209. For thou hast some power, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name, signifies that they have power from the Lord against evils and falsities, in the measure in which they make truths from the Word to be of the life, and acknowledge the Divine of the Lord in His Human. This is evident from the signification of "having power," as being power from the Lord against evils and falsities; and as those who are in faith from charity are treated of, it is said that they "have some power" (of which presently). It is evident also from the signification of "to keep My word," as being to make truths from the Word to be of the life; for to keep truths or commandments means not only to know and perceive them but also to will and do them, that is to keep them; and those who will and do, make the truths that they know and perceive from the Word to be of their life (See also above n. 15). It is evident also from the signification of "not denying My name," as being to acknowledge the Divine of the Lord in His Human (See above, n. 135).

[2] It should be known that there are two principal things of the church, namely, the acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine in His Human, and making the truths from the Word to be of one's life; moreover, no one can be in the one of these unless he is at the same time in the other; for all truths that are made to be of the life are from the Lord, and this is done with those who acknowledge the Divine in His Human. For the Lord flows in with all, as well in the heavens as on the earth, from His Divine Human, and not from the Divine separately. Consequently those who in their thought separate the Divine of the Lord from His Human, and look to the Divine of the Father not as in the Human but as beside it or above it, thus separated from it, receive no influx from the Lord nor thus from heaven, for all who are in the heavens acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human (See concerning this in the work on Heaven and Hell 2-12, 59-72, 78-86. From this it is clear that all truths that are made of the life are from the Lord with those who acknowledge the Divine in His Human, that is the Divine Human. Truths become of the life when man loves them, thus when he wills them and does them, for he who loves, wills and does; in a word, truths are made of the life when man from affection lives according to them. Such truths are from the Lord because the Lord flows into the love with man, and through the love into truths and thus makes them to be of the life.

[3] Something shall now be said about the power that man has from the Lord against evils and falsities. All power that angels have and also that men have is from the Lord; and the measure in which they receive the Lord is the measure of their power. He who believes that any power against evils and falsities comes from what is man's own [proprium] is greatly mistaken; for it is evil spirits, conjoined to the hells, that induce evils and falsities thence with men, and these spirits are numerous, and each one of them is conjoined to many hells, in each of which also there are many spirits, and no one except the Lord can turn these away from man, for the Lord alone has power over the hells, and man has no power at all from himself or from what is his own [proprium]; therefore man has power to the extent that he is conjoined to the Lord by love. There are two loves that reign in the heavens and constitute the heavens, namely, love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; love to the Lord is called celestial love, and love toward the neighbor is called spiritual love. Those who are in celestial love have much power, but those who are in spiritual love have some power; and because what is written to the angel of this church, treats of those who are in love towards the neighbor, or in charity and in faith therefrom, which love is spiritual love, it is said, "Thou hast some power."

[4] But it is to be noted, that all the power that angels and men have from the Lord is from the good of love; and since the good of love does not act from itself but through truths, therefore all power is from the good of love through truths, and with those who are spiritual, from the good of charity through the truths of faith. For good takes on a quality through truths, good without truths having no quality and where there is no quality there is neither force nor power. From this it is clear, that good has all power through truths, or charity through faith, and neither charity apart from faith nor faith apart from charity has any power. This is meant also by the keys given to Peter, for "Peter" there means, in the spiritual sense, truth from good which is from the Lord, thus faith from charity; and the "keys" given to him the power over evil and falsities. These things were said to Peter when he acknowledged the Divine of the Lord in His Human; which means, that those have power who acknowledge the Divine of the Lord in His Human, and from Him are in the good of charity, and in the truths of faith. That these things were said to Peter when he acknowledged the Lord is shown in Matthew:

Jesus said to the disciples, Who say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering said unto him, Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah; for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but My Father who is in the heavens. But I also say unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of the hells shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:15-19).

(But of Peter and his keys, see what is said above, n. 9; also what is shown in The small work on The Last Judgment 57, and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 122; and that truth has all power from good, which is from the Lord, in the work on Heaven and Hell 228-233, 539, and Arcana Coelestia 3091, 3387, 3563, 4592, 4933, 6344, 6423, 7518, 7673, 8281, 8304, 9133, 9327, 9410, 10019, 10182).

10367. 'And on the seventh day there is the sabbath of rest' means the state of good that has been the end in view, thus the state when a person becomes an embodiment of the Church and enters heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'the seventh day' as the state of good that has been the end in view; for since the six days which come before mean the person's state which comes before and is preparatory to the heavenly marriage, the seventh day means when that marriage actually exists within the person. That marriage is the joining together of the truth and good residing with the person, thus when the person becomes an embodiment of the Church and enters heaven. The reason why a person enters heaven and becomes an embodiment of the Church when governed by good is that the Lord flows into the good residing with a person, and through the good into his truth. He flows into the internal man, where heaven within that person exists, and through the internal into the external, where the world within that person exists. Therefore unless the person is governed by good his internal man is not opened but remains closed, no matter how many truths he knows on a doctrinal level. And since heaven exists within his internal man the person is in heaven when that internal man is opened; for heaven does not exist in some place but within a person's interiors. The human being has been created to conform to an image of heaven and of the world, his internal man to conform to the image of heaven and the external man to conform to the image of the world, see in the places referred to in 9279, [and what has been stated in] 9706.

