Title: Even Our Nature Can Change

Topic: Salvation

Summary: We look at scriptural teachings about change, particularly about overcoming fear. Jesus' transformation showed us that fundamental change is possible.

Use the reference links below to follow along in the Bible as you watch.

References:
Leviticus 26:3-6, 36-40
Job 11:14
Isaiah 11:6; 17:2; 65:17, 24
Jeremiah 30:10, 12, 17; 46:27
Ezekiel 34:25
Hosea 2:18
Micah 4:1, 3-4
Zephaniah 3:13
Mark 5:2, 15
Revelation 7:17; 21
Isaiah 62:1; 65; 66:22
2 Corinthians 5:17
Galatians 6:15
2 Peter 3:9, 11-13
Revelation 2:17; 3:12

708. And the moon under her feet, signifies faith with those who are natural and who are in charity. This is evident from the signification of "moon" as being faith in which there is charity (of which presently); and from the signification of "feet," as being things natural (of which above n. 69, 600, 632 32); here, therefore, those who are natural, because this is said of the "woman," by whom the church is signified, and the "sun" with which she was arrayed, signifies love to the Lord from the Lord and love to the neighbor (as shown in the preceding article); therefore "the woman arrayed with the sun" signifies the church with those who are celestial and thence spiritual, and "the moon under her feet" signifies the church with those who are natural and sensual, and at the same time in the faith of charity; for the goods and the truths therefrom of heaven and the church succeed in order, like the head, the body, and the feet with man. In the head of the Greatest Man, which is heaven, are those who are in love to the Lord from the Lord, and these are called celestial; but in the body, from the breast even to the loins of that Greatest Man, which is heaven, are those who are in love towards the neighbor, and these are called spiritual; but in the feet of the Greatest Man, which is heaven, are those who are obscurely in the faith of charity, and these are called natural.

[2] But that this may be clearly apprehended it must be known that there are two kingdoms into which the heavens are divided, one called the celestial, and the other the spiritual; and that there are three heavens, the highest called the celestial, the middle called the spiritual, and the lowest called the celestial-natural and the spiritual-natural. Besides these distinctions in the heavens, however, there is the further distinction between those who receive light, that is, intelligence, from the Lord as a sun, and those who receive light and intelligence from the Lord as a moon. Those who receive the light of intelligence from the Lord as a sun are those with whom the intellectual and its rational have been opened, and who have, in consequence, thought rationally about what should be believed from the spiritual affection of truth; while those who receive light from the Lord as a moon are those in whom the intellectual and interior rational have not been opened, but only the natural, and who in consequence have thought from the memory about what should be believed; and to think about this from the memory is to think only from such things as have been heard from a teacher or preacher, which they call truths and believe to be truths although they may be falsities, since they are not seen beyond the memory. If such while in the world were also in the faith of charity, they are in the heavens under the Lord as a moon, for the lumen, from which is their intelligence, is like the moon's lumen in the nighttime, while the light from which is the intelligence of those who are in the heavens under the Lord as a sun is like the light of day. Of what nature the difference is can be seen from the difference between the light of the sun in the day and the light of the moon in the night. There is the further difference that those who are under the Lord as a moon can see nothing in the light that those have who are under the Lord as a sun, for the reason that their light is not genuine light but a reflected light, which can receive falsities as well as truths if only there seems to be good in the falsities. Because all those who are in the heavens under the Lord as a moon are natural and sensual, and have nothing in common with those who are in the heavens under the Lord as a sun, and moreover are in falsities, though in falsities in which there is good, therefore the moon was seen "under the feet" of the woman, which means the faith with those who are natural.

[3] Thus much respecting the faith of those in heaven who are under the Lord as a moon. A few things shall also be said about their affection, from which faith derives its life. Their affection of knowing truth and doing good is, like themselves, natural, thus deriving more or less from the glory of being learned, and from reputation that looks to honors and gain as rewards, differing in this from such spiritual affection of knowing truth and doing good as those have who are in heaven under the Lord as a sun, for with these this affection is so separated from natural affection that the natural affection is under the feet. This, also, is why "the moon," which signifies not only faith but also its affection, was here seen under the feet. (But a fuller idea of this can be gained from what is said and shown in the work on Heaven and Hell, under the heads, Heaven is Divided into Two Kingdoms, n 20-28; The Sun and the Moon in Heaven, Light and Heat in the Heavens, n 116-140; and The Correspondence of Heaven with all Things of Man, n. 87-102; also in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting those who are in falsities from good, n 21.) That "the sun" signifies the Lord in relation to Divine love, and thus love to the Lord from the Lord, and "the moon" the truth of faith, may be seen above n. 401; moreover, respecting the heavens that are under the Lord as a sun, and those under the Lord as a moon, see also above (n. 411, 422, 527). To this is to be added, that there are three heavens that are under the Lord as a moon, a higher, a middle, and a lower; or what is the same, an interior, a middle, and an exterior, but yet all who are in these heavens are natural. These heavens are interior, middle, and exterior, because the natural like the spiritual is divided into three degrees; the exterior-natural communicates with the world, the interior with heaven, and the middle conjoins. Nevertheless, those who are in the heavens under the Lord as a moon cannot enter into the heavens that are under the Lord as a sun, because their interior sight or understanding has been formed to receive the lunar light there, and not to receive the solar light. They are comparatively not unlike those birds that see in the night and not in the daytime, consequently when they come into the sunlight that those have who are under the Lord as a sun their sight is darkened. Those who are in these heavens are those who have been in charity according to their religious principle, or according to their faith; but such as are natural and are not in the faith of charity are in the hells under these heavens. From this it is evident that the "moon" here means faith with those who are natural and are in charity; and the moon was seen "under the feet" because those who are in the heavens under the Lord as a moon have nothing in common with those who are in the heavens under the Lord as a sun, even to the extent that they are unable to rise up to them.