5122. 'The three shoots are three days' means continuous derivatives even to the final one. This is clear from the meaning of 'three' as a single period and the continuity of it from start to finish, dealt with in 2788, 4495; from the meaning of 'shoots' as derivatives, dealt with in 5114; and from the meaning of 'days' as states, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850. From all this it follows that 'the three shoots are three days' means the state in which the sensory power represented by 'the cupbearer' undergoes rebirth, from the first to the final degrees of it, its consecutive derivatives being meant by 'shoots'.

[2] The states of rebirth which each sensory power and every aspect of the natural, as well as every aspect of the rational, pass through have from beginning to end their own progressive stages. When they attain any end they also begin at that point something else that is new; that is to say, they pass on from the end they had been striving to attain in a prior state to the realization of some further end, and so on after that. Eventually order is turned around, so that what has been last becomes first. This is what happens when a person is being regenerated, both in the case of his rational and in that of his natural. While his regeneration is taking place the phases that make up the first state are the stages of a movement from the truths of faith towards forms of the good of charity, when the truths of faith seemingly play the leading role while forms of the good of charity play a secondary one; for the truths of faith have the good of charity as their end in view. Phases like these continue until the person's regeneration is completed. Once this is completed charity then moves from the final place to the first in the line, and so becomes the point from which new states begin. These states develop in two directions - in an increasingly inward direction and also in a more outward one. Inwardly they move closer to love to the Lord, while outwardly they move closer first to the truths of faith, then to natural truths, and after that to truths as these are perceived by the senses. Then these three degrees of truths are brought into agreement one after another with forms of the good of charity and love present within the rational and so are brought into heavenly order.

[3] These are the matters that are meant by progressive stages of development and by continuous derivatives even to the final one. Such stages and derivatives are unending in the case of a person who is being regenerated. They begin when he is a young child and continue through to the final phase of his life in the world; indeed they continue for ever after that, though his regeneration can never reach the point when he can by any means be called perfect. For there are countless, indeed a limitless number of things to be regenerated, both within his rational and within his natural. Everything there has limitless shoots, that is, stages of development and derivatives that progress in both inward and outward directions. A person has no immediate awareness at all of this, but the Lord is aware of every particular detail and is making provision for it moment by moment. If He were to stop doing this for a single instant every stage of development would be thrown into confusion. For one stage looks to the next in an unending sequence and produces chains of sequences which never cease. From this it is evident that Divine Foresight and Providence exist in every particular detail, and that if they did not, or did so in a merely overall way, the human race would perish.

158. FROM THE ARCANA COELESTIA.

Merit and justice belong to the Lord alone (n. 9715, 9979). The merit and justice of the Lord consist in His having saved the human race by His own power (n. 1813, 2025-2026, 2027, 9715, 9809, 10019). The good of the Lord's justice and merit is the good which reigns in heaven, and is the good of His Divine love from which He saved the human race (n. 9486, 9979). No man can of himself become justice, nor claim it by any right (n. 1813). The quality of those in the other life who claim justice to themselves (n. 942, 2027). In the Word, the man to whom the justice and merit of the Lord are ascribed, is called "just;" and the man to whom his own justice and merit are ascribed, "unjust" (n. 5069, 9263). Whoever is once just from the Lord, will be continually just from Him; for justice never becomes man's own, but is continually the Lord's (n. 3686). They who believe in the justification taught in the church, know little of regeneration (n. 5398).

Man is so far wise as he ascribes all goods and truths to the Lord, and not to himself (n. 10227). As all good and truth which are good and truth are from the Lord, and nothing is from man, and as good from man is not good, it follows that merit belongs to no man, but to the Lord alone (n. 9975, 9981, 9988). They who enter heaven put off all merit of their own (n. 4007). And they do not think of reward for the good they have done (n. 6478, 9174). They who think from merit so far do not acknowledge all things to be of mercy (n. 6478, 9174). They who think from merit, think of reward and remuneration, and therefore to will to merit is to will to be remunerated (n. 5660, 6392, 9975). Such persons cannot receive heaven in themselves (n. 1835, 8478, 9977). Heavenly happiness consists in the affection of doing good, without an end of remuneration (n. 6388, 6478, 9174, 9984). In the other life so far as anyone does good without an end of remuneration, so far happiness inflows with increase from the Lord; and it is immediately dissipated when remuneration is thought of (n. 6478, 9174).

