In the Christmas story, the wise men bring gifts to the Lord: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The gold is listed first, because it is the inmost - signifying good, e.g. the good that we do when we love the Lord and the neighbor.

The frankincense is next. It signifies rational truth, which is the set of true ideas that we know, not about external things like cars or cooking, but about what is really good, and what is really true.

These rational truths are built on earlier knowledges that we learn, before we have really made them our own. Those early knowledges about spiritual things - often learned in childhood - are represented by the myrrh.

In a way, these gifts are really a reciprocation. We can't actually give them to the Lord until the Lord has given them to us. We necessarily start out by learning and doing the Lord's law (myrrh). The Lord can then call up those memories to become rational truths (frankincense). Then, over time, and with effort, those truths can be transformed into good (gold). The wise men from the East had gone through this process of learning and becoming vessels that could receive truths and goods. They were able to perceive the Lord's birth, and find him, and bring gifts to him.

2349. 'All the people from furthest away' means every single one of them. This is clear from what is said immediately above, that there 'boys and old men' means falsities and evils, recent as well as confirmed, so that at this point 'people from furthest away' means every single one of them. Also, the word 'people' in general means falsities, see 1259, 1260.

[2] The description at this point then is of the initial state of those inside the Church who are opposed to the good of charity and who are as a consequence opposed to the Lord, for one entails the other. Indeed nobody can be joined to the Lord except by means of love and charity. Love is spiritual conjunction itself, as may become clear from the essence of love, and anybody who is unable to be joined to Him is unable to acknowledge Him either. That those with whom good does not exist cannot acknowledge the Lord, that is, cannot have faith in Him, is clear in John,

Light has come into the world, but men preferred darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. He who performs evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. He however who does the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be clearly seen, because they have been wrought in God. John 3:19-21.

From these words it is evident that people who are opposed to the good of charity are opposed to the Lord, or what amounts to the same, people immersed in evil hate the light and do not come to the light. That 'the light' is faith in the Lord, and is the Lord Himself, is evident in John 1:9-10; 12:35-36, 46.

[3] The same point is made in another part of the same gospel,

The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. John 7:7.

And it is said more plainly still in Matthew,

He will say to those On His left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed; for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me. Truly I say to you, Insofar as you did not do it to one of the least of these you did not do it to Me. Matthew 25:41-43, 45.

[4] This shows in what way they are opposed to the Lord who are opposed to the good of charity. It also shows that everyone is judged according to good that flows from charity, not according to the truth of faith when the latter has been separated from good, as is also shown elsewhere in Matthew,

The Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father together with His angels, and at that time He will repay everyone according to his deeds. Matthew 16:27.

'Deeds' stands for the good actions which flow from charity. The deeds of charity are also called the fruits of faith.