To “generate” something is to create it, and that idea underpins the meaning of a “generation” of people -- it is a group that was created together, at roughly the same time, from the same parents or group of parents. On a spiritual level, we can be “generators” by using what we know from the Lord to create ideas of how to be good, and also to create good actions based on those ideas -- what the Writings call things of faith and things of charity. In general, then, a “generation” in the Bible represents the spiritual ideas and activities created by a church -- with a “church” being anything from an individual believer to a group lasting thousands of years. “Generation” can also pick up specific meanings from context. For instance, when the Bible says the people of Israel were captive in Egypt for four generations, it means a state of temptation based on the meaning of “four.” When paired with “eternity,” meanwhile, “generations” represents ideas and actions surrounding love of serving others, with “eternity” representing things springing from love of the Lord. Finally, “generations and generations” is used in the Bible to represent forever.

7932. 'And it shall be, when you come to the land which Jehovah will give you' means when they reach heaven, given them by the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land', at this point the land of Canaan, which they will 'come to' as the Lord's kingdom, which is heaven, dealt with in 1607, 1866, 3078, 3481, 3705, 4116, 4240, 4447, 5757. The Children of Israel represented those belonging to the spiritual Church who lived in the world before the Lord's Coming, but could not be saved except by the Lord, on account of which they were preserved and held back on the lower earth, where they were in the meantime molested by the hells which were round about them. When therefore the Lord came into the world and made the Human within Him Divine, He then - when He rose again - delivered those who had been preserved and held back there. And after they had undergone temptations He raised them to heaven. These matters are what the internal sense of the second Book of Moses or Exodus contains. By 'the Egyptians' those who molested are meant; by 'being led away from them' deliverance is meant; by 'living forty years in the wilderness' temptations are meant; and by 'being led into the land of Canaan' being raised into heaven is meant. For what has been mentioned already about these meanings, see 6854, 6914, 7091 (end), 7828. From all this it is evident that 'when you come into the land' means when they reach heaven, given them by the Lord. ¹

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