84. That the men of old time had an idea of the Divine as human is
evident from the manifestation of the Divine to Abraham, Lot, Joshua,
Gideon, Manoah and his wife, and others. These saw God as a man, but
nevertheless adored Him as the God of the universe, calling Him the
God of heaven and earth, and Jehovah. That it was the Lord who was
seen by Abraham He Himself teaches in John (8:56); and that it was He
who was seen by the rest is evident from His words:

No one hath seen the Father, nor heard His voice, nor seen
His form (John 1:18; 5:37).


85. But that God is man can scarcely be comprehended by those who
judge all things from the sense-conceptions of the external man, for
the sensual man must needs think of the Divine from the world and
what is therein, and thus of a Divine and spiritual man in the same
way as of a corporeal and natural man. From this he concludes that if
God were a man He would be as large as the universe; and if He ruled
heaven and earth it would be done through many others, after the
manner of kings in the world. If told that in heaven there is no
extension of space as in the world, he would not in the least
comprehend it. For he that thinks only from nature and its light must
needs think in accord with such extension as appears before his eyes.
But it is the greatest mistake to think in this way about heaven.
Extension there is not like extension in the world. In the world
extension is determinate, and thus measurable; but in heaven it is
not determinate, and thus not measurable. But extension in heaven
will be further treated of hereafter in connection with space and
time in the spiritual world. Furthermore, everyone knows how far the