5249. And came unto Pharaoh. That this signifies communication with the new natural, is evident from the signification of “coming,” as here being communication by influx; and from the representation of Pharaoh, as being the new natural (see n. 5079, 5080, 5244). What the words in this verse involve is manifest from what has been unfolded, for they treat of Joseph, how he was freed from the pit and came unto Pharaoh. By Joseph in the internal sense is represented the Lord as to the celestial of the spiritual, and by Pharaoh is represented the natural or external man; by the pit in which Joseph was is represented the state of the Lord’s temptation as to the celestial of the spiritual; and by his being called from the pit by Pharaoh is signified the state of deliverance from temptations, and further, the subsequent state of influx and communication with the new natural. From this it is plain that in the internal sense is here described how the Lord made His natural new, and at last Divine.

[2] These are the things the celestial angels think when this history is being read by man; moreover, to think such things is to them most delightful, for they are in the Lord’s Divine sphere, thus as it were in the Lord, and in a perception of inmost joy when thinking of the Lord and of the salvation of the human race by the Lord’s making Divine the Human in Him; and in order that the angels might be kept in this most heavenly joy, and at the same time in wisdom, that Divine process is fully described in the internal sense of the Word, and at the same time therein the process of man’s regeneration; for the regeneration of man is an image of the Lord’s glorification (n. 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402). Some may possibly wonder what the angels converse together about, and consequently what men who become angels converse about after death; but be it known to them that it is about such things as are contained in the internal sense of the Word, namely, about the Lord’s glorification, His kingdom, the church, the regeneration of man through the good of love and the truth of faith; but they speak about these things by means of secret things that are for the most part inexpressible.

3138. These three verses treat of the preparation and enlightenment of the natural man in order that the truth might be called forth thence which was to be conjoined with good in the rational. But with preparation and enlightenment the case is as follows: There are two lights which form the intellectual things of man-the light of heaven, and the light of the world; the light of heaven is from the Lord, who to angels in the other life is a Sun and Moon (see n. 1053, 1521, 1529, 1530); the light of the world is from the sun and moon which appear before the bodily sight. The internal man has its sight and its understanding from the light of heaven; but the external man has its sight and its understanding from the light of the world. The influx of the light of heaven into the things which are of the world’s light, effects enlightenment and at the same time observance; an observance of truth if there is correspondence, and an observance of falsity instead of truth if there is not correspondence. But enlightenment and observance are impossible unless there is affection or love, which is spiritual heat, and which gives life to the things that are enlightened by the light; comparatively as the sun’s light does not give life to the things of the vegetable kingdom, but the heat that is in the light, as is evident from the seasons of the year.

[2] In the verses which next follow, the preparation is further described-namely, that the light of heaven which is the Lord’s Divine light inflowed into the things that were of the light of the world in His natural man, in order that He might bring out thence the truth which was to be conjoined with good in the rational; thus by the ordinary way. And therefore in order that the Lord might make the human Divine by the ordinary way, He came into the world; that is, it was His will to be born as a man, and to be instructed as a man, and to be reborn as a man; but with the difference that man is reborn of the Lord, whereas the Lord not only regenerated Himself, but also glorified Himself, that is, made Himself Divine; and further, that a man is made new by an influx of charity and faith, but the Lord, by the Divine love which was in Him and which was His. Hence it may be seen that the regeneration of man is an image of the glorification of the Lord; or what is the same, that in the process of the regeneration of man may be seen as in an image, although remotely, the process of the Lord’s glorification.