474. And he said to me, These are they who come out of great tribulation.- That this signifies information that they are those who have been in temptations, is evident from the signification of, "he said to me," as denoting information; and from the signification of tribulation, or great affliction, as denoting temptations, of which we shall speak presently. Something shall first be said here concerning the temptations which those undergo in the spiritual world who are in falsities from ignorance, and who are here treated of. Only those undergo temptations there who have lived a good life in the world according to their religion, wherein were falsities of doctrine in which they believed. For by temptations falsities are shaken off, truths are implanted, and thus they are prepared for heaven; for all those who shall come into heaven must be in truths; wherefore so long as they are in falsities they cannot come into heaven. The reason is, that the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord makes heaven, and makes the life of the angels there, therefore falsities, because they are opposed to truths, and because opposites destroy, must first be removed, and they cannot be removed except by temptations.

[2] That temptations perform this use, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, (n. 187-201), where temptations are treated of. The reason why they are let into temptations in the spiritual world after the life in the body, is, that they could not be tempted in the world on account of the falsities of religion in which they were, and which were everywhere dominant. It must be understood, that all those who are let into temptations are saved; but the evil, who are in falsities from evil, are not tempted, for with them truths cannot be implanted, because the evils of their lives offer a hindrance; but truths are taken away from them, and therefore they remain in pure falsities, and are then immersed deeply in hell, according to the quality of evil from which such falsity springs. In a word, those who are about to come into heaven are vastated in regard to their falsities, and those who are about to go into hell are vastated in regard to truths; that is, falsities are removed from those who are about to go to heaven, and truths are taken away from those who are about to go to hell. For no one can enter heaven with falsities, nor hell with truths, because truths from good make heaven, and falsities from evil make hell. The temptations of those whose falsities have to be removed are treated of in many passages in the Word, and especially in David, and are called afflictions, tribulations, and vastations; but there is no need to quote those passages here, since it can be seen without them that tribulations and afflictions, when spoken of in reference to good, mean, in the spiritual sense, temptations.

179. Each of us has an inner self and an outer self. The inner self is called our spiritual self and the outer self is called our earthly self. If we are to be regenerated, each of these needs to be regenerated.

If we have not been regenerated, then our outer or earthly self is in control and our inner self is its servant; while if we have been regenerated our inner or spiritual self is in control and our outer self is its servant. We can see, then, that the proper order of life in us is inverted from birth-what ought to be in control is serving and what ought to serve is in control. This order has to be reversed if we are to be saved; and the only way this reversal can be realized is through our being regenerated by the Lord.