8806. 'And sanctified the people' means covering over their interiors in order that those people may appear in the holiness of faith. This is clear from the explanation above in 8788. That paragraph however showed what sanctification among the Israelite people was, namely a covering over of their interiors in order that those people might appear outwardly in holiness when they were involved in representative worship. And unless their interiors had been covered over then, foul thoughts and evil affections would have not merely defiled the holiness of their worship but also completely destroyed it, so completely that nothing celestial or spiritual, represented in externals, could have been perceived from it in heaven.

[2] But since 'the children of Israel' is used here to mean those belonging to the spiritual Church, something brief will be stated about how to understand sanctification among those people. Those belonging to the spiritual Church, those who lead a life of truth, and go on to lead a life of good, are withheld from evils and maintained in good by the Lord. The good they have from the Lord is the holiness with them. Consequently in the measure that they receive good from the Lord they are holy; and the measure of good they receive from the Lord, that is, the measure in which they are holy, is determined by how far they lead a life of good in keeping with the genuine truths of faith, and by how far at that time they believe that all the good they think and do then begins in the Lord. When they do these things the evils present with them are separated so that they do not at all appear, especially the evils they have derived by heredity from their parents, which are foul, because they have been accumulated from many ages back by successive generations of parents and accordingly heaped up in offspring. These are the interiors which with those belonging to the spiritual Church have been hidden away and so to speak covered over, 966, 1667, 2307, 2308, 3701, 4317, 8550. So it is that the entire will they receive by heredity has been corrupted. As a consequence of this they have a new will which the Lord forms in the understanding part of the mind by means of the truths of faith. This explains why they are led by means of truths to good while they are being regenerated, and after that, when they have been regenerated, from good into the truths of good. This shows plainly how their new will is created by the Lord. Regarding its formation in the understanding part of the mind with those belonging to the spiritual Church, see 863, 875, 895, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113, 6125.

1023. That 'and I, behold I am establishing My covenant' means the Lord's presence in charity becomes clear from the meaning of 'a covenant', dealt with in 666, where it was shown that 'a covenant' means regeneration, and in particular the conjunction of the Lord with a regenerate person by means of love. It was also shown there that the heavenly marriage is the actual covenant itself, and that consequently the heavenly marriage exists with every regenerate person. The nature of this marriage or covenant has also been shown already.

[2] The heavenly marriage with the member of the Most Ancient Church existed in the area of his own will, but the heavenly marriage with the member of the Ancient Church came into existence in the area of his own understanding. Actually when the will part of man's mind had become utterly corrupted, the Lord in miraculous fashion separated the area of his own understanding from that corrupted will part, and within the area of man's own understanding He formed a new will, which is conscience. Into conscience He infused charity, and into charity innocence, and in this manner joined Himself to man, or what amounts to the same, established a covenant with him.

[3] To the extent that the area of a person's own will can be separated from this understanding part the Lord is able to be present with him, that is, to join Himself or establish a covenant with him. Temptations and similar means of regeneration render inactive the area of a person's own will, so that it is reduced to nothing and so to speak dies. To the extent that this happens the Lord can operate within charity by means of conscience implanted in the area of a person's own understanding. This is what is called 'a covenant' here.