; and when this is purified, the whole man is also purified; as is shown in many passages in The Arcana Coelestia and in The Doctrines of the New Jerusalem. The natural man, which is also the external man, is purified, when he shuns the evils which the spiritual or internal man sees to be evils and that they ought to be shunned.
[6] Now since the natural of man is meant by "feet," and this perverts all things if it be not washed or purified; therefore the Lord says:
And if thy foot offend thee cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life halt, than having two feet to be cast into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire (Mark 9:45).
Here the foot is not meant, but the natural man. The same is meant by "trampling under foot the good pasture," and by "troubling the waters with their feet" (Ezek. 32:2; 34:18-19; Dan. 7:7, 19; and in other places).
[7] Since by the Son of man is meant the Lord as to the Word, it is evident, that by His "feet" is also meant the Word in its natural sense; which is much treated of in Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture; as also that the Lord came into the world, that He might fulfill all things of the Word, and thereby be made the Word also in ultimates (n. 98-100). But this arcanum is for those who will be in the New Jerusalem.
[8] The Lord's Divine Natural is also signified by:
The brazen serpent, which was set up by the command of Moses in the wilderness; by looking upon which, all who had been bitten by serpents were healed (Num. 21:6, 8-9).
This signified the Lord's Divine natural, and that they are saved who look to it, the Lord Himself teaches in John:
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:14-15).
The reason why the serpent was made of brass, is because brass, as also fine brass signifies the natural as to good, see below (n. 775).