AC 2632 - From the Lord's First Rational to His Divine, and Our Journey, As Well

AC 2632 [2-3]

That the Lord's first rational was born as with others,
namely, by means of knowledges,
has been stated before,
where Ishmael was treated of,
by whom that rational is represented.
As this was born by means of knowledges,
thus by the external way,
which is that of the senses, and as with others,
it could not but have in itself
many things from the outward world,
for from them are the ideas of the rational procured;
and this the more
because it had its hereditary from the mother.
It was these worldly things and this hereditary
which the Lord successively expelled from His rational,
and this until it was such
as to be able to receive the Divine (n. 2624, 2625).
The Lord's Divine rational was then born,
which is represented by Isaac (n. 2630);
not however by the external way,
which is that of the senses,
as the former rational was;
but by the internal way
from the Divine Itself (n. 2628, 2629).
As this was not done at once,
but successively (n. 1690, 2033),
it was purified, and this continually;
which is meant by
"Abraham's circumcising his son, a son of eight days."
That the Lord made His rational Divine
by successive steps,
and continually purified it,
is evident also in John:

Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy name.
Then came there a voice from heaven:
I have both glorified,
and will glorify again.
(John 12:28)

That to "glorify" is to make Divine,
may be seen above (n. 1603, 1999).

In the Ancient Church nothing else was
represented and meant by circumcision
than that a person should be purified from
the loves of self and of the world,
and this also by successive steps and continually
(see n. 2039, 2046 at the end, 2049, 2056);
especially when he has been born a new person,
that is, when he has been regenerated;
for the Lord then flows in by the internal way,
that is, by the good of conscience,
and successively and continually separates
the things which adhere
both from hereditary and from actual evil.