9927. When he goeth in unto the holiness before Jehovah, and when he goeth out. That this signifies in every state of good and truth in worship, is evident from the signification of “going in unto the holiness,” and of “going in before Jehovah,” as being worship (of which above, n. 9903, 9907). That it is the state of good and truth in worship which is signified, is because all things of worship with the Israelitish and Jewish nation were representative of internal worship; and internal worship is from good and truth; that is, from the affection of good and from the faith of truth. That it is every state of these which is signified, is because it is said, “when he goeth in, and when he goeth out,” and by “going in and going out” are signified all the things of the state. For whatever belongs to motion, as “walking,” “going,” “advancing,” signifies a state of life. (That “walking” has this signification, see n. 519, 1794, 3335, 4882, 5493, 5605, 8417, 8420; in like manner “advancing,” and “journeying,” n. 8103, 8181, 8397, 8557; and that motions and progressions in the other life signify states, n. 1273-1277, 1376-1381, 2873, 3356, 9440.) From this it is evident that “going in and going out” denote everything of the state or thing that is being treated of; and as the subject here treated of is worship from good and truth, it is every state of good and truth in worship that is signified by “going in and going out.”

[2] This signification of “going in and going out” is from the representatives in the other life; for there they go, walk, advance, go in and out, just as in the world; but all these acts are done according to the state of the life of their thoughts and affections (as may be seen in the places above cited). That these acts also originate from their thoughts and affections, and are correspondences, and thus real appearances, they do not notice. From this it is evident that all things of motion signify those which belong to the state of life; consequently that “going in and going out” signify every state of life, thus the state of the thing that is being treated of, from beginning to end. It is from this that among the ancients it was a customary form of speaking to say that they knew a person’s coming in and his going out, or his entrance and his departure, when they meant that they knew every state of his life. And as this form of speaking originates from the correspondences in the other life, as has been already said, therefore in the Word also a like expression is made use of, and where this is done the like is signified; as in the following passages.

In the first book of Samuel:

Achish called David, and said unto him, Thou art upright, and good in mine eyes is thy going out and thy coming in with me in the camp; for I have not found evil in thee (1 Samuel 29:6).

“Good in the eyes is thy going out and thy coming in” denotes that every state of his life was well-pleasing to him.

[3] In the second book of Samuel:

Thou knowest Abner, that he came to persuade thee, and to know thy going out and thy coming in, and to know all that thou doest (2 Samuel 3:25).

“To know the going out and the coming in” denotes to know all the thoughts and all the acts of the life; and therefore it is also said, “and to know all that thou doest.” In the second book of Kings:

I know thy sitting down, and thy going out and thy coming in, and that thou hast set thyself in motion against Me (2 Kings 19:27; Isaiah 37:28); where Sennacherib the king of Assyria is spoken of; “knowing his going out and his coming in” denotes all things of his counsel.

In David:

Jehovah shall keep thee from all evil, He shall keep thy soul. Jehovah shall keep thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and even for evermore (Psalms 121:7-8).

“To keep the going out and the coming in” denotes everything of the life according to the state of good and truth.

[4] In Moses:

Let Jehovah, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the assembly, who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, that the assembly of Jehovah be not as a flock that hath no shepherd (Numbers 27:16-17).

“Who may go out before them, and who may come in before them,” denotes one who may lead them; thus one whom they may look to and follow in every state of life.

In John:

He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. I am the shepherd of the sheep; by Me if anyone enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and shall find pasture (John 10:1-2, 9).

“To enter in” (that is, into heaven), denotes into the good of love and faith, for this good makes heaven; and therefore “to go in and to go out,” denotes to be led by the Lord in respect to every state of life; consequently it denotes to think and will what is good from freedom, that is, from love and faith which are from the Lord, for these make freedom.

[5] In Luke:

Jesus sent the twelve disciples to preach the kingdom of God. And He said unto them, Into whatsoever house ye enter, there abide, and thence go out (Luke 9:2-4).

“To enter into a house,” “to abide there,” and “to go out thence,” denote to enjoy heavenly consociation with those who receive the Lord in faith and love; for in heaven those who are together in one society are also in one “house,” and they come in and go out there, because they are in a like good; but those who are in an unlike good cannot do so; and if they do enter in, they do not enter by the doors, but by some other way. He who does not know that such things are signified, cannot know what is involved in the words, that “into whatsoever house they should enter, they should there abide, and thence go out.”

[6] In Ezekiel:

When the prince shall go in, he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he shall go out by the way thereof. When the people of the land shall go in before Jehovah in the appointed feasts, he that goeth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that goeth in by the way of the south gate shall go out by the way of the north gate; he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he had gone in, but shall go straight before him. But when the prince goeth in in the midst of them, they shall go in; and when they shall go out, they shall go out (Ezekiel 46:8-10).

In the internal sense a new heaven and a new church are here treated of; and by “the prince” is signified the truth of faith from the good of love. In what manner this truth enters in with angels in the heavens and with men of the church on earth, and how it afterward progresses toward the interiors when it has entered in by an external way, and toward the exteriors when it has entered by an internal way, is described by the going in and going out of the prince and of the people of the land. “The south” denotes the state of the truth of faith in the internal man; and “the north,” its state in the external man; “the going in and going out” denote the state of life as to good and truth, thus as to worship.

