6119. 'And why should we die near by you because the silver is lacking?' means that otherwise spiritual death takes place because of the lack of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'dying' as spiritual death, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the silver lacking' as a lack of truth - 'silver' being factual knowledge that holds truth in it and is appropriate, see 6112. What is implied by the notion that spiritual death takes place when there is a lack of truth is that spiritual life consists in deeds carried out in accordance with truths, consequently in useful services. For people endowed with spiritual life possess a yearning and desire for truths with life in view - that is, their end in view is to lead a life according to those truths - thus with useful services in view. Therefore the extent to which they can absorb truths, in accordance with which useful services are to be rendered, determines how much spiritual life they possess, because it determines how much of the light of intelligence and wisdom they possess. When truths are lacking therefore, as happens when a state of shade arrives - a state meant in the Word by 'evening', 6110 - spiritual life languishes. It languishes because things such as belong to the state of shade, that is, to spiritual death, enter in. When this happens people cannot be kept in the light in which they were before but are returned in part to a state of selfhood. As a consequence there emerges from the shade an image of spiritual death, that is, of damnation.

[2] It is clear from very many places in the Word that 'death' means spiritual death, or damnation; but let simply the following be quoted here: In Isaiah,

With righteousness He will judge the poor, and will reprove with uprightness the wretched of the earth. On the other hand He will smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath ¹ of His lips He will make the wicked die. Isaiah 11:4.

This refers to the Lord. 'The rod of His mouth' and 'the breath of His lips stand for Divine Truth, the source of judgement. 'Dying' stands for suffering damnation. In the same prophet, He Will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord Jehovih will wipe away tears from upon all faces. Isaiah 15:8.

In the same prophet,

The dead will not live, the Rephaim will not rise. To that end You have visited them, You have wiped them out. Isaiah 16:14.

In the same prophet,

Your dead will live, my corpse will rise again. Isaiah 26:19.

In the same prophet,

You have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we have shaped a vision. Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your vision with hell will not stand. Isaiah 28:15, 18.

[3] In Jeremiah,

You look for light, but He will turn it into the shadow of death, He will place it in thick darkness. Jeremiah 13:16.

In Ezekiel,

You have desecrated Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for crusts of bread, to slay souls that ought not to die and to bestow life on souls that ought not to live. Ezekiel 13:19, 22.

In Hosea,

Out of the hand of hell I will redeem them, from death I will deliver them. I will be your plagues, O death; I will be your destruction, O hell! Hosea 13:14.

In David,

You lift me up from the gates of death. Psalms 9:13.

In the same author,

Lighten my eyes, lest perhaps I sleep [the sleep of] death. Psalms 13:3.

In the same author,

The cords of death encompassed me, and the cords of hell. Psalms 18:4-5.

In the same author,

Like sheep they will be placed in hell, death will feed them. Psalms 49:14.

In John,

I have the keys of hell and of death. Revelation 1:18.

In the same book,

He who overcomes will not suffer harm in the second death. Revelation 1:11.

[4] In the same book,

I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive; but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen what remains, which is at the point of death. Revelation 3:1-2.

In Matthew,

The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light; and for those sitting in the region and shadow of death, the light has arisen. Matthew 4:16.

In John,

He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me will have eternal life, and will not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life. John 5:24.

In the same gospel,

I am going away and you will seek Me, but you will die in your sin. I have said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. If anyone keeps My word he will not ever see death. John 8:21, 14, 51-52.

Because 'death' meant damnation those who belonged to the representative Church were forbidden to touch the dead. If they did touch them they were unclean and had to be cleansed, Ezekiel 44:25; Leviticus 15:31; 21:2-3; 22:8; Numbers 6:6-12; 19:11-end.

Fußnoten:

2284. 'Perhaps ten will be found there' means if remnants were still present. This is clear from the meaning of the number 'ten' as remnants, dealt with in Volume One, in 576, 1738. What remnants are however has been stated and shown in various places already, as in 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661, 1050, 1738, 1906, namely that they are all the good and all the truth with a person which lie stored away in his two memories and in his life.

[2] It is well known that there is nothing good nor anything true except that from the Lord; also that what is good and true is flowing in constantly from the Lord into man, but it is received in varying ways, and that in fact it is received according to the life of evil and according to the false assumptions in which the person has confirmed himself. These are what either annihilate, or stifle, or pervert the goods and truths flowing in constantly from the Lord. To prevent goods being mixed with evils therefore, and truths with falsities - for if they were mixed a person would perish for ever - the Lord separates them, and stores away within his interior man the goods and truths he receives. From there the Lord will never allow them to come forth as long as that person is governed by evil and falsity, except at those times when the person has entered some state that is a holy state, or when deeply and anxiously concerned about something, or in times of sickness, or other similar circumstances. These things which the Lord has so stored away in the person are what are called remnants, and of which very much mention is made in the Word, though nobody as yet knows that this is what they mean.

[3] It is according to the nature and the amount of the remnants, that is, of the good and truth residing with him, that a person experiences blessedness and happiness in the next life, for, as has been stated, such remnants are stored away in his interior man and are laid bare when he leaves things of a bodily and worldly nature behind him. The Lord alone knows the nature and the amount of remnants a person has. The person himself cannot possibly know this, for at the present day man is such that he is able to counterfeit what is good while within there is nothing but evil. A person can also appear to be evil and yet may have good within. For these reasons one is never allowed to judge the nature of another person's spiritual life; for the Lord alone, as has been stated, knows this. But one is allowed to judge the nature of another person's life, private and public, since this is of importance to society.

[4] It is very common for those who have adopted an opinion regarding any truth of faith to sit in judgement on others and to say that they cannot be saved unless their beliefs coincide with their own - a judgement which the Lord has forbidden, in Matthew 7:1-2. Yet from much experience I have been led to know that members of every religion are saved provided that they have received through a life of charity remnants of good and appearances of truth. This is what was meant by 'if ten were found [there] they would not be destroyed for the sake of the ten', that is, that if remnants were present they would be saved.

[5] The life of charity consists in thinking what is good in regard to another, and in willing for him that which is good, and in feeling joy within oneself that others as well are saved. But those people do not possess the life of charity whose will is that no others should be saved than those whose beliefs coincide with theirs, especially those who are indignant that the situation is otherwise. This becomes clear solely from the fact that more gentiles are saved than Christians. For people who have thought what is good in regard to their neighbour and have willed for him that which is good accept the truths of faith in the next life more readily than those who called themselves Christians; and they acknowledge the Lord more than Christians do. Indeed nothing gives angels greater delight and happiness than to be teaching those who pass from the world into the next life.