19. 17. To whom will ye liken Me, to whom am I equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who hath created these things, etc. (Isaiah 40:25-26).

(My judgment is with Jehovah, and the price of My work is with my God. Then shall I be precious in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God shall be my strength. Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me (Isaiah 49:4-5, 14). Because of Jehovah that is faithful and the Holy One of Israel who chooseth thee [Isaiah 49:7].)

I have given Thee for a light to the nations, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth. I have given Thee for a covenant of the people, to restore the earth, to divide the devastated heritages; to say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Reveal. They shall feed in the ways, and their pasture shall be on all hillsides; they shall not hunger nor thirst; by the springs of water shall He lead them (Isaiah 49:6, 8-10).

(Let him trust in the name of Jehovah, and stay upon his God (Isaiah 50:10).)

Look to me ye that follow after justice, ye that seek Jehovah; look unto the rock whence ye are hewn (Isaiah 51:1). Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah, awake as in the days of old (Isaiah 51:9).

I will put my words in thy mouth, for the planting of the heavens, and laying the foundations of the earth (Isaiah 51:16). (My people shall know My name in that day, for I am He that doth speak: Behold, it is I. How delightful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that causeth to hear peace, that saith unto Zion, Thy king reigneth. Watchmen shall lift up the voice; together shall they sing when they shall see eye to eye, that Jehovah returneth to Zion (Isaiah 52:6-7).

Jehovah hath made bare the arm of His holiness in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God (Isaiah 52:10).

Who hath believed our word that is heard? and upon whom hath the arm of Jehovah been revealed (Isaiah 53:1)?

(The Lord is treated of throughout the chapter, and the state of His life is described here briefly in these words. That He had no form nor honor; that He was despised and not esteemed. That He was wounded on account of our transgressions, and bruised on account of our iniquities. That Jehovah hath made to light on Him the iniquity of us all. That He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter; that He was cut off from the land of the living. That because He offered His soul as a guilt offering His days were prolonged, and that the will of Jehovah prospered by His hand, in the fact that He bore their iniquities, and for them poured out His soul even unto death. That He was numbered with the transgressors, and interceded for the transgressors (Isaiah 53:1-12).

105. Verse 5. Be mindful therefore of whence thou hast fallen, and repent, and do the first works, signifies the remembrance of former things, and the remembrance of having deviated from the truth; and this, in order that the good of life of the church at its beginning may come into mind. This is evident from the signification of "be mindful," as being here the remembrance of former things; from the signification of "whence thou hast fallen," as being deviation therefrom, thus deviation from the truth; from the signification of "repent," as being that it may come into mind; and from the signification of "doing the first works," as being the good of life of the church at its beginning. (That "works" mean all those things of life that proceed from love and faith, see n. 98; and that "first works," which are of charity, are those of the church at its beginning, see just above, n. 104.) That a life in accordance with knowledges is the essential of the church, and not knowledges apart from such a life, can be seen by everyone who thinks about it; for knowledges, so long as there is no life according to them, reside in the memory only; and so long as they reside there only they do not affect man's interiors; for memory is given to man to be a receptacle, from which may be taken what will be serviceable to the life; and things are serviceable to the life when a man wills them and does them.

[2] The whole spirit of man is nothing but his will; when, therefore, man becomes a spirit, he is unable to resist anything that is favored by his will, for the whole man strives after it. That this is so is well known in the spiritual world; and I have occasionally seen the trial made, whether a spirit could do anything contrary to his will, from which he exists, and it was found that he could not. From this it was clear that man's will is what gives form to his spirit, and that man's spirit after it has left the body is his will. Whether you say will or love it is the same, for what a man loves he wills; so whether you say that the spirit of man cannot resist his will, or that it cannot resist his love, it is the same. The knowledges of good and truth, before they enter a man's will or love, contribute nothing whatever to his salvation, because they are not within the man: but out of him. But still knowledges are necessary, for without them man can know nothing of spiritual life, and he who knows nothing of spiritual life cannot become spiritual; for that which a man knows he can think, can will, and can do, but not that which he does not know. But yet if knowledges enter no deeper than into the memory and into thought therefrom, they do not affect him, and consequently do not save him.

[3] It is believed by many in the world at this day, especially by those who make faith alone the essential of the church, that to know doctrinals and from mere knowing to believe that they are true, saves man, however he may live; but I can affirm that no one is saved by these alone. I have seen many, even the most learned, cast into hell; but on the other hand, those who have lived according to the knowledges of truth and good from the Word I have seen raised up into heaven. From this it is clear that knowledges are of no avail, but a life according to them; and that knowledges merely teach how man ought to live. To live according to the knowledges of truth and good is to think that one must do thus and not otherwise because it is commanded by the Lord in the Word. When man thus thinks and thus wills and does, he becomes spiritual. Yet it is necessary for those within the church to believe in the Lord, and when they think of Him to think of His Divine in the Human, since from His Divine Human everything of charity and faith proceed.