35754#pid#The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture`fff1`
By Emanuel Swedenborg, (First published in 1763)
Translator’s Table of Contents:
The Sacred Scripture, or Word, Is Divine Truth Itself. `@@@1`
The Word Contains a Spiritual Meaning, One Previously Unknown. `@@@4`
- What the spiritual meaning is. `@@@5`
- The presence of the spiritual meaning in each and every particular of the Word. `@@@9`
- The spiritual meaning is what causes the Word to be Divinely inspired and holy in every word. `@@@18`
- The spiritual sense of the Word has been previously unknown. `@@@20`
- The Word’s spiritual meaning is granted after this only to someone who possesses genuine truths from the Lord. `@@@26`
The Word’s Literal Sense Is the Foundation, Containing Vessel and Buttress of Its Spiritual and Celestial Meanings. `@@@27`
In the Word’s Literal Sense, Divine Truth Is Present in Its Fullness, in Its Holiness, and in Its Power. `@@@37`
Truths in the Word’s literal sense are meant by the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem in `Revelation 21bbb0`. `@@@43`
Truths and goods in the Word’s literal sense are meant by the Urim and Thummim. `@@@44`
Truths in the Word’s literal sense are meant by the precious stones in the Garden of Eden in which the King of Tyre is said in Ezekiel to have been. `@@@45`
The Word’s literal sense is symbolized by the curtains and veils of the Tabernacle. `@@@46`
The outer constituents of the Temple in Jerusalem represented the outer constituents of the Word, which are those of its literal sense. `@@@47`
When the Lord was transfigured, He represented the Word in its glory. `@@@48`
The Church’s Doctrine Must Be Drawn from the Word’s Literal Sense and Verified by It. `@@@50`
- The Word is not understood apart from doctrine. `@@@51`
- Doctrine must be drawn from the Word’s literal sense. `@@@53`
- Genuine truth, of which doctrine ought to consist, is apparent in the Word’s literal sense only to people who are enlightened by the Lord. `@@@57`
The Word’s Literal Sense Makes Possible a Conjunction with the Lord and Affiliation with Angels. `@@@62`
The Word Exists in All of the Heavens, and Is the Source of the Angels’ Wisdom. `@@@70`
The Church Is Formed by the Word, and Its Character Is Such as Its Understanding of the Word. `@@@76`
Every Single Constituent of the Word Contains a Marriage of the Lord and the Church, and So a Marriage of Goodness and Truth. `@@@80`
Heresies May Be Seized On from the Word’s Literal Sense, But It Is Harmful to Affirm Them. `@@@91`
The Lord Came into the World to Fulfill Everything in the Word, and to Become as a Consequence Divine Truth, or the Word, Also in Outmost Expressions. `@@@98`
Before the Current Word in the World Today, There Was a Word That Has Been Lost. `@@@101`
The Word Is the Means by Which Those Have Light Who Are Outside the Church and Do Not Have the Word. `@@@104`
Without the Word No One Would Have Any Knowledge of God, of Heaven and Hell, of Life after Death, and Still Less of the Lord. `@@@114`
`nnn1. Published by the General Church of the New Jerusalem, 1100 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U.S.A. Copyright ©2014 by the General Church of the New Jerusalem. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
A translation of Doctrina Novae Hierosolymae de Scriptura Sacra, by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772. Translated from the Original Latin by N. Bruce Rogers. ISBN 9780945003694, Library of Congress Control Number: 2013954085
ppp9443#pid#1. The Sacred Scripture, or Word, Is Divine Truth Itself
Everyone says that the Word comes from God, is Divinely inspired, and so is holy. But even so, no one has known before this wherein the Divinity in it lies. For in its letter the Word appears as though written in the ordinary way, in a foreign style, neither as sublime or nor as lucid as writings of the present age seem to be.
