864. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, signifies those who have been joined to the Lord by the acknowledgment of His Divine Human, and by a life according to His commandments. This is evident from the signification of "the Lamb," as being the Lord as to the Divine Human (See above, n. 314); also from the signification of "following Him whithersoever He goeth," as being to acknowledge His Divine and to do His commandments. "To follow the Lord" has a similar signification as "to go or to walk after Him." That "to go or walk after the Lord," signifies to acknowledge, to obey, and to act and live from Him and with Him, may be seen above n. 787. This is the signification of "following the Lord," because no one can follow the Lord from self, but only from the Lord Himself. For the Lord draws after Him the man who from freedom wills to follow; but He can draw no one who does not will to follow Him. For the Lord so operates with man that man may follow Him as if of himself; thus does the Lord flow into man's freedom; and this He does for the sake of the reception and implantation of truth and good with man and consequent reformation and regeneration. For unless it appeared to man that he followed the Lord as if of himself, that is, acknowledged His Divine and did His commandments as if of himself, there would be no appropriation and conjunction, and thus no reformation and regeneration. For everything enters into the man and becomes as if it were his own that man receives in freedom, that is, as if of himself, whether it be what he thinks and speaks or what he wills and does as if of himself. And yet man ought to believe, as the matter really is in itself, that he does these things not from himself but from the Lord; and this is why it is said that he must act not of himself but as if of himself. Another reason for this is that man has no perception of the Lord's operation into his will and into his thought therefrom; for man knows nothing about his conjunction with angels; consequently he supposes that whatever he wills and thinks he wills and thinks from himself; therefore he cannot know otherwise than that this is done by himself; and yet all good flows in, that which he thinks, that which he wills, and that which he consequently does. And as he knows this from the doctrine of the church, namely, that all good is from God, he ought to believe that he does not do good of himself, although he does it as if of himself. This is meant by what the Lord taught in Mark:

So is the kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed upon the earth, and should then sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up he knoweth not how (Mark 4:26, 27).

And in John:

A man can receive nothing unless it be given him from heaven (John 3:27).

And in the same:

He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:5).

[2] To acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human and to do His commandments is to follow Him, because only those who do this can be conjoined to the Lord. That everyone is conjoined to the Lord according to the acknowledgment and confession of Him from the heart and according to the life, can be seen from this, that all the angels of heaven acknowledge no other Divine than the Divine of the Lord, and all angels of the heavens live according to the laws of order, which are His commandments, that is, they live in the Divine that proceeds from the Lord, which is called the Divine truth. Because they so live they live in a heavenly aura, or in a heavenly ether, into which none can be admitted except those who are in life from the Lord. If any others were to enter into that ether it would be like letting mice into a pipe out of which the air has been exhausted.

[3] All this makes clear what is signified in the spiritual sense by "following the Lord whithersoever He goeth." "To follow Him" has the same signification in the following passages. As in John:

Jesus said, I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life (John 8:12).

"I am the light of the world" signifies that He is the Divine truth itself; "he that followeth Me" signifies he that acknowledges His Divine and does His commandments; "shall not walk in darkness" signifies that he shall not be in falsities; "but shall have the light of life" signifies that he shall be in Divine truths, which teach man eternal life and lead to heaven. Here evidently "to follow the Lord" does not mean to follow Him, but to acknowledge His Divine and obey Him.

[4] In the same:

When the Shepherd of the sheep hath led forth His own sheep He goeth before them and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice; but a stranger they do not follow, but flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me (John 10:4, 5, 27).

Here, "to follow the Lord" means to acknowledge His Divine and to obey Him; for it is said, He goeth before His own sheep and the sheep follow Him and know and hear His voice; "to know and hear the Lord's voice" signifies to do His commandments.

[5] In the Gospels:

Whosoever wills to come after Me let him deny himself and follow Me (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23).

Evidently "to go after the Lord and to follow Him" is to deny self; and to deny self is to be led not by self but by the Lord; and he denies self who shuns and turns away from evils because they are sins; and when man turns away from evils he is led by the Lord; for he does the Lord's commandments, not from self but from the Lord. "To follow the Lord" has the same signification elsewhere (as in Matthew 19:21, 28; Mark 2:14, 15; 3:7, 8; 10:21, 28, 29; Luke 18:22, 28; John 12:26; 13:36, 37; 21:19-22).

