890. [verse 7] 'He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be God to him, and he shall be a son to Me' signifies that those who overcome the evils with themselves, that is, the devil, and do not yield when they are being tempted by the Babylonians and the dragonists, are going to come into heaven and live there in the Lord and the Lord in them. By 'to overcome' here is understood to overcome the evils with themselves, thus the devil, and not to yield when they are being tempted by the Babylonians and the dragonists. The reason why to overcome the evils with themselves is also to overcome the devil is because by 'the devil' is understood all evil. By 'to inherit all things' is signified to come into heaven and to come then into possession of the goods that are there from the Lord, thus into the goods that are from the Lord and of the Lord, as a son and heir, heaven being therefore called an inheritance (Matt. xix 29; xxv 34). By 'I will be God to him and he shall be a son to Me' is signified that in heaven they will be in the Lord and the Lord will be in them, as above (n. 883) where similar [words occur], except that there it is said that 'they shall be His people, and He Himself shall be with them their God'. The reason why those who approach the Lord directly are His sons is because they have been born anew from Him, that is, regenerated, for which reason He called His disciples 'sons' (John xii 36; xiii 33; xxi 5.