AC 1820 - The Hells Fight Against the Goods and Truths a Person Loves

AC 1820 [2, 5]

Evil spirits never fight against other things
than those which a person loves;
the more ardently he loves them,
the more fiercely do they wage the combat.
It is evil genii who fight against the things
that pertain to the affection of good,
and evil spirits that fight against those
which pertain to the affection of truth.
As soon as they notice even the smallest thing
which a person loves,
or perceive as it were by scent
what is delightful and dear to him,
they forthwith assault it and endeavor to destroy it,
and thereby the whole person,
for a person's life consists in his loves.
Nothing is more delightful to them
than to destroy a person in this way,
nor would they desist, even to eternity,
unless they were driven away by the Lord.

. . . what temptations are . . . in general,
such as the loves are,
and from this we may see
what was the nature of the Lord's temptations,
that they were the most terrible of all,
for such as is the greatness of the love,
such is the fearful character of the temptation.
The Lord's love
was the salvation of the whole human race,
and was most ardent;
consequently it was the whole sum
of the affection of good and affection of truth
in the highest degree.
Against these,
with the most malignant wiles and venom,
all the hells waged the combat;
but still the Lord conquered them all
by His own power.
Victories are attended with the result
that the malignant genii and spirits afterwards
dare not do anything;
for their life consists in their being able to destroy,
and when they perceive that a person
is of such a character
that he can resist,
then at the first onset they flee away,
as they are wont to do
when they draw near to the first entrance to heaven,
for they are at once seized with horror and terror,
and hurl themselves backward.
 

AC 1812-1813 - The Lord's All Powerful Motivation While He Lived In This World

AC 1812

He believed in Jehovah.
(Genesis 15:6)

. . .  while He lived in the world
the Lord was in continual combats of temptations,
and in continual victories,
from a constant inmost confidence and faith
that because He was fighting for
the salvation of the whole human race from pure love,
He could not but conquer;
which is here meant by "believing in Jehovah."
From the love from which anyone fights
it is known what his faith is.
He who fights from any other love
than love toward the neighbor
and toward the Lord's kingdom,
does not fight from faith,
that is, does not "believe in Jehovah,"
but in that which he loves,
for the love itself for which he fights is his faith.
For example: he who fights
from the love of becoming the greatest in heaven,
does not believe in Jehovah,
but rather in himself;
for to desire to become the greatest
is to desire to command others;
thus he fights for command;
and so in all other cases.
And thus from the love itself
from which anyone fights,
it may be known what his faith is.

But in all His combats of temptations
the Lord never fought from the love of self,
or for Himself,
but for all in the universe,
consequently, not that He might become
the greatest in heaven,
for this is contrary to the Divine Love,
and scarcely even that He might be the least;
but only that all others might become something,
and be saved.
As He also says in Mark:

The two sons of Zebedee said,
Grant unto us that we may sit,
one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left,
in Thy glory.
Jesus said,
Whoever would be great among
you shall be your minister;
and whoever would be first among you,
shall be servant of all.
For the Son of man also came
not to be ministered onto, but to minister,
and to give His soul a ransom for many.
(Mark 10:37, 43-45).

This is the love, or this is the faith,
from which the Lord fought,
and which is here meant by "believing in Jehovah."

AC 1813

He imputed it to him for righteousness.
(Genesis 15:6)

. . . That the Lord alone
became righteousness for the whole human race,
may be seen from the fact
that He alone fought from Divine love,
namely, from love toward the whole human race,
whose salvation was what in His combats
He solely desired and burned for.
In regard to His Human Essence
the Lord was not born righteousness,
but became righteousness
through combats of temptations and victories,
and this from His own power.
As often as He fought and overcame,
this was imputed to Him for righteousness,
that is, it was added to
the righteousness that He was becoming,
as a continual increase,
until He became pure righteousness.

AC 1807 - Body and Soul; AC 1810 - Number the Stars

 AC 1807 [3]

. . . all things in the body
both in general and in particular
are representative of the soul.
The soul is in the use and the end;
but the body is in the performance of them.

AC 1810

"Look now toward heaven,
and number the stars,
if you can number them;
and He said unto him,
so shall your seed be."
(Genesis 15:5)
These words also mean
the innumerable goods
and truths of wisdom and intelligence,
together with their attendant happiness,
in every angel.

 

AC 1791, 1793 - "Lord Jehovih"

AC 1791

Abram said, Lord Jehovih.
(Genesis 15:2)

That this signifies the Lord's perception,
may be seen from the fact
that the Lord had
the most interior and perfect perception of all things.
This perception, as before said,
was a perceptive sensation
and knowledge of all things
that were taking place in heaven,
and was a continual communication
and internal conversation with Jehovah,
which the Lord alone had.
This is meant in the internal sense by the words
"Abram said to Jehovah" . . ..

AC 1793

That the "Lord Jehovih"
is the internal person relatively to the interior,
is evident from what has been said
concerning the Lord's internal man, namely,
that it was Jehovah Himself,
from whom He was conceived,
and whose only Son He was,
and to whom the Lord's Human became united
after He had by the combats of temptation
purified the maternal human,
that is, that which He derived from the mother.
The appellation "Lord Jehovih"
occurs very often in the Word;
indeed, as often as Jehovah is called "Lord"
He is not called "Lord Jehovah," but "Lord Jehovih,"
and this especially where temptations are treated of.

AC 1787 - Temptation; AC 1789 - Reward

AC 1787 [1-2]

Every temptation is attended with some kind of despair
(otherwise it is not a temptation),
and therefore consolation follows.
He who is tempted is brought into anxieties,
which induce a state of despair
as to what the end is to be.
The very combat of temptation is nothing else.
He who is sure of victory is not in anxiety,
and therefore is not in temptation.

