Arcana Coelestia #7090
7090. 'And said to Pharaoh' means an admonition [from them] to those who are opposed to the Church's truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' - since it came by Divine command from Moses and Aaron - as an admonition, as also in 7033; and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as factual knowledge that is opposed to the Church's truths, dealt with in 6651, 6673, 6683, thus people who are opposed to them. Here and in what follows the subject is those belonging to the spiritual Church who were saved through the Lord's Coming into the world but who before His Coming had been held back on the lower earth, where they were harassed by falsities, that is, by those from hell steeped in falsities stemming from evil. That lower earth is situated below the soles of the feet and is surrounded by hells - in front of it those who have falsified truths and adulterated forms of good; to the right those who pervert Divine order and thereby strive to obtain power; to the rear the evil genii who, motivated by self-love, have secretly devised evil against their neighbour; and deep down underneath those who have rejected the Divine with utter contempt and worshipped nature, and in so doing have banished from themselves everything spiritual. Such are the hells surrounding those on the lower earth, where before the Lord's Coming people belonging to the spiritual Church were held in safe keeping. Though they were molested there the Lord protected them, and they were brought into heaven with the Lord when He rose again. See what has been stated and shown already regarding these people in 6854, 6865, 6914, 6945, 7035.
[2] The lower earth where those who belonged to the spiritual Church were held in safe keeping up to the Lord's Coming is mentioned a number of times in the Word, as in Isaiah,
Sing, O heavens, for Jehovah has done [it]! Shout, you lower parts of the earth! Be filled, O mountains, with singing, O forest and every tree in it! For Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and made Himself glorious in Israel. Isaiah 44:23.
This refers to those on the lower earth, to the fact that they were saved by the Lord. 'Jacob' and 'Israel' are the spiritual Church, 'Jacob' being the external Church, 'Israel' the internal Church, 3305, 4286, 6426. In Ezekiel,
I will cause you to go down with those going down to the pit, to the people of old, 1 and I will cause you to dwell in the land of the lower ones in desolations. Ezekiel 16:20.
In the same prophet,
. . . to the lower earth in the midst of the sons of men, to those going down to the pit. Consequently all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the most excellent of Lebanon, all those drinking water, will comfort themselves on the lower earth. Ezekiel 31:14, 16.
This refers to the lower earth where those who belonged to the spiritual Church were.
[3] At the present day too those belonging to the Church who have filled their minds with worldly and also earthly ideas and have acted in such a way that the truths of faith have become tied up with them are sent down to the lower earth, where they likewise have battles to fight. These battles continue until their worldly and earthly ideas have been separated from the truths of faith and other notions have been introduced, of such a nature that they cannot be linked together any longer. Once this has been accomplished those people are raised from there into heaven; for until such ideas of theirs have been removed they cannot possibly be in the company of angels, since those ideas are full of darkness and defilement that do not accord with the light and purity of heaven. Those worldly and earthly ideas cannot be separated and removed except by means of battles against falsities, battles which take place in the following manner: Those on that lower earth are molested by illusions and by falsities based on them which emanate from inhabitants of the surrounding hells; but the Lord employs heaven to rebut those illusions and falsities and at the same time to introduce truths. These truths seem to reside with those undergoing the conflicts.
[4] All this being so, the spiritual Church ought to be spoken of as a militant Church. But at the present day it is rarely militant with anyone in the world; for while a member of the Church is living in the world he does not experience conflict, because of the wicked crowded around him and because of the weakness of the flesh in which he lives. In the next life a person may be held firmly by the bonds of conscience, but not so in the world, for if in the world he is subjected to any degree of despair, as normally happens to those undergoing conflicts, he instantly breaks those bonds. And if he breaks them he gives in; and if he gives in he is done for so far as his salvation is concerned. This explains why the Lord allows few within the Church at the present day to enter into battles against falsities on behalf of truths; those battles are spiritual temptations. See also what has been shown already regarding the lower earth and vastations that take place there, in 4728, 4940-4951, 6854.
Footnotes:
1. literally, eternity
Ezekiel 1
1
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
2
In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,
3
The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
4
And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
5
Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
6
And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
7
And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.
8
And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
9
Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
10
As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
11
Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
12
And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.
13
As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
14
And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
15
Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
16
The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
17
When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.
18
As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
19
And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
20
Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
21
When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
22
And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
23
And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
24
And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
25
And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
26
And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
27
And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
28
As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
