9014. 'You shall take him from My altar to die' means damnation even though he flees to worship the Lord, pleads for forgiveness, and promises to repent. This is clear from the meaning of Jehovah's altar' as the chief representative of worship of the Lord, dealt with in 921, 2777, 2811, 4541, 8935, 8940, and since the altar was representative of worship 'fleeing to the altar' means going to the Lord, pleading for forgiveness, and also promising to repent, for one action follows the other; and from the meaning of 'dying' as damnation, dealt with in 5407, 6119, 9008.

[2] The implications of all this may be recognized from what has been shown in paragraph 9013 above, to the effect that guile in spiritual things, that is, hypocrisy, is not able to be forgiven. The reason why is that guile is like poison that penetrates right through to the inward parts; it kills all of the faith and charity there, and destroys remnants, which are the truths and forms of the good of faith and charity stored away by the Lord in a person inwardly. And when these have been destroyed no spiritual life at all survives any longer. Regarding remnants, see 468, 530, 560-563, 660, 661, 798, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284, 5135, 5342, 5344, 5897, 5898, 6156, 7560, 7564. Consequently when people full of guile plead with the Lord to be forgiven and promise to repent, meant by 'fleeing to the altar', their pleas and promises do not come at all from the heart but are made only with the lips. Therefore they are not heard, for the Lord looks on the heart, not on words separated and isolated from the heart. So it is that there is no forgiveness for them, because they are not capable of any repentance.

[3] The majority within the Church think that the forgiveness of sins involves wiping and washing them away, like the removal of dirt by water, and that after forgiveness people go about clean and pure. This idea reigns especially with those who attribute all of salvation to faith alone. But let it be known that the situation with the forgiveness of sins is altogether different from that being Mercy itself, the Lord forgives everyone their sins. Nevertheless they do not come to be forgiven unless the person sincerely repents, refrains from evils, and after that leads a life of faith and charity, doing so to the end of his life. When this happens the person receives spiritual life from the Lord, called new life. Then when with this new life he looks at the evils of his former life, turns away from them, and abhors them, his evils have for the first time been forgiven. For the person is now maintained in truths and forms of good by the Lord and held back from evils. This shows what the forgiveness of sins is, and that it cannot take place within an hour, nor within a year. The Church knows this to be so, for it says to those who attend the Holy Supper that their sins are forgiven if they begin a new life by refraining from evils and abhorring them.

[4] All this now shows what the situation is with hypocrites who through guile are inwardly eaten up by evils - they are incapable of repenting. For the actual remnants of goodness and truth present with them have been destroyed and lost, and everything of spiritual life with them. And being incapable of repenting they cannot be forgiven. This is meant by the law that those who kill their neighbour with guile must be taken from the altar to die.

[5] Their damnation was described by the following prophetic utterance made by David regarding Joab, who had killed Abner with guile,

There will always be in the house of Joab ¹ one who suffers from a discharge, or is a leper, or supports himself with a rod, or falls by the sword, or lacks bread. 2 Samuel 3:27, 29.

'One suffering from a discharge' means profanation of the good of love; 'a leper' means profanation of the truth of faith, 6963; 'one supporting himself with a rod', or a person who is lame, means those with whom all good has been lost, 4302, 4314; 'one falling by the sword' means those constantly dying through falsities, 4499, 6353, 7102, 8294; and 'one lacking bread' means those deprived of all spiritual life, for 'bread' is the sustainment of spiritual life by means of good, 6118, 8410. Because such people were meant by 'Joab' he was killed by the command of Solomon at the altar to which he had fled, 1 Kings 2:28-32.

Poznámky pod čarou:

5342. 'And laid up food in the cities' means that it stored them - truths linked to good - in the interior parts. This is clear from the meaning here of 'laying up' as storing; from the meaning of 'food' as truth linked to good, dealt with just above in 5340; and from the meaning of 'the cities' as the interior parts of the natural mind, dealt with above in 5297. The idea that truths linked to good are stored in the interior parts of the natural mind, and are preserved there for use subsequently in life, in particular for use in temptations when a person is being regenerated, is an arcanum known to few at the present day. Therefore the nature of this arcanum must be stated. The seven years of abundance of corn mean the truths multiplied initially, and the storage of grain in the cities, in the midst of them, means that those truths linked to good were stored away in a person's interior parts. The seven years of famine and the sustainment provided by the bunches that had been gathered means the state of regeneration effected by means of the truths that had been linked to good and stored away in the interior parts.

[2] The arcanum is this: During the time from earliest infancy through to early childhood a person is led by the Lord into heaven; indeed he is placed among celestial angels who serve to keep him in a state of innocence. This state which infants pass through until early childhood is a well-known one. At the beginning of childhood a gradual shedding of that state of innocence takes place; but even so, the person is kept in a state of charity through the charitable affection which he and his companions feel for one another. During this state, which with many people lasts through to adolescence, he is among spiritual angels. Because he begins at this time to think from what is within himself and to act in accordance with this, he cannot be kept any longer in charity, as he was previously; for now he calls on hereditary evils and allows them to lead him. Once this state has arrived the forms of the good of charity and innocence adopted by him previously are banished, to the extent that forms of evil are present in his thinking and are reinforced by his actions. Actually those forms of good are not banished but are withdrawn by the Lord to interior parts where they are stored away.

[3] But because he does not as yet know any truths, those forms of the good of innocence and charity which he has adopted during those two states do not possess any qualities as yet; for truths give good its qualities, while good gives truths their essence. From this time of life onwards therefore he is being equipped with truths by means of the teaching he receives, and especially by means of his own thoughts about and consequent verification of those truths. Insofar as he is moved at this time by an affection for good, the Lord joins truths to good in him, 5340, and stores them away for [future] use. This is the state that is meant by the seven years of abundance of corn. These truths linked to good are the ones which in a proper sense are called remnants. In the measure therefore that a person allows himself to be regenerated, the remnants serve a useful purpose; for the Lord draws in the same measure on that store of remnants and returns them to the natural. As a result a correspondence of exterior things with interior ones, or natural things with spiritual ones, is brought about; and this happens in the state that is meant by 'the seven years of famine'. This is the arcanum.

[4] At the present day the member of the Church thinks that no matter what anyone's life is like he can nevertheless by an act of mercy be accepted into heaven and enjoy eternal blessedness there; for the member of the Church imagines that it is simply a matter of being let in. But he is much mistaken, because no one can be let into heaven and find acceptance there unless he has acquired spiritual life, and no one can acquire spiritual life unless he is being regenerated, and no one can undergo regeneration except by means of goodness of life coupled to truth taught by doctrine. This is the way spiritual life is acquired by him. The fact that no one can enter heaven unless he has acquired spiritual life through regeneration is stated plainly by the Lord in John,

Truly, truly I say to you, Unless anyone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 9:9.

And just after this,

Truly, truly I say to you, Unless a person has been born from water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John 3:5.

'Water' is the truth taught by doctrine, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, and 'the spirit' is goodness of life. No one enters the kingdom simply through being baptized; rather, baptism is the sign denoting regeneration which the member of the Church should call to mind.