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).

8988. Then his master shall bring him unto God. That this signifies a state into which he then enters according to Divine order, is evident from the signification of “bringing unto God,” when those are treated of who are in truths and cannot be in good, as being to cause them to enter into a state according to Divine order; for by “bringing unto” is signified to enter; and by “God” is signified Divine order (of which in what follows). That these things are signified is plain from what follows in this verse, in which is described the state of those who are in truths and not in the corresponding good, namely, that it is a state of perpetual obedience. For they who are in this state are in servitude relatively to those who are in good that corresponds with truths; because as these latter act from good, they act from affection; and they who act from affection, act from the will, thus of themselves; for whatsoever is of the will with man is his own, seeing that the being of man’s life is his will. But they who act merely from obedience do not act from their will, but from the will of their master; thus not from themselves, but from another; and therefore they are relatively in servitude. To act from truths, and not from good, is to act solely from the intellectual part; for truths bear relation to the intellectual part, and goods to the will part; and to act from the intellectual part, and not from the will part, is to act from that which stands without and serves, because the understanding has been given to man to receive truths, and to introduce them into the will, that they may become goods; for truths are called goods when they become of the will.

[2] But to serve the Lord, by doing according to His commandments, and thus by obeying Him, is not to be a servant, but is to be free, for the veriest freedom of man consists in being led of the the Lord, (n. 892, 905, 2870, 2872), because the Lord inspires into the very will of man the good from which he is to act, and though it is from the Lord, still it is perceived as if it were from self, thus from freedom. This freedom is possessed by all who are in the Lord, and it is conjoined with inexpressible happiness.

[3] The term “God” here denotes Divine order, because in the Word “God” is named where truth is treated of, and “Jehovah” where good is treated of (n. 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921, 4402, 7010, 7268, 8867); and therefore in the supreme sense the Divine truth proceeding from the Divine good of the Lord is “God,” and His Divine good from which the Divine truth proceeds is “Jehovah.” The reason is that the Divine good is Being itself, and the Divine truth is the derivative Coming-forth; for that which proceeds comes forth by so doing. The case is similar with good and truth in heaven, or with the angels, and also in the church with men. The good there is being itself, and the truth is the derivative coming-forth; or what is the same, love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor are the very being of heaven and of the church, but faith is the derivative coming-forth. From this it is clear whence it is that “God” denotes also Divine order, for it is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord which makes order in heaven, insomuch that Divine truth is order itself. (That Divine truth is order, see n. 1728, 1919, 7995, 8700.) And therefore when a man or an angel receives Divine truth from the Lord in good, there is with him the order which is in the heavens, consequently he is a heaven or kingdom of the Lord in particular; and this in the degree in which he is in good from truths, and afterward in the degree in which he is in truths from good; and-what is a secret-the angels themselves appear in a human form in the heavens absolutely according to the truths which pertain to them in good, with a beauty and brightness according to the quality of the good from truths. As to their souls so also do the men of the church appear in heaven. It is the Divine truth itself proceeding from the Lord that leads to this, as can be seen from what has been shown about heaven as the Grand Man, and about its correspondence with everything in man, at the end of many chapters.

[4] This secret is what is meant by these words of John in Revelation:

He measured the wall of the holy Jerusalem, a hundred and forty and four cubits, which is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel (Revelation 21:17).

Who can possibly understand these words that does not know what is signified by “the holy Jerusalem;” what by “the wall” thereof; what by a “measure;” what by “the number one hundred and forty and four;” and thus what by “a man, that is, an angel?” By “the new and holy Jerusalem” is signified the New Church of the Lord which is at this day about to succeed the Christian Church (n. 2117); by “the wall” are signified the truths of faith which will defend that church (n. 6419); by “measuring” and “the measure” is signified its state as to truth (n. 3104); by the number “one hundred and forty and four” is signified the like as by “twelve,” for one hundred and forty-four is a number compounded of twelve multiplied into twelve. (That by these numbers are signified all truths in the complex, see n. 7973). From this it is clear what is signified by “the measure of a man, that is, of an angel,” namely, truth itself proceeding from the Lord in its own form, which as before said is the form of an angel man in heaven. All this makes clear the secret involved in the above words, namely, that by them are described the truths of that Church which is to succeed the Christian Church existing at this day.

[5] That these are truths from good is described in the next following verse in these words:

The building of the wall thereof was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like to pure glass (Revelation 21:18).

By “jasper” is signified truth such as will be the truth of that church, for by stones in general are signified truths (n. 1298, 3720, 6426), and by “precious stones,” truths which are from the the Lord, (n. 643); by “gold” is signified the good of love and of wisdom (n. 113, 1551, 1552, 5658). Who could ever foresee that such things are involved in the above words? and who cannot see from this that innumerable arcana lie hidden in the Word, which in no wise appear to anyone except through the internal sense? and that by this sense, as by a key, are opened truths Divine such as are in heaven, consequently heaven and the Lord Himself, who, in the inmost sense, is the all in all of the Word.