9154. 'The master of the house shall be brought to God' means enquiring of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'being brought to God' as being brought forward for enquiry to be made, dealt with below in 9160; and from the meaning of 'the master of the house' as good which is enquired of. The reason why 'the master of the house' means good is that the subject is truths and factual knowledge that have been taken away from the memory, meant by 'the silver and the vessels which were delivered to someone for safe keeping but were taken away by theft', 9149, 9150. Since those truths and factual knowledge belong to good and exist in good 'the master of the house', to whom the objects belong and with whom they reside, means good. Good is called 'the master' because truths and factual knowledge belong to good as their master, and good is also called 'the house' because truths and factual knowledge exist within good as their house. For the meaning of 'the house' as good, and the fact that truths reside in that house, see 3652, where the Lord's words in Matthew are explained,

Let him who is on the roof of the house not go down to take anything out of the house. Matthew 24:17.

[2] The implications of this - that good should be enquired of regarding truths and factual knowledge that have been taken away from the memory - are that the good present with a person is that which receives all truths into itself. For good receives its specific quality from truths; and in the measure that truths have good within them and also around them they have life. This is like a fibre or like a vessel in a living creature. In the measure that the fibre has spirit ¹ in it and in the measure that the vessel has blood in it they have life; and a blood vessel likewise has life in the measure that it has around itself fibres with spirit in them. A similar situation exists with truth and good. Truth without good is like a fibre without spirit, and like a vein or an artery without blood, the nature of which anyone can see, namely something devoid of life and so devoid of any use within a living creature. The situation is similar when faith is devoid of charity. Since good receives its specific quality from truths, as has been stated, good also receives its form from them; for where there is form, specific quality is present, and where there is no form no specific quality is present. Again it is like the situation with spirit and blood in a living creature. Spirit is circumscribed by its fibres and so receives form through them, while blood receives form through its vessels. From all this it is evident that truth without good has no life in it, and that good without truth possesses no specific quality, consequently that faith without charity is not faith that is alive. By faith here faith composed of truth is meant, and by charity life consisting of good.

[3] All this shows how to understand the explanation that if truths and factual knowledge have been taken away, enquiry should be made of good. That is to say, it shows that when a person is governed by good, that is, by an affection for doing good, he recollects all the truths that have entered into good, but when he turns away from good the truths disappear, for falsity arising from evil is that which takes them away as if by theft. But truths that have disappeared are recollected once again when a person comes back to an affection for good or for truth through the life he leads. Anyone who stops to reflect can recognize the truth of this from his own experience and from what takes place with others. All this makes plain what is meant by enquiring of good regarding truths and factual knowledge that have been taken away from a person's memory or mind.

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3652. The internal sense of these words is as follows:

When therefore you see the abomination of desolation means when the Church has undergone vastation, which is the situation when the Lord is acknowledged no longer, and therefore when there is no love of Him nor any belief in Him; also when there is no longer any charity towards the neighbour nor consequently any belief in what is good and true. When these conditions exist in the Church, or rather in the area where the Word is, that is to say, in the thoughts of the heart though not in the doctrine on the lips, it is a case of desolation, and the circumstances that have just been mentioned constitute 'the abomination of that desolation'. Consequently 'when you see the abomination of desolation' means when anyone witnesses such conditions. And what he is to do when he does witness them follows in verses 16-18.

[2] Spoken of by the prophet Daniel means, in the internal sense, spoken of by the Prophets, for when any prophet is mentioned by name in the Word it is not simply that prophet who is meant but the whole prophetical part of the Word, the reason being that names do not ever come through into heaven, 1876, 1888. Even so, one prophet does not have the same meaning as another. For what Moses, Elijah and Elisha mean, see the Preface to Chapter 18, and 2762. By 'Daniel' however is meant every prophetical statement concerning the Lord's coming and the state of the Church, in this case its final state. Much reference is made in the Prophets to vastation, and by the reference to it here in Daniel is meant in the sense of the letter the vastation of the Jewish and Israelitish Church, but in the internal sense the vastation of the Church in general, and thus also the vastation of it which is now at hand.