As a result, a person who worships nature as God, or in preference to God, and so thinks prompted by self and his own self-interest, and not prompted by heaven in response to the Lord, may easily fall into error regarding the Word, and into scorning it, and when reading it, saying to himself, “What is this? What is that? Is this Divine? Can God, whose wisdom is infinite, speak so? Where is the holiness in it, and what makes it holy, other than some teaching of religion and so conviction?”
ppp9442#pid#2. Someone who thinks in this way, however, does not reflect that Jehovah Himself, the God of heaven and earth, spoke the Word through Moses and the prophets, and that it must therefore be Divine truth itself. For whatever Jehovah Himself utters is such truth. Nor does that person reflect that the Lord, who is the same as Jehovah, spoke the Word reported by the Gospel writers, much of it in person, and the rest by the breath of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit. Consequently what He Himself says is, in His own words, life, and He is the light that enlightens, and truth personified.
ttt[2] That Jehovah Himself spoke the Word through the prophets is something we showed in `@@@The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord 52-53`.
That the words the Lord Himself spoke, as reported by the Gospel writers, are life, is something He said in John:
The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (`John 6bbb63`)
Again in John, Jesus said to the woman at Jacob’s spring:
If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give Me a drink, ” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.... Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (`John 4bbb6`, `John 4bbbccc10`, `John 4bbbccc14`)
Jacob’s spring symbolizes the Word, as in `Deuteronomy 33bbb28` as well. That, too, is why the Lord sat there and spoke with the woman. And the water symbolizes the Word’s truth.
ttt[3] Again in John:
...Jesus...(said), “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.” (`John 7bbb37-38`)
And again:
...Peter (said to Jesus), “...You have the words of eternal life.” (`John 6bbb68`)
Therefore the Lord says in Mark:
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. (`Mark 13bbb31`)
The Lord’s words are life because He is the life and the truth, as He tells us in John:
I am the way, the truth, and the life. (`John 14bbb6`)
And again in John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. (`John 1bbb1`, `John 1bbbccc4`)
The Word there means the Lord in relation to Divine truth, in which alone there is life and light.
ttt[4] It is on this account that the Word, being from the Lord and embodying the Lord, is called “a fountain of living waters” (`Jeremiah 2bbb13`, `Jeremiah ccc17bbb13`), “a fountain of salvation” (`Isaiah 12bbb3`), “a fountain” (`Zechariah 13bbb1`). Also “a river of the water of life” (`Revelation 22bbb1`). And we are told that “the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters” (`Revelation 7bbb17`).
There are in addition many other places where the Word is called the sanctuary and the tabernacle in which the Lord dwells with mankind.
ppp9441#pid#3. The natural man, however, still cannot be persuaded by these considerations that the Word is Divine truth itself, containing Divine wisdom and Divine life; for he regards it in terms of its style, in which he does not see this wisdom and life.
Nevertheless, the style in the Word is the Divine style itself, with which no other style can be compared, however sublime and admirable it seems. For it is as darkness compared to light.
The style in the Word is such that there is something holy in every sentence and in every word, indeed in some places in the very letters. Because of that the Word conjoins a person with the Lord and opens heaven.
ttt[2] There are two emissions emanating from the Lord: Divine love and Divine wisdom. Or to say the same thing, Divine goodness and Divine truth. For Divine goodness is a property of His Divine love, and Divine truth a property of His Divine wisdom. In its essence the Word is both of these. And because, as we said, it conjoins a person with the Lord and opens heaven, therefore the Word fills a person who reads it prompted by the Lord, and not by himself simply. It fills him with the goodness of love and truths of wisdom — his will with the goodness of love, and his intellect with truths of wisdom. The person has life as a result through the Word.
ppp9440#pid#4. Lest people remain in doubt, therefore, that such is the nature of the Word, the Lord has revealed to me the internal meaning of the Word, one that in its essence is spiritual, which is present in the outward, natural meaning, like a soul in its body. That meaning is the spirit which gives life to the letter. Consequently it is that meaning which can testify to the Divinity and holiness of the Word, and convince even the natural man, if he is willing to be convinced.
The Word Contains a Spiritual Meaning, One Previously Unknown
[4 repeated.] This will be discussed according to the following outline:
1. What the spiritual meaning is.
2. The presence of this meaning in each and every particular of the Word.
3. That this is what causes the Word to be Divinely inspired and holy in every word.
4. That this meaning has been previously unknown.
5. And that it is granted after this only to someone who possesses genuine truths from the Lord.
ppp9439#pid#5. 1. What the spiritual meaning is. The spiritual meaning is not the sense that shines from the literal one when one is studying the Word and interpreting it in order to confirm some dogma of the church. This sense is the Word’s literal sense. Rather its spiritual meaning is one not apparent in the literal one. The spiritual meaning lies within the literal one, like the soul within the body, like thought within the eyes, and affection within the face, which operate in concert, like cause and effect.
