8172. 'Stand firm and see the salvation of Jehovah' means salvation from the Lord alone and not at all from themselves. This is clear from the meaning of 'standing firm and seeing' as faithfully believing ('seeing' means understanding, acknowledging, and faithfully believing, see 897, 2150, 2325, 2807, 3863, 3869, 4403-4421, 5400); and from the meaning of 'the salvation of Jehovah' as salvation from the Lord. At this point, where deliverance from temptations is the subject, salvation from the Lord alone and not at all from themselves is meant, the Lord being meant in the Word by 'Jehovah', see 1343, 1736, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5041, 5663, 6281, 6303, 6905, 6945, 6956. It is said here that they should faithfully believe that salvation comes from the Lord alone and not at all from themselves, because this is the chief thing to be believed in temptations. The person who believes when he is tempted that he has strength of his own with which he can offer resistance goes under. The reason for this is that he is subject to a falsity that leads him to ascribe merit to himself; and in doing this he claims that he himself accomplishes his salvation, in which case he shuts out influx from the Divine. But the person who believes that the Lord alone offers resistance in temptations is victorious, for he is guided by the truth and ascribes merit to the Lord; and he perceives that his salvation is accomplished by the Lord alone. A person whose faith is bonded to charity ascribes salvation wholly to the Lord and not at all to himself.

5400. 'And [Jacob] saw' means the things that constitute faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' as those things that constitute faith, dealt with in 897, 2325, 2807, 3863, 3869, 4403-4421. When it has no link whatsoever with such things as exist in the world, sight - that is, spiritual sight - is nothing else than a perception of truth, that is, of such things as constitute faith. Therefore 'seeing' has no other meaning in the internal sense; for the internal sense emerges when everything of a worldly nature is set aside; for the internal sense concerns itself with the kinds of things that belong to heaven.

[2] The light of heaven which enables one to see there is Divine Truth received from the Lord. This appears before angels' eyes as light a thousand times brighter than the light at midday in the world; and because it holds life within it, that light therefore brings sight to angels' understanding at the same time as it does so to their eyes, imparting a discernment of truth to them which is regulated by the amount and the nature of good present within them. Because this chapter deals in the internal sense with those things that constitute faith, that is, with the truths known to the Church, the verb 'saw' is used at the very beginning of the chapter, 'saw' meaning the things that constitute faith.