The Lord also, as He endured
the most dire and cruel temptations of all,
could not but be driven into states of despair,
and these He dispelled and overcame
by His own power;

Jehovah is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my strong rock in whom I trust,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation.
Jehovah is a shield unto all that trust in Him.
(Psalm 18:2, 30) from AC 1788 [4]

AC 1789

Thy great reward.
(Genesis 15:1)

That this means the end and purpose of the victories,
is evident from the meaning of "reward,"
as being the prize after the combats of temptations;
here the end and purpose of the victories,
because the Lord never looked for
any prize of victory for Himself.
His prize of victories
was the salvation of the whole human race;
and it was from love toward the entire human race
that He fought.
He who fights from this love
demands for himself no prize,
because this love is such
that it wills to give and transfer all its own to others,
and to have nothing for itself;
so that it is the salvation of the whole human race
that is here meant by the "reward."

~ Consider the Voice of the Singers ~

"You who ride on white donkeys,
sitting on your saddle blankets,
and you who walk along the road,
consider the voice of the singers at the watering places.
They recite the righteous acts  of the Lord,
the righteous acts of His warriors in Israel."

(Judges 5:10-11)

AC 1778 - Genesis 15 Overview

AC 1778

Here in the internal sense are continued
the things concerning the Lord
after He had endured in childhood
the most severe combats of temptations,
which were directed against the love
which He cherished toward the whole human race,
and in particular toward the church;
and therefore being anxious
concerning their future state
a promise was made Him;
but it was shown at the same time
what the state of the church would become
toward its end when it would begin to expire;
but that still a new church should revive,
which would take the place of the former,
and the heavenly kingdom
would be immensely increased.

~ The Angel of the Lord at Bokim ~

The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim
and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt
and led you into the land
that I swore to give to your forefathers.
I said, 'I will never break My covenant with you,
and you shall not make a covenant
with the people of this land,
but you shall break down their altars.'
Yet you have disobeyed Me.
Why have you done this?
Now therefore I tell you
that I will not drive them out before you;
they will be thorns in your sides
and their gods will be a snare to you."

(Judges 2:1-3)

AC 1767, 1776 - Reading the Lord's Word

AC 1767

When the Word of the Lord is being read
by a person who loves the Word and lives in charity,
or by a person who from simplicity of heart
believes what is written
and has not formed principles contrary
to the truth of faith which is in the internal sense,
is presented by the Lord before the angels
in such beauty and in such pleasantness,
with representatives also,
and this with inexpressible variety
in accordance with all their state at the time,
that every particular is perceived as if it had life,
which life is that which is in the Word,
and from which the Word had birth
when it was sent down from heaven.
From this cause the Word of the Lord is such,
that although in the letter it appears crude,
there are stored up in it spiritual and celestial things
which lie open before good spirits, and before angels,
when the Word is being read by people.

AC 1776

It may seem a paradox,
but still it is most true,
that the angels understand
the internal sense of the Word
better and more fully
when little boys and girls are reading it,
than when it is read by adult persons
who are not in the faith of charity.
The cause has been told me,
and is that little boys and girls
are in a state of mutual love and innocence,
and so their most tender vessels are almost heavenly,
and are simply capacities for receiving,
which therefore can be disposed by the Lord;
although this does not come to their perception,
except by a certain delight suited to their genius.
It was said by the angels
that the Word of the Lord is a dead letter;
but that in the person that reads it
it is vivified by the Lord
according to the capacity of each one;
and that it becomes living
according to the life of his charity
and his state of innocence,
and this with inexpressible variety.

~ But As For Me ~

But as for me and my household,
we will serve the Lord.

(Joshua 25:15.5)


 

AC 1745 - "Lifting Up the Hand" (Genesis 14:22); AC 1749 - Dominion

AC 1745

The lifting up of the hand to Jehovah
is a gesture of the body corresponding to
an affection of the mind, as is well known.
In the sense of the letter,
those things which are interior, or of the mind,
are expressed by external things which correspond;
but in the internal sense
it is internal things that are meant;
here therefore the lifting up of the hand
means the mind, or an affection of the mind.

So long as the Lord was in a state of temptations,
He spoke with Jehovah as with another;
but so far as
His Human Essence was united to His Divine Essence,
He spoke with Jehovah as with Himself;
which is evident from many passages in the Gospels,
as also from many in the Prophets and in David.
The cause is clearly evident
from what has been said before
concerning the inheritance from the mother.
So far as this remained,
He was as it were absent from Jehovah;
but so far as this was extirpated,
He was present, and was Jehovah Himself.

This may be illustrated
by the conjunction of the Lord with the angels.
Sometimes an angel does not speak from himself,
but from the Lord,
and he then does not know but that he is the Lord;
but then his externals are quiescent.
It is otherwise when his externals are active.
The reason is, that the internal person of the angels
is the Lord's possession;
and so far then as there are no obstructions
on the part of what is their own,
it is the Lord's, and even is the Lord.
But in the Lord,
a plenary conjunction or an eternal union
with Jehovah was shaped,
so that His very Human Essence also is Jehovah.

AC 1749 [3]

Dominion from evil and falsity
is altogether contrary to dominion from good and truth.
Dominion from evil and falsity
consists in desiring to make all slaves;
dominion from good and truth
in desiring to make all free.
Dominion from evil and falsity consists in destroying all;
but dominion from good and truth in saving all.
From which it is evident
that dominion from evil and falsity is of the devil,
and that dominion from good and truth is of the Lord.

AC 1735 - To Live in the Lord; AC 1737 - Follow Him; AC 1740 - Angels With Us

AC 1735 [1, 2]

. . . to live in the Lord,
which is never possible unless we live in His love,
that is, in charity toward the neighbor.