[7] From all this it can be known clearly enough that “to go in and go out” denote such things as belong to the state of life from good and truth; for otherwise what could it matter that the prince should go in by one way, or by another way? and also the people of the land? For by “the house” or temple there mentioned, into which there was entrance, and out of which there was going out, is signified heaven and the church (see n. 3720); by “the prince” is signified the truth of faith (n. 5044); by “the people of the land,” those who are in heaven, or who are of the church (n. 2928); by “the way,” that which leads to truth (n. 627, 2333); by a “gate,” doctrine (n. 2851, 3187); by “the south,” where truth is in light (n. 9642), thus truth in the internal man; and by “the north,” where truth is in obscurity (n. 3708), thus truth in the external man.

4697. And eleven stars. That this signifies the knowledges of good and truth, is evident from the signification of “stars,” as being the knowledges of good and truth. That “stars” have this signification in the Word is because they are small luminaries which shine at night, when they give forth into our atmosphere gleams of light, just as knowledges give forth gleams of good and truth. That such knowledges are signified by “stars,” is evident from many passages in the Word, as in Jeremiah:

Thus said Jehovah who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up the sea that the waves thereof are tumultuous (Jeremiah 31:35); where a new church is treated of, and by “giving the sun for a light by day” is signified the good of love and of charity, and by “giving the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night” is signified truth and knowledges.

[2] So too in David:

Jehovah who made great luminaries, the sun to rule by day, and the moon and stars to rule by night (Psalms 136:7-9);

one who knows nothing of the internal sense of the Word will believe that by the “sun” here is meant the sun of the world, and by the “moon and stars,” the moon and stars of the world; but from this arises no spiritual and heavenly sense, and yet the Word is heavenly in every particular; from which again it is evident that the goods of love and charity, and the truths of faith, together with the knowledges of these, are what is signified.

[3] So also in the first chapter of Genesis, where the new creation of the celestial man is described:

God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to distinguish between the day and the night; and let them be for signs and for stated times, and for days and for years; and let them be for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made two great luminaries; the greater luminary to rule by day, and the lesser luminary to rule by night; and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, and to rule in the day and in the night, and to distinguish between the light and the darkness (Genesis 1:14-18; see (30-38) n. 30-38).

[4] In Matthew:

Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (Matthew 24:29).

That here by the “sun and moon” are signified love and charity, or good and truth, and by the “stars” knowledges, may be seen above (n. 4060); and because the last day or the last state of the church is here treated of, by “the sun being darkened and the moon not giving her light” is signified that then the good of love and of charity will perish; and by “the stars falling from heaven,” that the knowledges of good and of truth will also perish.

[5] That these things are signified, is evident from the prophetic parts of the Word, in which similar things are said of the last state of the church, as in Isaiah:

Behold the day of Jehovah cometh cruel, to make the earth a waste, and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not shine with their light; the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine (Isaiah 13:9-10).

In Joel:

The day of Jehovah is near. The sun and the moon have been blackened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining (Joel 3:14, 16).

In Ezekiel:

When I shall extinguish thee I will cover the heavens, and I will blacken the stars thereof; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not make her light to shine, all the luminaries of light in heaven will I make black over thee, and will set darkness upon thy land (Ezekiel 32:7-8).

And in Revelation:

The fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; that the third part of them should be darkened, and the day should not shine for the third part of it, and the night in like manner (Revelation 8:12).

[6] Moreover, that “stars” are the knowledges of good and truth is plain from the following passages: in Daniel:

Out of one of the horns of the he-goat came forth a little horn, and it grew exceedingly toward the south, and toward the east, and toward adornment. And it grew even to the army of the heavens; and some of the army and of the stars it cast down to the earth, and trampled upon them (Daniel 8:9-10);

and in Revelation:

The great dragon with his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth (Revelation 12:4).

That “stars” are not meant in these passages, is evident.

In Daniel and Revelation is described the state of the church in its last times.

[7] Likewise in David:

Jehovah counteth the number of the stars; He giveth names to all (Psalms 147:4).

Again:

Praise ye Jehovah, sun and moon, praise Him all ye stars of light (Psalms 148:3).

And in Revelation:

A great sign was seen in heaven; a woman encompassed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars (Revelation 12:1).

[8] As “stars” signify the knowledges of good and truth, they signify also the doctrinals of the church, for these are knowledges. The doctrinal respecting faith separate from charity in the last times, is thus described by a star in Revelation:

The third angel sounded, and there fell from heaven a great star burning as a torch, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; and the name of the star is called Wormwood, and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter (Revelation 8:10-11).

The waters made bitter by this star are truths, and the “rivers and fountains of waters” are intelligence thence and wisdom from the Word. (That “waters” are truths may be seen above, n. 2702, 3058, 3424; that “rivers” are intelligence, n. 3051; and that “fountains” are wisdom from the Word, n. 2702, 3424)