5510. 'The man, the lord of the land, spoke' means the celestial of the spiritual ruling in the natural. This is clear from the representation of Joseph, to whom 'the man, the lord of the land' refers here, as the celestial of the spiritual ('the man' is used to refer to the spiritual, and 'the lord' to the celestial; for in the internal sense 'the man' is truth and 'the lord' good, truth from the Divine being what is called spiritual, and good from the Divine being what is called celestial); and from the meaning of 'the land', in this case the land of Egypt, as the natural mind, dealt with in 5276, 5178, 5280, 5288, 5301. The idea that the celestial of the spiritual, represented by 'Joseph', ruled in both parts of the natural is contained in the internal sense of the previous chapter; and to represent its rule Joseph was set in authority over the land of Egypt.

[2] There are within the natural these two: known facts and the truths known to the Church. The placing of facts into their proper order by the celestial of the spiritual, which is truth from the Divine, has been dealt with already. Now the truths known to the Church, which are represented by 'the ten sons of Jacob', are the subject. Facts must be placed in order within the natural before the truths known to the Church are placed in order there, for the reason that those facts are needed for the grasping of these truths. For nothing can enter a person's understanding without ideas formed from such factual knowledge as has been acquired by him since early childhood. For man is totally ignorant of this, that every truth known to the Church that is called a truth of faith is founded on the facts he knows, or that he comes to grasp that truth, retain it in his memory, and recall it from there with the help of ideas formulated from the facts he knows.

[3] It is quite normal in the next life to demonstrate in a visual way to those who desire it what those ideas are like; for things like this can be presented clearly in visual ways in the light of heaven. At the same time that visual presentation demonstrates in what darkness or else in what kind of beaming light they have kept the truth taught by the Church. With some people that truth is shown to be lying among falsities, with some among absurd, even scandalous ideas, with others among illusions of the senses, with others again among apparent truths, and so on. If a person has been governed by good, that is, if he has led a charitable life, truths are lit up by good, as if by fire sent down from heaven, and the illusions of the senses holding those truths within them are made beautifully radiant. And when they have innocence introduced into them by the Lord they actually look like truths.

5280. 'And the abundance of corn in the land will not be known' means that no discernment at all regarding the truth present previously will exist there. This is clear from the meaning of 'being known' as being discerned; from the meaning of 'the abundance of corn' as truth that has been multiplied, dealt with above; in 5276, 5278; and from the meaning of 'the land', in this case the land of Egypt, as the natural mind, also dealt with above, in 5276, 5278, 5279. From these meanings it is evident that 'the abundance of corn in the land will not be known means that no discernment at all regarding the truth present previously will exist in the natural.

[2] This verse deals with the final state of desolation, when despair, which comes immediately before regeneration, is experienced; and this being the matter dealt with in this verse, something must be said about the nature of it. Everyone has to be reformed, and to be born anew or regenerated, so that he may enter heaven, No one, unless he is born again, can see the kingdom of God. John 3:3, 5-6.

The human being is born into sin which has increased as it has come down in a long line of descent from ancestors, grandparents, and parents; it has become hereditary and so has been handed down to offspring. At birth a person is born into so many inherited evils which have gradually increased, as described, that he is nothing but sin; therefore unless he undergoes regeneration he remains wholly immersed in sin. But to be regenerated, he must first undergo reformation, which is effected by means of the truths of faith; for he must learn from the Word, and from teaching drawn from it, what good is. Items of knowledge regarding what is good that have been acquired from the Word - that is, from teaching drawn from there - are called the truths of faith; for all truths of faith well up out of good and flow in the direction of good, good being the end they have in view.

[3] This state comes first and is called the state of reformation. Most people within the Church are introduced into it during the period from young childhood through to adolescence, though few are regenerated because most people within the Church learn the truths of faith - or religious knowledge about what is good - for the sake of reputation and position and for the sake of material gain. Since therefore the truths of faith have been introduced through his love of these things, a person cannot be born anew or be regenerated until that love has been removed. To enable such love to be removed that person is launched into a state of temptation, which takes place in the following way: His love of reputation, position, and material gain is activated by the hellish crew, for that crew's desire is to live immersed in the love of those things. But at the same time angels activate affections for what is true and good which were implanted in the state of innocence during early childhood and then stored away interiorly and preserved there for this particular purpose. As a result conflict between evil spirits and angels takes place, and this conflict taking place within a person is experienced by him as temptation. And because the action at this time involves truths and forms of good, the actual truths which were instilled initially are so to speak banished by the falsities infused by the evil spirits - so banished that they are not seen - dealt with above in 5268-5270. And as the person allows himself at this time to be regenerated, the Lord introduces through an internal route the light of truth radiated from good in the natural, in which light the truths are restored there in their proper order.

[4] This is what happens to a person who is being regenerated, but few at the present day are permitted to enter that regenerative state. So far as they allow it to happen, all people, it is true, start to be reformed through the instruction they receive in the truths and forms of good that belong to spiritual life; but as soon as they reach adolescent years they allow the world to distract them. So they turn away into those parts where hellish spirits are, who gradually alienate these people from heaven; the spirits alienate them so completely that they scarcely believe any longer in the existence of heaven. Consequently those people cannot be launched into any spiritual temptation; for if they were they would go under instantly, in which case their latter state would be worse than their former one, Matthew 12:45. From all this one may see the nature of what the internal sense contains here, namely the state of reformation and the state of regeneration. This particular verse however describes the final state in temptation, which is a state of despair - this state being dealt with immediately above in 5279.