7038. 'And let him serve Me' means being raised into heaven to perform useful services from there. This is clear from the meaning of 'serving Jehovah (or the Lord)' as performing useful services; and being raised into heaven, to perform useful services from there is meant by 'they shall serve Me' for the following reason: Those who belong to the spiritual Church and have been saved by the Lord's Coming are the subject, in particular those who were on the lower earth before the Lord's Coming but were later raised into heaven, 6854, 6914, and therefore came into a state in which they performed useful services. The reason why performing useful services is meant by 'serving the Lord' is that true worship consists in the performance of such services, thus in the exercise of charity. Anyone who thinks that serving the Lord consists solely in going to church regularly, listening to the preaching there, and saying his prayers, and that that is sufficient, is much mistaken. True worship of the Lord consists in performing useful services; and such services during a person's life in the world lie in a proper fulfillment of his function by each person, whatever his own position, that is, in serving his country, its communities, and his neighbour with all his heart. They also lie in honest dealings with fellow human beings and in the diligent discharge of duties, with full regard for each person's character. These useful deeds are the principal ways of exercising charity and the principal means of worshipping the Lord. Going to church regularly, listening to sermons, and saying one's prayers are also necessary; but without the useful deeds they have no value at all, for they do not constitute a person's life but teach what that life ought to be like. The angels in heaven get nothing but happiness out of being useful; and they receive it in proportion to their usefulness. So true is this that to them usefulness is what makes heaven.

[2] It is in keeping with Divine order that usefulness should determine the measure of happiness, as may be recognized from the different aspects of a person and the things they correspond to in the Grand Man, such as the external senses - sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch - which, as shown at the ends of quite a number of chapters, correspond in that way. Associated with these senses therefore are delights, which are determined completely by the functions they perform. The greatest is the sensory delight associated with conjugial love, because of the very great use it performs, for it leads to the propagation of the human race, which populates heaven. After this comes the delight linked with taste, which possesses so great a delight because it helps to nourish the body and keep it healthy, on which healthy mental activity depends. The delight linked with smell is a lesser delight because it serves merely to reinvigorate and so also help to keep a person healthy. The delight associated with hearing and that associated with sight come in last place because they only receive impressions which will be of future usefulness, and because they serve the understanding part of the mind but not so much the will part.

[3] From these and other considerations like them it becomes evident that useful services are the determining factor in the happiness imparted by the Lord in heaven, and that those services are the chief way in which the Lord is worshipped. This goes to explain why John reclined at table on the Lord's breast, and why the Lord loved him more than the rest. It was not on account of John himself, but because he represented times when charity is exercised, that is, useful services are performed. Regarding John's representation of those things, see the Prefaces to Chapters 18, 22 of Genesis, and 3974.

7038a 'And [if] you refuse to send him away' means obstinacy right to the last. This is clear from the meaning of 'refusing to send him away' as a failing to set free owing to obstinate determination, as above in 7032.

6854. 'And I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians' means that He would stoop down to them to release them from the power of false factual knowledge, which tries to destroy the truths of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming down' as stooping down, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'to deliver' as to release, for one who releases people from falsities delivers or sets them free; from the meaning of 'the hand' as the power, dealt with in 878, 3387, 3563, 4931-4937, 5544; and from the meaning of 'the Egyptians' as false factual knowledge, which is opposed to the Church's truths, dealt with in 6651, 6679, 6683, and so which tries to destroy them. As regards the Lord's coming down, the situation is that the Lord is said to come or stoop down when He comes to judgement, 1311, and also when He comes down to lower things, in this instance to those belonging to the spiritual Church, who are meant by 'the children of Israel'. For the subject in the internal sense is the way in which those people are molested by falsities, at which time they undergo temptations, and the way in which after that they are set free in order that they may be led into heaven.

[2] But the contents of the internal sense of this verse and of those that follow hold an even deeper mystery which the Church does not yet know about and which must therefore be disclosed. Those who are termed spiritual are people for whom only the understanding part of their mind, not the will part, can be regenerated. In the understanding part of their mind the Lord therefore implants a new will, a will which conforms to the teachings that compose the faith of their Church. These people, that is to say, spiritual ones such as these, were saved solely by the Lord's Coming into the world. The reason why is that the Divine passing through heaven, which was the Divine Human before the Lord's Coming, could not reach them; for to be sure the teachings of their Church were for the most part not truths, and consequently the good in their will was not good either, 6427. Since those people could be saved solely by the Lord's Coming, they could not be raised into heaven before then. They were therefore kept in the meantime on the lower earth, in places there which in the Word are called 'pits'. This lower earth was besieged on every side by the hells where there were falsities, by which they were molested greatly during that time. In spite of this however the Lord protected them. But after the Lord came into the world and made the Human within Himself Divine, He set free those who were in the pits there and raised them to heaven. From these He also formed the spiritual heaven which is the second heaven. This is what is meant by the Lord's descent into the lower parts ¹ and by His deliverance of those who had been bound.

[3] This is the even deeper mystery that is described in the internal sense of this verse and of those that follow. See what has been shown already regarding those who are spiritual,

The spiritual are in obscurity so far as the truth and good of faith are concerned, 2708, 2715, 2718, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3833, 6289.

Their obscurity is lightened by the Lord's Divine Human, 2716, 4402.

Because they are in obscurity so far as the truth and good of faith are concerned they are under strong attack from the hells; but the Lord is constantly protecting them, 6419.

Those who are spiritual cannot have the will part of their mind regenerated, only the understanding part; and there the Lord forms a new will, 863, 875, 895, 927, 918, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2156, 4328, 4493, 5113.

The spiritual were saved by the Lord's Coming into the world, 2833, 2834, 3969.

[4] Various places in the prophetical part of the Word mention 'the bound' or 'the bound in the pit' and the fact that the Lord delivered them. The bound' should be taken to mean specifically those spoken of just above, as in Isaiah,

I Jehovah have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, because I will guard you, and give you to be a covenant of the people, ² a light of the nations, to open the blind eyes, to bring the bound out of prison, out of the dungeon-house those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 42:6-7.

In the same prophet,

I have guarded you, and I have given you as covenant of the people - to restore the land; to share out the devastated inheritances; to say to the bound, Go out; to those who are in darkness, Reveal yourselves. They will feed along the ways, and on all slopes will their pasture be. Isaiah 49:8-9.

This plainly refers to the Lord. 'The bound' stands in particular for those who were held back on the lower earth until the Lord's Coming, when they were raised up to heaven, and in general for all who are governed by good, yet are held back as though bound by falsities, from which however they wish to break away.

[5] In Zechariah,

Through the blood of your covenant I will let out your bound ones from the pit. Zechariah 9:11.

In Isaiah,

They will surely be gathered together, the bound ones in the pit, and they will be shut up in the dungeon; after a multitude of days they will be visited. Isaiah 24:21.

'The bound ones in the pit' stands for the same people. And in addition to these places the same meaning can be seen from the following words in Isaiah,

Jehovah has anointed Me to bring good tidings to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the broken in heart; to preach liberty to captives, to those who are bound, to him who is blind; to proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure. Isaiah 61:1-2.

And elsewhere,

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; those dwelling in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shone out. Isaiah 9:2.

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