9336. By little and little I will drive him out from before thee. That this signifies a removal by degrees according to order, is evident from the signification of “by little and little,” as being by degrees, thus slowly; from the signification of “driving out,” when said of the falsities and evils which are signified by the nations of the land of Canaan, as being removal (of which just above, n. 9333). It is said “by degrees according to order,” because with the man who is being regenerated all things are disposed according to the order of heaven; for the regenerate man is a heaven in the least form, and therefore there is in him an order like that which is in heaven.

[2] When a man is born, in respect to hereditary evils he is a hell in the least form; and he also becomes a hell insofar as he takes the hereditary evils to himself, and adds to them things which are his own. Hence it is that both from birth and from actual life the order of his life is opposite to the order of heaven; for from his own a man loves himself more than the Lord, and the world more than heaven; when yet the life of heaven consists in loving the Lord above all things and the neighbor as oneself. From this it is evident that the former life, which is of hell, must be utterly destroyed (that is to say, the evils and falsities must be removed), in order that the new life, which is the life of heaven, may be implanted (see n. 4551, 4552, 4839, 6068). This cannot possibly be done hastily; for every evil that is rooted in with its falsities has a connection with all evils and their falsities; and such evils and falsities are innumerable, and their connection is so complex that it cannot be comprehended, not even by the angels, but only by the Lord. From this it is evident that the life of hell with a man cannot be destroyed suddenly; for if it were, he would straightway expire; and neither can the life of heaven be implanted suddenly, for if it were, he would also expire.

[3] There are thousands and thousands of arcana, of which scarcely a single one is known to man, whereby a man is led by the Lord out of the life of hell into the life of heaven. That this is so, has been given me to know from heaven, and it has likewise been confirmed by many things which have come to my notice. As man knows scarcely anything of these matters, many have fallen into errors about the liberation of man from evils and falsities (that is, the forgiveness of sins), believing that through mercy the life of hell in a man can be instantly turned into the life of heaven in him; when yet the whole act of regeneration is mercy, and none are regenerated except those who receive the mercy of the Lord in faith and life while in the world; according to the Lord’s words in John:

As many as received, to them gave He the power to be sons of God, even to them that believe in His name; who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13);

what is meant by “bloods,” by “the will of the flesh,” and “the will of man,” also by being “born of God,” may be seen above (n. 5826).

[4] What is properly meant by removal from evils and falsities by degrees according to order, shall also be briefly stated. The Divine truth which proceeds from the Divine good of the Lord disposes all things into order in heaven; and therefore this Divine truth, in which there is good from the Lord, is order itself (n. 1728, 1919, 2258, 2447, 5703, 6338, 8700, 8988). According to this order all things in heaven come forth, and according to the same order they subsist; for to subsist is perpetually to come forth. In order therefore that heaven may come forth in a man it is necessary that he receive Divine truth in the good proceeding from the Lord. This can only be done by degrees according to an order similar to that by which the Lord sets heaven in order; for the case with a thing of the same nature is the same in what is small as in what is great. This successive setting in order is what is here meant by “order according to degrees.” From all this it is also evident that the case with the new creation of man-which is his regeneration-is the same as with the creation of heaven and earth. Wherefore also in the Word by “a new heaven and a new earth” is meant a new church (n. 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535); and also by the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis is meant the new creation of the celestial church, which is called “Man” (of which see in the explications there).

4839. And that which he did was evil in the eyes of Jehovah. That this signifies that it was contrary to the Divine order, is evident from the signification of “evil in the eyes of Jehovah,” or evil against Him, as being what is contrary to the order which is from Him. This appears also from the deed, and likewise from the statute in regard to the husband’s brother, namely, that his brother’s wife should take his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and that his name should be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe taken off (Deuteronomy 25:8-10), whereby was signified that he was without good external or internal; and they who are without good, and are in evil, are against Divine order. All that evil which springs or flows forth from interior evil (that is, from the intention or end of evil, such as was this of Onan’s), is contrary to Divine order; but that which does not spring or flow forth from interior evil, that is, from an intention or end of evil, though it sometimes appears like evil, yet is not so, provided the end is not evil, for the end qualifies every deed. For man’s life is in his end, because what he loves and thence thinks, he has for his end; the life of his soul being nothing else.

[2] Everyone is able to know that evil is contrary to Divine order, and good according to it; for Divine order is the Lord Himself in heaven, because the Divine good and truth which are from Him constitute order, insomuch that they are order, Divine good its essential, and Divine truth its formal. When Divine order is represented in form it appears as a man; for the Lord, from whom it is, is the only Man (n. 49, 288, 477, 565, 187, 1871, 1894, 3638, 3639); and insofar as angels, spirits, and men receive from Him, that is, insofar as they are in good and thence in truth, thus insofar as they are in His Divine order, so far they are men. From this it is that the universal heaven represents one man, which is called the Grand Man, and that the whole and every part of man corresponds thereto, as has been shown at the end of the chapters. From this also it is that the angels in heaven all appear in the human form; and that, on the other hand, the evil spirits who are in hell, though from fantasy they appear to one another like men, in the light of heaven appear as monsters, more dire and horrible according to the evil in which they are (n. 4533); and this because evil itself is contrary to order, and thus contrary to the human form; for as before said the Divine order when represented in form appears as a man.