AC 1737

The conjunction of
the Human Essence with the Divine Essence
was procured and effected by the Lord
by continual combats of temptations and victories,
and this from His own power.
He who apprehends (understands, perceives)
the mode of the conjunction and union
in any other way is much mistaken.
By this He became righteousness.
The conjunction or union was effected
with the Celestial of Love, that is, with Love itself,
which, as before said, is Jehovah.
The conjunction of people with the Lord
is also effected by temptations,
and by the implanting of faith in love.
Unless faith is implanted in love,
that is, unless a person
by the things that are of faith
receives the life of faith, that is, charity,
there is no conjunction.
This alone is to follow Him,
namely, to be conjoined with the Lord
just as the Lord as to His Human Essence
was conjoined with Jehovah.

AC 1740

And the more of love there is for goods and truths,
the more do the angels love to be with the person . . ..

~ The Lord Gave Them Rest ~

So the Lord gave Israel all the land
He had sworn to give their forefathers,
and they took possession of it and settled there.
The Lord gave them rest on every side,
just as He had sworn to their forefathers.
Not one of their enemies withstood them;
the Lord handed all their enemies over to them.
Not one of all the Lord's good promises
to the house of Israel failed;
every one was fulfilled.

(Joshua 21:43-45)

AC 1733 - "God Most High, Possessor of the Heavens and Earth"

AC 1733 [2]

"God Most High, Possessor of the heavens and earth,"
(Genesis 14:20)

means the conjunction in the Lord of the internal man
with the interior and exterior man,
may be seen from the fact that as to His internal man
the Lord was Jehovah Himself;
and because the internal man or Jehovah
led and instructed the external, as a father his son,
therefore relatively to Jehovah He is called,
as to the external man,
the "Son of God;"
but relatively to the mother,
He is called the "Son of Man."
The Lord's internal man, which is Jehovah Himself,
is what is here called "God Most High;"
and before plenary conjunction or union was effected,
it is called "Possessor of the heavens and earth,"
that is, Possessor of all things
which are in the interior and the exterior man;
for these, as before said,
are here meant by "the heavens and the earth."

 

AC 1718 - The External Person; AC 1726 - The Lord's Refreshing Peace

AC 1718

What the external person is,
is scarcely known at this day;
for it is thought
that only that which belongs to the body
constitutes the external person;
as the faculties of sense, namely,
the touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight;
and also the appetites and pleasures.
But these constitute the outermost person,
which is merely corporeal.
The knowledges that belong to the memory,
and the affections that are of the love,
with which the person has been imbued,
properly constitute the external person;
also those faculties of sense
which properly belong to the spirit,
together with the pleasures that the spirit enjoys.
That these properly constitute
the external or exterior person,
is evident from people in the other life,
that is, spirits.
These in like manner possess an external person,
and in like manner an interior person,
and consequently an internal person.
The body is only as it were a covering, a crust,
which is dissolved
in order that the person may truly live,
and that all things belonging to him
may become more excellent.

AC 1726

In the original language "Salem"
means "peace," and also "perfection;"
thus it means a state of peace,
and a state of perfection.
A state of peace is the state of the Lord's kingdom;
in that state
the Lord's celestial and spiritual things
are as in their morning, and in their spring . . ..
When a person is in the combats of temptations,
he is by turns gifted by the Lord with a state of peace,
and is thus refreshed.
A state of peace is here signified by "Salem;"
and presently also by the "bread and wine,"
by which celestial and spiritual things are meant;
thus a state of celestial and spiritual things in peace,
which state is refreshment itself.

Ac 1712 - As If of Ourselves

AC 1712 [2, 3]

. . . if people confirm themselves in the belief
that they can do good and resist evil
by their own powers,
and that they thus merit salvation,
in this case this idea remains attached,
and causes the good to be evil,
and the truth to be falsity.
But still it is according to order
for a person to do good as of himself;
and therefore he ought not to slacken his hand,
with the thought,
"If I can do nothing of good from myself,
I ought to wait for immediate influx,"
and thus remain in a passive state,
for this would be contrary to order;
but he must do good as of himself;
yet, when he reflects
upon the good which he does or has done,
let him think, acknowledge, and believe
that the Lord has done the work in him.

It is thus an eternal truth
that a person does not live from himself,
but that if he did not appear to live from himself
he could not live at all.

AC 1702 - The Interior Man; AC 1707 - The Internal Man

"Man" in these verses indicates human or person
not someone specifically male. 
The application is to all - male or female.
__________

AC 1702 [2]

The interior man
is intermediate
between the internal and the external man.
By the interior man
the internal man communicates with the external;
without this medium,
no communication at all is possible.
The celestial is distinct from the natural,
and still more from the corporeal,
and unless there is a medium
by which there is communication,
the celestial cannot operate at all into the natural,
and still less into the corporeal.
It is the interior man
which is called the rational man;
and this man, because it is intermediate,
communicates with the internal man,
where there is good itself and truth itself;
and it also communicates with the exterior man,
where there are evil and falsity.
. . .  In a word, the interior or middle man
is the rational man himself,
who is spiritual or celestial when he looks upward,
but animal when he looks downward.

AC 1707 [3]

The internal man in everyone
belongs to the Lord alone;
for there the Lord stores up
the goods and truths
with which He gifts man from infancy.
It is through these
He flows into the interior or rational man,
and through this into the exterior;
in this way it is given to the man to think,
and to be a man.
But the influx from the internal man
into the interior or middle man,
and so into the exterior man,
is twofold;
it is either by celestial things, or by spiritual things
or what is the same,
it is either by goods, or by truths.
By celestial things, or goods,
it flows in only with regenerate men,
who have been gifted
either with perception or with conscience;
thus it flows in by perception or by conscience;
for which reason the influx by celestial things
has no existence except with those
who are in love to the Lord
and in charity toward the neighbor.
But by spiritual things, or truths,
the Lord flows in with every man;
and unless there was this influx
the man could not think,
and therefore could not speak.
When a man is such
that he perverts the goods and truths,
and when he cares nothing
for celestial and spiritual things,
there is then no influx of celestial things, or goods,
but the way for these is closed;
and yet there is an influx of spiritual things, or truths,
for a way for them is continually kept open.
So may be seen what is the nature
of the interior or middle, that is, of the rational man.

