2025. That 'I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings' means that the Lord acquired to Himself by His own powers all things meant by 'the land of sojournings' is clear from the meaning of 'sojourning' as receiving instruction, dealt with in 1463. And because man acquires life to himself chiefly through instruction in facts, matters of doctrine, and cognitions of faith, sojourning is consequently the life so acquired. When applied to the Lord it is the life which He obtained for Himself through cognitions, through the conflicts that constituted temptations, and through victories in temptations; and because He obtained it by His own powers, this is what 'the land of your sojournings' means here.

[2] That the Lord obtained all things for Himself by His own powers, and by His own powers united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence and Divine Essence to Human Essence, and that He alone in this way became righteousness, is quite clear in the Prophets, as in Isaiah,

Who is this coming from Edom, marching in the vast numbers of His strength? I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. I looked around and there was no one helping; and I was astonished that there was no one upholding; therefore My own arm brought Me salvation. Isaiah 63:1, 3, 5.

'Edom' stands for the Lord's Human Essence, 'strength' and 'arm' for power. Plain statements to the effect that He acted from His own power are contained in the phrases 'no one helping' and 'no one upholding', and in that about His own arm bringing Him salvation.

[3] In the same prophet,

He saw that there was no one, and wondered that there was nobody to intercede; and His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him. And He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. Isaiah 59:16-17.

This similarly means that He acted by His own power, and in so doing became righteousness. That the Lord is righteousness is stated in Daniel,

Seventy weeks have been decreed to atone for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Daniel 9:24.

And in Jeremiah,

I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and He will reign as king and act with understanding, and He will execute judgement and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in confidence. And this is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16.

For this reason He is also called 'the Habitation of Righteousness' in Jeremiah 31:23; 50:7, and 'wonderful' and 'Hero' in Isaiah 9:6.

[4] The reason why the Lord so many times attributes to the Father that which is His own has been explained above in 1999, 2004; for Jehovah was within Him, and so within every single part of Him. Something similar in man may be used for illustration, although there can be no comparison. Within man is his soul, and because it is within him, the soul is within every individual part of him, that is to say, within every individual part of his thinking and every individual part of his activity. Anything that does not have his soul within it is not part of him. The Lord's soul was Life itself or Being (Esse) itself, which is Jehovah, for He was conceived from Jehovah; thus Life itself was present within every individual part of Him. And because Life itself, or Being (Esse) itself, which is Jehovah, belonged to Him in the way that the soul does to man, so that which was Jehovah's was His, which is what the Lord says in His statements about His being in the bosom of the Father, John 1:18, and about all things that the Father has being His, John 16:15; 17:10-11.

[5] From good which is Jehovah's He united the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, and from truth united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, and so achieved every single thing all from Himself. Indeed His Human was left to Itself in order that of Himself He might fight against all the hells and overcome them; and because He had life within Himself, as stated, which was His own, He overcame them by His own power and strength, as is also clearly stated in the places quoted from the Prophets. So then, because He acquired all things to Himself by His own powers, He became Righteousness, cleared the world of spirits of hellish genii and spirits, and in so doing rescued the human race from destruction - for the human race is governed by means of spirits - and thus redeemed it. This is why the Old Testament Word speaks so often of Him as Rescuer and Redeemer, and also Saviour, as His name Jesus describes.

6392. 'And the land that it is pleasant' means that those in the Lord's kingdom enjoy that happiness. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church, thus also the Lord's kingdom, dealt with in 662, 1066, 1067, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 4447 (the reason why 'the land' has this meaning is that the land of Canaan, to which 'the land' refers in the Word, represented the Lord's kingdom; and it had this representation because the Church had existed there since the most ancient times, 3038, 3481, 3686, 3705, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517, 5136); and from the meaning of 'that it is pleasant' as the happiness which works of goodness without thought of recompense entail. The reason why it says 'he will see rest that it is good, and the land that it is pleasant', by both of which statements is meant the happiness that exists in the Lord's kingdom, is that 'seeing rest that it is good' has reference to what is celestial or to good, while 'seeing the land that it is pleasant 'has reference to what is spiritual or to truth, both of which are mentioned on account of the marriage of goodness and truth, spoken of in 6343.

[2] To take further this matter of the happiness that exists in the works of goodness without thought of recompense, it should be recognized that very few at the present day know that performing good deeds without thought of recompense is that in which heavenly happiness consists. For people know of no other happiness than that gained from being raised to important positions, being served by others, having an abundance of riches, and leading a life of pleasure. They are profoundly ignorant of the existence above all these things of a happiness that fills a person's inner being, thus of the existence of a heavenly happiness, or of the fact that this happiness is the happiness that genuine charity possesses. Ask the wise at the present day whether they know that this is heavenly happiness. This also explains why many disallow good works, in the belief that it is impossible for anyone to perform them without the intention to earn merit through them. For they do not know that those who are led by the Lord have no greater desire than to perform good works, and that nothing is further from their thought than the earning of merit through them. The new will which the Lord confers on those who are being regenerated brings this attitude of mind with it; for this new will is the Lord's residing with a person.