9229. And ye shall be men of holiness to Me. That this signifies the state of life then from good, is evident from the signification of “men of holiness,” as being those who are led by the Lord; for the Divine which proceeds from the Lord is holiness itself (see n. 6788, 7499, 8127, 8302, 8806), consequently those who receive it in faith and also in love are called “holy.” He who believes that a man is holy from any other source, and that anything else with him is holy than that which is from the Lord and is received, is very much mistaken. For that which is of man and is called his own, is evil. (That man’s own is nothing but evil, see n. 210, 215, 694, 874-876, 987, 1047, 4328, 5660, 5786, 8480, 8944; and that insofar as a man can be withheld from his own, so far the Lord can he present, thus that so far the man has holiness, n. 1023, 1044, 1581, 2256, 2388, 2406, 2411, 8206, 8393, 8988, 9014)

[2] That the Lord alone is holy, and that that alone is holy which proceeds from the Lord, thus that which man receives from the Lord, is plain from the Word throughout; as in John:

I sanctify Myself that they also may be sanctified in the truth (John 17:19);

“to sanctify Himself” denotes to make Himself Divine by His own power; and those are said to be “sanctified in the truth” who in faith and life receive the Divine truth proceeding from Him.

[3] Therefore also the Lord after His resurrection, speaking with the disciples, “breathed on them” and said unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22); the breathing upon them was representative of making them alive by faith and love, as also in the second chapter of Genesis: “Jehovah breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and man became a living soul” (verse 7); in like manner in other passages (Psalms 33:6; 104:29-30; Job 32:8; 33:4; John 3:8). From this also the Word is said to be inspired, because it is from the Lord, and they who wrote the Word are said to have been inspired. (That breathing, and thus inspiration, corresponds to the life of faith, see n. 97, 1119, 1120, 3883-3896.) From this it is that in the Word “spirit” is so called from “wind” or “breath,” and that what is holy from the Lord is called “the wind or breath of Jehovah” (n. 8286); also that the Holy Spirit is the holy proceeding from the the Lord, (n. 3704, 4673, 5307, 6788, 6982, 6993, 8127, 8302, 9199).

[4] So also it is said in John that the Lord “baptizeth with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33); and in Luke that “He baptizeth with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (John 3:16). In the internal sense “to baptize” signifies to regenerate (n. 4255, 5120, 9088); “to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire” signifies to regenerate by the good of love. (That “fire” denotes the good of love, see n. 934, 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324) In John:

Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou only art holy (Revelation 15:4).

In Luke it is said by the angel concerning the Lord: “The holy thing that shall be born of thee” (Luke 1:35); and in Daniel, “I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven” (Daniel 4:13). In these passages “the holy thing” and “the holy one” denote the Lord.

[5] As the Lord alone is holy, He is called in the Old Testament the “Holy One of Israel,” the “Redeemer,” the “Preserver,” the “Regenerator” (Isaiah 1:4; 5:19, 24; 10:20; 12:6; 17:7; 29:19; 30:11-12, 15; 31:1; 37:23 41:14, 16, 20; 43:3, 14; 45:11; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7; 5 4:5; 55:5; 60:9, 14; Jeremiah 50:29; 51:5; Ezekiel 39:7; Psalms 71:22; 78:41; 89:18). And therefore the Lord in heaven, and consequently heaven itself, is called “the habitation of holiness” (Jeremiah 31:23; Isaiah 63:15; Jeremiah 25:30); also a “sanctuary” (Ezekiel 11:16; 24:21); and “the mountain of holiness” (Psalms 48:1). For the same reason the middle of the tent, where was the ark containing the Law, was called the “Holy of Holies (Exodus 26:33-34); for by the Law in the ark in the middle of the tent was represented the Lord as to the Word, because “the Law” denotes the Word (n. 6752, 7463).

[6] All this shows why the angels are called “holy” (Matthew 25:31; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26; Psalms 149:1; Daniel 8:13); also the prophets (Luke 1:70); and likewise the apostles (Revelation 18:20); not that they are holy from themselves, but from the Lord, who alone is holy, and from whom alone proceeds what is holy; for by “angels” are signified truths, because they are receptions of truth from the the Lord, (n. 1925, 4085, 4295, 4402, 7268, 7873, 8192, 8301); by “prophets” is signified the doctrine of truth which comes through the Word from the the Lord, (n. 2534, 7269); and by “apostles” are signified in their complex all the truths and goods of faith which are from the the Lord, (n. 3488, 3858, 6397).

[7] The sanctifications among the Israelitish and Jewish people were for the purpose of representing the Lord who alone is holy, and the holiness which is from Him alone. This was the purpose of the sanctification of Aaron and his sons (Exodus 29:1, etc.; Leviticus 8:10-11, 13, 30); of the sanctification of their garments (Exodus 29:21, etc.); of the sanctification of the altar, that it might be a holy of holies (Exodus 29:37, etc.); of the sanctification of the tent of the assembly, of the ark of the testimony, of the table, of all the vessels, of the altar of incense, of the altar of burnt-offering, and of the vessels thereof, and of the laver and the base thereof (Exodus 30:26, etc.).

