9371. THE INTERNAL SENSE.

Verses 1-2. And He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and bow yourselves afar off; and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah; and they shall not come near; and the people shall not come up with him. “And He said unto Moses,” signifies that which concerns the Word in general; “come up unto Jehovah,” signifies conjunction with the Lord; “thou and Aaron,” signifies the Word in the internal sense and the external sense; “Nadab and Abihu,” signifies doctrine from both senses; “and seventy of the elders of Israel,” signifies the chief truths of the church which are of the Word, or of doctrine, and which agree with good; “and bow yourselves afar off,” signifies humiliation and adoration from the heart, and then the influx of the Lord; “and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah,” signifies the conjunction and presence of the Lord through the Word in general; “and they shall not come near,” signifies no separate conjunction and presence; “and the people shall not come up with him,” signifies no conjunction whatever with the external apart from the internal.

8806. And sanctified the people. That this signifies the veiling over of the interiors that they may appear to be in the holiness of faith, is evident from what was unfolded above (n. 8788); but it was there set forth what was the sanctification with the Israelitish people, namely, that it was a veiling over of the interiors, so that as to their externals they might appear to be in what was holy when they were in representative worship; and that unless their interiors had then been veiled over, they would not only have defiled the holiness of worship by foul thoughts and evil affections, but would also have totally destroyed it, so that nothing celestial and spiritual which was represented in the external things would have been perceived therefrom in heaven.

[2] But as by “the sons of Israel” are here meant those who are of the spiritual church, it shall be briefly told what is meant by “sanctification” with these. They who are of the spiritual church and live a life of truth and from this a life of good, are withheld from evils and are kept in good by the Lord. The good which is from the Lord is holy with them. Consequently insofar as they receive good from the Lord, so far they are holy; and they receive so much of good from the Lord, that is, are so far holy, as they live a life of good according to the genuine truths of faith, and at the same time believe that all the good which they then think and do is from the Lord. Then, too, evils with them are separated so as not to appear at all, especially those which they have derived hereditarily from parents, and which are filthy, because they have been successively accumulated with the parents for many ages back, and thus amassed in the offspring. These are the interiors which with those who are of the spiritual church are hid away and as it were veiled over (n. 966, 1667, 2307, 2308, 3701, 4317, 8550). Hence it is that all the will they possess hereditarily is destroyed. For this cause a new will is formed with them in the intellectual part by means of truths of faith from the Lord. This is the reason why, when they are being regenerated, they are led by means of truths to good; and afterward when they have been regenerated, from good into the truths of good. Hence it is evident how a new will is created in them by the Lord. (That this is formed in the intellectual part with those who are of the spiritual church, see n. 863, 875, 895, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113, 6125)

10112. 'And a stranger shall not eat them' means no making of good their own by those who do not acknowledge the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'a stranger' or a foreigner as one who is outside the Church, dealt with in 2049, 2115, 7996, and they are said to be outside the Church who do not acknowledge the Lord (among the Jewish nation those who did not acknowledge Jehovah as their God or allow themselves to receive instruction in the ritual observances of the Church [were called 'outsiders']; those who did acknowledge Him and allow themselves to receive instruction were called 'sojourners', who had the same rights as natives, see 8007, 8013, 9196); and from the meaning of 'eating' as making good one's own, dealt with in 10109. The reason why good is not made their own by people who do not acknowledge the Lord is that acknowledging one's God is the starting point of religion, and among Christians acknowledging the Lord is the starting point of the Church; for without acknowledgement of Him there can be no transmission of anything from Him, nor consequently any faith, nor thus any love. So it is that the chief thing the Christian Church teaches is that without the Lord there is no salvation. For whatever a person calls true and believes and whatever he calls good and loves cannot be said to be true or good unless it comes from the Divine, and so unless it comes from the Lord. For no one left to himself is able to believe what is true or do what is good; rather, as is also well known, everything true and everything good comes from above. From this it is plainly evident that people within the Church who do not acknowledge the Lord cannot possess faith, nor thus any love to God, and therefore cannot be saved. This was represented among the Israelite nation by their acknowledgement of Jehovah as their God, by the acceptance of their worship and its being called holy, and by their being sanctified then, regardless of what they were like inwardly. For things of a representative nature were no more than outward forms, and with that nation an interest in these alone was sufficient, see the places referred to in 9320(end). Those of them therefore who did not acknowledge Jehovah but some other God, however much they offered the same kinds of sacrifice and worshipped in the same kinds of ways, were nevertheless banished from the Church, such as those who honoured baal and other gods. From this it may be recognized what kind of fate in the next life awaits those who have been born within the Church and yet at heart fail to accept the Lord, whatever the ways in which they have behaved towards others. Much experience as well has led me to see that they cannot be saved, as also the Lord teaches explicitly in John,

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. John 3:36.

As regards nations outside the Church however, those who, true to their religion, have led lives in which some kind of charity towards their neighbour has figured, and some kind of love to God the Creator of the universe in a human form, are accepted in the next life by the Lord and saved. For after receiving instruction from angels they acknowledge the Lord, believe in Him, and love Him, see 2589-2604.