10355. 'And you, speak to the children of Israel, saying' means information provided by means of the Word to those who belong to the Church. This is clear from the representation of Moses, the one who is being told to speak to the children of Israel, as the Word, dealt with in the places referred to in 9372; from the meaning of 'speaking' and 'saying' as instruction or information, dealt with in the places referred to in 10280; and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as the Church, dealt with in the places referred to in 9340. From all this it is evident that 'you, speak to the children of Israel, saying' means information by means of the Word to those who belong to the Church.

[2] Something must be stated here about the way information is provided by means of the Word. In the most ancient times people received information about heavenly matters, or those which belong to eternal life, through direct contact with the angels of heaven; for in those times heaven acted as one with people of the Church. It flowed through their internal man into their external, as a result of which they not only possessed enlightenment and perception but also talked to angels. The term 'the golden age' is used to describe this period of time, because people then were governed by the good of love to the Lord; for gold is the sign of that good. Paradise in the Word also serves to describe these things.

[3] Afterwards information about heavenly matters and those which belong to eternal life was provided through the kinds of things that are termed correspondences and representations, knowledge of which they derived from the most ancient people who had the direct contact with the angels of heaven. With the people of that time those were the things into which heaven flowed, bringing enlightenment. For correspondences and representations are the outward forms that heavenly realities take; and people received enlightenment then to the extent that the good of love and charity was present in them. For all Divine influx from heaven passes into the good that exists with a person, and through that good into the truths there. And since people of the Church then were governed by spiritual good, which in essence is truth, the term 'the silver age' is used to describe those times; for silver is the sign of such good.

[4] When the knowledge of correspondences and representations however was turned into magic that Church passed away and a third one took its place. In this Church all the worship did, it is true, involve the practice of things that were almost the same; nevertheless the inner meanings of them were not known. This Church was established among the Israelite and Jewish nation. But since information about heavenly matters or those which belong to eternal life could not be provided to them by influx into their interiors, and so by enlightenment, angels from heaven spoke to certain of them by word of mouth, giving them instruction about outward things, and little about inner realities, because they were incapable of comprehending inner realities. Those of them who were governed by natural good received those outward things in a holy manner. The term 'bronze' is therefore used to describe those times, for bronze is the sign of such good.

[5] But when no natural good either was left among members of the Church the Lord came into the world and restored all things to order in the heavens and in the hells. He did so to the end that a person could receive influx from Himself out of heaven and have enlightenment, and the hells could not intercept it and introduce thick darkness. At this point a fourth Church, called Christian, came into being. In this Church information about heavenly things or those which belong to eternal life is provided solely by means of the Word. The Word is the means by which a person receives influx and enlightenment; for in the writing of the Word pure correspondences and representatives were used, which are signs of heavenly things, and into these the angels of heaven come when a member of the Church reads the Word. Consequently the Word is the means by which heaven is joined to the Church, or the angels of heaven to members of the Church, yet only to those there in whom the good of love and charity is present. But since members of this Church as well have annihilated this good no information can be provided by means of influx and enlightenment from that source, apart from information regarding some truths, which do not however cohere with good. These times are therefore those which the term 'iron' is used to describe, for 'iron' means truth on the last and lowest level of order. But when truth comes to be such as this the nature of it fits the description in Daniel,

[Just as] the iron which you saw was mixed with the miry clay, they will mingle through the seed of man (homo) ¹ , but they will not cohere with one another, just as iron is not mingled with clay. Daniel 2:43.

[6] From all this it may be seen how forms of revelation have followed one after another from the earliest eras down to the present, and that at the present day revelation is given through the Word alone. But true revelation comes to those who love truth for its own sake, not to those who love truth with a view to acquiring important positions and monetary gain. For if you are willing to believe it, the Lord is the Word itself, because the Word is Divine Truth and Divine Truth, since it comes from the Lord, is the Lord as He exists in heaven. Consequently those who love Divine Truth for its own sake love the Lord, and with those who love the Lord heaven flows in and brings enlightenment. But those who love Divine Truth with a view to acquiring important positions and monetary gain turn away from the Lord towards self and the world. With these therefore no influx or enlightenment is possible. And because when they read the literal sense of the Word they keep their minds fixed on themselves, and on their own reputation and glory, they also use that sense to support ideas such as favour their own loves.

