9336. 'Little by little I will drive them out from before you' means a removal effected gradually according to order. This is clear from the meaning of 'little by little' as gradually, thus slowly; and from the meaning of 'driving out' - when it has reference to falsities and evils, meant by the nations of the land of Canaan - as a removal, dealt with just above in 9333. The words 'gradually according to order' are used because everything with a person who is being regenerated is rearranged in accordance with heavenly order. For a person who has been regenerated is a miniature heaven, 9276, and therefore also within that person order exists akin to that which obtains in heaven.

[2] When a person is born he is, so far as his hereditary evils are concerned, a miniature hell. He also becomes an embodiment of hell to the extent that he draws on hereditary evils and adds his own to them. This being so, the order of a person's life which exists by reason of what he receives at birth, and by reason of his own acts in life, is the opposite of heavenly order. For what is a person's own leads him to love self more than the Lord and to love the world more than heaven, whereas the life of heaven consists in loving the Lord above all things and the neighbour as oneself. From this it is evident that the first life, which is that of hell, must be completely destroyed, that is, evils and falsities must be removed, in order that the new life, which is that of heaven, may be implanted, see 4551, 4552, 4839, 6068. This cannot possibly be done hurriedly, for every deep-rooted evil, together with its falsities, is interconnected with all other evils and their falsities. Such evils and falsities are countless, and their interconnection is so complex that it cannot be comprehended, not even by angels, only by the Lord. From this it is evident that the life of hell with a person cannot be destroyed suddenly; for if it were destroyed suddenly the person too would perish. Nor can the life of heaven be implanted suddenly, for if this were implanted suddenly the person would again perish.

[3] There are thousands and thousands of hidden ways, scarcely a single one of which is known to mankind, by which the Lord leads a person from the life of hell to the life of heaven. I have been informed from heaven that this is so, and it has also been corroborated for me by many things that I have been made aware of. Since mankind knows scarcely anything at all about these things many have fallen into errors concerning human deliverance from evils and falsities, which is the forgiveness of sins. They think that the life of hell with a person can be changed to the life of heaven with him in an instant, by mercy. But in actual fact mercy lies in the whole act of regeneration; and none undergo regeneration apart from those who receive the Lord's mercy in faith and life while they are in the world, in keeping with the Lord's words in John,

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name, who were born, not of blood ¹ , nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man (vir), but of God. John 1:12-13.

What 'blood', 'the will of the flesh', and 'the will of man', also 'born of God' mean, see 5826.

[4] The proper way to understand 'a removal from evils and falsities, effected gradually according to order' must also be stated briefly. Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord's Divine Good arranges all things into order in heaven; consequently this Divine Truth, holding good from the Lord within it, is order itself, see 1728, 1919, 2247, 2258, 5703, 6338, 8700, 8988. In accordance with that order all things there come into being, and in accordance with that same order they remain in being; for remaining in being is a constant coming into being. Therefore to enable heaven to come into being in a person, it is necessary for him to receive Divine Truth in the good he has from the Lord. This can be brought into effect only gradually, according to the order similar to that which governs the way the Lord arranges heaven; for if the essential nature of the thing is the same, then the situation on the smaller scale is the same as on the larger scale. This arranging step-by-step is what should be understood here by order brought into effect gradually. From all this it is also evident that the new creation of a person, which is his regeneration, resembles the creation of heaven and earth. For this reason also in the Word a new heaven and a new earth is used to mean a new Church, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535; and the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis serves to mean the new creation of a celestial Church, called Man, dealt with in the explanations of that chapter.

Footnotes:

1607. That 'for all the land which you see I will give to you' means the heavenly kingdom which was to be the Lord's is clear from the meaning of 'land' - the land of Canaan in this context since the words used are 'the land which you see' - as the heavenly kingdom. Indeed the land of Canaan represented the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, which is heaven, and also the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the Church. This meaning of 'land' has been discussed frequently already. That the kingdom in heaven and on earth was given to the Lord is clear from various places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

A Boy is born, a Son is given to us; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6.

In Daniel,

I saw in the night visions, and behold with the clouds of the heavens One like the Son of Man was coming, and He came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and languages will serve Him. His dominion is an eternal dominion which will not pass away, and His kingdom one that will not perish. Daniel 7:13-14.

The Lord Himself also says the same: in Matthew,

All things have been delivered to Me by My Father. Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22.

Elsewhere in Matthew,

[All] power in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Matthew 28:18.

In John,

You have given to the Son power over all flesh in order that all You have given Him, to them He may give eternal life. John 17:2-3.

And 'sitting on the right hand' has the same meaning, as in Luke,

From now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Luke 22:69.

[2] As regards all power in heaven and on earth being given to the Son of Man, it should be recognized that the Lord already had power over all things in heaven and on earth before He came into the world, for He was God from eternity and He was Jehovah, as He Himself plainly declares in John,

Now, Father, glorify Me in Your Own Self with the glory I had with You before the world was. John 17:5.

And in the same gospel,

Truly, Truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. ¹ John 8:58.

In fact He was Jehovah and God to the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood, and was seen by them. He was also Jehovah and God to the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood; and He was the One whom all the religious observances of the Jewish Church represented, and the One they worshipped. The reason the Lord says that all power in heaven and on earth has been given to Him, as though it had not been His till then, is that 'the Son of Man' is used to mean His Human Essence which became Jehovah as well after it had been united to His Divine Essence. Power was given to Him at that point, which would not have been possible until He was glorified, that is, until His Human Essence as well, through union with the Divine Essence, had life in Itself and likewise became Divine and Jehovah, as He Himself declares in John,

As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26.

[3] It is His Human Essence or External Man that is named 'the Son of Man' in the passage quoted from Daniel, and 'a Boy born, a Son given to us' in the passage quoted from Isaiah. The fact that the heavenly kingdom would be given to Him, and all power in heaven and on earth, was shown and promised to Him then, and is the meaning of the statement 'all the land which you see I will give to you, and to your seed after you for ever'. This was before His Human Essence had been united to His Divine Essence, a union which took place when He had overcome the devil and hell, that is to say, when by His own strength and powers He had cast out all evil, which alone causes the severance.

Footnotes: