3141. 'Why do you stand outside?' means at some distance away. This becomes clear without explanation; for the situation is that the Lord's Divine Rational was born from Divine Truth itself joined to Divine Good, the Divine Rational being Isaac whom Sarah, who is the Divine Truth here, bore to Abraham, who is the Divine Good here, as shown already. None but the Lord's Divine Rational was born in this fashion. It was indeed born from Himself because the Lord's Essential Being (Esse) was Jehovah or Divine Good itself, while the Lord's Essential Being (Esse) proceeding from it was also Jehovah's, that is, it was Divine Truth itself. The Divine Good within the Rational, which is Isaac, was born in such a way that Good was not separate from Truth, but was Divine Good together with Divine Truth. Both together however are called Good within the Rational to which truth from the natural man, the truth which is Rebekah, was to be joined. To make His Human Divine as regards Good as well as regards Truth, by the ordinary way, as stated above in 3138, the Lord could act in no other possible way. For this is the Divine order by which all regeneration takes place, thus by which the Lord's glorification took place, 3138 (end). It was that Divine Good coming by way of Divine Truth within the Rational that was flowing into the natural man and enlightening all things there. The process itself is described here, that is to say, it first of all flowed in somewhat more remotely, which is meant here by at some distance away, and did not wish to do so more closely until instruction had taken place.

[2] For the ordinary way is that instruction should come first. Then influx takes place according to the depth of knowledge laid down by that instruction - so that from that depth of knowledge truth may continually flow and be introduced into, and then be joined to, the good of the rational. From these considerations one may see the nature of the arcana contained in the internal sense of the Word, and that those arcana are such that even the most general of them are scarcely intelligible to man. To angels however they are plain to see, together with countless other things which cannot possibly be put into words.

3138. These three verses deal with the preparation and enlightenment of the natural man so that the truth which was to be joined to good in the Rational might be summoned from there. With regard to that preparation and enlightenment the position is that there are two kinds of light which shape man's intellectual concepts - the light of heaven, and the light of the world. The light of heaven comes from the Lord who to angels in the next life is the Sun and Moon, see 1053, 1521, 1529, 1530. The light of the world comes from the sun and moon which a person sees with his physical eyes. The internal man receives his sight and understanding from the light of heaven whereas the external man receives his sight and understanding from the light of the world. The influx of the light of heaven into ideas formed in the light of the world produces enlightenment and at the same time recognition - the recognition of truth if a correspondence exists, the recognition of falsity instead of truth if that correspondence does not exist. But enlightenment and recognition are not possible unless affection or love is present, which is spiritual warmth and imparts life to the things illumined by the light. This may be compared to the light of the sun. It is not the light of the sun but the warmth within the light that imparts life to plants, as is evident from the seasons of the year.

[2] The verses which follow immediately after this describe the preparation further - the light of heaven, which is the Lord's Divine light, flowed into the ideas formed in the light of the world in His natural man so that He might bring forth from there the truth that was to be joined to good in the Rational. Thus it was to be brought forth in what is the ordinary way. Therefore to make His Human Divine the Lord came into the world in the ordinary way, that is, He was willing to be born as any other person is born, to receive instruction as any other does, and to be born again as any other, but with this difference: Man is born again from the Lord, whereas the Lord not only regenerated Himself from Himself, but also glorified Himself, that is, made Himself Divine; also man is made new through the influx of charity and faith, whereas the Lord was made so through the influx of Divine Love that was within Him and that was His own. From this it may be seen that man's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, or what amounts to the same, that in the process of man's regeneration as the image one can envisage, though remotely, the process of the Lord's glorification.