That spiritual meaning is what principally causes the Word to be spiritual, not only for people, but also for angels. Consequently that meaning is the means by which the Word communicates with the heavens.
ppp9438#pid#6. From the Lord spring three levels of reality — the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural — one after another.
The level termed celestial is one that springs from the Lord’s Divine love, and is Divine goodness.
The level termed spiritual is one that springs from His Divine wisdom, and is Divine truth.
The level termed natural is one that springs from these two. It is a composite of them on the lowest level.
Angels of the Lord’s celestial kingdom, who make up the third or highest heaven, are surrounded by the Divinity emanating from the Lord that we call celestial. For they are prompted by the goodness of love received from the Lord.
Angels of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, who make up the second or middle heaven, are surrounded by the Divinity emanating from the Lord that we call spiritual. For they are prompted by the truths of wisdom received from the Lord.`fff1`
And in the church in the world people are surrounded by the natural Divinity that also emanates from the Lord.
ttt[2] It follows from this that the Divinity emanating from the Lord to its lowest level descends through three degrees, and is termed celestial, spiritual, and natural.
The Divinity that descends from the Lord to humankind does so through these three degrees, and when it has descended, it contains these three degrees within it.
Everything Divine is of such a character. When it is in its lowest degree, therefore, it exists in its fullness.
Such is the Word. In its lowest or outmost sense it is natural. In its interior sense it is spiritual, in its inmost sense celestial, and in every sense Divine.
That the Word is of such a character is not apparent in its literal, natural sense, and that is because people in the world have previously known nothing of the heavens, and so nothing of the spiritual and celestial levels, thus nothing of the difference between these levels and the natural one.
`nns1. [Swedenborg’s Footnote] That the heavens consist of two kingdoms, one called the celestial kingdom, and the other the spiritual kingdom, may be seen in the book `@@@Heaven and Hell, nos. 20-28.qqqHeaven and Hell 20-28`
ppp9437#pid#7. Nor can the difference between these levels be known unless one is acquainted with correspondence, for these three levels are each completely distinct from the others, like end, cause and effect, or like something prior, something subsequent, and something terminal. And yet they operate as a unit through correspondences. For something natural corresponds to something spiritual, and also to something celestial.
But what correspondence is may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell, where it is discussed in The Correspondence of Everything in Heaven with Everything in the Human Being, nos. `@@@Heaven and Hell, nos. 87-102qqqHeaven and Hell 87-102`, and in The Correspondence of Heaven with Everything on Earth, nos. `@@@Heaven and Hell ccc103-115`. It will also be further seen below from illustrations presented from the Word.
ppp9436#pid#8. Since the Word is inwardly spiritual and celestial, it has therefore been written solely in terms of correspondences, and something written solely in terms of correspondences is written in its outmost sense in the kind of style found in the Prophets and Gospel writers. Even though this style seems to be an ordinary one, still it conceals in it Divine wisdom and all the wisdom of angels.
ppp9435#pid#9. 2. The presence of the spiritual meaning in each and every particular of the Word. This can best be seen from illustrations, such as the following. In the book of Revelation, John says:
I saw heaven opened, when behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and does combat. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many jewels. He had a name written that no one knew but Himself. He was clothed with a garment stained with blood, and His name is called “The Word of God.” (His) hosts in heaven followed Him on white horses, wearing fine linen, white and clean.... He has on His garment and on His thigh a name written: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
I saw moreover an angel standing in the sun, who cried with a loud voice..., “Come and gather together for the great supper..., that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.” (`Revelation 19bbb11-18`)
No one can see the symbolic meanings of these words apart from the Word’s spiritual sense, and no one can see the spiritual sense apart from a knowledge of correspondences. For the words are all correspondents; no word there is without meaning.
