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.