AC 1680, 1690, 1692 - The Lord's Combats and Temptations

AC 1680

As regards the evils and falsities
against which the Lord combated,
it is to be known
that what He fought against was the infernal spirits
who were in the evils and falsities,
that is, it was the hells filled with such spirits,
which continually infested the human race.
The infernals desire nothing else
than to destroy everyone;
and they perceive no greater pleasure
than in torturing others.

AC 1690 [3]

All temptation is an assault upon the love
in which the person is,
and the temptation
is in the same degree as is the love.
If the love is not assaulted,
there is no temptation.
To destroy anyone's love
is to destroy his very life;
for the love is the life.
The Lord's life was love toward the whole human race,
and was indeed so great, and of such a quality,
as to be nothing but pure love.

AC 1692

Scarcely anyone can know what
temptations, or combats of temptations, effect.
They are the means by which
evils and falsities are broken up and dispersed,
and by which horror of them is induced;
and not only is conscience given,
but it is also strengthened thereby,
and so the person is regenerated,
which is the reason why
those who are being regenerated
are let into combats, and undergo temptations;
and those who do not undergo them
in the life of the body,
do so in the other life,
if they are capable of being regenerated,
on which account the Lord's church is called militant.
But the Lord alone
sustained the most cruel combats of temptations
by His own strength or His own power;
for He was surrounded by all the hells,
and continually conquered them.

It is the Lord alone also who fights in the people
who are in the combats of temptations,
and who overcomes.
A person from his own power
can effect nothing at all against evil or infernal spirits;
for they are so connected with the hells
that if one were overcome,
another would rush in, and so on forever.
They are like the sea
which presses upon every part of a dike;
and if the dike should be broken
through by a cleft or a crack,
the sea would never cease
to burst through and overflow,
until nothing was left standing.
So would it be with person
unless the Lord alone
sustained in him the combats of temptations.

AC 1675 - Persuasions; AC 1676 - The Extent of the Lord's Salvation

AC 1675 [7]

There are persuasions of falsity
from the love of self,
and there are persuasions of falsity
from the love of the world;
the persuasions that are from the love of self
are most foul;
but the persuasions from the love of the world
are not so foul.
The persuasions of falsity
from the love of self
are opposite to the celestial things of love;
but the persuasions of falsity
from the love of the world
are opposite to the spiritual things of love.
Persuasions from the love of self carry with them
a desire to exercise command over all things;
and so far as restraints are relaxed to them,
they rush on,
even to desire to exercise command over the universe,
and even over Jehovah Himself,
as has been shown.
Therefore persuasions of this kind
are not tolerated in the other life.
But persuasions from the love of the world
do not rush on so far;
but only to the insanity
of not being contented with one's lot.
They vainly affect a heavenly joy,
and desire to appropriate the goods of others,
but not so much
with the disposition to exercise command.
But the differences that exist
among these persuasions are innumerable.

AC 1676 [3]

. . . it is sufficient for people to know,
and, because it is so, to believe,
that it is an eternal truth
that unless the Lord had come into the world
and subjugated and conquered the hells
by means of temptations admitted into Himself,
the human race would have perished;
and that otherwise
those who have been on this earth
even from the time of the Most Ancient Church
could not possibly have been saved.

AC 1666 - Twelve; AC 1668 - Thirteen; AC 1670 - Fourteen

 AC 1666 [4]

Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer,
and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
(Genesis 14:4)

"Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer,"
means that the evils and falsities
did not appear in childhood,
but that they served the apparent goods and truths;
"and in the thirteenth year they rebelled,"
means the beginning of temptations in childhood.

AC 1668

The thirteenth year is intermediate
between the twelfth and the fourteenth.
. . . The intermediate between
no temptation and temptation is "thirteen."

Evils or evil spirits rebel in proportion
as the person who desires to be in good and truth
confirms in himself any evils and falsities,
that is, in proportion as evil greeds and falsities
insinuate themselves into his goods and truths.
. . . This is so with all who have conscience;
and much more was it the case with the Lord
when a child,
who had perception.
With those who have conscience
there arises therefrom a dull pain;
but with those who have perception, a sharp one,
and the more interior the perception is,
the sharper is the pain.
From this we may see
what was the nature of the Lord's temptation
in comparison with that of all people,
for He had interior and inmost perception.

AC 1670

In the fourteenth year.
(Genesis 14:5)

That this means the first temptation,
may be seen from the meaning of "fourteen,"
or the end of the second week . . .
where the time of seven days or of one week
means the beginning of temptation.
"Fourteen," or the term of two weeks, means the same.

AC 1659, 1661, 1663, 1664 - Wars and Temptations

AC 1659 [3]

In very ancient times also,
many things were represented by wars,
which they called the Wars of Jehovah,
and which meant nothing else
than the combats of the church,
and of those who were of the church,
that is, their temptations,
which are nothing but combats and wars
with the evils in themselves,
and consequently with the diabolical crew
that excite the evils,
and endeavor to destroy the church
and the people of the church.
That nothing else is meant in the Word by "wars,"
may be clearly seen from the fact
that nothing can be treated of in the Word
except the Lord and His kingdom, and the church;
because it is Divine and not human,
consequently heavenly and not worldly,
and therefore by "wars," in the sense of the letter,
nothing else can be meant in the internal sense.

AC 1661 [2]

No one can ever fight against evils and falsities
until he has learned to know what evil and falsity are,
and therefore not until he has been instructed.
A person does not know what evil is,
still less what falsity is,
until he has the full use of
his understanding and judgment,
which is the reason why a person
does not come into temptations
until he has arrived at adult age;
thus every person in his age of manhood,
but the Lord in His childhood.

