1749. If I should take anything that is yours means that there was nothing of the kind in his heavenly love, as can be seen from Abram's refusal to take anything from Sodom's king. Abram represented the Lord in his new role as victor, and consequently he represented the qualities of heavenly love that the Lord had acquired through his victories. The king of Sodom represented evil and falsity, of which nothing was present in the Lord as victor — that is, in heavenly love.

[2] The inner meaning of these words is not clear unless you know how matters stand in the other life. Among evil and hellish spirits, self-love and materialism reign supreme, so these spirits view themselves as gods of the universe and as having great power. Once conquered, they do perceive that they have absolutely no power, but the illusion of authority and dominion remains, and they believe they can add greatly to the Lord's authority and dominion. For this reason, in order to procure a share of power, they offer good spirits their services. However, evil and falsity are the only resources they think they can use in accomplishing anything, whereas the Lord — or heavenly love — can use nothing but goodness and truth. As a result, Sodom's king (who represents such spirits) here receives the answer that there is nothing of the kind in the Lord; in other words, that evil and falsity lend the Lord no power.

[3] The power exerted by evil and falsity is entirely contrary to the power exerted by goodness and truth. The power exerted by evil and falsity is the desire to enslave everyone; the power exerted by goodness and truth is the desire to free everyone. The power exerted by evil and falsity is the desire to destroy everyone, but the power exerted by goodness and truth is the desire to save everyone. This shows that the power of evil and falsity is the Devil's, while the power of goodness and truth is the Lord's. The diametrically opposite nature of the two kinds of power can be seen from the Lord's words in Matthew 12:24-30; ¹ and the idea that no one can serve two masters, in Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13.

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