5894. 'And there are still five years' means the duration of that state until remnants shine forth. This is clear from the meaning of 'five' as remnants, dealt with in 5291; and from the meaning of 'years' as states, as immediately above in 5893, duration being meant by still that number of years. From these meanings it is evident that the words used here mean the duration of that state until remnants shine forth. Remnants are the truths and forms of good stored away by the Lord in a person's interior man, see 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284, 5135, 5342. At this point the remnants are recognitions of and affections for truth before good reveals itself. They shine forth together with that good; but until then they are taken out of store in the measure that they can contribute to some useful purpose in life. Such is the nature of the Lord's providential care, indeed His constant care, though a person may know nothing at all about it and does not even have a wish to know. For he refuses to recognize the existence of providence in every detail of life, when in fact it exists in the smallest details of all from the earliest stage of a person's life through to the last, and for evermore after that. The streams of providence coming together at any one point in each person's life are more than any conceivable number. This I know from heaven.
Arcana Coelestia #10773
10773. EXODUS CHAPTER 38.
TEACHINGS ABOUT CHARITY AND FAITH
The word that is used to describe the Lord's governing of things in heaven and on earth is Providence; and since everything good that is an aspect of love and every truth that composes faith originates in Him, and none of it whatever in any human being, it is evident that the Lord's Divine Providence is present within every single thing that contributes to the salvation of the human race. This the Lord teaches in the following manner in John,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. John 14:6.
And elsewhere,
As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, [neither] can you unless you abide in Me. Apart from Me you cannot do anything. John 15:4-5.
