1947. 'Because Jehovah has hearkened to your affliction' means since it was submitting itself. This is clear from what has been stated above in 1937 about 'humiliating oneself and flinging oneself down' as meaning submitting oneself beneath the controlling power of the internal man, which submission was discussed there and was shown to consist in self-compulsion. It was also shown that in self-compulsion there is freedom, that is, what is willing and spontaneous, and that this distinguishes self-compulsion from being compelled. It was also shown that without this freedom, or willingness and spontaneity, a person cannot possibly be reformed and receive any heavenly proprium; also that though the contrary seems to be the case, there is more freedom in times of temptation than there is outside of them. Indeed at such times freedom increases as assaults are made by evils and falsities and it is consolidated by the Lord in order that a heavenly proprium may be given to the person. For that reason also the Lord is closer in times of temptation. It was shown as well that the Lord in no way compels anybody. No one who is compelled to think that which is true and to do that which is good is reformed, but instead thinks all the more what is false and wills all the more what is evil. This is so with all compulsion, as may also become clear from all the experience and lessons of life, which when learned prove two things - first, that human consciences will not allow themselves to be coerced, and second, that we strive after the forbidden.

[2] Furthermore everyone who is not free desires to become so, for this is his life. From this it is evident that nothing is in any way pleasing to the Lord that is not done in freedom, that is, spontaneously or willingly. For when anyone worships the Lord under circumstances in which he is not free he worships Him with nothing of himself. In his case that which moves the external is the external, that is, it is moved under compulsion - the internal being non-existent, or else incompatible, and even contradictory. When a person is being regenerated he compels himself from the freedom the Lord imparts to him, and humbles, and indeed afflicts, his rational, so that it may submit itself, and in consequence he receives a heavenly proprium. This proprium is then gradually perfected by the Lord and it becomes more and more free, so that as a result it becomes the affection for good and for truth deriving from that good, and possesses delight. And in that affection and delight there is happiness such as the angels experience. This freedom is what the Lord Himself is referring to in John.

The truth makes you free. If the Son makes you free, you are truly free. John 8:32, 36. ¹

[3] What this freedom is, is totally unknown to those who do not have conscience, for they identify freedom with feelings of being at liberty and without restraint to think and utter what is false, and to will and do what is evil, and not to control and humble, still less to afflict, those feelings. Yet this is the complete reverse of freedom, as the Lord again teaches in the same place,

Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. John 8:34.

People acquire this slave-like freedom from the hellish spirits who reside with them and who inject it into them. When the life of those hellish spirits takes possession of them so do the loves and desires of those same spirits; for an unclean and utterly disgusting delight blows upon them, and being carried away so to speak in a stream they imagine themselves to be in freedom; but it is hellish freedom. The difference between this hellish freedom and heavenly freedom is that the former spells death and drags them down into hell, while the latter, that is, heavenly freedom, promises life and lifts them up to heaven.

[4] That all true internal worship springs from freedom, not from compulsion, and that unless it springs from freedom it is not internal worship, is clear from the Word, from the sacrifices - free-will, votive, and peace or eucharistic - which were called offerings and oblations, mentioned in Numbers 15:3 and following verses; Deuteronomy 12:6; 16:10-11; 23:23; and elsewhere. In David,

With a free-will offering I will sacrifice to You; I will confess Your name, O Jehovah, for it is good. Psalms 54:6.

From the thruma, ² or the collection which the people were to contribute towards the Tabernacle and sacred vestments, referred to in Moses,

Speak to the children of Israel and let them receive for Me a collection; from every man whose heart makes him willing you shall receive My collection. Exodus 25:2.

And elsewhere in Moses,

Everyone who is willing in heart shall bring it, Jehovah's collection. Exodus 35:5.

[5] The humbling of the rational man, or affliction of it - as stated, from freedom - was also represented by the affliction souls underwent during festivals, referred to in Moses,

It shall be a statute to you for ever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls. Leviticus 16:29.

And elsewhere in Moses,

On the tenth day of the seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall afflict your souls. Every soul who does not afflict himself on that very day shall be cut off from his peoples. Leviticus 23:27, 29.

It is for this reason that unleavened bread in which no fermentation has taken place is called the bread of affliction in Deuteronomy 16:2-3. Affliction is referred to in David in the following way,

O Jehovah, who will sojourn in Your tent? Who will dwell on Your holy mountain? He who walks blameless and performs righteousness, who swears to the affliction of himself and changes not. Psalms 15:1-2, 4.

[6] That 'affliction' is the taming and subduing of evils and falsities rising up from the external man into the rational man may become clear from what has been stated. Thus it is not any reduction of oneself to poverty and misery - not a renunciation of bodily enjoyments - that is meant by affliction. No taming and subduing of evil can result from doing that; indeed it may give rise to an additional evil, namely the desire to receive merit for such a renunciation; and what is more, man's freedom suffers, in which alone, as its ground, the good and truth of faith is able to be sown. Affliction also means temptation; see what has been said already in 1846.

