Swedenborg Arcana Caelestia Vol. III (1750)

2772. "Take, I pray, your son," signifies the Divine Rational born from Himself. This is clear from the meaning of "son," which is the Rational (see n. 2623). Here it refers to the Divine Rational, because by "son" is understood Isaac, who represents the Lord’s Divine Rational, as shown in n. 1893, 2066, 2083, 2630. And because the Lord made His Rational Divine by His own power, as often stated before, "your son" also signifies that it was born from Himself (see n. 1893, 2093, 2625).

2773. "Your only one, whom you love," signifies the only one in the universe through whom He would save the human race. This is clear from the meaning of "only," which is the only one, and indeed in the universe, because the subject is the Lord, who alone is God, or was made Divine, regarding His entire Human.

2774. "Isaac," which signifies his quality—namely, that he is the good of truth and the truth of good, that is, the Divine Marriage regarding the Lord’s Human—is clear from the naming of Isaac, discussed in the previous chapter, xxi:6, 7.

2775. "And go to the land of Moriah" signifies the place and state of temptation. This can be seen from the meaning of the land of Moriah; that it is a place of temptation is evident from the fact that Abraham was commanded to go there and offer his son as a burnt offering, and thus undergo the ultimate temptation. That Jerusalem was in that land, where the Lord Himself endured the ultimate temptation, can be established from the fact that an altar was built by David on Mount Moriah, and later a Temple by Solomon, as appears from the Book of Chronicles: "Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, which appeared to David his father, which he prepared in the place of David in the threshing floor of Arnan (Araunah) the Jebusite" (2 Chron. iii:1; compare 1 Chron. xxi:16–28 with 2 Sam. xxiv:16–25). From this it is sufficiently clear that these things, which are said concerning the immolation of Isaac, are representative of the Lord; otherwise, this could have been done where Abraham was living, nor would he have been ordered to depart on a journey of nearly three days.

2776. That "offer him as a burnt offering" signifies that He would sanctify Him with the Divine is clear from the representation of burnt offerings among the Hebrew people and in the Jewish Church, that it was the most holy part of their worship. There were burnt offerings and there were sacrifices; for what these represented, see n. 922, 923, 1823, 2180. Their sanctifications took place through these, hence "to offer as a burnt offering" here signifies to be sanctified by the Divine. For the Lord Himself sanctified Himself with the Divine, that is, united the Human to the Divine through the combats and victories of temptations (see n. 1663, 1690, 1691, 1692, 1737, 1787, 1812, 1813, 1820). The common belief today is that burnt offerings and sacrifices signified the Lord’s Passion, and that through it the Lord atoned for the iniquities of all, and even that He took them upon Himself and thus removed them; thus those who believe are justified and saved, provided they think, even if it were in the final hour of death, that the Lord suffered for them, regardless of how they lived throughout their entire life. But the matter is not so; the Passion of the cross was the final temptation of the Lord, through which He fully united the Human to the Divine and the Divine to the Human.