474. And he said to me, These are they who come out of great tribulation.- That this signifies information that they are those who have been in temptations, is evident from the signification of, "he said to me," as denoting information; and from the signification of tribulation, or great affliction, as denoting temptations, of which we shall speak presently. Something shall first be said here concerning the temptations which those undergo in the spiritual world who are in falsities from ignorance, and who are here treated of. Only those undergo temptations there who have lived a good life in the world according to their religion, wherein were falsities of doctrine in which they believed. For by temptations falsities are shaken off, truths are implanted, and thus they are prepared for heaven; for all those who shall come into heaven must be in truths; wherefore so long as they are in falsities they cannot come into heaven. The reason is, that the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord makes heaven, and makes the life of the angels there, therefore falsities, because they are opposed to truths, and because opposites destroy, must first be removed, and they cannot be removed except by temptations.

[2] That temptations perform this use, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, (n. 187-201), where temptations are treated of. The reason why they are let into temptations in the spiritual world after the life in the body, is, that they could not be tempted in the world on account of the falsities of religion in which they were, and which were everywhere dominant. It must be understood, that all those who are let into temptations are saved; but the evil, who are in falsities from evil, are not tempted, for with them truths cannot be implanted, because the evils of their lives offer a hindrance; but truths are taken away from them, and therefore they remain in pure falsities, and are then immersed deeply in hell, according to the quality of evil from which such falsity springs. In a word, those who are about to come into heaven are vastated in regard to their falsities, and those who are about to go into hell are vastated in regard to truths; that is, falsities are removed from those who are about to go to heaven, and truths are taken away from those who are about to go to hell. For no one can enter heaven with falsities, nor hell with truths, because truths from good make heaven, and falsities from evil make hell. The temptations of those whose falsities have to be removed are treated of in many passages in the Word, and especially in David, and are called afflictions, tribulations, and vastations; but there is no need to quote those passages here, since it can be seen without them that tribulations and afflictions, when spoken of in reference to good, mean, in the spiritual sense, temptations.

6378. 'And his garment in the blood of grapes' means that His Intellect consists in Divine Good from His Divine Love. This is clear from the meaning of 'the blood of grapes' as the good of love, and in the highest sense the Lord's Divine Good flowing from His Divine Love, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'garment' as the intellect, for the intellect is a receiver, and what is a receiver, being a container, is like a garment. The reason why 'garment' means the intellect and why 'clothing', dealt with immediately above in 6377, means the natural is that the external was the subject there, whereas the internal is the subject here. For owing to the heavenly marriage in the Word, when the external is referred to, so also is the internal; and when truth is referred to, so also is good, see 6343. This sometimes seems to outward appearance to amount to a repetition of the same thing, as for example here where it says 'He washes his clothing in wine, and his garment in the blood of grapes .'Wine' and 'the blood of grapes' seem to describe the same thing, and so do 'clothing' and 'garment'; but they do not because what is external and what is internal are expressed in that way.

[2] The fact that 'the blood of grapes' is Divine Good from the Lord's Divine Love is evident from the meaning of 'blood' as Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord's Divine Good, referred to in 4735; and by 'grapes' in the highest sense is meant the Lord's Divine Good present with those in His spiritual kingdom, and consequently in the relative sense the good of charity, 5117. 'The blood of the grape' also has a similar meaning in the Song of Moses,

Butter from the cattle, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and rams, the breed ¹ of Bashan, and of goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat, and of the blood of the grape you drink unmixed, wine. Deuteronomy 31:14.

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