474. And he said unto me, These are they who come out of the great tribulation, signifies information that these are they that have been in temptations. This is evident from the signification of "he said to me," as being information; also from the signification of "great tribulation" (or affliction) as being temptations (of which presently). Here something shall first be said about temptations which those in the spiritual world undergo who are in falsities from ignorance, and who are here treated of. In the spiritual world, those only undergo temptations who had lived well in the world according to their religion, in which there were falsities of doctrine which they believed; for by means of temptations falsities are shaken off and truths are implanted, and thus they are prepared for heaven; for all who are to come into heaven must be in truths; therefore so long as they are in falsities they cannot come into heaven. The reason is that Divine truth proceeding from the Lord makes heaven, and makes the life of the angels there; consequently as falsities are the opposites of truths, and opposites destroy, these must first be removed, and they can be removed only by means of temptations. (That temptations perform this use, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 187-201, where temptations are treated of.) Such after their life in the body are let into temptations in the spiritual world because they could not be tempted while in the world on account of the falsities of their religion which reigned. Everywhere it is to be noted, that all who are let into temptations are saved; while the evil, who are in falsities from evil, are not tempted, for truths cannot be implanted in them; their evils of life stand in the way; but from these their truths are taken away, and thus they remain in mere falsities, and then they are plunged into hell, to a depth according to the quality of evil from which is falsity. In a word, those who are to come into heaven are vastated in respect to falsities, while those who are to come into hell are vastated in respect to truths; that is, from those who are to come into heaven falsities are taken away, and from those who are to come into hell, truths are taken away; for no one with falsities can enter heaven, and no one with truths can enter hell, since truths from good make heaven, and falsities from evil make hell. The temptations which those undergo with whom falsities are to be scattered are treated of in many passages in the Word, especially in David, and are called "afflictions," "tribulations," and "vastations;" but there is no need to cite these passages here, because it can be known without them that "tribulations" and "afflictions," when predicated of the good, mean in the spiritual sense temptations.

3493. 'And his eyes were becoming dark so that he could not see' means when the Rational wished to enlighten the Natural from the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'the eyes' as interior or rational sight, dealt with in 2701, and from the meaning of 'seeing' as recognizing and understanding, dealt with in 2150, 2325, 2807. Consequently when 'the eyes' are said 'to be becoming dark' the meaning is that no discernment exists any longer, in this case no discernment of the things present in the natural. This being the meaning of these words, the fact that the Rational wished to enlighten the Natural from the Divine is meant. What this implies may be seen from the following things stated and shown already about the rational and the natural with man when he is being regenerated: The rational is regenerated before the natural, for the reason that the rational is interior and so closer to the Divine, and also is purer and so more suited to receiving the Divine than the natural is; and for the further reason that the natural has to be regenerated by way of the rational, see 3286, 3288, 3321.

[2] When therefore the rational has been regenerated but not the natural the former in that case seems to itself to be made dark, for no correspondence exists between the two. Actually the rational receives its sight from the light of heaven, whereas the natural receives its sight from the light of the world; but unless a correspondence exists between the two the rational is unable to see anything that is in the natural. Everything there is like shadow or even like thick darkness. But once a correspondence does exist, things that are in light in the natural are then apparent to the rational, for things that belong to the light of the world are then enlightened by those that belong to the light of heaven, which are so to speak shining through. But these matters are more clearly evident from what has been stated and shown already about correspondence see 2987, 2989-2991, 3002, 3138, 3167, 3222, 3223, 3225, 3337, 3485. Through what is stated and shown in these paragraphs one may grasp to some extent that the words 'Isaac's eyes were becoming dark so that he could not see' mean that the Rational wished to enlighten the Natural from the Divine, that is to say, to make even the Natural Divine, for the subject in the highest sense is the Lord. Light is thereby shed on this matter by what occurs with man when he is being regenerated and which has been described already; for man's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, 3043, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490.