215. "'As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.'" (3:19) This symbolically means that those of them who do so are loved by the Lord, and it must be that they are then introduced into temptations or trials, so that they battle against themselves.

It is apparent that this is what this statement means, for it says, "as many as I love," which means those people who "buy from the Lord gold refined in the fire" and who "anoint their eyes with eye salve, that they may see." It says "I rebuke and chasten them," which means temptation or trial as regards falsities and evils - to rebuke meaning temptation or trial as regards falsities, and to chasten, temptation or trial as regards evils.

The people who are the subject here have to be introduced into temptations or trials, since without these, denials of Divine truths and arguments against them cannot be rooted out.

Temptations or trials are spiritual battles against the falsities and evils in oneself, thus battles against oneself.

The origin of temptations or trials, furthermore, and what good they do, may be seen in the book The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, published in London in 1758, nos. 187-201.

In Genesis 19:37; 21:26; 30:32; 40:7; Matthew 6:30; Luke 12:28, this signifies the perpetuity and eternity of a state. (Arcana Coelestia 2838)

In Psalm 2:7, this signifies in time; for with Jehovah the future is present. (True Christian Religion 101)

The expression 'even to this day' or 'today' sometimes appears in the Word, as in Genesis 19:37-38, 22:14, 26:33, 32:32, 35:20, and 47:26. In a historical sense, these expressions have respect to the time when Moses lived, but in an internal sense, 'this day' and 'today' signify the perpetuity and eternity of a state. 'Day' denotes state, and likewise 'today,' which is the current time. Anything related to time in the world is eternal in heaven, and to represent this, 'today' or 'to this day' is added. Although, in the historical sense, this appears as if the expressions only have a literal meaning, just like it says in other parts of the Word, such as Joshua 4:9, 6:25, 7:20, Judges 1:21, 26, etc. 'Today' means something perpetual and eternal in Psalms 2:7, 119:89-91, Jeremiah 1:5, 10, 18, Deuteronomy 29:9-14, Numbers 28:3, 23, Daniel 8:13, 11:31, 12:11, Exodus 16:4, 19, 20, 23, John 6:31, 32, 49, 50, 58, Matthew 6:11, and Luke 11:3.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 2838 [1-4], Genesis 47:26)