AC 1663 [2]

That the Lord underwent and endured
the most grievous temptations --
temptations more grievous
than have ever been endured by anyone --
is not so well known from the Word,
where it is only mentioned
that He was in the wilderness forty days,
and was tempted by the devil.
The temptations themselves which He then had,
are described in a few words only;
but these few involve them all;
as that it is said in Mark (1:12, 13)
that He was there with the beasts,
by which are meant the worst of the infernal crew;
and the things which are mentioned
[in Matthew and in Luke],
that He was taken by the devil
upon the pinnacles of the temple,
and upon a high mountain,
are nothing but representatives
of most grievous temptations
which He had in the wilderness;
concerning which, of the Lord's Divine mercy hereafter.

AC 1664 [8]

That Jehovah alone, that is, the Lord,
combats and overcomes the devil that is with a person
when he is in the combats of temptations,
although it does not so appear to the person,
is a constant truth;
for not even the smallest thing
can be brought upon a person by evil spirits
that is not by permission;
and nothing, however small,
can be averted by angels,
except from the Lord;
so that it is the Lord alone who sustains all the combat,
and who overcomes;
which also is everywhere represented by the wars
waged by the sons of Israel against the nations.
That it is the Lord alone, is also declared in Moses:

Jehovah your God who walks before you,
He shall fight for you.
(Deuteronomy 1:30)

Again:

Jehovah your God is He that walks with you,
to fight for you against your enemies,
 to save you.
(Deuteronomy 20:4; so too in Joshua 23:3, 5)

~ The Lord Reminds Joshua ~

"Be strong and very courageous.
Be careful to obey all the law
My servant Moses gave you;
do not turn from it to the right or to the left,
that you may be successful wherever you go.
Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth;
meditate on it day and night,
so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be terrified;
do not be discouraged,
for the Lord your God will be with you
wherever you go."

(Joshua 1:7-9)

AC 1637 - The Speech of Spirits With a Person; AC 1645 - The Speech of Angels

AC 1637

Among the wonderful things in the other life
is the fact that the speech of spirits with a person
is in his native tongue,
which they speak as readily and skillfully
as if they had been born in the same land,
and had been brought up with the same language;
and this whether they are from Europe, from Asia,
or from any other part of the globe.
The case is the same with those
who lived thousands of years ago,
before the language in question had come into existence.
The spirits indeed know no otherwise
than that the language in which they speak with a person
is their own,
and that of their native land.
The case is the same with other languages
in which the person is skilled;
but beyond these languages,
the spirits cannot utter a syllable of any language,
unless to do this is given them by the Lord immediately.
Even little children who had died
before they had been taught any language,
speak in the same way.

But the reason is
that the language with which spirits are familiar
is not a language of words,
but is a language of ideas of thought;
and this language is the universal of all languages;
and when they are with a person,
their ideas of thought fall into the words
that are in the person,
and this in a manner so correspondent and fitting
that the spirits know no otherwise
than that the words themselves are theirs,
and that they are speaking in their own language;
when yet they are speaking in that of the person.

AC 1645

But the speech of angels is beyond description,
far above the speech of spirits,
for it is above that of angelic spirits,
and is not intelligible in any way to a person
so long as he lives in the body.
Nor can the spirits in the world of spirits
form any idea of it,
for it is above the perceptive power of their thought.
This speech of angels is not of things
represented by any ideas
like those of spirits and angelic spirits;
but it is a speech of ends
and of the derivative uses,
which are the primaries and the essentials of things.
Into these are angelic thoughts insinuated,
and are varied there with indefinite variety;
and in each and all things of that speech
there is an inward and happy delight
from the good of mutual love from the Lord,
and a beautiful and delightful one
from the truth of faith from that good.
Ends, and the uses from them,
are as it were most delicate recipients,
and are the delightful subjects
of unnumbered variations;
and this by means of celestial and spiritual forms
that are beyond comprehension.
In these they are kept by the Lord,
for the Lord's kingdom
is simply a kingdom of ends and uses;
and for this reason also
the angels who are with a person
attend to nothing else than the ends and uses,
and elaborate nothing else from the person's thought.
All other things, which are mental and material,
they care nothing for;
because these are far below their sphere.

AC 1619, 1630 - Interior Sight

AC 1619

When a person's interior sight is opened,
which is the sight of his spirit,
he then sees things in the next life,
which cannot possible be made visible
before his bodily eyes.
The visions that the prophets had
were nothing else.
As has been stated,
representatives of the Lord and of His kingdom,
as well as meaningful signs,
are to be seen constantly,
so much so
that nothing ever comes before the eyes of angels
that is not a representative or a meaningful sign.
This is the origin
of representatives and of meaningful signs in the Word,
for the Word derives from the Lord through heaven.

AC 1630

. . . if nothing were believed
except that what is comprehended and experienced,
nothing would be believed
respecting the things of interior nature;
still less concerning the thing that are of eternal life.
From this comes the insanity of our age.

~ The Beginning of the Song of Moses ~

And Moses recited the words of this song
from beginning to end
in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel:

Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
Let my teaching fall like rain
and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.

I will proclaim the name of the Lord.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
He is the Rock,
His works are perfect,
and all His ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is He.

. . . Moses came with Joshua son of Nun
and spoke all the words of this song
in the hearing of the people.
When Moses finished reciting
all these words to all Israel,
he said to them,
"Take to heart all the words
I have solemnly declared to you this day,
so that you may command your children
to obey carefully all the words of the law.
They are not just ideal words for you --
they are your life.
By them you will live long in the land
you are crossing the Jordan to possess."

(Deuteronomy 31:30; 32:1-4, 44-47)

AC 1615, 1618 - Building Altars and Worship

AC 1615

And Abram pitched his tent,
and came and dwelt in the oak-groves of Mamre
that are in Hebron,
and there he built an altar to Jehovah.
(Genesis 13:18)

"Abram pitched his tent,
and came and dwelt in the oak-groves of Mamre
that are in Hebron,"
means that the Lord came to a perception
still more internal;
this is the sixth state;
"and there he built an altar to Jehovah,"
means worship from that state.