[3] Standing in the holy place means a vastation involving everything that forms part of what is good and true. 'The holy place' is a state of love and faith, for by 'a place' in the internal sense is meant a state, see 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387. The 'holy' element of that state consists in the good of love and in the truth of faith grounded in this. Nothing else is meant in the Word by the expression 'holy', for goodness and truth originate in the Lord, who is Holiness itself or the Sanctuary.

Let him who is reading this take note means that these matters are to be thoroughly understood by those within the Church, especially by those who have love and faith, to whom the present words refer.

[4] Then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains means that members of the Church are to fix their attention solely on the Lord and so on love to Him and on charity towards the neighbour. For 'Judea' means the Church, as will be shown below, while 'a mountain' means the Lord Himself but 'the mountains' love to Him and charity towards the neighbour, see 795, 796, 1430, 2722. According to the sense of the letter when Jerusalem was besieged, as was done by the Romans, they were not to resort to that city but to go onto the mountains, according to the following in Luke,

When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its devastation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee onto the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of it ¹ depart, but those who are out in the country let them not enter it. Luke 21:20-21.

[5] The same applies to this reference to Jerusalem; that is to say, in the sense of the letter it is the city of Jerusalem that is meant, but in the internal sense the Lord's Church, see 402, 2117. For every single thing mentioned in the Word concerning the Jewish and Israelitish people is representative of the Lord's kingdom in heaven and of the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the Church, as has been shown often. Consequently nowhere in the internal sense is 'Jerusalem' used to mean Jerusalem, or 'Judea' to mean Judea. But every single thing so mentioned was such that by means of it the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom were able to be represented. It was for the sake of what they represented that the events which have been recorded took place. Thus the Word was able to be written in such a way that it lay both within the mental grasp of people reading it, and within the understanding of angels who were present with them. This was also the reason why the Lord spoke in a similar way. Indeed if He had spoken in any other way it would not have come within the mental grasp of those reading it, especially at that time, nor simultaneously within the angels' power of understanding. Thus it would not have been accepted by man, nor understood by angels.

[6] Let him who is on the roof of the house not go down to take anything out of his house means that those in whom the good of charity is present should not therefore resort to matters of doctrine concerning faith. 'The roof of the house' in the Word means a person's higher state, and so his state as regards good, whereas what is below means a person's lower state, and so his state as regards truth. For what 'house' is, see 710, 1708, 2233, 2331, 3142, 3538. With regard to the state of a member of the Church, while he is undergoing regeneration he is at that time learning truth for the sake of good; for he possesses an affection for truth for the sake of that good. But once he has been regenerated truth and good are the basis of his actions. Once he has reached this state he ought not to go back to the previous state, for if he did he would then reason from truth about the good which is present with him and in so doing would pervert his present state. For all reasoning does and must come to an end when a person's state is one in which he wills what is true and good, for in that case the will and therefore conscience are the source of his thought and action, and not the understanding, as it had been previously. If he went back to the understanding as the source of his thought and action he would encounter temptations in which he would go under. These are the considerations meant by the statement 'let him who is on the roof of the house not go down to take anything out of his house'.

[7] And let him who is in the field not turn back to get his clothing (or tunic) means that neither should those in whom good that resides in truth is present forsake such good and resort to doctrine concerning truth. 'The field' in the Word means this state of man as regards good; for what 'field' means, see 368, 2971, 3196, 3310, 3317, 3500, 3508. And 'clothing' or tunic means that which clothes good, namely doctrine concerning truth, such being like clothing for good; for 'clothing' has that meaning, see 297, 1073, 2576, 3301. Anyone may see that deeper things lie concealed in these words than are visible in the letter; for the Lord Himself spoke them.

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