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.

'A shield' signifies defense which is trusted against evils and falsities. In respect to the Lord, it signifies defense, and in respect to people, confidence in the Lord's protection. This is because it was a protection for the breast, and 'the breast' signifies good and truth, good because of the heart in it, and truth because of the lungs. In an opposite sense, 'shield' denotes evils and falsities which are used to wage combat, and is used as a defense in Jeremiah 46:3-4 among other passages.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 1788)