187. (Verse 2) Be wakeful. That this signifies that they should procure for themselves life is evident from the signification of being wakeful, as denoting to be in spiritual life, but here, because those whose life is merely moral and not spiritual are treated of, the expression be wakeful denotes that they should procure for themselves spiritual life. The reason why awake and being wakeful signifies this life, is, that spiritual life is to moral life without spiritual as wakefulness is to sleep, or as noon day light is to evening, indeed, to darkness. But that this is the case is neither known nor perceived by those who are in natural life alone, nor by those who are in moral life without spiritual, for this life is also natural life. The reason why such neither know nor perceive this is, that they are in natural light alone, and this light in respect to spiritual light is as the darkness of evening to the light of noon-day, and the darkness of evening appears to them as light; for their interior sight, which is that of the thought, is formed for that darkness just as the sight of owls, bats, and other birds which fly by night, is formed for the shade; hence it is that they believe themselves to be in the light because they can reason, when nevertheless they are in darkness. That this is the case is quite evident from the state of such people after death, when they become spirits; then, when they are with their own, they believe that they are in light, because they then not only see all the things that are around them, but also because they can think and speak of anything whatever; but, still, when the light of heaven flows into them, their light is changed into darkness, and they become so blind as to the understanding that they cannot even think. The angels also, in the heavens, when they look down on those who are in such light, see nothing but absolute darkness. That spiritual life, in respect to moral life without it, is as wakefulness to sleep, is still further evident from the fact that those who are in spiritual life are in angelic wisdom and intelligence, which is of such a nature as to be incomprehensible and ineffable to those who are in natural light alone; and this is not only the case with men whilst they live in the world, but also after death when they become spirits, and when intelligence and wisdom constitute wakefulness.

From these considerations it is now evident that, be wakeful signifies here that they should procure for themselves spiritual life.

[2] To watch, has a similar signification in the following passages. In Matthew:

"Watch therefore, for ye know not in what hour your Lord shall come" (24:42).

In Mark:

"Watch, for ye know not when the lord of the house cometh, at evening, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch" (13:35-37).

He who is ignorant of the internal sense of the Word supposes that by the above words is meant the Last Judgment, and that every one ought to be prepared for it; but it is the different states of man as to his love and faith, when he dies, that are here meant, for then his last judgment takes place; and evening, night and cock-crowing signify those states. Evening signifies a state of cessation of faith and charity, which takes place when a man comes into the exercise of his own judgment, and extinguishes in himself those things which he had imbibed in his childhood. Night signifies a state devoid of faith and charity; cock-crowing or daybreak, a state of commencing faith and charity, when man loves truths and submits to reformation by means of them. In the state in which man dies he remains, and is judged according to it; hence the meaning of these words is evident:

"Watch, lest the Lord, coming suddenly, find you sleeping. What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch;"

namely, that by watching is meant the reception of life from the Lord, which life is spiritual, and that by sleeping is meant natural life without spiritual. (That evening signifies a state of the cessation of faith and charity may be seen Arcana Coelestia 3056, 3197, 3833, 8431, 10134, 10135; that night is a state when there is no faith and charity, n. 221, 709, 2353, 6000, 7870, 7947; and that daybreak before morning, or cock-crowing, signifies a state of commencing faith and charity, n. 10134.)

[3] In Luke:

"Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to recline, and will come forth and serve them. Be ye therefore ready also for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not" (12:37, 40).

Here also, by those that are watching are meant spiritual watchers, these being those who receive spiritual life from the Lord, for such come into the light of intelligence and wisdom concerning Divine truths, but those who do not receive spiritual life remain in the shade and in darkness concerning those truths; therefore the latter are in a state of sleep, but the former in a state of wakefulness. By the Lord's girding Himself, making them recline, and coming forth to serve them, is signified that He will communicate to them the goods of heaven, all of which are from the Lord.

[4] In Matthew:

"The kingdom is like ten virgins; five were prudent, and five were foolish. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. But when the bridegroom came, they all trimmed their lamps." And when the foolish came, which had no oil in their lamps, and said, "Lord, Lord, open to us," the Lord said, "I say unto you, I know you not. Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (25:1-13).

By the ten virgins are meant all those who belong to the church; by five are meant some of them, this being the signification of that number; by lamps are signified the things of faith, and by oil those of love. By the five prudent virgins therefore are meant those who are in love and thence in faith; but by the five foolish virgins are meant those who are not in love, but in faith alone; and because the latter have no spiritual life, therefore, because these are shut out of heaven, the Lord said to them "I say unto you, I know you not"; for those only have spiritual life who are in love and charity, because these are they who possess faith; hence it is quite clear that the words,

"Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh,"

signify that they may receive spiritual life, which pertains to those who are in love and thence in faith. (These things may be seen more fully explained in Arcana Coelestia 4635-4638.)

[5] In Luke:

"Watch, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (21:36).

Here also, to watch means to receive spiritual life: to pray always signifies to prepare themselves.

[6] In the Apocalypse:

"Behold, I come as a thief; blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked" (16:15).

