302. In the spiritual sense, this commandment signifies man's reformation and regeneration by the Lord, "the six days of labor" signifying his warfare against the flesh and its lusts, and at the same time against the evils and falsities that are in him from hell, and "the seventh day" signifying his conjunction with the Lord, and regeneration thereby. That man's spiritual labor continues as long as that warfare lasts, but when he is regenerated he has rest, will be shown in what is to be said hereafter in the chapter on Reformation and Regeneration, especially under the following sections there:
(1) Regeneration is effected in a manner analogous to that in which man is conceived, carried in a womb, born, and educated (2) The first act in the new birth is called reformation, which belongs to the understanding; and the second is called regeneration, which belongs to the will and therefrom to the understanding. (3) The internal man is to be reformed first, and through that the external. (4) Then a conflict arises between the internal and the external man, and the one that conquers rules the other. (5) The regenerate man has a new will, and a new understanding; and so forth. The reformation and regeneration of man are signified by this commandment in the spiritual sense, because they coincide with the labors and combats of the Lord with the hells, and with His victory over them, and the rest that followed. For the Lord reforms and regenerates man and renders him spiritual in the same manner in which He glorified His Human and made it Divine; and this is the meaning of the command to "follow Him." That the Lord had combats, which are called "labors," is evident from Isa. 53 and 58; and that like things are called "labors" in reference to men, from Isa. 65:23; Apoc. 51:2, 3.
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