938. Verse 4. And they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads, signifies that they will turn themselves to the Lord, and the Lord will turn Himself to them, because they are conjoined through love. By "seeing the face of God and of the Lamb," or the Lord, is not meant to see His face, because no one can see His face, as He is in His Divine love and in His Divine wisdom, and live; for He is the sun of heaven and of the whole spiritual world. For to see His face, such as He is in Himself, would be as if one should enter into the sun, by the fire of which he would be consumed in a moment. But the Lord sometimes presents Himself to be seen out of His sun; but He then veils Himself and presents Himself to their sight, which is done through an angel; as He also did in the world before Abraham, Hagar, Lot, Gideon, Joshua, and others; wherefore those angels were called angels, and also Jehovah; for the presence of Jehovah was in them from afar.
[2] But by "they shall see His face" is not here meant to thus see His face, but to see the truths which are in the Word from Him, and through them to know and acknowledge Him. For the Divine truths of the Word make the light which proceeds from the Lord as a sun, in which the angels are; and as they make the light, they are like mirrors in which the Lord's face is seen. That by "seeing the Lord's face" is signified to turn oneself to Him, will be told below. By "the Lord's name in their foreheads," is signified that the Lord loves them, and turns them to Himself. By "the Lord's name" the Lord Himself is signified, because all His quality by which He is known and according to which He is worshiped is signified (n. 81, 584); and by "the forehead" is signified love (n. 347, 605); and by "written in the forehead" is signified the love of the Lord in them (n. 729); from this it may be evident what is properly signified by those words.
[3] But that it signifies that they turn themselves to the Lord, and that the Lord turns Himself to them, is because the Lord looks at all who are conjoined to Him by love, in the forehead, and thus turns them to Himself. Therefore the angels in heaven turn their faces in no other direction than to the Lord as the sun; and, what is wonderful, this is done in every turning of their body. Hence it is in common speech, that "they have God continually before their eyes." A similar thing takes place with the spirit of a man who is living in the world, and is conjoined to the Lord through love. But concerning this turning of the face to the Lord, more things worthy of mention may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom (n. 129-144); and in the work on Heaven and Hell, published at London, 1758 (n. 17, 123, 143-144, 151, 153, 255, 272).
