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.

6393. 'And he will bend his shoulder to bear a burden' means that nevertheless he makes every effort. This is clear from the meaning of 'shoulder' as all power or every effort, dealt with in 1085, 4931-4937; and from the meaning of 'bearing a burden' as performing works so as to earn merit. Consequently 'bending the shoulder to bear a burden' means making every effort at performing works in order to earn merit. The reason this is described as 'bearing a burden' is that such people do good not out of an affection for good, thus not in freedom, but out of a selfish affection, which is servitude, 6390.

[2] With regard to those who desire a reward for the works they accomplish, it should also be recognized that they are never satisfied but become annoyed if their reward is not greater than that which everyone else receives; or if they see that others are more richly blessed than themselves, they are sad and complaining. Real blessedness is not considered by them to reside in inward things but in outward ones, that is to say, in their being pre-eminent, having dominion, and being served by angels, thus in their being superior to angels and so being the chief and great ones in heaven. But in actual fact heavenly blessedness does not consist in wishing to have dominion and to be served by others but in wishing to serve others and to be the least, as the Lord teaches,

James and John, the sons of Zebedee drew near, saying, Grant us to sit in Your glory, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left. Jesus said to them, You do not know what you ask. To sit at My right hand and at My left is not Mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. You know that those who are reckoned to rule the gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones have authority over them. It must not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your minister, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be ministered to but to minister. Mark 10:35-45.

[3] And He teaches that heaven belongs to those who do good without recompense as their end in view, in Luke,

Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbours, lest perhaps also they invite you back in return, and you are repaid. But when you give a feast invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, for they have nothing with which to repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. Luke 14:11-14.

'Repayment at the resurrection of the just' is the inner happiness that comes from doing good without thought of recompense, which people receive from the Lord when they perform useful services. And the more that those who love to serve without thought of repayment love to do good, the nobler are the services committed to their charge. Also, they are in actual fact greater and more powerful than others.

[4] Those who perform good works with a view to repayment also say, because of what they know from the Word, that they wish to be the least in heaven. But they think that by saying this they may become great, so that they still have the same end in view. But those who do good without thought of repayment really do not think about pre-eminence, only about being of service.

[5] See what has been stated and shown already about earning merit through works,

In the next life those who are merit-seekers appear to be splitting wood and cutting grass, 1110, 1111, 4943.

How those people are represented, 1774, 2027.

Those who have done good for selfish and worldly reasons receive no payment in the next life for that good, 1835.

Those who place merit in works interpret the Word literally to their own advantage and laugh with scorn at its inner content, 1774, 1877.

True charity is devoid of all merit-seeking, 2340, 2373, 2400, 3816.

Those who separate faith from charity consider the works they have done to be worthy of merit, 2373 (end).

Those who come into heaven throw off what is their own and any merit of their own, 4007 (end).

Most people believe, when they start to be reformed, that the good they do originates in themselves, and that through this good they are worthy of merit; but they throw off that belief as they undergo regeneration, 4174.