Good is to be done without an end of remuneration (n. 6392, 6478); illustrated (n. 9981). Genuine charity is without anything meritorious (n. 2343, 2371, 2400, 3887, 6388-6393). Because it is from love, thus from the delight of doing good (n. 3816, 3887, 6388, 6478, 9174, 9984). "Reward" in the Word, means the delight and happiness in doing good to others without an end of reward, and this delight and happiness is felt and perceived by those who are in genuine charity (n. 3816, 3956, 6388).

They who do good for the sake of reward, love themselves and not the neighbor (n. 8002, 9210). "Mercenaries," in the spiritual sense of the Word, mean those who do good for the sake of reward (n. 8002). They who do good for the sake of remuneration, in the other life desire to be served, and are never contented (n. 6393). They despise the neighbor, and are angry at the Lord Himself, because they do not receive a reward, saying that they have merited it (n. 9976). They who have separated faith from charity, in the other life make their faith, and also the good works which they have done in an external form, thus for the sake of themselves, meritorious (n. 2371). Further particulars respecting the quality of those in the other life who have placed merit in works (n. 942, 1774, 1877, 2027). They are there in the lower earth, and appear to themselves to cut wood (n. 1110, 4943, 8740). Because wood, especially shittim wood, signifies the good of merit in particular (n. 2784, 2812, 9472, 9486, 9715, 10178).

They who have done good for the sake of remuneration, are servants in the Lord's kingdom (n. 6389-6390). They who place merit in works, fall in temptations (n. 2273, 9978). They who are in the loves of self and of the world, do not know what it is to do good without a view to remuneration (n. 6392).

488. As has been stated, 'days' means states in general, and 'years' states in particular. This too becomes clear from the Word, as in Ezekiel,

You have brought your days near, and you have come even to your years. Ezekiel 22:4.

This refers to people who behave abominably and sin to the fullest extent, and so 'days' has reference in this case to such people's state in general, 'years' to that state in particular.

In David,

You will add days to the king's days; and his years as generation after generation! Psalms 61:6.

This refers to the Lord and His kingdom, where again 'days' and 'years' stand for the state of His kingdom.

In the same author,

I have considered the days of old, the years of long ago. Psalms 77:5.

Here 'days of old' is states of the Most Ancient Church, and 'years of long ago' states of the Ancient Church. In Isaiah,

The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. Isaiah 63:4.

This stands for the final times, where 'the day of vengeance' stands for a state of condemnation, and 'the year of the redeemed' for a state of blessedness.

Similarly, in the same prophet,

To proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God; to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:2.

Here again 'days' and also 'years' are mentioned and mean states.

In Jeremiah,

Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.

Here 'days' plainly stands for state.

[2] In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, for it is near, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a tiny of cloud and gloom, as has never happened of old, nor will be again after it through the years of generation after generation. Joel 2:1-2, 11.

Here 'day' stands for a state of darkness, thick darkness, cloud and gloom - a state of individuals in particular and of all in general.

In Zechariah,

I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. On that day you will shout, each to his companion, under his vine and under his fig tree. Zechariah 3:9-10.

And elsewhere in Zechariah,

There will be one tiny, it is known to Jehovah, which is neither day nor night, and at evening time there will be light. Zechariah 14:7.

State is clearly meant here, for it is said that 'it will be a day, which is neither day nor night; at evening time there will be light'.

The same meaning is also clear from the following in the Decalogue,

Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with you in the land. Deuteronomy 5:16; 25:15.

Here 'a prolonging of days' does not mean living on into old age but a state that is happy.

[3] In the sense of the letter 'day' cannot be seen to mean anything other than a period of time, but in the internal sense it means a state. Angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, do not know what a period of time is, for the activity of the sun and moon with them does not produce divisions of time. As a consequence they do not know what a day or a year is, but only what states and changes of state are. This is why among angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, anything connected with matter, space, and time, goes unnoticed, as with the following usages in the sense of the letter in Ezekiel,

The day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near, a day of cloud; it will be a time of the nations. Ezekiel 30:3.

And in Joel,

Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is near, and as destruction. Joel 1:15.

Here 'a day of cloud' stands for cloud or falsity, 'a day of the nations' for the nations or wickedness, and 'the day of Jehovah' for vastation. When the concept of time is removed there remains the concept of the state of the things existing during that period of time. The same applies to the days and the years that are mentioned so many times in this chapter.