[2] Anyone who stops to reflect on the matter may see that the essential nature of a person's good, not his truth without that good, makes him altogether what he is. For it is by means of his good and in accord with it that he collaborates with another, is in sympathy with another, links himself to another, and lets himself be led by another, and not by means of and in accord with his truth unless this is in agreement with his good. When the word 'good' is used here the person's delight, pleasure, or love should be understood, for everything that forms part of these constitutes his good; and so far as he is left to think for himself ideas favourable to that good are thought by him to be truths. From all this it becomes clear that a person is joined to the Lord by means of good, and not at all by means of truth without good.

[3] Being joined to the Lord by means of good has, it is true, been dealt with often before, wherever a person's regeneration has been the subject. But since people in the Church at the present day concentrate much on the truths belonging to faith and little on the good belonging to love, and are consequently ignorant of what good is, let a further statement be made about the joining together of goodness and truth, which is called the heavenly marriage. A person is born into evils of every kind and consequently into falsities of every kind, so that left to himself he is condemned to hell. Therefore to be delivered from hell he must be entirely born again, born of the Lord; and that rebirth is what is called regeneration. In order that he may therefore be reborn he must first learn truths; those who belong to the Church must learn them from the Word, or from teachings drawn from the Word. The Word and teachings drawn from the Word show what truth and good are, and truth and good show what evil and falsity are. Unless a person knows these things he cannot possibly be regenerated; for he remains immersed in his evils and consequent falsities, calling those evils forms of good and these falsities truths.

[4] This explains why cognitions or knowledge of truth and good must come first and enlighten a person's understanding. A person's understanding has been given to him in order that it may be enlightened with cognitions of goodness and truth, the end in view being that they may be received by his will and converted into good. For truths are converted into good when the person wills them, and in willing them does them. From this it is evident how the good present with a person is formed, and that unless good is present in a person he is not born anew or regenerated. When therefore a person's will consists of good his understanding consists of truths wedded to that good. The person's understanding truly acts in unison with his will; for what the person wills, that he thinks when left to himself. So this is what is called the joining together of truth and good or the heavenly marriage. Whether you say willing good or loving good it amounts to the same thing; for what a person loves, that he wills. At the same time, whether you say understanding truth wedded to good or believing it, this likewise amounts to the same thing. From this it follows that in the case of a person who has been regenerated love and faith act in unison. This joining together or marriage of them is what is called the Church and heaven, also the Lord's kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord as He exists with a person.

[5] But people who love their evils, whether those which they have acquired by heredity and since early childhood made stronger within themselves, or those which they have added for themselves and become the first to steep themselves in, can indeed grasp and have some understanding of truths obtained from the Word or from teachings drawn from the Word; nevertheless they cannot be regenerated. For every person's power of understanding is maintained by the Lord in a condition such as this, to the end that he may be regenerated. But when someone loves his evils the power of understanding in his internal man is not endowed with those truths, only the power of understanding in his external man; and this is no more than a knowledge of them. Such people do not know what good is; nor are they concerned to know what it is, only what truth is. As a result they think that the Church and heaven consist in truths, which are called matters of faith, and not in good deeds, which are matters of life. They also explain the Word in various ways in support of their own basic assumptions. Consequently with people such as these whose lives are not at the same time governed by the truths they know, no joining together of truth and good exists, nor therefore the Church and heaven. In the next life furthermore the truths which they have called matters of faith are separated from them; for evil in the will casts them out, and their place is taken by falsities in keeping with the evils they are steeped in.

[6] From all this it may now be recognized what the joining together of goodness and truth, meant by 'the sabbath', is. This joining together is called the sabbath on account of the rest it brings, for the sabbath consists in rest. During the first state, that is, while being led by truths towards good, a person is engaged in conflicts against the evils and falsities present with him. By means of these conflicts, which are temptations, evils and accompanying falsities are dispelled and separated, from which there is no rest until goodness and truth have been joined together. At this point the person has rest, and so does the Lord, for the person does not fight against the evils and falsities, but the Lord residing with Him.

[7] The reason why in the highest sense 'the sabbath' means the Lord's Divine Human is that when the Lord was in the world, from His Human He fought against and overcame all the hells, and at the same time restored the heavens to order, after which labours He united His Human to the Divine, making it Divine Good as well. Consequently at this point He had rest, for the hells cannot lift a finger against Divine Good. This now explains why in the highest sense 'the sabbath' serves to mean the Lord's Divine Human.

[8] But see what has been shown already on these matters,

When the Lord was in the world His Human was first made Divine Truth by Him, to the end that He might go into battle against the hells and overcome them; and afterwards His Human was glorified and made the Divine Good of Divine Love by Him, in the places referred to in 9199, 9315, and also what is stated in 9715, 9809. When in the world the Lord underwent the severest temptations, in the places referred to in 9528(end).

As a result He possesses the Divine Power to save a person, by removing the hells from him and in that way regenerating him, 10019, 10152.

Regarding the two states of a person who is being regenerated by the Lord, in the places referred to in 9274.

A person does not go into heaven until the joining together of truth and good has been accomplished with him, 8516, 8539, 8722, 8772, 9139, 9832.

A person's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688.