6645. And Joseph died. That this signifies that the case would now be different with the internal of the church, is evident from the signification of “dying,” as being the end of a former state and the beginning of a new one, thus that the state of the church would now be different (that “to die” denotes to cease to be such, see n. 494, 6587, 6593, and that it denotes the end of a former representation, n. 3253, 3259, 3276, 6302); and from the representation of Joseph, as being the internal (n. 6177, 6224). The state of the church as it now is, is described in what follows in the internal sense; also the state of its external, which is signified by “his brethren died, and all that generation.”

[2] The case with the church in man is that it successively undergoes new states; for as man is strengthened in the truth of faith and the good of charity, so he is introduced into other states, the former state then serving as a plane for the following state, and so on continually. Thus the man who is a church, or who is being regenerated, is continually led toward more interior things, thus more interiorly into heaven. That it is so done is because the Lord from love, which is infinite because Divine, wills to draw man even to Himself, and so to bless him with all glory and happiness, as also is very evident from the Lord’s words in John:

I pray that they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us. The glory which Thou hast given Me I have given them, that they may be one even as We are one; I in them and Thou in Me. Father, I will that they whom Thou hast given Me be also with Me where I am; that they may see My glory which Thou hast given Me; for I have made known unto them Thy name, and I will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:21-24, 26).

[3] That these are words of Divine love toward all who receive, is very evident, and may be further evident from the fact that the Lord appears in the other life as a sun, and from it fills the universal heaven with heat and light. The flame of this sun is nothing else than the Divine love, and the light from it is the holy of love, which is the Divine truth. From this can be seen how great the Lord’s love is. From this then it is that they who are of the church are successively brought into new states, and thus continually more interiorly into heaven, consequently nearer to the Lord.