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900. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, signifies that such will henceforth be free from combat against evils and falsities, and from infestation by them. This is evident from the signification of "saith the Spirit," as being assertion that it is true, for "angel," likewise "Spirit," signifies truth from the Lord. Also from the signification of "labors," as being combats against evils and falsities and infestations by them, thus temptations (of which presently), therefore "to rest from them" signifies that they will henceforth be free from them. This makes evident that "the Spirit saith, that they may rest from their labors," signifies that it is true that they will henceforth be free from combat against evils and falsities, and from infestation by them. The preceding verse treats of the temptations of those who live according to the Lord's commandments and who acknowledge His Divine, therefore this verse treats of the consolations that follow spiritual temptations; for, as has been said above n. 897, after all spiritual temptations joys come forth.

[2] "Labors" mean temptations, because temptations are labors of the soul or spiritual labors; and these are meant by "labor" in Isaiah:

Jehovah hath willed to bruise him, He hath weakened him; if He hath made his soul a guilt-offering, he shall see seed, he shall prolong days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper by his hand; he shall see of the labor of his soul and shall be satisfied (Isaiah 53:10, 11).

This is said of the Lord, of whom the whole of that chapter treats. The Lord's temptations, which were most grievous, because they were against the hells, are described by "Jehovah willed to bruise him, He hath weakened him," for by means of temptations the loves of what is one's own [proprium] are broken, thus the body is bruised and weakened. "If he hath made his soul a guilt-offering" signifies, if he has endured temptations even unto death; "he shall see seed" signifies that the Divine truth shall proceed from Him, "seed" meaning truth, and in reference to the Lord the Divine truth; "he shall prolong days" signifies the Divine good, which shall also proceed from Him, "long" and thus "to prolong" being said in reference to good (See above, n. 629), and "days" signifying states. "And the will of Jehovah shall prosper by his hand" signifies that thus all things and each thing in the heavens and in the earths shall be kept in Divine order; "of the labor of his soul" signifies by temptations; "he shall see and shall be satisfied" signifies glorification. This is the signification of these words in the highest sense, which treats of the Lord. But in a relative sense they describe the salvation of the human race, for which the Lord fought from Divine love.

[3] It is said, "If he hath made his soul a guilt-offering," as if it were a matter of doubt whether he would so make it. But the same truth is involved in this as in what He Himself says in John:

I lay down My soul that I may take it again; no man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from My Father (John 10:17, 18).

The arcanum that is concealed in these words no one can see unless he knows what the temptations are by which man is regenerated. For in these man is kept in his freedom; from which it appears to him as if he fought from himself. In fact, man has in temptations a more potent spiritual freedom than when he is not in them, for it is more interior. Unless man fought from this freedom in temptations he could not become spiritual; for all freedom is of the love, therefore man then fights from the love of truth, and thus from the love of eternal life; and in this and in no other way is the internal opened and man regenerated. From these few things it can be seen in some degree what is involved in these words of the Lord, namely, that he fought from His own freedom and finally laid down His soul that He might do all things from His own power, and thus might become righteousness from Himself, which He could not have become except from His freedom; and this is why it is said, "I lay down My soul of Myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment I have received from My Father."

[4] Those to whom this arcanum is unknown interpret these words as the Arians do, that the Lord was the adopted not the actual Son of God; thus that He was adopted because He was willing to lay down His life, or endure the death of the cross; not knowing that these words involve that from His own power He fought against the hells from His Human and overcame them, and from His own power He glorified His Human, that is, united it to the very Divine in Himself, and thus made it Divine; and that this could by no means have been done if absolute freedom had not been left to Him as to the Human. All this makes clear why it is said in Isaiah, "If He hath made his soul a guilt-offering."

(That freedom is that which is of the love and of the will and thus of the life of man, and that it appears as if it were his own [proprium], can be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n.141, 145).

That man must have freedom in order to be regenerated can be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 1937, 1947, 2876, 2881, 3145, 3158, 4031, 8700.

That in no other way can the love of good and truth be implanted in man and be appropriated to him, apparently as his own, n. 2877, 2879, 2880, 8700.

That nothing is conjoined to man that is done by compulsion, n. 2875, 8700.

That to compel oneself is from freedom, but not to be compelled, n. 1937, 2881.

That in all temptation there is freedom, but this freedom is more interiorly in man from the Lord, and for this reason he fights and wishes to conquer and not to be conquered, which he would not do without freedom, n. 1937, 1947, 2881.

That the Lord fought alone and from His own power against all the hells, and overcame them, n. 1692, 1813, 2816, 4295, 8273, 9937.

That thus the Lord became righteousness from Himself alone, n. 1813, 2025-2027, 9715, 9809, 10019.

That the Lord's last temptation was in Gethsemane and upon the cross, when He gained a complete victory, by which He subjugated the hells, and at the same time glorified His Human, n. 2776, 2803, 2813, 2814, 10655, 10659, 10828.

All these are from the Arcana Coelestia, from which still more may be seen collected in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, under the heads,

The Freedom of Man, n.The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 148, 149;

Temptations in General, n. 196-200;

The Lord's Temptations, n. 201, 302)