784、至于“耶和华在他身后关上了路”表示人不再像属天教会成员那样能与天堂交流，情况如下：上古教会的状态是这样，人们与天堂有内在交流，并因此通过天堂与主交流。他们处于对主之爱。那些处于对主之爱的人就像天使，唯一区别在于，他们披着肉身。他们的内层毫不掩饰，甚至从主那里一路敞开。但这个新教会却不同。它不是处于对主之爱，而是处于信，并通过信处于对邻之仁。他们无法像上古之人那样拥有内在交流，只有外在交流。不过，要解释内在交流和外在交流的性质需要花大量时间。每个人，包括恶人，都通过与他同在的天使和天堂交流，只是程度不同，也就是说，有的近，有的远。没有这种交流，人无法存活。这种交流的程度是无限的。一个属灵人绝不可能拥有像属天人那样的交流，因为主住在爱中，而非住在信中。这就是“耶和华在他身后关上了路”所表示的。
自那些时代以来，天堂从未以向上古教会成员打开的方式打开过。诚然，后来有许多人与灵人和天使交谈，如摩西，亚伦和其他人，但交谈的方式完全不同。对此，蒙主的神性怜悯，容后再述（5121节）。天堂关闭的原因是一个极深的奥秘，这也是为何如今它关闭到甚至没有人知道灵人存在的地步，更不用说与他同在的天使了。他以为在世上没有同伴，独自思考时，他完全孤身一人。而事实上，他始终与灵人相伴；这些灵人观察并感知一个人在思想什么，意图和谋划什么，并且准确清晰到好像这一切都清楚显现在全世界面前一样。这个人根本没有意识到天堂向他如此关闭。然而，这却是千真万确的。他之所以没有意识到这一点，是因为当他未处于信，不用说未处于信之真理，更不用说未处于仁时，如果天堂不向他如此关闭，他将面临巨大危险。这也是前面这些话的含义：
耶和华神把那人赶出去，又使基路伯住在伊甸园的东边，还有剑的火焰自行转动，要把守生命树的道路。（创世记3:24，301-303节）
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]784. As for the fact that Jehovah closed it behind him means that people were no longer able to communicate with heaven the way the people of the heavenly church had, the case is this:
Circumstances in the earliest church allowed its people to communicate internally with heaven and through heaven with the Lord. They loved the Lord, and people who love the Lord are like angels, the only difference being that they are clothed in a body. Their deeper levels were open, offering unhindered access all the way to the Lord.
This new church, however, was different. Its people believed in rather than loved the Lord, and faith led them into charity toward their fellow humans. They could engage in external communication, but not in internal communication, as the earliest people had. Describing the two kinds of communication, though, would take too long.
We all communicate with heaven — even the sacrilegious — through the angels present with us. Without this, we would not be human. But the degree of intimacy varies from very close to very distant, with an unlimited number of steps in between. Spiritual people are wholly incapable of the kind of contact heavenly people have, because the Lord dwells in love and not so much in faith.
This, then, is the meaning of Jehovah closed it behind him.
[2] Moreover, heaven was never open after that era in the way that it had been for the people of the earliest church. It is true that many people — Moses, Aaron, and others — later talked to spirits and angels, but the method was entirely different. By the Lord's divine mercy, it will be described below [5121].
The reason heaven was closed off and remains closed today is a deep secret. Heaven is so tightly shut that people are unaware even that spirits exist, let alone that angels are present with them. They suppose they are completely alone when they are away from companions in this world and thinking privately. The truth is that we are constantly in the company of spirits, who notice and perceive what we are thinking, and what we are intending and scheming. They observe these things as thoroughly and openly as if they stood out for all the world to see. We have no knowledge whatever that this is so, since heaven is so utterly closed to us, but it is positively true.
The reason is that were heaven not sealed off this way in humankind, it would be extremely dangerous for people, since they do not possess faith, much less religious truth, least of all charity. This is also the meaning of the words above at Genesis 3:24 [306-310], "Jehovah God threw the humans out and caused guardian beings{*1} to live on the east of the Garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword turning itself, to guard the way to the tree of life." See also what was said in 301, 302, 303.
Footnotes:
{*1} On these guardian beings, see note 2 in 279. [RS]
Potts(1905-1910) 784
784. And Jehovah shut after him. That this signifies that man no longer had such communication with heaven as had the man of the celestial church, appears from the following statement of the case. The state of the Most Ancient Church was such that they had internal communication with heaven, and so through heaven with the Lord. They were in love to the Lord. Those who are in love to the Lord are like angels, with the difference only that they are clothed with a body. Their interiors were uncovered, and were opened even from the Lord. But this new church was different. They were not in love to the Lord, but in faith, and through faith were in charity toward the neighbor. Such cannot have internal communication, like the most ancient man, but external. But the nature of internal and of external communication would take too long to explain. Every man, even the wicked, has communication with heaven, through the angels with him (but with a difference as to degree, that is, nearer or more remote), for otherwise man could not exist. The degrees of this communication are without limit. A spiritual man cannot possibly have such communication as can the celestial man, for the reason that the Lord is in love, and not so much in faith. And this is what is signified by "Jehovah shut after him." [2] And since those times heaven has never been open in the way it was to the man of the Most Ancient Church. It is true that many afterwards spoke with spirits and angels: as Moses, Aaron, and others, but in an entirely different way, concerning which, of the Lord's Divine mercy hereafter. The reason why heaven was closed is deeply hidden, and why it is so closed at this day that man does not even know that there are spirits, still less that there are angels, with him, and supposes himself to be entirely alone when without companions in the world, and when he is thinking by himself. And yet he is continually in the company of spirits, who observe and perceive what the man is thinking, and what he intends and devises, as fully and plainly as if it were manifest before all in the world. This the man is ignorant of, so closed to him is heaven, and yet it is most true. The reason is that if heaven were not so closed to him while he is in no faith, still less in the truth of faith, and still less in charity, it would be most perilous to him. This is also signified by the words:
Jehovah God drove out the man, and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden the cherubim, and the flame of a sword that turned itself to keep the way of the tree of lives (Gen. 3:24; see also what is said in n. 301-303).
