9371. THE INTERNAL SENSE.

Verses 1-2. And He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and bow yourselves afar off; and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah; and they shall not come near; and the people shall not come up with him. “And He said unto Moses,” signifies that which concerns the Word in general; “come up unto Jehovah,” signifies conjunction with the Lord; “thou and Aaron,” signifies the Word in the internal sense and the external sense; “Nadab and Abihu,” signifies doctrine from both senses; “and seventy of the elders of Israel,” signifies the chief truths of the church which are of the Word, or of doctrine, and which agree with good; “and bow yourselves afar off,” signifies humiliation and adoration from the heart, and then the influx of the Lord; “and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah,” signifies the conjunction and presence of the Lord through the Word in general; “and they shall not come near,” signifies no separate conjunction and presence; “and the people shall not come up with him,” signifies no conjunction whatever with the external apart from the internal.

6304. And shall bring you back unto the land of your fathers. That this signifies to the state of both Ancient Churches, is evident from the signification of “land,” as being the church (see n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535, 4447, 5577); and from the signification of “fathers,” as being the men of the Ancient and Most Ancient Churches (n. 6075). It is said “to the state of both Ancient Churches,” because the sons of Israel and their descendants, like those who belonged to the Ancient Churches, in every particular represented the Lord’s kingdom, celestial and spiritual. The representative itself was also instituted; with the Jewish nation that of the celestial kingdom, and with the Israelitish that of the spiritual kingdom; but with that generation nothing but a mere representative could be instituted, and not anything of the church or kingdom of the Lord; for they desired to see and acknowledge in the representatives absolutely nothing but what was external, and not anything internal. Nevertheless in order that there might exist a representative, and thereby some communication with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord, they were kept in externals; and it was then provided by the Lord that communication should exist by means of a mere external representative without an internal. This was the state to which the descendants of Jacob could be brought back; nevertheless in their external representatives there lay inwardly hidden Divine things; in the highest sense such as regarded the Lord’s Divine Human; and in the relative sense such as regarded the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, and the church. This state of both Ancient Churches is signified by the words, “God shall bring you back unto the land of your fathers.”

7090. 'And said to Pharaoh' means an admonition [from them] to those who are opposed to the Church's truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' - since it came by Divine command from Moses and Aaron - as an admonition, as also in 7033; and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as factual knowledge that is opposed to the Church's truths, dealt with in 6651, 6673, 6683, thus people who are opposed to them. Here and in what follows the subject is those belonging to the spiritual Church who were saved through the Lord's Coming into the world but who before His Coming had been held back on the lower earth, where they were harassed by falsities, that is, by those from hell steeped in falsities stemming from evil. That lower earth is situated below the soles of the feet and is surrounded by hells - in front of it those who have falsified truths and adulterated forms of good; to the right those who pervert Divine order and thereby strive to obtain power; to the rear the evil genii who, motivated by self-love, have secretly devised evil against their neighbour; and deep down underneath those who have rejected the Divine with utter contempt and worshipped nature, and in so doing have banished from themselves everything spiritual. Such are the hells surrounding those on the lower earth, where before the Lord's Coming people belonging to the spiritual Church were held in safe keeping. Though they were molested there the Lord protected them, and they were brought into heaven with the Lord when He rose again. See what has been stated and shown already regarding these people in 6854, 6865, 6914, 6945, 7035.

[2] The lower earth where those who belonged to the spiritual Church were held in safe keeping up to the Lord's Coming is mentioned a number of times in the Word, as in Isaiah,

Sing, O heavens, for Jehovah has done [it]! Shout, you lower parts of the earth! Be filled, O mountains, with singing, O forest and every tree in it! For Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and made Himself glorious in Israel. Isaiah 44:23.

This refers to those on the lower earth, to the fact that they were saved by the Lord. 'Jacob' and 'Israel' are the spiritual Church, 'Jacob' being the external Church, 'Israel' the internal Church, 3305, 4286, 6426. In Ezekiel,

I will cause you to go down with those going down to the pit, to the people of old, ¹ and I will cause you to dwell in the land of the lower ones in desolations. Ezekiel 16:20.

In the same prophet,

. . . to the lower earth in the midst of the sons of men, to those going down to the pit. Consequently all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the most excellent of Lebanon, all those drinking water, will comfort themselves on the lower earth. Ezekiel 31:14, 16.

This refers to the lower earth where those who belonged to the spiritual Church were.

[3] At the present day too those belonging to the Church who have filled their minds with worldly and also earthly ideas and have acted in such a way that the truths of faith have become tied up with them are sent down to the lower earth, where they likewise have battles to fight. These battles continue until their worldly and earthly ideas have been separated from the truths of faith and other notions have been introduced, of such a nature that they cannot be linked together any longer. Once this has been accomplished those people are raised from there into heaven; for until such ideas of theirs have been removed they cannot possibly be in the company of angels, since those ideas are full of darkness and defilement that do not accord with the light and purity of heaven. Those worldly and earthly ideas cannot be separated and removed except by means of battles against falsities, battles which take place in the following manner: Those on that lower earth are molested by illusions and by falsities based on them which emanate from inhabitants of the surrounding hells; but the Lord employs heaven to rebut those illusions and falsities and at the same time to introduce truths. These truths seem to reside with those undergoing the conflicts.

[4] All this being so, the spiritual Church ought to be spoken of as a militant Church. But at the present day it is rarely militant with anyone in the world; for while a member of the Church is living in the world he does not experience conflict, because of the wicked crowded around him and because of the weakness of the flesh in which he lives. In the next life a person may be held firmly by the bonds of conscience, but not so in the world, for if in the world he is subjected to any degree of despair, as normally happens to those undergoing conflicts, he instantly breaks those bonds. And if he breaks them he gives in; and if he gives in he is done for so far as his salvation is concerned. This explains why the Lord allows few within the Church at the present day to enter into battles against falsities on behalf of truths; those battles are spiritual temptations. See also what has been shown already regarding the lower earth and vastations that take place there, in 4728, 4940-4951, 6854.

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