A knowledge of correspondences makes plain the symbolic meaning of the white horse and of Him who sat on the horse, of the eyes that were like a flame of fire, of the jewels on the head, of the garment stained with blood, of the white linen worn by His hosts in heaven, of the angel standing in the sun, of the great supper for which all were to come and gather together, and of the flesh of kings, commanders, and several others that they were to eat.
ttt[2] The symbolic meanings of each of these images may be seen in the short book, The White Horse, where we explained them. We therefore forgo any further explanation of them here. In that short book we showed that the above description is a depiction of the Lord in relation to the Word, that His eyes like a flame of fire, the jewels on His head, and the name that no one knew but Himself mean the Word’s spiritual sense, and that no one knows that sense but the Lord Himself and he to whom the Lord wills to reveal it. We showed as well that the garment stained with blood means the Word’s natural sense, which is its literal sense, to which violence has been done.
That it is the Word which is so described is clearly apparent, for we are told that His name is called “The Word of God.” And that it is the Lord who is meant is also clearly apparent, for we are told that the name written of Him who sat on the horse was “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
That the Word’s spiritual sense will be revealed at the end of the church is symbolically meant not only by what we have now said about the horse and Him who sat on it, but also by the great supper to which the angel standing in the sun summoned people to come and eat the flesh of kings and commanders, of mighty men, of horses and of those who sit on them, and of all people, free and slave.
All of these statements would be meaningless words, devoid of life or spirit, without something spiritual concealed within them, like a soul in its body.
ppp9434#pid#10. The twenty-first chapter in the book of Revelation describes the holy Jerusalem in this way, that it had in it a light “like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, bright as crystal;” that it had “a great and high wall, and twelve gates, and over the gates twelve angels, with names written on them...of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel;” that it had a wall of “a hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man, that is, of an angel;” that the construction of its wall was of jasper, and its foundations of all kinds of precious stones — jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, and amethyst; that “the twelve gates were twelve pearls;” that the city was “pure gold, like transparent glass;” and that it was square, “its length, breadth, and height...equal, ” measuring “twelve thousand furlongs.” And so on.
All of these particulars must be understood spiritually, as can be seen from the fact that the holy Jerusalem symbolizes a new church to be established by the Lord, as we showed in `@@@The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord 62-65`. And because Jerusalem in this description symbolizes a church, it follows that everything said about it as a city — about its gates, its wall, the foundations of the wall, and about their measurements — contains a spiritual meaning. For matters having to do with the church are spiritual.
ttt[2] We have explained the symbolic meanings of each of these particulars in The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine (London, 1758), no. `@@@The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Teachings ccc1`. We therefore forgo any further explanation of them here. It is enough for it to be known from that book that there is a spiritual meaning present in each particular of the city’s description, like a soul in its body. Also, that apart from that meaning, nothing relating to the church would be understood in the depictions there, as that the city was of pure gold, with its gates of pearls, its wall of jasper, and the foundations of its wall of precious stones; that the wall was of a hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man, that is, of an angel; that the city itself was twelve thousand furlongs long, wide, and high; and so on.
Someone who has a knowledge of correspondences and knows from it the spiritual sense, understands the meanings of these things — as that the wall and its foundations symbolize doctrine drawn from the Word’s literal sense, and that the numbers 12,144, and 12,000 have similar symbolic meanings, namely all the truths and goods of the church in their entirety.
ppp9433#pid#11. The seventh chapter in the book of Revelation tells us that one hundred and forty-four thousand [of the servants of God] were sealed, twelve thousand out of each tribe of Israel — out of the tribes of Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin.
The spiritual meaning of this is that all people are saved who have the church in them from the Lord. For in the spiritual sense to be sealed or to have a mark placed on the forehead means, symbolically, to be acknowledged by the Lord and saved. The twelve tribes of Israel symbolize all people of the church. The numbers 12, 1,200, and 144,000 symbolically mean all people. Israel symbolizes the church. And each of the tribes symbolizes some particular aspect of the church.
