The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine #173
173. XIII. REGENERATION.
He who does not receive spiritual life, that is, who is not begotten anew by the Lord, cannot come into heaven; which the Lord teaches in John:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except anyone be begotten again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (3:3).
Arcana Coelestia #1297
1297. 'And let us burn them thoroughly' means the evils that stem from self-love. This is clear from the meaning of 'to burn, a burning, fire, sulphur, and bitumen' in the Word, where they have reference to evil desires, chiefly to those that belong to self-love, as in Isaiah,
Our holy house, and our splendour, where our fathers praised You, has been made into a blaze of fire, and all our pleasant places have been made into a waste. Isaiah 64:11.
In the same prophet,
Conceive chaff, bring forth stubble. Your wind is a fire that will consume you. Thus the peoples will be burnings of lime; [like] thorns cut down they will be burned in the fire. Isaiah 33:11-12.
And there are many other examples besides these. 'Burning' and 'fire' have reference to evil desires because they possess similar characteristics.
