8924. 'Do not fear, for God has come in order to test you' means that the life of heaven will not be destroyed, [but that they are tested] solely so that the existence and essential nature of that life may be known. This is clear from the meaning of 'not fearing' - not fearing that they will die - as their having no fear that the life of heaven with them will be destroyed, 8922; and from the meaning of 'testing you' as teaching about the existence of the life of heaven and about its essential nature. The reason why 'testing' has this meaning is that all spiritual testing or temptation serves to teach about and strengthen such ideas with a person. For temptations exist to this end, that belief in truth and affection for truth may be implanted and enrooted, and after these an affection for good, so that a person receives new life, which is the life of heaven.

[2] Temptations are conflicts with evils and falsities. When a person is victorious in them he is strengthened, for he fights from truths and for truths against falsity and evil. The person is not at the time directly conscious of fighting from truths and for truths because the truths are present on the inner levels of his mind and therefore do not plainly enter his consciousness, which belongs to the outer levels. But truths are indeed what he fights from and fights for, as is evident from the fact that conflict exists, followed by victory, which is not possible except for the clashes of opposites with one another, those opposites being evil and good, and falsity and truth.

[3] Yet it should be recognized that the person does not fight, but that the Lord fights on behalf of the person, and indeed against the hells, which endeavour at that time to take over and subdue the person, 840, 1661, 1692, 8159, 8168, 8172, 8175, 8176.

From all this it is evident that 'Do not fear, for God has come in order to test you' means that there should be no fear that the life of heaven will be destroyed, but that it happens to them so that they may be taught about and know of the existence of the life of heaven, and also its essential nature. But regarding temptations, see what has been stated and shown already in 2272, 2768, 3318, 3927, 3928, 4249, 4299, 4341, 4572, 5036, 5246, 5356, 6144, 6574, 6611, 6657, 6663, 6666, 6829, 8131, 8273, 8351, 8367, 8370 (end), 8403, 8567.

6666. 'And the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve' means the aim to bring them under their control. This is clear from the meaning of 'making them serve' as bringing under their control, here the aim to do so because although they endeavour constantly to bring others under their control they never get the upper hand over those who are good; from the meaning of 'the Egyptians' as separated factual knowledge that is opposed to the Church's truths, dealt with in 6651; and from the meaning of 'the children of Israel' as the Church, dealt with in 6637. From these meanings it is evident that 'the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve' means the aim held by those who favour separated factual knowledge opposed to the Church's truths, to bring them [the Church] under their control.

[2] As regards the aim to bring others under one's own control, I have also been allowed to know what that aim is like among the evil belonging to hell. The nature of their endeavour and aim to bring under their control those who accept what is good and true defies description. For they employ every kind of malice, every kind of guile and deceit, every kind of trickery, and every kind of cruelty, the extent and nature of which are such that if merely a part were mentioned scarcely anyone in the world could believe it, so full of guile and artfulness are the methods they use, and so unspeakable too. In short those methods are such that no one at all, not even any angel, only the Lord, can stand up to them. The reason why such an endeavour and aim is present in them is that the whole delight of their life, thus their very life, consists in the doing of evil, on account of which nothing else occupies their minds, and consequently nothing else is intended by them. They cannot do anything good at all because it repels them; or if they do do anything good, it is for selfish reasons, thus only for themselves.

[3] Hells made up of people like this are growing immensely larger at the present day; and what is astounding, such people come mainly from among those within the Church on account of all the guile, trickery, hatred, revenge, and adultery that flourish there more than anywhere else. For in the Church of today guile is reckoned to be cleverness, and adultery to be honourable behaviour; and those who think anything different are laughed at. Since this is the situation at the present day within the Church, it is a sign that its last days are at hand, for according to the Lord's words recorded in Matthew 24:22, unless it came to an end 'no flesh would be saved'. Indeed all evil is infectious and like rottenness contaminates the whole, thus everyone in the end.