People who are not aware of the spiritual content of these words may suppose that only that number of people are to be saved, and these solely from the Israelite and Jewish nations.
ppp9432#pid#12. The sixth chapter of the book of Revelation says that when the Lamb opened the first seal of the book, a white horse went out and that he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given him. That when He opened the second seal, a fiery red horse went out, and that he who sat on it was given a great sword. That when He opened the third seal, a black horse went out, and that he who sat on it had a scale in his hand. And that when He opened the fourth seal, a pale horse went out, and that the name of him who sat on it was Death.
The symbolic meanings of these images can be laid open only by knowing the spiritual sense, and they are fully laid open when one knows what opening the seals symbolizes, what a horse symbolizes, and all the rest. They describe the successive states of the church in respect to its understanding of the Word, from its beginning to its end. The Lamb’s opening the book’s seals symbolizes an exposure of these states of the church by the Lord. A horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word. A white horse symbolizes an understanding of truth from the Word in the church’s first state. The bow of him who sat on the horse symbolizes a doctrine of charity and faith fighting against falsities. The crown symbolizes eternal life, the reward of victory. The fiery red horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word extinguished as to goodness in the church’s second state. The great sword symbolizes falsity fighting against truth. The black horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word extinguished as to truth in the church’s third state. The scale symbolizes a regard for truth so little as to be almost nonexistent. The pale horse symbolizes no understanding of truth owing to evil practices and consequent falsities in the church’s fourth and last state. And Death symbolizes eternal damnation.
That this is what these images symbolize in the spiritual sense is not apparent in the literal or natural sense. Consequently, if the spiritual sense were not at some time revealed, the Word would remain closed in respect to this chapter and everything else in the book of Revelation, to the point that at last no one would know in what the Divine holiness in it lies. Neither would anyone know the symbolic meaning of the four horses in `Zechariah 6bbb1-8` and the four chariots coming from between two mountains of bronze.
ppp9431#pid#13. In the ninth chapter of the book of Revelation we read:
The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth, and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.... The locusts in appearance were like horses prepared for battle, and on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many...chariots rushing into battle. They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, who in Greek has the name Apollyon.
No one would understand this either unless the spiritual sense were revealed to him; for nothing was said there idly; everything down to the least detail has some symbolic meaning.
The subject there is the state of the church when all concepts of truth from the Word have been lost, so that people, having become sense-oriented, persuade themselves that falsities are truths.
ttt[2] The star fallen from heaven symbolizes the lost concepts of truth. The darkened sun and air symbolize a thoroughly darkened light of truth. The locusts that came out of the smoke of the pit symbolize falsities of the lowest sort, such as are found in the case of people who have become sensual and who view and judge everything in accordance with fallacies. A scorpion symbolizes their persuasiveness.
The locusts’ looking like horses prepared for battle symbolizes their reasonings as though stemming from an understanding of truth. The locusts’ having what looked like crowns of gold on their heads, and their faces being like the faces of men, means symbolically that they seemed to themselves to be conquerors and wise. Their having hair like the hair of women means symbolically that they seemed to themselves to have an affection for truth. Their having teeth like lions’ teeth means symbolically that matters of the senses, which constitute the lowest elements of the natural self’s life, appeared to them to have power over all else.
ttt[3] Their having breastplates like breastplates of iron symbolizes their arguments based on fallacies, with which they battled and prevailed. The sound of their wings being like the sound of chariots rushing into battle symbolizes their reasonings, as though founded on doctrinal truths from the Word, which they had to defend. Their having tails like scorpions symbolizes their persuasions. Their having stings in their tails symbolizes their clever arts to deceive by those persuasions. Their having the power to hurt men five months symbolizes their inducing a kind of numbness in people possessing an understanding of truth and a perception of goodness.
Their having as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, who has the name Abaddon or Apollyon, symbolically means that their falsities originated from hell, where the inhabitants are merely natural and caught up in their own intelligence.
ttt[4] This is the spiritual meaning of these words, nothing of which is apparent in the literal sense. The case is the same throughout the book of Revelation.
It must be known that everything in the spiritual sense hangs together in an unbroken connection, and that every word in the literal or natural sense contributes to forming the connection. Consequently, if the smallest word were to be taken away, the connection would be broken and the continuity perish. To keep this from happening, therefore, at the end of this prophetic book a warning is added not to take away a word (`Revelation 22bbb19`).
