8495. A Sabbath holy to Jehovah is the morrow. That this signifies the conjunction of good and truth to eternity, is evident from the signification of “the Sabbath,” as being the conjunction of good and truth (of which below); and from the signification of “the morrow,” as being to eternity (see n. 3998). He who does not know what the Sabbath represented, and thus what it signified, cannot know why it was accounted the most holy of all things. But the reason why it was accounted most holy was that in the supreme sense it represented the union of the Divine and the Divine Human in the Lord; and in the relative sense the conjunction of the Divine Human of the Lord with the human race. Consequently the Sabbath was most holy. And because it represented these things, it also represented heaven in respect to the conjunction of good and truth, which conjunction is called “the heavenly marriage.” And as the conjunction of good and truth is effected by the Lord alone, and nothing of it by man, and as it is effected in a state of peace, therefore it was most severely forbidden that man should then do any work, insomuch that the soul which did this was to be cut off, as we read in Moses:

Ye shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy to you; he that profaneth it, dying shall die; for whosoever doeth work therein, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of his people (Exodus 31:14).

Therefore one was stoned who merely picked up sticks on that day (Numbers 15:32-36). Therefore also the commandment concerning the Sabbath is the third commandment in the Decalogue, immediately following the two concerning the holy worship of Jehovah (Exodus 20:8; Deuteronomy 5:12). And therefore the Sabbath is called “an eternal covenant” (Exodus 31:16), for by “covenant” is signified conjunction (n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804).

[2] From all this it can now be seen what is meant in the internal sense by the things said in the following passages about the Sabbath; as in Isaiah:

Blessed is the man who keepeth the Sabbath, that he profane it not; thus said Jehovah to the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose that in which I delight, and take hold of My covenant, I will give them in My house and within My walls a place and a name, better than sons and daughters; I will give them an eternal name, that shall not be cut off; whosoever keepeth the Sabbath that he profane it not, and whoso taketh hold of My covenant, them will I bring in upon the mountain of My holiness, and I will cheer them in My house of prayer (56:2-7);

from all this it is evident that by “those who keep the Sabbath holy” are meant those who are in conjunction with the Lord. That they shall be in heaven is signified by “a place and a name better than sons and daughters being given them in the house of Jehovah, an eternal name that shall not be cut off,” and by their being “brought in upon the mountain of holiness.”

[3] In the same:

If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, not doing thy wills on the day of My holiness, but shalt call the Sabbath delights, holy to Jehovah, honorable; and shalt honor it, so that thou do not then thy ways, nor find thy desire, or speak a word, then shalt thou be delighted upon Jehovah, and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob (58:13-14);

here it is very plain what was represented by “not doing any work on the Sabbath day,” namely, that they should not do anything from their own, but from the Lord; for the angelic state in heaven is that they will and do nothing from themselves, or from their own, and do not even think and speak therefrom: their conjunction with the Lord consists in this. Their own from which they are not to act, is signified by their “not doing their own wills, nor doing their own ways, nor finding their own desire, nor speaking a word.” This state with the angels is the heavenly state itself; and when they are in it, they have peace and rest, and the Lord also has rest; for when they have been conjoined with Him, they labor no more, because they are then in the Lord. These things are signified by the words, thus shalt thou call the Sabbath the holy delights of Jehovah, and they shall be delighted upon Jehovah.” The Lord’s rest is signified by His resting on the seventh day after the six days’ creation (Genesis 2:2).