AC 1618

And there he built an altar to Jehovah.
(Genesis 13:18)

That this means worship from that state,
is evident from the meaning of "an altar,"
as being a representative of all worship in general.
By worship, in the internal sense,
 is meant all conjunction through love and charity.
When a person is in love and charity
he is continually in worship,
external worship being merely the effect.
The angels are in such worship;
with them, therefore, there is a perpetual Sabbath;
and from this the Sabbath,
in the internal sense,
means the Lord's kingdom.
But a person, while in the world,
ought not to be otherwise
than in external worship also;
for by external worship internal things are excited,
and by means of external worship
external things are kept in holiness,
so that internal things can flow in.
And besides, a person is thus imbued with knowledges,
and is prepared for receiving celestial things,
and is also gifted with states of holiness,
although he is unaware of this;
which states of holiness
are preserved to him by the Lord
for the use of eternal life,
for in the other life all the states of his life return.

~ It Is Not So Difficult ~

Now what I am commanding you today
is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.
It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask,
"Who will ascend into heaven to get it
and proclaim it to us so that we may obey it?"
Nor is it beyond the sea,
so that you have to ask,
"Who will cross the sea to get it
and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"
No, the word is very near you;
it is in your mouth and in your heart
so you may obey it.

See, I set before you today life and prosperity,
death and destruction.
For I command you today
to love the Lord your God,
to walk in His ways,
and to keep His commands, decrees and laws;
then you will live and increase,
and the Lord you God will bless you in the land
you are entering to possess.

. . . Now choose life,
so that you and your children may live
and that you may love the Lord your God,
listen to His voice and hold fast to Him.
For the Lord is your life . . ..

(Deuteronomy 30:11-16, 19.5-20.5)

 

AC 1598 - The External Person Is a Servant of the Internal

AC 1598

How ugly the external person is
when separated (disjoined) from the internal
may become clear to anyone
from what has been stated about self-love and its desires
which are the principal cause of the severance.
As great as is the beauty of the external person
when united to the internal,
so great is its deformity when disunited.
For regarded in itself
the external person is nothing other
than the servant of the internal.
It is something instrumental whereby ends in view
pass into uses,
and uses manifest themselves in an effect,
and thus all things may be accomplished.
The reverse happens when the external person
separates itself from the internal
and wishes to serve only itself,
even more
when it wishes to have dominion over the internal,
which, as has been shown,
happens principally because of self-love and its desires.

 

AC 1594 - And They Were Separated

AC 1594 [3-5]

And they were separated, a man from his brother.
(Genesis 13:11)

. . .  what disunites is principally the love of self;
the love of the world, also,
but not so much as the love of self.
The reason why a person does not know this
is that he lives in no charity,
and when he is living in no charity
it cannot be apparent to him
that a life of the love of self and its evil greed
is so contrary to heavenly love.
There is also in the love of self and its evil greed
something glowing, and consequently delightful,
which so affects the life
that the person hardly knows otherwise
than that therein consists eternal happiness itself;
and therefore many place eternal happiness
in becoming great after the life of the body,
and in being served by others, even by angels;
while they themselves desire to serve no one,
except for the sake of self,
with a hidden view to being served themselves.
Their saying that they desire
to serve the Lord alone is false,
for they who are in the love of self
desire to have even the Lord serve them,
and so far as this is not done they fall back.
Thus they carry in their heart
the desire to become lords themselves,
and to reign over the universe.
It is easy to conceive
what kind of government this would be,
when many, indeed, when all, were like this.
Is not that government infernal
in which everyone loves himself more than any other?
This lies hidden in the love of self.
From this we can see the nature of the love of self,
and we can see it also from the fact
that there is concealed within it hatred
against all who do not subject themselves to it as slaves;
and because there is hatred,
there are also revenge, cruelties, deceits,
and many other wicked things.

But mutual love, which alone is heavenly,
consists in a person's not only saying of himself,
but acknowledging and believing,
that he is utterly unworthy,
and that he is something vile and filthy,
which the Lord from His infinite mercy
continually withdraws and holds back from hell,
into which the person continually strives,
even longs, to precipitate himself.
His acknowledging and believing this,
is because it is true;
not that the Lord, or any angel, desires him
to acknowledge and believe it
for the sake of his submission;
but that he may not exalt himself,
seeing that he is even such;
for this would be as if
excrement should call itself pure gold,
or a fly of the dunghill
should say that it is a bird of paradise.
So far therefore
as a person acknowledges and believes himself
to be such as he really is,
he recedes from the love of self and its evil greed,
and abhors himself.
So far as he does this,
he receives heavenly love from the Lord,
that is, mutual love,
which consists in the desire to serve all.
These are they who are meant by "the least,"
who become in the Lord's kingdom the greatest
(see Matt. 20:26-28; Luke 9:46-48).

From what has been said we can see
that what principally disjoins
the external person from the internal
is the love of self;
and that what principally unites them
is mutual love,
which love is never possible
until the love of self recedes,
for these are altogether contrary to each other.
The internal person is nothing else than mutual love.
A person's very spirit or soul
is the interior person that lives after death;
and it is organic, for it is adjoined to the body
while the person is living in this world.
This interior person, that is, the soul or spirit,
is not the internal person;
but the internal person is in it
when mutual love is in it.
The things that are of the internal person are the Lord's;
so that it may be said
that the internal person is the Lord.
But because to an angel or a person
while he lives in mutual love,
the Lord gives a heavenly proprium,
so that it appears no otherwise
than that he does what is good of himself . . ..
But he who is in mutual love acknowledges and believes
that all that is good and true is not his, but the Lord's;
and his ability to love another as himself --
and what is more, if he is like the angels,
his ability to love another more than himself --
he acknowledges and believes to be the Lord's gift;
from which gift and its happiness
he recedes, so far as he recedes from
the acknowledgment that it is the Lord's.

