10026. 'And you shall take some of the blood of the young bull' means Divine Truth accommodated to the natural or external man. This is clear from the meaning of 'the blood' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the young bull' as the natural level in a person, which must be purified and must have truth and good implanted in it, dealt with in 9990. The reason why the blood is here spoken of first ¹ and why some of it must be put on the horns of the altar and the remainder poured out at the base of it is that in the Word 'blood' means Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, and by means of that Truth all purification is accomplished. For truth teaches a person what good is and how he ought to live; and when the person knows this an affection for or love of good can start to be implanted, and he can thereby be regenerated. For knowledge must be received before a person can possess faith and lead the life of faith, which is the life of good. For the truth that all purification from evils and falsities, and consequently all regeneration, is accomplished by means of the truths of faith, see the places referred to in 9959.

[2] Those who are ignorant of the inner meaning of the Word, thus those who do not know that 'blood' means Divine Truth nor that purification is accomplished by the Lord by means of it, suppose that a person is made pure by the Lord's blood, by which they understand His suffering on the Cross. But let them know that no one is made pure by the Lord's suffering on the Cross, and so by His blood, only by a life in accord with His commandments, as He Himself teaches in many places. The suffering on the Cross was the final stage of temptation which the Lord underwent and through which He fully glorified His Human, as indeed He Himself says in Luke,

Ought not the Christ to have suffered this and to enter into His glory? Luke 24:26.

For the Lord came into the world to subdue the hells and to restore all things to order, even those in the heavens, which was accomplished through the temptations He allowed Himself to undergo. The suffering on the Cross was the final stage of temptation undergone by Him, through which He gained total victory over the hells, brought order to the heavens, and at the same time glorified His Human. And unless He had done all this, no one could have been saved. But see what has already been shown abundantly on these matters in the places referred to in 9528, 9715, 9937, 10019, and that by 'blood', and also 'the Lord's blood', Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good is meant, 4735, 6378, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7850, 9127, 9393.

სქოლიოები:

7326. 'And they will be blood' means that they will falsify truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'blood' as the falsification of truth, dealt with above in 7317. In the genuine sense 'blood' means the holiness of love, as a consequence of which it means charity and faith, since they are holy attributes of love, and as a consequence of which again it means holy truth coming forth from the Lord, tool, 4735, 6978. In the contrary sense however 'blood' means violence done to charity and also violence done to faith, thus to holy truth coming forth from the Lord. And since violence is done to it when it is falsified the falsification of truth is meant by 'blood'; or when there is a greater degree of violence, the profanation of truth is meant by 'blood'. Such profanation was meant by 'the eating of blood', which was why that practice was so strictly forbidden, 1003.