199. And I will not blot his name out of the book of life, signifies that they will be in heaven because they are fitted for it. This is evident from the signification of "name," as being the quality of man's state of life (See above, n. 148); and from the signification of "the book of life," as being heaven (of which presently); therefore, "not to blot his name out of the book of life" signifies that they will be in heaven because their state in respect to love and faith is such, thus because they are fitted for heaven. "The book of life" signifies heaven, because a man who is in the love to the Lord and faith in Him is a heaven in least form, and this heaven of man corresponds to heaven in the greatest form; therefore he who has heaven in himself also comes into heaven, for he is fitted for it. (That there is such correspondence, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 51-58, 73-77, 87-102; and The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 230-236.) From this it is that "the book of life" is that with man that corresponds to the heaven with him. Because this remains with man to eternity, if he has become spiritual by means of the knowledges of truth and good applied to life in the world, it is said, "I will not blot his name out of the book of life." In the world indeed it may be blotted out if man does not remain spiritual to the end of life; but if he does so remain it cannot be blotted out, because he is conjoined to the Lord by love and faith, and such conjunction with the Lord as there has been in the world remains with man after death.

[2] From this it can be seen that "the book of life" means that from the Lord which has been written on man's spirit, that is, on his heart and soul, or what is the same, on his love and faith; and what is written by the Lord in man is heaven. From this it is clear what is meant by "the book of life" in the following passages. In Daniel:

The Ancient of Days sat, and the books were opened (Daniel 7:9-10).

In the same:

The people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book (Daniel 12:1).

In David:

Let them be blotted out of the book of lives, and not be written with the righteous (Psalms 69:28).

In Moses:

Moses said, Blot me, I pray, out of the book which Thou hast written. And Jehovah said, Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of the book (Exodus 32:32-33).

In Revelation:

All shall worship the beast whose names have not been written in the Lamb's book of life (Revelation 13:8; 17:8).

Again:

I saw that the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is that of life; and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. And if any was not found written in the book of life he was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:12-13, 15).

Again:

There shall enter into the New Jerusalem only they that are written in the Lamb's book of life (Revelation 21:27).

In David:

My bone was not hidden from Thee when I was made in secret. Upon Thy book all the days were written in which they were formed, and not one of them is wanting (Psalms 139:15-16).

"All the days were written" means all states of life. (That each and all things that man has thought, willed, spoken, and done, even all that he has seen and heard, are with him in his spirit as if written therein, so that nothing whatever is wanting, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 462, 463; and Arcana Coelestia 2469-2494, 7398; and that this is man's "book of life," see n. 2474, 9386, 9841, 10505, n. 5212, 8067, 9334, 9723, 9841.

9333. 'I will not drive them out from before you in one year' means no hurried flight or removal of them, that is to say, of the falsities and evils meant by the nations in the land of Canaan. This is clear from the meaning of 'driving out' as flight, for those in the next life who are steeped in evils and falsities are not driven out but flee of their own accord (the fact that removal is also meant will be seen below); and from the meaning of 'in one year' as that which is hurried, for the words follow, 'Little by little I will drive them out from before you', meaning a gradual removal in keeping with order.

[2] The reason why 'driving out', when it has reference to evils and falsities, means removal is that falsities and evils are not driven out of a person but removed. Anyone who does not know the true nature of human deliverance from evils and falsities, which is the forgiveness of sins, thinks that sins are wiped out when they are said to have been forgiven. The literal sense of the Word which speaks several times in that kind of way leads people to think so. As a result of this the minds of very many people have been taken over by the erroneous idea that they are righteous and pure after they have received absolution. But they have no knowledge whatever of the true nature of the forgiveness of sins. They do not know that no one is purified from sins; rather people are withheld from them by the Lord when they are such that they can be maintained in goodness and truth, and they can be maintained in goodness and truth when they have been regenerated, because then they have acquired the life of the good of charity and of the truth of faith. All that a person thinks, intends, says, and does from earliest childhood enters into the composition of his life. Those things cannot be banished, only removed; and when they are removed it seems as though the person is without sins, because they have been removed, see 8393, 8988 (end), 9014. The Word speaks in keeping with the appearance that a person thinks and does what is good and true unaided, by himself (the reality being that he does so not by himself but with the Lord's aid) when it says that he is free from sins, and also is righteous, as for instance in Isaiah,

Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they are as red as crimson, ¹ they will be as wool. Isaiah 1:18.

[3] The like is said many times elsewhere. The state of souls in the next life enables anyone to know that all this is true. All people take with them from this world into the next all that composes their life, that is, whatever they have thought, intended, spoken, or done, also indeed whatever they have seen or heard from early childhood right through to the last phase of their life in the world; not even the smallest detail of any of this is lacking, 2474. Those who have led a life of faith and charity while in the world can be withheld from evils and maintained in good, and so can be raised to heaven. Those however who have not led a life of faith and charity while in the world but a life of self-love and love of the world sink down to hell because they cannot be withheld from evils or maintained in good. From all this it is evident why it is that 'driving out', when it refers to what happens to falsities and evils, means removal. In this verse and the next that removal is the subject in the internal sense; there the arcana of it are disclosed.

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