8858. A person's whole character is determined by the nature of whatever dominates his life; this is what marks him off from others. His heaven is formed in accordance with it if he is good, or his hell if he is bad. For it constitutes his true will and so the true being of his life, which is unchangeable after death. From all this one may see what the life is like in a person who has been regenerated, and what it is like in one who has not been regenerated.

9286. 'Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year' means enduring worship of the Lord and thanksgiving on account of deliverance from damnation. This is clear from the meaning of 'keeping a feast' or 'holding a feast' as worshipping the Lord with gladness of mind on account of deliverance from damnation, dealt with in 7093; and from the meaning of 'three times in the year' as a state complete right to its end, for 'three' means complete from the beginning to the end, 2788, 4495, 7715, 9198, and 'year' a whole period, 2906, 7839, 8070. At this point therefore complete and whole deliverance is meant; for 'the feast of unleavened bread' means purification from falsities, 'the feast of harvest' means the planting of truth in good, and 'the feast of ingathering' means the implanting of good from there. Thus complete deliverance from damnation is meant by these feasts; for when a person has been purified from falsities, and after this has been brought by means of truths into good, and is at length governed by good, he is in heaven with the Lord and has accordingly undergone complete deliverance.

[2] The consecutive stages of deliverance from damnation are like the consecutive stages of regeneration; for regeneration is deliverance by the Lord from hell and being led by Him into heaven. For a person who is being regenerated is first purified from falsities, after that the truths of faith he knows are planted in the good of charity, and finally that good itself is implanted in him. When all this has been done the person has been regenerated and he is then in heaven with the Lord. Therefore the three feasts in the year also meant worship of the Lord and thanksgiving on account of regeneration. Because these feasts were established on account of the everlasting remembrance of those things, the worship and thanksgiving are called enduring; for the most important things in worship should endure forever. The things which should endure forever are those which have been inscribed not only on the memory but also on the actual life that is led. When this is so they are said to reign universally with a person, see 5949, 6159, 6571, 8853-8858, 8865.

3058. The reason 'drawing water' means instruction and also consequent enlightenment, as in later verses of this chapter, is that 'water in the internal sense means the truths of faith, 2702. Thus 'drawing water' is nothing else than receiving instruction in the truths of faith and so being enlightened, as is also the meaning elsewhere in the Word, as in Isaiah,

With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation, and [you will say] or that day, Confess Jehovah. Isaiah 12:3-4.

'Drawing water' stands for receiving instruction, having intelligence, and being wise. In the same prophet,

To the thirsty bring water, O inhabitants of the land of Tema. Isaiah 21:14.

'Bringing water to the thirsty' stands for giving instruction. In the same prophet,

The wretched and the needy are seeking water, and there is none; their tongue is parched with thirst. Isaiah 41:17.

'Those seeking water' stands for those desiring instruction in truths, 'and there is none' stands for the fact that nobody had any. In addition 'drawers of water' in the Jewish Church represented those who constantly seek to know truths but to no other end than just knowing them, and who consequently pay no attention to their purpose. Such persons were rated among the lowest of all. The Gibeonites mentioned in Joshua 9:21, 23, 27, represented them.