[8] That the Lord is the holiness itself that was represented, is also plain from His words in Matthew, as viewed in the internal sense:

Ye fools and blind! Whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? (Matthew 23:17, 19);

by the temple was represented the Lord Himself, and also by the altar; and by the “gold” was signified the good which is from the Lord; and by the “gift” or sacrifice, were signified the things that belong to faith and charity from the Lord. (That the Lord was represented by the temple, see n. 2777, 3720; also that He was represented by the altar, n. 2777, 2811, 4489, 8935, 8940 and that by “gold” was signified good from the Lord, n. 1551, 1552, 5658; and by a “sacrifice” worship from the faith and charity which are from the Lord, n. 922, 923, 2805, 2807, 2830, 6905, 8680, 8682, 8936)

[9] In view of all this it is evident why the sons of Israel were called a “holy people” (Deuteronomy 26:19, and elsewhere); and in the words before us “men of holiness;” namely, from the fact that in every detail of their worship were represented the Divine things of the Lord, and the celestial and spiritual things of His kingdom and church. They were therefore called “holy” in a representative sense. They themselves were not holy on this account, because the representatives had regard to the holy things that were represented, and not to the person who represented them (n. 665, 1097, 1361, 3147, 3881, 4208, 4281, 4288, 4292, 4307, 4444, 4500, 6304, 7048, 7439, 8588, 8788, 8806).

[10] Hence also it is that Jerusalem was called “holy;” and Zion, “the mountain of holiness” (Zech. 8:3, and elsewhere). Also in Matthew:

And the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints that were dead were raised; and coming forth out of their tombs after the Lord’s resurrection, they entered into the holy city, and appeared unto many (Matthew 27:52-53);

Jerusalem is here called “the holy city,” although it was rather profane than holy, for the Lord had then been crucified in it, and it is therefore called “Sodom and Egypt” in John:

Their bodies shall lie on the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified (Revelation 11:8).

But it is called “holy” from the fact that it signifies the Lord’s kingdom and church (n. 402, 2117, 3654). The “saints that were dead” appearing there, which happened to some in vision, signified the salvation of those who were of the spiritual church, and the elevation into the Holy Jerusalem, which is heaven, of those who until that time had been detained in the lower earth (of which above, n. 6854, 6914, 7090, 7828, 7932, 8049, 8054, 8159, 8321).

7090. And they said unto Pharaoh. That this signifies exhortation to those who are against the truths of the church, is evident from the signification of “saying,” because it was by Moses and Aaron from Divine command, as being exhortation (see n. 7033); and from the representation of Pharaoh, as being memory-knowledge that is against the truths of the church (n. 6651, 6673, 6683), thus those who are of such a character. Here and in what follows are treated of those of the spiritual church who were saved by the coming of the Lord into the world, and who before His coming were detained in the lower earth, and there agitated by falsities, that is, by the infernals who are in falsities from evil. That earth is beneath the soles of the feet, surrounded by the hells; in front by those who have falsified truths and adulterated goods; on the right by those who pervert Divine order, and from this study to acquire to themselves power; at the back by evil genii, who from the love of self have secretly plotted evil against the neighbor; deep under these are they who have utterly spurned the Divine, and have worshiped nature, and consequently have put away from them everything spiritual. With such are they surrounded who are in the lower earth, where before the coming of the Lord they who were of the spiritual church were reserved, and were there infested; nevertheless they were protected by the Lord, and were carried up into heaven with the Lord when He rose again (about this see what has been said and shown above, (n. 6854-6855, 6914, 6945, 7035).

[2] The lower earth, where were reserved those who were of the spiritual church till the Lord’s coming, is sometimes mentioned in the Word, as in Isaiah:

Sing, ye heavens, for Jehovah hath done it; shout ye lower parts of the earth; resound with singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein; because Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob, and hath rendered Himself glorious in Israel (Isaiah 44:23);

speaking of those who are in the lower earth, that they were saved by the Lord; “Jacob” and “Israel” are the spiritual church, “Jacob” the external church, “Israel” the internal (see n. 3305, 4286, 6426).

In Ezekiel:

I will make thee come down with them that descend into the pit, to the people of eternity, and I will make thee dwell in the earth of lower things, in the desolations (Ezekiel 26:20).

Again:

To the earth of lower things, in the midst of the sons of man, to them that go down to the pit; whence all the trees of Eden shall be comforted in the lower earth, the choice and the chief of Lebanon, all that drink water (Ezekiel 31:14, 16);

here the “lower earth” is where were those who had been of the spiritual church.

[3] At this day also, they who are of the church and have filled their ideas with worldly and also with earthly things, and have caused the truths of faith to be joined to such things, are let down to the lower earth, and are also in combats there; and this until these worldly and earthly things have been separated from the truths of faith, and such things have been implanted as will prevent their being further joined together. When this is over, they are lifted up from thence into heaven; for until such things have been removed, they cannot possibly be with the angels, because these worldly and earthly things are darkness and defilements, which do not accord with the light and purity of heaven. These worldly and earthly things cannot be separated and removed except by means of combats against falsities. These combats take place in this way: they who are in the lower earth are infested by the fallacies and derivative falsities which are sent forth from the infernals round about, but are refuted by the Lord through heaven; and at the same time truths are instilled, and these truths appear as if they were in those who are in the combats.

[4] Hence it is that the spiritual church is to be called “militant.” But at this day it is rarely a militant church with anyone in the world, for while the man of the church lives in the world he cannot endure combat, because of the crowd of evil ones in the midst of whom he is; and because of the flesh in which he is, which is weak. In the other life a man can be kept firmly in the bonds of conscience, but not so in the world; for if in the world he is brought into anything of despair, as those are wont to be who are in combats, he forthwith bursts these bonds; and if he bursts them, he then yields; and if he so yields, it is all over with his salvation. Hence it is that few within the church at this day are admitted by the Lord into combats for truths against falsities. These combats are spiritual temptations. (See also what has been before shown concerning the lower earth and vastations there, n. 4728, 4940-4951, 6854)