[6] All this makes clear that to "follow the Lord" is to be led by Him and not by self; and only those who are not led by self can be led by the Lord; and everyone is led by self who does not shun evils because they are contrary to the Word and thus contrary to God; consequently because they are sins and are from hell. Everyone who does not thus shun and turn away from evils is led by self; and for the reason that the evil that is in man by heredity constitutes his life, because that is his own [proprium]; and until such evils have been removed man does all things from them, thus from self. But it is otherwise when evils have been removed, which is done when he shuns them because they are infernal; then the Lord enters with truths and goods from heaven, and leads him. The chief reason is that every man is his own love; and man, as to his spirit, which lives after death, is nothing else than the affection which is of his love, and all evil is from his love, and thus belongs to his love; from which it follows that a man's love or affection is reformed only by a spiritual shunning of evils and turning away from them, which is shunning them and turning away from them because they are infernal. From all this it can now be seen what it is "to follow the Lord whithersoever He goeth."

787. And the whole earth wondered after the beast, signifies the acceptance of these by the more learned in the church, and the reception from afar by the less learned. This is evident from the signification of "to wonder after the beast," as being (in reference to the disagreement with the Word apparently cleared away by devised conjunctions of works with faith) the acceptance by the more learned, and the reception by the less learned (of which presently). Also from the signification of "earth," as being the church (See above, n. 29, 304, 417, 697, 741, 742, 752). "The whole earth wondered after the beast" signifies acceptance and reception, because wondering attracts, and those who are attracted follow.

[2] In the Word mention is frequently made of "going" and "walking after God," "after other gods," "after a leader," and "after many;" and these expressions signify to follow and acknowledge in heart, also to be and to live with them, and to be consociated, as in the following passages. In the first book of Kings:

David hath kept My commandments, and hath walked after Me with his whole heart, to do that which is right in Mine eyes (1 Kings 14:8).

In the first book of Samuel:

The sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the war (1 Samuel 17:13).

In Moses:

Thou shalt not follow after many to evils; thou shalt not answer respecting a cause of strife to turn aside after many (Exodus 23:2).

In Jeremiah:

Thou shalt not go after other gods whom thou hast not known (Jeremiah 7:9).

In the same:

They went after other gods to serve them (Jeremiah 11:10; Deuteronomy 8:19).

In Moses:

The man who shall go after Baal-peor, Jehovah thy God will destroy from the midst of thee (Deuteronomy 4:3).

From this it is evident that "to go after" anyone signifies to follow him, obey him, act from him, and live from him; "to walk and live" ¹ also signifies to live. From this it can be seen that "to wonder after the beast" signifies acceptance and reception from the persuasion that the disagreement with the Word is apparently cleared away.

[3] Acceptance by the more learned and reception from afar by the less learned is signified, because the modes of conjoining faith with its life, which is good works, were devised by the learned; while the less learned, because they were unable to investigate interiorly these disagreements, received them, each one according to his apprehension; consequently this dogma, that faith alone is the essential means of salvation, has been received in the whole earth, or in the Christian Church.

[4] It shall be explained also in a few words how the chief point of that religion, namely, that in faith alone there is salvation, and not in good works, has been apparently cleared away, and is therefore accepted by the learned. For these have devised stages of the progress of faith to good works, which they call steps of justification. They make the first step to be the hearing from masters and preachers, the second step information from the Word that it is so; the third step acknowledgment; and since nothing of the church can be acknowledged in heart unless temptation precede, therefore they join temptation to this step; and if the doubts that are then encountered are dissipated by the Word or by the preacher, and thus the man conquers, they say that the man has confidence, which is a certainty that it is so, and also confidence that he is saved by the Lord's merit. But as the doubts that are encountered in temptation arise chiefly from not understanding the Word, where "deeds," "works," "doing," and "working" are so often mentioned, they say that the understanding must be held in check under obedience to faith. Hence follows the fourth step, which is the endeavor to do good; and in this they rest, saying that when man arrives at this stage he has been justified, and that then all the acts of his life are accepted by God, and the evils of his life are not seen by God, because they are pardoned. This conjunction of faith with good works has been devised by the learned and also accepted by them. But this conjunction rarely extends to the common people, both because it transcends the comprehension of some of them, and because they are for the most part engaged in their business and employments, and these divert the mind from gaining an understanding of the inner mysteries of this doctrine.

[5] But the conjunction of faith with good works, and thereby apparent agreement with the Word, is received in a different manner by the less learned. These know nothing about the steps of justification, but believe that faith alone is the only means of salvation; and when they see from the Word and hear from the preacher that goods must be done and that man will be judged according to his works, they think that faith produces good works, for they know no otherwise than that faith is to know the things that the preacher teaches, and thence to think that it is so; and because this comes first they believe that faith produces good works, which they call the fruits of faith, not knowing that such a faith is a faith of the memory only, and viewed in itself is historical faith, because it is from another, and thus another's with themselves, and that such a faith can never bring forth any good fruit. Into this error most of those in the Christian world have fallen, for the reason that faith alone has been received as the chief means, yea, as the only means of salvation. But how faith and charity, or believing and doing, make one shall be told hereafter.

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