Elliott(1983-1999) 784
784. The implications of 'Jehovah closed the way behind him' meaning that man no longer had the kind of communication with heaven that the member of the celestial Church had had are as follows: The state of the Most Ancient Church was such that men had an inward communication with heaven, and so by way of heaven with the Lord. They were governed by love to the Lord, and people who are governed by love to the Lord are like angels, the only difference being that they are clothed with a [physical] body. Their interiors were unconcealed and lay open all the way from the Lord. But it was different with this new Church. It was governed not by love to the Lord, but in and through faith, by charity towards the neighbour. They could not have, as the most ancient people had, any inward communication, only external. It would take too long however to discuss the nature of these two kinds of communication. Everybody has a communication of some kind, including the wicked, through the angels residing with them, though there are different degrees of it, from fairly close to quite remote. Without it a person could not exist. The degrees of communication are unending. A spiritual man cannot possibly have the kind of communication that a celestial man has, the reason being that the Lord dwells in love, and less so in faith. This is what the present statement means about Jehovah closing the way behind him.
[2] Since those times heaven has never been open in the way it was for the member of the Most Ancient Church. Many people in later times have indeed talked to spirits and angels - for example, Moses, Aaron, and others - but they did so in a completely different way. This, in the Lord's Divine mercy, will be dealt with later on. The reason why heaven has been closed is a very deep arcanum, as also is the reason why it is so closed nowadays that no one knows even of the existence of spirits, let alone that angels are residing with him. He imagines that when he is not with fellow men in the world and when thinking all by himself he is completely alone. In fact however he is constantly in the company of spirits who observe and perceive very accurately what a person is thinking and what he intends and devises, as accurately and clearly as if this manifested itself for all the world to see. Of this man is not at all directly conscious, so closed is heaven to him. Nevertheless it is utterly true. The reason he is not conscious of it is that if heaven were not in this way closed to him at a time when faith is non-existent with him, still less the truth of faith, and charity even less, he would stand in very great danger. This was the meaning also of Jehovah God's casting man out and causing cherubim to dwell at the east end of the Garden of Eden, with a flaming sword turning about to guard the way to the tree of life,a dealt with already in Chapter 3:14. See also 301-307.
Latin(1748-1756) 784
784. Quod 'clausit Jehovah post illum' significent quod amplius non communicationem haberet homo cum caelo, qualem caelesti Ecclesiae homo, ita se res habet: Antiquissimae Ecclesiae status fuit quod communicationem internam habuerint cum caelo, ita per caelum cum Domino; in amore in Dominum fuerunt; qui in amore in Dominum, illi sunt sicut angeli, modo cum differentia quod corpore induti; interiora illorum aperta fuerunt et patuerunt usque a Domino at Ecclesia haec nova aliter; non in amore in Dominum fuit, sed in fide et per fidem in charitate erga proximum; ii non internam, sicut antiquissimi, communicationem habere possunt, sed externam; sed qualis communicatio haec et illa sit, prolixum foret dicere: unusquisque homo communicationem habet, etiam impii per angelos apud eos, sed cum differentia quoad gradus, quod propius vel remotius; alioquin homo non posset esse: gradus communicationis sunt indefiniti; spiritualis homo nusquam talem communicationem habere potes qualem caelestis homo, ex causa quia Dominus in amore est, non ita in fide; hoc nunc est quod significat, quod 'Jehovah clauserit post illum.' [2] Post illa tempora nec usquam apertum fuit caelum sicut Antiquissimae Ecclesiae homini; postea quidem plures locuti sunt cum spiritibus et angelis, sicut Moses, Aharon, et alii, sed prorsus alio modo, de quo, ex Divina Domini Misericordia, in sequentibus. Causa quod clausum sit caelum, arcanissima est, tum quod hodie clausum sit ita ut homo ne quidem sciat quod spiritus sint, minus quod angeli apud eum, et quod putet se prorsus solum esse cum absque sociis in mundo, et cum apud se cogitat; cum tamen in consortio spirituum est continue, qui tam probe animadvertunt et percipiunt quid homo cogitat et quid intendit et machinatur, tam probe et aperte sicut existeret coram omnibus in mundo; hoc nescit prorsus homo, ita clausum est ei caelum; cum tamen verissimum est: causa est, nisi clausum fuisset ita apud eum caelum, cum in nulla fide est, minus in veritate fidei, et adhuc minus in charitate, quod ei periculosissimum foret. Hoc significatum etiam est per 'Quod Jehovah Deus ejecerit hominem, et habitare fecerit ab oriente ad hortum Edenis cherubos, et flammam gladii vertentis se ad custodiendum viam arboris vitarum,' prius, cap. iii vers. 24;videantur etiam quae n. 301-303.