29. III. THE THIRD STATE OF THIS CHURCH, WHICH IS ITS DECLINE AND EVENING, AND IS CALLED VASTATION, is described in the third chapter of Genesis, by these words:

The serpent became more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. He said to the woman, Wherefore also hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And when the woman said unto the serpent, Of the fruit of the tree we may eat; only of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die-the serpent said, Ye shall not die; for God doth know, that, in the day wherein ye shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil. The woman, therefore, saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and to be desired to give understanding; therefore she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave to her man (vir) with her, and he did eat (Gen. 3:1-6).

That a decline from light to the shade of evening, that is, a falling away from wisdom and integrity, consequently a state of vastation of this Church, is described by these words, is because, owing to having been made a "likeness of God" (by which is signified that, to all appearance he, like God, thinks those things which are of wisdom, and wills those things which are of love, from himself, - see above, n. 26), he believed the serpent's words, that if he should eat of that tree he would become as God, and thus also be God, in knowing good and evil. By this "tree" is signified the natural man separated from the spiritual, which, when left to itself, believes nothing else.

[2] Every man has a natural mind and a spiritual mind, distinct from each other like two stories of one house connected by stairs; in the upper story of which dwell the master and mistress with their children, but in the lower the men-servants and maid-servants, with other menials. From birth even to early youth, the spiritual mind in man is shut; but after that first age the spiritual mind is step by step opened; for there is given to every man from birth the capacity, and afterwards the ability, of preparing for himself steps by which he may ascend and speak with the master and mistress, and then descend and execute their commands: this power is conferred upon him through the gift of free-determination in spiritual things. Nevertheless, no one can ascend to the upper story, by which is meant the spiritual mind, except he eat of the trees of life in the garden of God; for, by eating of these man is enlightened and restored, and, receives faith; and through the nourishment of their fruits he attains the assurance that all good is from the Lord, who is the Tree of Life, and not the least of it from man; and yet, that, by abiding together and working together, hence by the Lord's being in him and he in the Lord, he will do good of himself, but still, in the faith and assurance that it is not from himself but from the Lord.

[3] If a man believe otherwise, he produces a semblance of good, inwardly in which there is evil, because merit; and this is eating of the trees of the knowledge of good and evil, among which dwells the serpent, in the dreadful persuasion that he is as God, or else that there is no God, but that Nature is what is called God, and that he is compounded of its elements. Furthermore: those eat of the trees of the knowledge of good and evil who love themselves and the world above all things; but those eat of the trees of life who love God above all things and the neighbour as themselves. Those also eat of the trees of the knowledge of good and evil who put forth regulations for the Church from self-intelligence, and afterwards confirm them by the Word; but, on the other hand, those eat of the trees of life who procure for themselves regulations for the Church by means of the Word, and afterwards confirm them by intelligence. Those, again, who teach truths from the Word, and live wickedly, eat of the trees of the knowledge of good and evil; but those eat of the trees of life who live well and teach from the Word. Speaking generally, all eat of the trees of the knowledge of good and evil who deny the Divinity of the Lord and the holiness of the Word, inasmuch as the Lord is the Tree of Life and the Word, from whom the Church is a "garden eastward in Eden."

482. Until now nobody has known what the years and the numbers of years occurring in this chapter mean in the internal sense. People who stay within the sense of the letter imagine that they are no more than chronological years. But none of the content from here down to Chapter 12 is history as it seems to be in the sense of the letter, for every single detail contains something of a different nature. What applies to names applies to numbers as well. In the Word the number three occurs frequently, and so does the number seven; and in every instance they mean something holy or inviolable as regards those states which the periods of time or whatever else that is mentioned embody or represent. This applies as much to the shortest as to the longest time-intervals; for just as parts makeup the whole, so do the shortest make up the longest. For a similarity must exist in order that a whole may emerge satisfactorily out of the parts, or that which is largest out of that which is smallest.

[2] As in Isaiah,

Jehovah has now spoken, saying, In three years, according to the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will be rendered worthless. Isaiah 16:14.

In the same prophet,

The Lord said to me, Within yet a year, according to the years of a hireling, and all the glory of Kedar will be brought to an end. Isaiah 21:6.

Here both the shortest as well as the longest time-intervals are meant. In Habakkuk,

O Jehovah, I have heard Your fame; I was afraid. O Jehovah, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years do You make it known. Habakkuk 3:2.

Here 'the midst of the years' stands for the Lord's Coming. If the intervals are shorter this stands for every coming of the Lord, as when a person is being regenerated; but if longer it stands for the rising anew of the Lord's Church. It is also called in Isaiah 'the year of the redeemed', The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. Isaiah 63:4.

So too 'the thousand years' for which Satan is to be bound, Revelation 20:2-3, 7, and 'the thousand years' associated with the first resurrection, Revelation 20:4-6. These in no way mean a thousand years but the states associated with them. For just as 'days, as shown 'already, are interpreted as a state, so too are 'years', and the states are described by the number of the years. From this it becomes clear that periods of time in this chapter also embody states, for every Church experienced a different state of perception from the next, according to differences of disposition resulting from inherited and acquired characteristics.