Bilješke:

5342. 'And laid up food in the cities' means that it stored them - truths linked to good - in the interior parts. This is clear from the meaning here of 'laying up' as storing; from the meaning of 'food' as truth linked to good, dealt with just above in 5340; and from the meaning of 'the cities' as the interior parts of the natural mind, dealt with above in 5297. The idea that truths linked to good are stored in the interior parts of the natural mind, and are preserved there for use subsequently in life, in particular for use in temptations when a person is being regenerated, is an arcanum known to few at the present day. Therefore the nature of this arcanum must be stated. The seven years of abundance of corn mean the truths multiplied initially, and the storage of grain in the cities, in the midst of them, means that those truths linked to good were stored away in a person's interior parts. The seven years of famine and the sustainment provided by the bunches that had been gathered means the state of regeneration effected by means of the truths that had been linked to good and stored away in the interior parts.

[2] The arcanum is this: During the time from earliest infancy through to early childhood a person is led by the Lord into heaven; indeed he is placed among celestial angels who serve to keep him in a state of innocence. This state which infants pass through until early childhood is a well-known one. At the beginning of childhood a gradual shedding of that state of innocence takes place; but even so, the person is kept in a state of charity through the charitable affection which he and his companions feel for one another. During this state, which with many people lasts through to adolescence, he is among spiritual angels. Because he begins at this time to think from what is within himself and to act in accordance with this, he cannot be kept any longer in charity, as he was previously; for now he calls on hereditary evils and allows them to lead him. Once this state has arrived the forms of the good of charity and innocence adopted by him previously are banished, to the extent that forms of evil are present in his thinking and are reinforced by his actions. Actually those forms of good are not banished but are withdrawn by the Lord to interior parts where they are stored away.

[3] But because he does not as yet know any truths, those forms of the good of innocence and charity which he has adopted during those two states do not possess any qualities as yet; for truths give good its qualities, while good gives truths their essence. From this time of life onwards therefore he is being equipped with truths by means of the teaching he receives, and especially by means of his own thoughts about and consequent verification of those truths. Insofar as he is moved at this time by an affection for good, the Lord joins truths to good in him, 5340, and stores them away for [future] use. This is the state that is meant by the seven years of abundance of corn. These truths linked to good are the ones which in a proper sense are called remnants. In the measure therefore that a person allows himself to be regenerated, the remnants serve a useful purpose; for the Lord draws in the same measure on that store of remnants and returns them to the natural. As a result a correspondence of exterior things with interior ones, or natural things with spiritual ones, is brought about; and this happens in the state that is meant by 'the seven years of famine'. This is the arcanum.

[4] At the present day the member of the Church thinks that no matter what anyone's life is like he can nevertheless by an act of mercy be accepted into heaven and enjoy eternal blessedness there; for the member of the Church imagines that it is simply a matter of being let in. But he is much mistaken, because no one can be let into heaven and find acceptance there unless he has acquired spiritual life, and no one can acquire spiritual life unless he is being regenerated, and no one can undergo regeneration except by means of goodness of life coupled to truth taught by doctrine. This is the way spiritual life is acquired by him. The fact that no one can enter heaven unless he has acquired spiritual life through regeneration is stated plainly by the Lord in John,

Truly, truly I say to you, Unless anyone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 9:9.

And just after this,

Truly, truly I say to you, Unless a person has been born from water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John 3:5.

'Water' is the truth taught by doctrine, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, and 'the spirit' is goodness of life. No one enters the kingdom simply through being baptized; rather, baptism is the sign denoting regeneration which the member of the Church should call to mind.