That by watching is here signified the reception of spiritual life from the Lord, is clear from the fact that it is said,

"Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked."

Garments signify the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good, whereby man has spiritual life; and to walk naked signifies life without such knowledges as means, thus a life not spiritual but merely natural. That garments signify knowledges of truth and good may be seen below (n. 195), and that by being naked is signified the deprivation of them, see Arcana Coelestia 1073, 5433, 5954, 9960).

[7] In Lamentations:

"Arise, cry out in the night, in the beginning of the watches; lift up thy hands to the Lord upon the souls of thy young children who have fainted through hunger, at the head of every street" (2:19).

Night here signifies a state in which there is no faith, as above; the beginning of the watches signifies a state when faith commences, thus a state of enlightenment, which exists when man becomes spiritual. By young children are meant those who love truths and desire to obtain them. To faint through hunger at the head of every street is to be deprived of spiritual life through a defect of the knowledges of truth and good. (That hunger denotes a defect of knowledges, and a desire for them, may be seen, n. 1460, 3364, 5277, 5279, 5281, 5300, 5360, 5376, 5893; and that streets denote truths of doctrine, n. 2336.)

[8] Because being wakeful signifies the reception of spiritual life, it follows that sleeping signifies natural life without spiritual, since natural life compared with spiritual is as sleep to wakefulness, as said above. In this sense the word sleeping is used in Matthew:

"The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat" (13:24, 25).

In Jeremiah:

"When they have grown warm, I will set their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may sleep the sleep of an age and not awake" (51:39, 57).

In David:

"Consider and hear me, Jehovah, my God! lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death" (Psalms 13:3).

Again:

"The stout-hearted are become a prey, they have slept their sleep. At thy rebuke both the chariot and the horse have fallen into a deep sleep" (Psalms 76:5, 6).

The chariot and the horse signify the doctrine of the church and the understanding thereof, which are said to fall into a deep sleep when they are without truths, and hence the same is said of the member of the church who is without spiritual life by means of these. (That chariots and horses in the Word signify doctrine and the Intellectual, may be seen in the small work, The White Horse 1-5.)

9489. 'And a cubit and a half its height' means what is complete so far as degrees are concerned. This is clear from the meaning of 'a cubit and a half' as what is complete, dealt with immediately above in 9488; and from the meaning of 'height' as degrees so far as good and so far as truth are concerned. The reason why 'height' has this meaning is that all good and the truth derived from it emanates from the Lord, and the Lord is in the highest place of all, and therefore is called the Most High, 8153. For He is the Sun of heaven, 5097, 8812, and that Sun is above the heavens; it is also the centre from which the whole of heaven that is underneath is brought into being and kept in being. All heights in heaven, measured from its Sun as the centre, are differences in good and the truth derived from it. Consequently those in the inmost heaven are closer to the Lord, because they are governed by the good of love to Him, thus are governed by good more than all others are. Those in the middle heaven are further away from there because they are governed by a lower kind of good, and those in the lowest are still further away. But those in hell are altogether remote from the Lord, because they are ruled by evil and the falsity arising from it. They do not even look towards the Sun, but backwards, away from the Sun. When regarded by the angels therefore, they appear in an upside down position, feet upwards and head downwards. Now since distances and spatial dimensions in the next life are appearances determined by states of good and the truth derived from it, 9440, 'height' in the spiritual sense means degrees so far as good and so far as truth are concerned, that is, degrees away from the Most High, who is the Lord and so Divine Good itself.

[2] From this it is clear what 'height' means in the following places, as in Jeremiah,

They will come and sing on the height of Zion, and converge towards the goodness of Jehovah; and their soul will be like a watered garden. Jeremiah 31:12.

Here 'the height of Zion' stands for celestial good, which is the level of good above spiritual good. The meaning of 'height' as good is what accounts for the statement that they will 'converge towards the goodness of Jehovah'. In Ezekiel,

Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon. Its height was made high, and its branches were made long by many waters. It was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches. Ezekiel 31:3, 5, 7.

'Asshur' stands for an enlightened power of reason, 'a cedar in Lebanon' for the spiritual Church, 'its height' for the degree of good.

[3] In the same prophet,

On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it. Ezekiel 17:23.

Again in the same prophet,

On My holy mountain, and on the mountain height of Israel, all the house of Israel will serve Me. Ezekiel 20:40.

'The mountain height of Israel' stands for the highest degree of good and of the truth derived from it among those belonging to the spiritual Church. Since most things in the Word have a contrary meaning as well, so too does 'height'. In the contrary sense it means the evil of self-love, and so haughtiness of mind, as in Isaiah 14:14; Ezekiel 31:10, 14; 32:5; Amos 2:9; Daniel 4:11, 20; and a number of other places. Another reason why 'height' means degrees so far as good and the truth derived from it are concerned is that what is 'high' means what is internal, and good becomes by degrees more perfect towards more internal parts. For the meaning of what is 'high' as what is internal, see 1735, 2148, 4210, 4599.