THE NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE

ACCORDING TO WHAT HAS BEEN HEARD FROM HEAVEN

WITH AN INTRODUCTION CONCERNING THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)

5045. 'Into Joseph's hand all the bound who were in the prison-house' means received from Him over all falsities, that is to say, the truth governing in a state of temptations was received from Him. This is clear from the meaning of 'giving into Joseph's hand' as placing under its power and control ('the hand' means power and control, 5008, thus that which is received from Him - for anything done by the use of His power is something done by Him - while 'Joseph' means the Lord in the internal sense, as has often been shown above); and from the meaning of 'the bound in the prison-house' as falsities, dealt with above in 5037, 5038. Thus 'the governor of the prison-house gave into Joseph's hand all the bound who were in the prison-house' means the truth governing in the state of temptations that was received from Him and had power over all falsities, that is, He Himself was the source of the truth by means of which He governed falsities in the state of temptations. Here and in what follows at the end of this present chapter the subject in the internal sense is the Lord and the government executed by Him in a state of temptations. That is, it describes how He overcame, by His own power, the hells which were steeped in evils and falsities, and which were constantly pouring out evils and falsities onto the human race. For details about the Lord overcoming them and bringing them into subjection to Himself by His own power, thereby also glorifying the Human within Him or making it Divine, see 1616, 1749, 1755, 1813, 1904, 1914, 1921, 1935, 2025, 2026, 2083, 2159, 2574, 2786, 2795, 3036, 3381, 4075, 4286, 5005. This is clear from many places in the Word, including the following in John,

I lay down My life, ¹ so that I may receive it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself; I have power to lay it down and I have power to receive it again. John 10:17-18.

The passion of the Cross was the last temptation, by which He fully glorified the Human within Him, that is, made it Divine, as is also evident from many places in the Word, such as John 13:31-32; 17:1, 5; Luke 24:26.

Footnotes:

1321. That 'let us confound their lip' means that nobody has the truth of doctrine becomes clear from the meaning of 'lip' as doctrine, dealt with above at verse 1. Consequently 'confounding lips' is confounding the things that comprise doctrine, that is, the truths of doctrine. In the internal sense 'confounding' means not only darkening but also erasing and scattering so that no truth is left. When worship of self supplants worship of the Lord all truth is not only perverted but also done away with, till at length falsity is acknowledged in place of truth and evil in place of good. In fact all the light of truth comes from the Lord, and all thick darkness from man. When man takes the Lord's place in worship the light of truth turns to thick darkness, and in this case people see the light as thick darkness, and thick darkness as the light.

[2] Such also is the life of those people after death. To them the life of falsity looks like light, while the life of truth looks to them like thick darkness. But when they go near heaven the light of such life turns to total darkness. While they are in the world they are indeed able to utter the truth, and to do so eloquently and with seeming zeal. And because they are all the time thinking of themselves it seems to them as though truth is also in their minds. But because their end in view is worship of themselves, this end conditions their thoughts so that they do not acknowledge truth except insofar as self is present in that truth. Anyone like this, though truth is on his lips, clearly has no truth within him. This is quite evident in the next life, for there such people not only fail to acknowledge the truth which they have professed during their lifetime, but also hate it and persecute it. This they do to the extent that pride or worship of self is not taken away from them.