157. 'That thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead' signifies that by themselves and by others it seems and is believed that they are spiritually alive, when yet they are spiritually dead. By 'to have a name' is signified to seem and to be believed that they are such; here, that they are alive, when yet they are dead. For spiritual life, which is properly life, is not of worship only, but it is within worship, and within it there must be Divine truths out of the Word, and when a man lives these truths, life is in the worship. This is because the external derives its quality from internal things, and the internal things of worship are truths of life. These are they who are understood by means of these words of the Lord:
Then shall you begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord open to us, but answering He shall say, I know you not whence you are. And you shall begin to say, We have eaten in Thy presence, and have drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets; but I will say to you, I know you not whence you are; depart from Me all you workers of iniquity Luke xiii 25-27.
[2] It has been granted [me] also to hear many saying in the spiritual world that they have frequently attended Holy Communion, and thus eaten and drunk what is holy, and as often been absolved from [their] sins; that every Sabbath day they have listened to their teachers, and have said their prayers devoutly at home morning and evening; and more besides. But when the interiors of their worship have been laid open, these have appeared full of iniquities and as infernal things, and they have therefore been rejected. And when they have said, 'What is the reason for this?' they have obtained the answer that they have not cared at all about Divine truths. And yet a life not in accordance with Divine truths is not a life such as they who are in heaven have, and they who are not in the life of heaven are unable to endure the light of heaven, which is Divine Truth proceeding there from the Lord as the Sun. Still less are they able to endure the heat of heaven, which is Divine Love. But although they have heard and also understood those things, they have nevertheless said, when let back into themselves and their own worship, 'What need is there for truths, and what are truths?' Because, however, they have not been able to receive truths, they have been left to their own lusts which have been within their worship, and these at length have rejected all their worship of God from them. So the interiors accommodate the exteriors to themselves, and reject the things that do not agree with themselves; for with all after death the exteriors are rendered analogous to the interiors.
This page is part of 
© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church