In natural language, to “meet” someone can be positive or negative: it can be a welcoming and greeting, or it can be “meeting” them in battle.
Both meanings are, according to Swedenborg, reflected in the internal sense. In positive meetings between people, “meeting” represents a joining and communication between the spiritual states the people represent. In negative ones, however – and especially when the Lord is pictured as meeting someone – it stands for opposition between the states.
It’s worth noting here that according to Swedenborg, the Lord never actually opposes or attacks. The Lord is love itself, and is continually loving everyone and willing them to be good and move toward heaven. But when people reject love and pull away, it creates opposition, and to them it appears that the Lord is attacking and opposing them.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1721
1721. That ‘the king of Sodom went out to meet him’ means that the evil and falsity submitted to Him is clear from the meaning of ‘the king of Sodom’ as the evil and falsity against which the conflict took place, and from the meaning of ‘going out to meet’ as submitting. Mention is made here of the king of Sodom because of this point occurring in the sequence of thought, that the evil and falsity submitted themselves to Him; but that king is not specifically the subject until verse 21 below.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2326
2326. ‘And he rose up to meet them’ means acknowledgement, and also a feeling of charity. This becomes clear from the fact that Lot acknowledged that they were angels the moment they arrived; but the men of Sodom did not do so – of whom it is recorded in verse 5, ‘They cried out to Lot and said, Where are the men who came to you in the night? Bring them out to us-that we may know them’. In the internal sense the words of the present verse mean that those inside the Church with whom the good of charity exists acknowledge the Lord’s Divine Human and His Holy proceeding meant by ‘the two angels’; but those with whom the good of charity does not exist do not acknowledge them.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3205
3205. ‘Who is that man there walking in the field to meet us?’ means regarding the Rational immersed in good alone, that is to say, an investigation regarding it. This is clear from what has been stated above about Isaac’s coming out to meditate in the field, by which is meant a state of the Rational immersed in good, see 3196. Here the rational is meant by ‘that man’, and being immersed in good by ‘walking’ – that is to say, by meditating – ‘in the field’. ‘To meet us’ means so as to be joined together.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4247
4247. ‘The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother, to Esau, and he also is coming to meet you’ means that good flows in constantly so as to make them, that is to say, truths, its own. This is clear from the meaning of ‘brother’, who in this case is Esau, as good – that is to say, the good of the Lord’s Divine Natural, dealt with above; and from the meaning of ‘coming to meet’ as flowing in, dealt with below. And because flowing in is meant, making its own is meant also.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6903
6903. ‘Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, has come to meet us’ means the Lord’s Divine in the Church, and what was commanded by Him. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the Hebrews’ as the Church, dealt with in 5136, 6675, 6684 (the reason why’ Jehovah God’ is the Lord’s Divine is that in the Word none other than the Lord is meant by ‘Jehovah’, 1776, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5041, 5667, 6303); and from the meaning here of ‘coming to meet’ as what was commanded, since ‘coming to meet’ is used here to mean that He spoke to them and gave them orders. The fact that this is what is implied by ‘has come to meet’ is clear from the consideration that it no longer states the actual words spoken by Him but goes on immediately to express what had been commanded by Him.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7000
7000. ‘And also, behold, he is coming out to meet you’ means reception. This is clear from the meaning here of ‘coming out to meet’ as being presented, ready to receive – to receive Divine Truth represented by ‘Moses’. Thus its reception is meant. Angels and spirits who receive Divine Truth going forth from the Lord and take it a stage further are said – when they are presented by the Lord, ready to receive it – ‘to come out to meet’ it.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7042
7042. ‘And Jehovah came to meet him’ means opposition. This is clear from the meaning of ‘coming to meet’ as opposition, opposition to the establishment of any Church among that nation. Opposition to the Divine is what is meant when it says that Jehovah came to meet him. To judge from the sense of the letter it seems as though Jehovah or the Divine was the opposer, since it says ‘Jehovah came to meet him’. But the internal sense is that it was an opposition to the Divine; for the Divine never places Himself in opposition to anyone. Rather it is the person or nation who place themselves in opposition to the Divine; and when they do so it seems, because they cannot abide the Divine, as though there were resistance from the Divine.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7054
7054. ‘Go to meet Moses’ means that it was to be joined to truth going forth directly from the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of ‘going to meet’ as being joined to; and from the representation of ‘Moses’ as truth going forth directly from the Divine, dealt with above in 7010.