[4] Like things are understood by these words in Jeremiah:

If hearing ye shall hear Me, that ye bring not in a burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and that ye hallow the Sabbath day, so that ye do not any work therein, then shall there enter through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariot and on horses, they and their princes, the man of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall be inhabited to eternity (17:24-25);

by “work on the Sabbath” is signified everything that is from our own; the state of those who are not led by their own, but by the Lord, is described by there “entering through the gates of the city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariot and on horses;” by “kings” are signified the truths of faith; by “princes,” the primary things thereof; by “sitting upon the throne of David,” that these are from the Lord; by “the chariot and horses,” the doctrinal and intellectual things of faith. Be it known that all things which come from the man’s own are evil, and that all things which come from the Lord are good. (That with those who are led by the Lord all things flow in, down to the least thing of life both of intellect and of will, thus down to each and all things of faith and of charity, see what has been abundantly shown from experience, n. 2886-2888, 6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626, 6982, 6985, 6996, 7004, 7055, 7056, 7058, 7147, 7270)

[5] That the Sabbath was representative of the conjunction of the Lord with the human race, is evident in Ezekiel:

I gave them My Sabbaths that they might be for a sign between Me and them, to acknowledge that I Jehovah do sanctify them (20:12; also Exodus 31:13).

Therefore also it was forbidden to kindle a fire on the Sabbath day (Exodus 35:3), because by “fire” was signified everything that is of life; and by “kindling a fire,” that which is of life from man’s own. From all that has been said it is plain that the Lord is “the Lord of the Sabbath,” according to His words in Matthew 12:1-8; and it may be seen why many cures were performed by the Lord on the Sabbath days (Matthew 12:10-13; Mark 3:1-8; Luke 6:6-11; 13:10-17; 14:1-6; John 5:9-18; 7:22-23; 9:14, 16); for the diseases of which they were healed by the Lord involved spiritual diseases, which are from evil (see n. 7337, 8364).

4249. And Jacob feared exceedingly, and was distressed. That this signifies the state when it is being changed, is evident from the fact that fear and distress are what is first in temptations, and that when the state is being inverted or changed these take precedence. The arcana which lie hidden more at large in what is here said that Esau went to meet Jacob with four hundred men, and that Jacob therefore feared and was distressed-cannot easily be set forth to the apprehension, for they are too interior. This only may be presented: that when good is taking the prior place and is subordinating truths to itself, which takes place when the man is undergoing spiritual temptations, the good that then flows in from within is attended with very many truths which have been stored up in his interior man. These cannot come to his mental view and apprehension until good acts the first part, for then the natural begins to be enlightened by good, whence it becomes apparent what things in it are in accord, and what are discordant, from which come the fear and distress that precede spiritual temptation. For spiritual temptation acts upon the conscience, which is of the interior man; and therefore when he enters into this temptation the man does not know whence come such fear and distress, although the angels with him know this well; for the temptation comes from the angels holding the man in goods and truths while evil spirits are holding him in evils and falsities.

[2] For the things that come forth with the spirits and angels who are with a man are perceived by the man exactly as if they were in him; for while a man is living in the body, and does not believe that all things flow in, he supposes that the things which come forth interiorly are not produced by causes outside of him, but that all the causes are within him, and are his very own; yet such is not the case. For whatever a man thinks and whatever he wills (that is, his every thought and his every affection) are either from hell or from heaven. When he thinks and wills evils, and is delighted with the consequent falsities, he may know that his thoughts and affections are from hell; and while he is thinking and willing goods, and is delighted with the derivative truths, he may know that they are from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord. But the thoughts and affections that appertain to a man appear for the most part under another aspect; as for example, the combat of evil spirits with angels that arises from the things which appertain to a man who is to be regenerated, appears under the aspect of fear and distress, and of temptation.

[3] These statements cannot but appear to man as paradoxes, because almost every man of the church at this day believes that all the truth which he thinks, and the good which he wills and does, are from himself, although he says otherwise when he speaks from the doctrine of faith. Nay, of such a nature is man that if anyone should say to him that there are evil spirits from hell who are flowing into his thought and will when he thinks and wills evils, and angels from heaven when he thinks and wills goods, he would stand amazed that anyone should maintain such a thing; for he would say that he feels life in himself, and thinks from himself and wills from himself. From this feeling in himself he forms his belief, and not from his doctrine; when yet the doctrine is true, but the feeling fallacious. It has been given me to know this from an almost continual experience of many years, and so to know it that no doubt whatever remains.