10133. 'A continual [offering]' means within all Divine worship. This is clear from the meaning of 'continual', when it refers to such things as belong to Divine worship, as all and within all. For the subject is purification from evils and falsities by means of the good of innocence, this good being meant by 'lambs' and purification from evils and consequent falsities by a burnt offering of them. This is called 'continual' because it must be present in all Divine worship. Therefore also the offering was presented twice each day, in the morning and in the evening; and offerings made morning and evening served in general to represent all worship and what must be present within all worship. The good of innocence must be in all good, and consequently in all truth, if they are to be goodness and truth that have life from the Divine within them, and so it must be within all worship. For all worship, to be worship, must spring from the good of love and from the truths of faith.

All of the Church's and of heaven's good has innocence within it, and without that innocence good is not good, nor therefore is worship worship, see 2736, 2780, 6013, 7840, 7887, 9262.

What innocence is, 3994, 4001, 4797, 5236, 6107, 6765, 7902, 9262, 9936, and the places referred to in 10021 (end).

[2] 'Continual' means all and within all - that is to say, the all of worship, and within all worship - because it is a term that has a temporal connotation and in heaven, where the Word is understood not in the natural but in the spiritual sense, people have no notions of time. Instead of periods of time they perceive the kinds of things that are states. By 'continual' at this point therefore they perceive a perpetual state within worship, thus the all of worship and within all worship. The same applies to all other terms in the Word which have temporal connotations, such as yesterday, today, tomorrow, two days, three days, daily, a week, a month, a year, also times of day and seasons of the year - morning, midday, evening, night, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Therefore if the spiritual sense of the Word is to be understood, any idea of a period of time acquired from its natural sense, any idea of a place as well, indeed any idea of an actual person must be set aside, and states of things must be conceived of instead. From this it may be seen how perfect the Word is in its internal sense, and so how perfect is the perception of it by the angels in heaven, consequently how much more excellent angels' wisdom and understanding are than the understanding and wisdom of people in the world, who think with solely natural vision focused on the completely finite things of this world and planet. Regarding periods of time in heaven, that they are states, see 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, 3404, 3827, 4814, 4882, 4901, 4916, 6110, 7218, 7381, 8070; and regarding what states are, 4850.

[3] From all this it is evident what the continual burnt offering of lambs means, and so what 'continual' and 'continually' mean elsewhere, as in the commands that 'the fire shall burn continually on the altar', Leviticus 6:13, and that 'the continual bread shall be on the table', Numbers 4:7. 'The fire' there and 'the bread' mean the good of love received from the Lord and offered back to Him. For 'the fire', that it has this meaning, see 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 7852, 10055; and also for 'the bread', 2165, 2177, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 9323, 9545. In those places as well 'continual' means in addition that this good must be present in all worship; and the fact that the same good is the source from which the truth of faith must shine, as if from its fire, is meant by the decree that they were to cause a lamp to go up ¹ continually, Exodus 27:20, 'a lamp' being the truth and good of faith, see 9548, 9783.

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5893. 'There have been two years of famine in the midst of the land' means states ¹ when there is a lack of good in the natural mind. This is clear from the meaning of 'years' as states, dealt with in 487, 488, 493, 893; from the meaning of 'famine' as a lack of good (for 'bread' in the spiritual sense is the good of love, and 'food' is the good of truth, so that 'famine' or 'hunger' is a lack of good, while 'thirst' is a lack of truth); and from the meaning of 'in the midst of the land' - the land of Egypt - as the natural mind, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301. The expression 'in the midst' is used because the midst or middle is the inmost part, 1074, 2940, 2973. Where good resides. 'Two years' are states when good and truth exist joined together, since 'two' means a joining together, 5194; but in the present use of the expression a joining together that has not yet been effected is meant since they are 'two years of famine'.

[2] The implications of this are as follows: Truths must be present in the natural mind if good is to do its work, and those truths must be brought into it through an affection belonging to genuine love. Everything without exception in a person's memory has been brought into it through some love, and having become joined to that love remains in the memory. This also applies to the truths of faith; if they have been brought in through a love of truth, those truths become joined to and remain there with that love. Once they have become joined to it the following is then the situation: If the affection is evoked again, the truths that have been joined to it reappear at the same time; and if the truths are evoked again, the affection to which they have been joined reappears at the same time. This being so, when a person is being regenerated - which happens in adult life because he is unable before this to think for himself about the truths of faith - he is governed by angels sent by the Lord. They govern him by maintaining in him the truths which he has become convinced are truths, and by maintaining in him through those truths the affection to which they have been joined. And because that affection - an affection for truth - has its origin in good, he is then led step by step towards good.

[3] A considerable amount of experience has proved the truth of this to me. For I have noticed that when evil spirits have thrust evils and falsities at me, the angels from the Lord present at the time have maintained in me the truths implanted in me previously and have thereby withheld me from those evils and falsities. From this it has also been evident that the truths of faith which, through an affection for truth, have become rooted in me serve as a level into which angels can operate, so that people who do not have this level laid down in them cannot be led by angels but allow themselves to be led by hell. For without it the operation of the angels cannot become established anywhere and so passes away from them. That level for angels to operate into cannot however be acquired unless the truths of faith have been put into service and thus have been implanted in the person's will and through this in his life. It is also worth mentioning that when the operation of the angels into the truths of faith present with a person takes place, it is rarely plain to see, that is to say, so plain that thought about the truth operated into is aroused. Rather, a general notion of things in keeping with that truth, and the affection that goes with it, is produced. For that operation by the angels is effected by means of an imperceptible inflowing which, when a visual presentation of it is made, looks like an inflowing beam of light. That light is made up of countless truths present within good which focus on one particular truth known by a person and which, while they sustain the truth in him, also sustain the love that belongs to that truth. This is the way the angels raise a person's mind above falsities and protect it from evils. Yet the person is totally unaware of any of this.

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