10026. 'And you shall take some of the blood of the young bull' means Divine Truth accommodated to the natural or external man. This is clear from the meaning of 'the blood' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the young bull' as the natural level in a person, which must be purified and must have truth and good implanted in it, dealt with in 9990. The reason why the blood is here spoken of first ¹ and why some of it must be put on the horns of the altar and the remainder poured out at the base of it is that in the Word 'blood' means Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, and by means of that Truth all purification is accomplished. For truth teaches a person what good is and how he ought to live; and when the person knows this an affection for or love of good can start to be implanted, and he can thereby be regenerated. For knowledge must be received before a person can possess faith and lead the life of faith, which is the life of good. For the truth that all purification from evils and falsities, and consequently all regeneration, is accomplished by means of the truths of faith, see the places referred to in 9959.

[2] Those who are ignorant of the inner meaning of the Word, thus those who do not know that 'blood' means Divine Truth nor that purification is accomplished by the Lord by means of it, suppose that a person is made pure by the Lord's blood, by which they understand His suffering on the Cross. But let them know that no one is made pure by the Lord's suffering on the Cross, and so by His blood, only by a life in accord with His commandments, as He Himself teaches in many places. The suffering on the Cross was the final stage of temptation which the Lord underwent and through which He fully glorified His Human, as indeed He Himself says in Luke,

Ought not the Christ to have suffered this and to enter into His glory? Luke 24:26.

For the Lord came into the world to subdue the hells and to restore all things to order, even those in the heavens, which was accomplished through the temptations He allowed Himself to undergo. The suffering on the Cross was the final stage of temptation undergone by Him, through which He gained total victory over the hells, brought order to the heavens, and at the same time glorified His Human. And unless He had done all this, no one could have been saved. But see what has already been shown abundantly on these matters in the places referred to in 9528, 9715, 9937, 10019, and that by 'blood', and also 'the Lord's blood', Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good is meant, 4735, 6378, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7850, 9127, 9393.

Poznámky pod čarou:

9990. 'Take one young bull, a son of the herd' means purification of the natural or external man. This is clear from the meaning of 'a young bull' as the good of innocence and charity in the natural or external man, dealt with in 9391. And since the words 'a son of the herd' are used, the truth of that good is also meant, truth being meant by 'a son', and the natural level by 'the herd'. For the meaning of 'a son' as truth, see 489, 491, 533, 2623, 3373, 9807, and for that of 'the herd' as the natural level, 2566, 5913, 8937. The reason why purification of the natural or external man is meant here by 'a young bull, a son of the herd' is that the animal was offered in sacrifice, and sacrifices were signs of purification from evils and falsities, or expiation, in this instance purification from evils and falsities present in the natural or external man. But purification in the spiritual or internal man is meant by the burnt offering of a ram.

[2] To know what each kind of burnt offering or sacrifice represented one must first know that in a human being there is the external and the internal, and that in each there is that which belongs to truth and that which belongs to good. Therefore when a person is to be regenerated he must be regenerated as to the external and as to the internal, and in each as to truth and as to good. But before a person can be regenerated he must be purified from evils and from falsities, for these stand in the way. Purifications of the external man were represented by burnt offerings and sacrifices of oxen, young bulls, and he-goats, but purifications of the internal man by burnt offerings and sacrifices of rams, kids, and she-goats, and purification of the internal itself, or that which is inmost, by those of lambs. Consequently from the actual animals offered in sacrifice one may see what kind of purification or expiation was being represented.

[3] The reason for saying 'was being represented' is that burnt offerings and sacrifices did not purify or expiate a person, but merely served to represent purification or expiation. For is there anyone who fails to recognize that such offerings of animals do not take away any evil or falsity at all that is present with a person? - see the places in the Word quoted in 2180. The reason why those offerings did not take evil or falsity away, but merely represented such a removal of it, was that only a representative of the Church was established among the Israelite and Jewish nation, which served to join them to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord, see what has been shown on this subject in the places referred to in 9320 (end), 9380. But what was represented specifically by burnt offerings and sacrifices of young bulls, rams, and lambs, will be seen in what follows in the present chapter, since they are the subject there.