AC 1588 - "The Garden of Jehovah" and "The Garden of God"

AC 1588

The expression "garden of Jehovah"
is used when the rational is celestial,
that is, from a celestial origin,
as it was with the Most Ancient Church,
concerning which in Isaiah:

Jehovah will comfort Zion;
He will comfort all her waste places,
and will make her wilderness as Eden,
and her desert as the garden of Jehovah;
joy and gladness shall be found in her,
confession and the voice of a song.
(Isaiah 51:3)

But the expression "garden of God"
is used when the rational is spiritual,
that is, from a spiritual origin,
as it was in the Ancient Church, spoken of in Ezekiel:

Full of wisdom,
and perfect in beauty,
you have been in Eden the garden of God.
(Ezekiel 28:12-13)

A person's rational is compared to a "garden,"
from the representative that is presented in heaven;
it is a person's rational that appears as a garden
when the celestial spiritual flows into it from the Lord;
and even paradises are from this presented to the sight,
which in magnificence and beauty
surpass every idea of human imagination,
which is the effect
of the influx of celestial spiritual light from the Lord.
The pleasant and the beautiful things of these paradises
are not what affect the beholder,
but the celestial spiritual things that live in them.

 

AC 1571, 1573 - Abram and Lot Separate

AC 1571

. . . when in worship
the internal person desires to regard the ends
that belong to the kingdom of God,
and the external person desires to regard the ends
that belong to the world,
there thus arises a disagreement
which manifests itself in the worship,
and that so plainly
that the smallest bit of such disagreement
is noticed in heaven.
This is what is signified by the
"strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle
and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle."
These are the considerations meant by
'strife between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsman'.
And the reason is added,
namely that
'the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then in the land'.

AC 1573

And the Canaanite and the Perizzite
were then dwelling in the land.
(Genesis 13:7)

That this means evils and falsities in the external person,
is evident from the meaning of "the Canaanite,"
as being the hereditary evil from the mother
in the external person;
and from the meaning of "the Perizzite,"
as being the derivative falsity . . ..

AC 1568 - Can't Look Up and Down At the Same Time

AC 1568

The land was not able to bear them
that they might dwell together.
(Genesis 13:6)

This means that the things
belonging to the internal celestial things
could not be together with the others,
that is, with those here signified by "Lot."
Abram, as before said, represents the Lord,
here His internal man;
but Lot represents His external man,
here the things that were to be separated
from the external man,
with which the internal things could not dwell.

. . . there are many things in the external man
that can dwell together and agree with the internal man.
But there are also very many which do not agree,
or together with which the internal man cannot dwell;
this is the case with all things
that spring from the love of self,
and from the love of the world,
for all such things regard self as the end,
and the world as the end.
With these the celestial things which are
of love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor
cannot agree; for these look to the Lord as the end,
and to His kingdom
and all things that are of Him
and His kingdom as the ends.
The ends of the love of self and the love of the world
look outward or downward;
but the ends of love to the Lord
and love toward the neighbor
look inward or upward;
from all which it is evident that they disagree so much
that they cannot possibly be together.

~ Don't Come Before the Lord Empty-handed ~

Three times a year
all your men must appear before the Lord your God
at the place He will choose:
at the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
the Feast of Weeks
and the Feast of Tabernacles.
No man should appear before the Lord empty-handed:
Each of you must bring a gift
in proportion to the way the Lord your God
has blessed you.

(Deuteronomy 16:16-17)

AC 1554-1555 - Journeys

AC  1554

He went according to his journeys.
(Deuteronomy 13:3)

That this means according to order,
is evident from the meaning of "journeys,"
as being further progressions;
and as these were made according to order,
"journeys" here mean nothing else.
From His earliest infancy the Lord advanced
according to all Divine order to celestial things,
and into celestial things;
and in the internal sense,
the nature of this order is described
by what is said concerning Abram.
According to such order also
are all led who are being created anew by the Lord;
but this order is various with people,
according to the nature and genius of each one.
But the order by which a person is led
while being regenerated
is known to no person,
and not even to the angels, except obscurely,
but to the Lord alone.

AC 1555 [2-3]

Few, if any, know how man is brought to true wisdom.
Intelligence is not wisdom,
but leads to wisdom;
for to understand what is true and good
is not to be true and good,
but to be wise is to be so.
Wisdom is predicated only of the life --
that the person is such.
A person is introduced to wisdom or to life
by means of knowing,
that is, by means of knowledges.

In every person there are two parts,
the will and the understanding;
the will is the primary part,
the understanding is the secondary one.
A person's life after death
is according to his will part,
not according to his intellectual part.
The will is being formed in a person
by the Lord
from infancy to childhood,
which is effected by means of the innocence
that is insinuated,
and by means of charity toward parents, nurses,
and little children of a like age;
and by means of many other things
that a person knows nothing of,
and which are celestial.
Unless these celestial things were first
placed into a person while an infant and a child,
he could by no means become a man.
Thus is formed the first plane.

But as a person is not a human
unless he is endowed also with understanding,
will alone does not make the person,
but understanding together with will;
and understanding cannot be acquired
except by means of knowledges
and therefore he must,
from his childhood, be gradually filled with these.
Thus is formed the second plane.

When the intellectual part
has been instructed in knowledges,
especially in the knowledges of truth and good,
then first can the person be regenerated;
and, when he is being regenerated,
truths and goods are implanted by the Lord
by means of knowledges in the celestial things
with which he had been endowed by the Lord
from infancy,
so that his intellectual things
make a one with his celestial things;
and when the Lord has thus conjoined these,
the person is endowed with charity,
from which he begins to act,
this charity being of conscience.
In this way he for the first time receives new life,
and this by degrees.
The light of this life is called wisdom,
which then takes the first place,
and is set over the intelligence.
Thus is formed the third plane.

