1799. Behold a son of my house is mine heir. That this signifies that there would be only what is external in the Lord’s kingdom, is evident from the signification in the internal sense of an “heir” and of “inheriting.” To become an heir, or to inherit, signifies eternal life in the Lord’s kingdom. All who are in the Lord’s kingdom are heirs; for they live from the Lord’s life, which is the life of mutual love; and from this they are called sons. The Lord’s sons or heirs are all who are in His life, because their life is from Him, and they are born of Him, that is, are regenerate. They who are born of anyone are heirs; and so are all who are being regenerated by the Lord, for in this case they receive His life.

[2] In the Lord’s kingdom there are those who are external, those who are interior, and those who are internal. Good spirits, who are in the first heaven, are external; angelic spirits, who are in the second heaven, are interior; and angels, who are in the third, are internal. They who are external are not so closely related or so near to the Lord, as they who are interior; nor are these so closely related or so near to the Lord, as they who are internal. The Lord, from the Divine love or mercy, wills to have all near to Himself; so that they do not stand at the doors, that is, in the first heaven; but He wills that they should be in the third; and, if it were possible, not only with Himself, but in Himself. Such is the Divine love, or the Lord’s love; and as the church was then only in externals, He in these words complained, saying, “Behold, a son of my house is mine heir,” by which is signified that there would thus be only what is external in His kingdom. But consolation follows, and a promise concerning what is internal, in the verses that follow.

[3] What the external of the church is, has been stated before (see n. 1083, 1098, 1100, 1151, 1153). What pertains to doctrine does not itself make the external, still less the internal, as before said; nor with the Lord does it distinguish churches from each other, but that which does this is a life according to doctrinals, all of which, provided they are true, look to charity as their fundamental. What is doctrine but that which teaches how a man must live?

[4] In the Christian world it is doctrinal matters that distinguish churches; and from them men call themselves Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists, or the Reformed and the Evangelical, and by other names. It is from what is doctrinal alone that they are so called; which would never be if they would make love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor the principal of faith. Doctrinal matters would then be only varieties of opinion concerning the mysteries of faith, which truly Christian men would leave to everyone to hold in accordance with his conscience, and would say in their hearts that a man is truly a Christian when he lives as a Christian, that is, as the Lord teaches. Thus from all the differing churches there would be made one church; and all the dissensions that come forth from doctrine alone would vanish; yea, all hatreds of one against another would be dissipated in a moment, and the Lord’s kingdom would come upon the earth.

[5] The Ancient Church just after the flood, although spread through many kingdoms, was yet of this character, that is, men differed much among themselves as to doctrinal matters, but still made charity the principal; and they looked upon worship, not from doctrinal matters which pertain to faith, but from charity which pertains to life. This is meant where it is said (Genesis 11:1), that they all had one lip, and their words were one; concerning whom see above (n. 1285).

1153. And the sons of Gomer. That by these also are signified those who had external worship, but derived from that which existed in the nation Gomer, follows from what has been said and shown before concerning the signification of “sons;” and also from the fact that Gomer was one of those nations that had external worship corresponding to internal. There were seven nations named in the foregoing verse which were in such worship. Here again are seven nations, which are called “sons of Gomer” and “of Javan;” but what were the specific differences between them cannot be told, because here they are merely mentioned. But in the Prophets, where this and that worship of the church is treated of specifically, the differences can be distinguished. In general, all the diversities of external, as also of internal worship, are according to the adoration of the Lord in the worship; and the adoration is according to the love to the Lord and the love toward the neighbor. For the Lord is present in love, and thereby in worship; the differences of worship therefore among the nations here mentioned were of this nature.

[2] That it may be still more clearly explained how the case is in respect to diversities of worship, and how it was with the various nations in the Ancient Church, let it be known that all true worship consists in adoration of the Lord, adoration of the Lord in humiliation, and humiliation in one’s acknowledgment that in himself there is nothing living, and nothing good, but that all within him is dead, yea, cadaverous; and in the acknowledgment that everything living and everything good is from the Lord. The more a man acknowledges these things, not with the mouth, but with the heart, the more he is in humiliation; and consequently the more he is in adoration, that is, in true worship, and the more he is in love and charity, and the more in happiness. The one is in the other, so conjoined as to be inseparable. From this it is evident what and of what nature are these differences of worship.

[3] Those here spoken of, called “sons of Gomer and Javan,” are those who also had external worship corresponding to internal, but somewhat more remote than those who were named in the preceding verse. For this reason they are called “sons.” The generations successively descending, or the derivations, here proceed from the interior toward the exterior. The more sensuous a man becomes, the more exterior his worship becomes, and consequently the more remote from the true worship of the Lord; for it partakes more of the world, of the body, and of the earth, and less of the spirit; and therefore it is more remote. These, who are called “sons of Gomer and Javan,” being more sensuous, made worship still more to consist in externals than did their so-called parents and kindred. They therefore here constitute a second class.