3721. 'And this is the gate of heavens means that which serves as the ultimate degree of order, through which there is, so to speak, a way in from the natural creation. This is clear from the meaning of 'the gate' as that through which exit or entrance is made. The reason why here that which serves as the ultimate degree of order is meant is that the subject is the natural, which 'Jacob' represents. What 'a gate' means is clear from what has been stated and shown in 2851, 3187, and the fact that the natural is the ultimate degree of order from what has been introduced in 775, 2181, 2987-3002, 3020, 3147, 3167, 3483, 3489, 3513, 3570, 3576, 3671. The reason why through that ultimate degree there is so to speak a way in from the natural creation is that man's natural mind is the place through which things of heaven, that is, which are the Lord's, flow in and come down into the natural creation; and through that same mind the things that belong to the natural creation go back up, see 3702. The fact that there is so to speak an entrance from the natural creation through the natural mind into interior parts may be seen from what has been stated and shown in various places before.

[2] It seems to man as though worldly objects enter in through his physical or external senses and affect interior things, and so that there is an entrance from the ultimate degree of order into things that are within. But this is an appearance and illusion, as is evident from the general rule that what is secondary cannot flow into what is primary, or what amounts to the same, what is lower cannot flow into what is higher, or what is also the same, what is exterior into what is interior, or what is still the same, things of the world and the natural creation into those of heaven and of the spirit. For the former are grosser, the latter purer, and the grosser things that belong to the external or natural man come into being and are kept in being from those belonging to the internal or rational man. Those grosser things are unable to have any effect on the purer things but are affected by them. The nature of this influx however, seeing that appearance and illusion itself convince people that the reverse is true, will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed separately, where influx is the subject. This then is why it is said that through the ultimate degree of order there is, so to speak, a way in from the natural creation.

2240. That 'cry' is falsity, and 'sin' evil, becomes clear from the meaning of 'cry' in the Word. The meaning of 'cry' as falsity is not seen by anyone unless he knows the internal sense of the Word. The expression occurs several times in the Prophets, and when vastation and desolation are the subject in those places it is said that men 'wail and cry out', meaning that goods and truths have been laid waste. In those places a word is used by which in the internal sense falsity is described, as in Jeremiah,

The voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wail of the powerful ones of the flock, for Jehovah is laying waste their pasture. Jeremiah 25:36.

Here 'the cry of the shepherds' means that they are subject to falsity, which leads to vastation.

[2] In the same prophet,

Behold, waters rising out of the north, they will be a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it, and men will cry out and every inhabitant of the land will wail, on the day that is coming to lay waste. Jeremiah 47:2, 4.

This refers to the desolation of faith which is effected by falsities. 'A deluging stream' is falsity, as shown in Volume One, in 705, 790.

[3] In Zephaniah,

The voice of a cry from the fish gate, and a wailing from the second quarter, and a loud crash from the hills. And their wealth will be for plunder, and their houses for desolation. Zephaniah 1:10, 13.

Here also 'a cry' has reference to falsities that lay waste.

[4] In Isaiah,

On the road to Horonaim they will raise a cry of ruination, for the waters of Nimrim will be desolations, because the grass has withered, herbage is at an end, there are no plants. Isaiah 15:5-6; Jeremiah 48:3.

Here the desolation of faith is meant, and the climax is described by 'a cry'.

[5] In Jeremiah,

Judah mourned and her gates languished; the people were in black down to the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem went up. And their illustrious ones sent their lesser ones to the waters; they came to the pits, they found no water, they returned with their vessels empty. Jeremiah 14:2-3.

Here 'the cry of Jerusalem' stands for falsities, for their finding no water means lack of cognitions of truth - 'water' meaning such cognitions, as has been shown in Volume One, in 28, 680, 739.

[6] In Isaiah,

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; and no more will there be heard in it the voice of weeping nor the voice of a cry. Isaiah 65:19.

Here 'there will not be heard the voice of weeping' means that there will be no evil, 'nor the voice of a cry' that there will be no falsity. The majority of these details cannot be understood, nor thus what is meant by 'a cry', from the sense of the letter, but from the internal sense.

[7] In the same prophet,

Jehovah looked for judgement, but behold, rottenness; for righteousness, but behold, a cry. Isaiah 5:7.

This also is referring to the vastation of good and truth. Here, as also in various places in the Prophets, a kind of reciprocity is expressed, which is such that one finds evil in place of truth, meant by 'rottenness' instead of 'judgement', and falsity in place of good, meant by 'a cry' instead of 'righteousness'; for by 'judgement' is meant truth and by 'righteousness' good, as shown above in 2235.

[8] A similar reciprocity is expressed in Moses when Sodom and Gomorrah are referred to,

From the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah their grapes; they have grapes of poison and clusters of bitterness. Deuteronomy 32:32.

Here a similar manner of expression occurs, for 'the vine' is used in reference to truths and to falsities, 'fields and grapes' to goods and to evils, so that 'the vine of Sodom' means falsity derived from evil, and 'fields and grapes of Gomorrah' evils derived from falsities. For there are two kinds of falsity, dealt with in Volume One, in 1212, and so also there are two kinds of evil. Both kinds of falsity and evil are meant in this verse by 'the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and their sin has become extremely grave', as is clear from the fact that 'cry' is mentioned first and 'sin' second, and 'Sodom', which is evil springing from self-love, is referred to first, and 'Gomorrah', which is falsity derived from that evil, is referred to second.