When a person has become like this
during his bodily life,
he is then in the other life
being continually perfected.
These considerations show
what is the light of intelligence,
and what the light of wisdom.

AC 1551 - What the Metals Mean

AC 1551 [2]

For brass I will bring gold,
and for iron I will bring silver,
and for wood brass,
and for stones iron;
I will also make your officers peace,
and your exactors righteousness.
(Isaiah 60:17);

where it is evident what each metal means.
The Lord's coming,
and His celestial kingdom and church,
are there treated of;
"gold for brass,"
is celestial good instead of natural good;
"silver for iron,"
is spiritual truth instead of natural truth;
"brass for wood,"
is natural good instead of corporeal good;
"iron for stones,"
is natural truth instead of sensuous truth.

 

~ The Rewards of Obedience to the Lord ~

So if you faithfully obey the commands
I am giving you today --
to love the Lord your God and to serve Him
with all your heart and with all your soul --
then I will send rain on your land in its season,
both autumn and spring rains,
so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil.
I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle,
and you will eat and be satisfied.

Your are not to do as we do here today,
everyone as he sees fit . . ..

(Deuteronomy 11:13-15; 12:8)

AC 1542 - Barriers to the Celestial

AC 1542

There are two things with a person
which prevent his becoming celestial,
one of which belongs to his intellectual,
and the other to his will part:
that which belongs to the intellectual part
consists of the empty memory-knowledges
he learns in childhood and youth;
and that which belongs to the will part
consists of pleasures
from the evil desires which he favors.
These are the hindrances
that prevent his being able to attain to celestial things.
These are first to be dispersed;
and when they have been dispersed,
he can then for the first time
be admitted into the light of celestial things,
and at last into celestial light.

As the Lord was born as are other people,
and was to be informed as others are,
it was necessary for Him to learn memory-knowledges,
which was represented and meant
by Abram's sojourn in Egypt;
and that the empty memory-knowledges
at last left Him,
was represented by
Pharaoh's commanding his men respecting him,
and by their sending him away, and his wife,
and all that he had.
But that the pleasures
which pertain to the things of the will,
and which constitute the sensuous person,
but the outermost of it, also left Him,
is represented in this chapter by Lot,
in that he separated himself from Abram;
for Lot represents such a person.

~ Moses Asks, "What Does the Lord Your God Ask of You?" ~

And now, O Israel,
what does the Lord your God ask of you
but to fear the Lord your God,
to walk in all His ways,
to love Him,
to serve the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul,
and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees
that I am giving you today
for your own good?

(Deuteronomy 10:12-12)

AC 1506 - The Love of Self

AC 1506

More than any other love
the love of self is contrary to mutual love,
which is the life of heaven.

~ Remember and Walk In the Ways of the Lord ~

Be careful to follow every command
I am giving you today,
so that you may live and increase
and may enter and possess the land
that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers.
Remember how the Lord your God
led you all the way in the desert these forty years,
to humble you and test you
in order to know what was in your heart,
whether or not you would keep His commands.
He humbled you,
causing you to hunger
and then feeding you with manna,
which neither you nor your fathers had known,
to teach you that man does not live on bread alone
but on every word
that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Your clothes did not wear out
and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
Know then in your heart
that as a man disciplines his son,
so the Lord your God disciplines you.

Observe the commands of the Lord your God,
walking in His ways and revering Him.
For the Lord your God is bringing you
into a good land --
a land with streams and pools of water,
with springs flowing in the valleys and hills;
a land with wheat and barley,
vines and fig trees, pomegranates,
olive oil and honey;
a land where bread will not be scarce
and you will lack nothing;
a land where the rocks are iron
and you can dig copper out of the hills.

When you have eaten and are satisfied,
praise the Lord your God
for the good land He has given you.
Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God,
failing to observe His commands,
His laws and His decrees
that I am giving you this day.

(Deuteronomy 8:1-11)

AC 1499 - Memory-knowledges Leaving the Lord; AC 1502 - What Is In the Internal Sense of the Word

AC 1499

As regards memory-knowledges leaving the Lord,
the case is this.
When celestial things are being conjoined
with intellectual truths,
and these are becoming celestial,
then all things that are empty
are dissipated of themselves;
this is in the nature of the celestial.

AC 1502 [2-3]

. . . this is the Word of the Lord,
which can in no wise have any life,
unless there is an internal sense
that has regard to Him.
The arcana which lie stored up in these things,
as also in those said
concerning Abram and Isaac in Philistia, are --
how the Lord's Human Essence
was conjoined with His Divine Essence,
or what is the same,
how the Lord became Jehovah
as to His Human Essence also;
and that His inauguration went on from childhood,
which inauguration is here treated of.
Moreover these things also involve
more arcana than a person can ever believe;
but those which can be told
are so few as to be almost nothing.
Besides the most profound arcana concerning the Lord,
they also involve arcana
concerning the instruction and regeneration of a person,
that he may become celestial;
as also concerning his instruction and regeneration,
that he may become spiritual;
and not only
concerning the instruction of the individual man,
but also concerning that of the church in general.
And, further, they involve arcana concerning
the instruction of little children in heaven;
in a word, concerning the instruction
of all who become images and likenesses of the Lord.
These things do not at all appear in the sense of the letter,
for the reason that the historical narrative
veils them over and obscures them;
but they appear in the internal sense.

~ The Lord Your God Is a Merciful God ~

But if from there
you seek the Lord your God,
you will find Him if you look for Him
with all your heart and with all your soul.
When you are in distress
and all these things have happened to you,
then in later days
you will return to the Lord your God
and obey Him.
For the Lord your God is a merciful God . . ..

Acknowledge and take to heart this day
that the Lord is God in heaven above
and on the earth below.
There is no other.
 
(Deuteronomy 29-31, 39)