7166. 'Why is this, that You have sent me?' means when yet the law going forth from God seems to promise something different. This is clear from the meaning of 'Why is this?' as, Why is this so when something different is said? from the representation of Moses, who uses these words in reference to himself, as the law from God, dealt with just above in 7164; and from the meaning of 'being sent' as going forth, dealt with in 4710, 6831. Consequently 'Why is this, [that] you have sent me?' means that the law going forth from God seems to promise something different. Because these words are spoken by one complaining about the molestation by falsities, the law from God appears to promise something different. This is why the expression 'seems to promise something different' is used, though in actual fact it does not promise anything different. For the law from God is the law of order, and the law of order so far as those passing through a state of molestations by falsities are concerned is that they must be molested until they reach the point of despair. Unless they reach the point of despair the final advantage to be gained from molestation is lost. The fact that temptation grows ever stronger until a person reaches the point of despair is plainly evident from the Lord's temptation in Gethsemane, Matthew 26:38-39; Mark 14:33-36; Luke 22:44, and also after that on the Cross, Matthew 27:46, when it was made to reach the state of despair. Now the Lord's temptation is the pattern which the temptation of faithful believers follows, which is why the Lord says that those who wish to follow Him must take up their cross, Matthew 10:38; 16:24. For the glorification of the Lord is the pattern that the regeneration of man follows, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688; and regeneration is effected chiefly by means of temptations.

3138. These three verses deal with the preparation and enlightenment of the natural man so that the truth which was to be joined to good in the Rational might be summoned from there. With regard to that preparation and enlightenment the position is that there are two kinds of light which shape man's intellectual concepts - the light of heaven, and the light of the world. The light of heaven comes from the Lord who to angels in the next life is the Sun and Moon, see 1053, 1521, 1529, 1530. The light of the world comes from the sun and moon which a person sees with his physical eyes. The internal man receives his sight and understanding from the light of heaven whereas the external man receives his sight and understanding from the light of the world. The influx of the light of heaven into ideas formed in the light of the world produces enlightenment and at the same time recognition - the recognition of truth if a correspondence exists, the recognition of falsity instead of truth if that correspondence does not exist. But enlightenment and recognition are not possible unless affection or love is present, which is spiritual warmth and imparts life to the things illumined by the light. This may be compared to the light of the sun. It is not the light of the sun but the warmth within the light that imparts life to plants, as is evident from the seasons of the year.

[2] The verses which follow immediately after this describe the preparation further - the light of heaven, which is the Lord's Divine light, flowed into the ideas formed in the light of the world in His natural man so that He might bring forth from there the truth that was to be joined to good in the Rational. Thus it was to be brought forth in what is the ordinary way. Therefore to make His Human Divine the Lord came into the world in the ordinary way, that is, He was willing to be born as any other person is born, to receive instruction as any other does, and to be born again as any other, but with this difference: Man is born again from the Lord, whereas the Lord not only regenerated Himself from Himself, but also glorified Himself, that is, made Himself Divine; also man is made new through the influx of charity and faith, whereas the Lord was made so through the influx of Divine Love that was within Him and that was His own. From this it may be seen that man's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, or what amounts to the same, that in the process of man's regeneration as the image one can envisage, though remotely, the process of the Lord's glorification.