AC 8158 - Moses Calms the People; AC 8159 - The Hells vs. the Divine; AC 8164 - The Nature of Temptations

AC 8158 - short explanation of Exodus 14:13-14

. . . "and Moses said unto the people,"
signifies elevation from a state of despair
by means of truth Divine;
"Fear ye not,"
signifies that they must not despair;
"stand still and see the salvation of Jehovah,"
signifies salvation from the Lord alone
and not at all from them;
"which He will do for you today,"
signifies which is to eternity;
"for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today,
ye shall see them again no more forever,"
signifies that the falsities which are once removed
will be removed to eternity;
"Jehovah shall wage war for you,"
signifies that the Lord alone sustains
the combats of temptations
"and ye shall keep silence,"
signifies that from their own strength
they will effect nothing at all.

AC 8159 [3]

. . . to every falsity the hells inject,
there is an answer from the Divine.

AC 8164

Inasmuch as at this day
few undergo spiritual temptations,
and consequently it is not known
how the case is with temptations,
I may say something further on the subject.
There are spiritual temptations,
and there are natural temptations.
Spiritual temptations belong to the internal man,
but natural ones to the external man.
Spiritual temptations sometimes arise
without natural temptations,
sometimes with them.
Natural temptations exist
when a man suffers as to the body,
as to honors, as to wealth,
in a word, as to the natural life,
as is the case in diseases, misfortunes,
 persecutions, punishments, and the like.
The anxieties which then arise,
are what are meant by "natural temptations."
But these temptations effect nothing whatever
toward man's spiritual life,
neither can they be called temptations, but griefs;
for they arise from the wounding of the natural life,
which is that of the love of self and of the world.
The wicked are sometimes in these griefs,
and they grieve and are tormented
in proportion to the extent
of their love of self and of the world,
and the life they have from this source. 

But spiritual temptations belong to the internal man,
and assault his spiritual life.
In this case the anxieties
are not on account of any loss of natural life,
but on account of the loss of faith and charity,
and consequently of salvation.
These temptations are frequently induced
by means of natural temptations,
for if when a man is in these --
that is, in disease, grief,
the loss of wealth or honor, and the like --
he begins to think about the Lord's aid,
His providence,
the state of the evil in that they glory and exult
when the good suffer
and undergo various griefs and various losses,
then spiritual temptation
is conjoined with natural temptation.
Such was the last temptation of the Lord
in Gethsemane, and when He suffered the cross,
which was the most frightful of all.
From all this it is evident what natural temptation is,
and what spiritual.
There is also a third kind,
namely, melancholy anxiety,
the cause of which is for the most part
to be found in an infirm state of the body
or of the lower mind.
In this anxiety
there may be something of spiritual temptation,
or there may be nothing of it.