8783. And may also believe in thee to eternity. That this signifies that there may be the faith of truth which shall endure, is evident from the representation of Moses, as being truth from the Divine (see n. 6771, 6827, 7014); from the signification of “believing,” as being faith; and from the signification of “to eternity,” as being what shall endure. The case herein is this. Truth Divine is not received by anyone unless it has been accommodated to his apprehension, consequently unless it appears in a natural form and shape; for at first human minds apprehend none but earthly and worldly things, and not at all spiritual and heavenly things. Wherefore if spiritual and heavenly things were set forth nakedly, they would be rejected as if they were nothing, according to the Lord’s words in John:

If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I told you heavenly things? (John 3:12).

Still less could those apprehend spiritual things who lived before the coming of the Lord, and who were at last in such blindness that they knew nothing, because they were unwilling to know anything, about the life after death, about the internal man, about charity and faith, and about any heavenly thing; which things they rejected because they held them in aversion. For they who regard earthly and worldly things as the end, that is, who love them above all things, hold spiritual things in aversion, and almost abhor the very name of them. It is nearly the same at the present day. The learned of the world do indeed believe that they would receive the Word more readily if heavenly things were set forth nakedly, and if it were not written so simply. But they are very much mistaken; they would then have rejected it more than the simple, and would have seen in it no light, but mere thick darkness. For this darkness is induced by human learning with those who trust in their own intelligence, and on this account exalt themselves above others. That such things are hid from the wise and revealed unto babes, that is, to the simple, the Lord teaches in Matthew 11:25-26, and in Luke 10:21. The same is also very evident from the fact that they who are atheists and naturalists, as they are called, are those who are learned. This the world knows, and they themselves know.