The case is the same with the prophetic books of the Old Testament, from which nothing was to be taken away. Of the Lord’s Divine providence, it came to pass that everything in those books, even the very letters, were counted — this by the Masoretes.
ppp9430#pid#14. Where the Lord speaks with His disciples about the end of the age, which is the final period of the church, at the end of His predictions concerning its successive changes in state, He says:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send out His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (`Matthew 24bbb29-31`)
ttt[2] This, in the spiritual sense, does not mean that the sun and moon will be darkened, that the stars will fall from heaven, and that a sign of the Lord will appear in the sky. Nor does it mean that people will see Him on the clouds, or at the same time angels with trumpets. Rather each of these predictions has some spiritual meaning having to do with the church, regarding whose state at its end these predictions were made.
Indeed, in the spiritual sense the sun that will be darkened means the Lord in relation to love. The moon that will not give its light means the Lord in relation to faith. The stars that will fall from heaven mean concepts of goodness and truth that will perish. The sign of the Son of man in heaven means an appearance of Divine truth. The tribes of the earth that will mourn mean an absence of any truth as a matter of faith, and of any goodness as a matter of love. The coming of the Son of man on the clouds of heaven with power and glory means the Lord’s presence in the Word and a revelation of Him. The clouds symbolize the Word’s literal sense, and glory the Word’s spiritual sense. The angels with a great sound of a trumpet symbolize heaven and Divine truth coming from it. Gathering the elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, symbolizes a renewal of the church as regards love and faith.
ttt[3] That this prediction does not mean a darkening of the sun and moon and a falling of the stars to earth is quite clear from the Prophets, in which similar predictions occur regarding the state of the church when the Lord would come into the world. As in Isaiah:
Behold, the day of Jehovah is coming, cruel..., one of wrathful anger.... ...the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. I will visit upon the world its malice.... (`Isaiah 13bbb9-11`, cf. `Isaiah ccc24bbb21`, `Isaiah 24bbbccc23`)
In Joel:
(Behold, ) the day of Jehovah is coming..., a day of gloom and pitch darkness.... The sun and moon will darken, and the stars diminish their brightness. (`Joel 2bbb1-2`, `Joel 2bbbccc10`, cf. `Joel ccc2bbb31`, `Joel ccc3bbb15`)
In Ezekiel:
...I will cover the heavens and darken the stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. All the shining lights of the heavens I will darken..., and bring darkness upon (the) land.... (`Ezekiel 32bbb7-8`)
The day of Jehovah means the Lord’s advent, which occurred when there was no longer any goodness and truth left in the church, and no knowledge of the Lord.
ppp9429#pid#15. To show that the prophetic portion of the Word in the Old Testament is in many places not understood apart from the spiritual sense, I would like to cite only some of those places. As for example the following in Isaiah:
Then Jehovah...will stir up a scourge (against Asshur), like the smiting of Midian at the rock of Oreb, and as His rod upon the sea which He wielded on the road from Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden will fall from upon your shoulder, and his yoke from upon your neck.... He will come against Aiath, He will pass over into Migron. Against Michmash he will command his weaponry; they will pass through Mebara. Gibeah will be our lodging place. Ramah will tremble; Saul’s Gibeah will flee. Wail loudly, daughter of Gallim! Hearken, Laish! Take pity, Anathoth! Madmenah will be a wanderer, the inhabitants of Gebim will huddle together. Is there yet time in Nob to make a stand? The mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem, will shake her fist. ...Jehovah...will cut away the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by His majesty. (`Isaiah 10bbb24-34`)
Here we find merely names, nothing of which can be comprehended without the aid of the spiritual sense, in which names occurring in the Word all symbolize things having to do with heaven and the church. One puts together from this sense that the words symbolically mean that the entire church has been ruined by empirical knowledge used to pervert every truth and confirm falsity.
ttt[2] Elsewhere in Isaiah:
(In that day) the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the enemies of Judah be cut off; Ephraim shall not vie with Judah, and Judah shall not trouble Ephraim. But they shall fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; together they shall plunder the people of the east; they shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab.... Jehovah will utter a curse against the tongue of the Egyptian sea; He will shake His fist over the river with the force of His spirit, and strike it into seven streams, so as to enable people to cross over dry-shod. Then there will be a highway for the remnant of its people which will be left from Assyria.... (`Isaiah 11bbb13-16`)
Here, too, no one is going to see anything Divine without knowing what each of the names in this passage means, even though the subject is the Lord’s advent and what will take place then, as is clearly apparent from verses 1-10 in that same chapter.
Without the aid of the spiritual sense, who then is going to see that the predictions in succession symbolically mean that people who are caught up in falsities out of ignorance, and have not permitted themselves to be led astray by evils, will turn to the Lord; that the church will understand the Word then; and that falsities will then no longer do them harm?
ttt[3] The case is the same in places without names. As for example in Ezekiel:...thus said the Lord Jehovih, “(Son of man, ) speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: ‘Assemble yourselves and come, gather together from all around to My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrificial meal upon the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth.... You shall eat fat till you are full, and drink blood till you are drunk, at My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you. You shall be filled at My table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war....’ ” Thus will I set My glory among the nations. (`Ezekiel 39bbb17-21`)
Whoever does not know from the spiritual sense the symbolic meanings of a sacrificial meal, of flesh and blood, of horses, chariots, mighty men and men of war, will know no other than that people are to eat and drink such things. But the spiritual sense tells us that eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the sacrificial meal which the Lord Jehovih will provide on the mountains of Israel means, symbolically, an assimilation into oneself of Divine goodness and Divine truth from the Word. For the subject there is a summoning of all people to the Lord’s kingdom, and in particular the Lord’s establishing the church among gentiles.
Who cannot see that flesh there does not mean flesh, and that blood there does not mean blood? As though people should drink blood till they are drunk, and be filled with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war.
The case is the same in a thousand other places in the Prophets.
ppp9428#pid#16. Without the spiritual sense no one would know why the prophet Jeremiah was commanded to buy himself a sash and put it around his waist, not to drag it through water, and to hide it in a hole in the rock by the Euphrates (`Jeremiah 13bbb1-7`).
Or why the prophet Isaiah was commanded to loose the sackcloth from upon his loins and put off the sandals upon his feet, and to go naked and barefoot three years (`Isaiah 20bbb2-3`).
Or why the prophet Ezekiel was commanded to pass a razor over his head and his beard, and then to divide the hair, burn a third part in the midst of the city, strike a third part with a sword, and scatter a third part in the wind, and to bind a few of the hairs in the edges of his garment, and finally throw them into the midst of the fire (`Ezekiel 5bbb1-4`).
Or why the same prophet was commanded to lie three hundred and ninety days on his left side and forty days on his right side, and to make himself bread of wheat, barley, millet and spelt mixed with cow dung and eat it; and in the meantime to put up a wall and a mound against Jerusalem and lay siege to it (`Ezekiel 4bbb1-15`).
Or why the prophet Hosea was twice commanded to take to himself a harlot as a wife (`Hosea 1bbb2-9`, `Hosea ccc3bbb2-3`).
And many other passages of a similar kind.
ttt[2] Furthermore, without the spiritual sense, who would know the symbolic meanings of everything connected with the Tabernacle, such as the ark, the mercy seat, the cherubim, the lampstand, the altar of incense, the showbread upon the table, and the Tabernacle’s veils and curtains?
Without the spiritual sense, who would know the symbolic meanings of Aaron’s holy vestments — of his tunic, robe, ephod, urim and thummim, turban, and more?
Without the spiritual sense, who would know the symbolic meanings of all the commandments regarding the whole burnt offerings, other burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings? Or regarding the sabbaths and feasts?
The truth is that not the least of these particulars was commanded that did not symbolize something having to do with the Lord, heaven and the church.
It may be plainly seen from these few examples that there is a spiritual meaning present in each and every constituent of the Word.
ppp9427#pid#17. When the Lord was in the world, He spoke in terms of things that correspond, thus speaking spiritually while speaking naturally, and this can be seen from His parables, in which every single word has in it some spiritual meaning. Consider, for example, the parable of the ten virgins. The Lord said:
...the kingdom of heaven is like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were prudent, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil..., while the prudent took oil in...their lamps. But while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was made: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!” Then all those virgins awakened and trimmed their lamps. But the foolish said to the prudent, “Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.” However, the prudent answered, saying, “No, lest there not be enough perhaps for us and you; go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.” But when they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. And finally the other virgins came also, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us!” But he answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.” (`Matthew 25bbb1-12`)
ttt[2] The presence in these words of a spiritual meaning, and so of a Divine holiness, is seen only by someone who knows of the existence of the spiritual sense, and the nature of it.
In the spiritual sense, the kingdom of God means heaven and the church. The bridegroom means the Lord. The wedding means the marriage of the Lord with heaven and the church through the goodness of love and faith. The virgins symbolize people who are members of the church. Ten symbolizes all. Five, some. Lamps, truths of faith. Oil, the goodness of love. Slumbering and awaking symbolize a person’s life in the world, which is natural, and his life after death, which is spiritual. To buy is to procure for oneself. To go to those who sell and buy oil means, symbolically, to procure for oneself the goodness of love from other people after death. And because it can then no longer be procured, therefore even though the foolish virgins came with their lamps and the oil they bought to the door where the wedding was taking place, they were nevertheless told by the bridegroom, “I do not know you.” The reason is that, after his life in the world, a person remains such as he had lived in the world.
ttt[3] It is apparent from this that the Lord spoke solely in terms of correspondences, and this because He spoke from the Divinity that He had in Him and that He possessed.
That the bridegroom symbolizes the Lord, and the kingdom of God the church; that the wedding symbolizes the marriage of the Lord with the church through the goodness of love and faith; that the virgins symbolize people who are members of the church, ten symbolizing all, and five some; that slumbering symbolizes a natural state; that buying symbolizes the procuring of something for oneself; that a door symbolizes entrance to heaven; and that not knowing, when said by the Lord, is to be without love for Him — all this can be seen from many passsages in the prophetic Word where these same depictions have similar symbolic meanings.
Because virgins symbolize people who are members of the church, therefore the prophetic Word so often makes mention of virgins and the daughter of Zion, of Jerusalem, and of Israel. And because oil symbolizes the goodness of love, therefore all the holy accouterments of the Israelite Church were anointed with oil.
ttt[4] The same is the case in the rest of the parables, and in all the words spoken by the Lord and recorded in the Gospels. That is why the Lord says that His words are spirit and life (`John 6bbb63`).
The same is the case with the Lord’s miracles, which were Divine miracles, because they symbolized the various states of the people among whom the Lord was going to establish the church. For example, when the blind were given sight, it symbolically meant that people ignorant of truth would gain understanding. When the deaf were given hearing, it symbolically meant that people who had heard nothing before about the Lord and the Word would hearken and obey. When the dead were raised, it symbolically meant that people who would otherwise have perished would be made alive. And so on.
This is what the Lord meant by His reply to John’s disciples, when John wished to know whether the Lord was the one who was to come:
...tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead rise again and the poor hear the Gospel. (`Matthew 11bbb3-5`)
Moreover, all the miracles mentioned in the Word contain within them such matters as have to do with the Lord, heaven and the church. This is what makes them Divine miracles and distinguishes them from miracles that are not Divine.
Let these few example serve to illustrate what the spiritual sense is, and its presence in each and every constituent of the Word.
ppp9426#pid#18. 3. The spiritual meaning is what causes the Word to be Divinely inspired and holy in every word. People in the church say that the Word is holy, and this because Jehovah God spoke it. But because its holiness is not apparent from the letter alone, therefore someone who once doubts its holiness on that account, later finds, when he reads the Word, many things in it to confirm himself in that doubt. For he asks himself then, “Is this holy? Is this Divine?”
Therefore, to keep this kind of thinking from flowing in and prevailing among many people, and so causing the conjunction of the Lord with the church where the Word is to perish, it has pleased the Lord now to reveal the spiritual sense, in order to make known in what the holiness in the Word lies.
ttt[2] But let examples illustrate this as well:
The Word has as it subject sometimes Egypt, sometimes Assyria, sometimes Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, Tyre and Sidon, Gog. Someone who does not know that the names of these entities symbolize matters relating to heaven and the church may be led astray into the error of supposing that the Word has much to say about nations and peoples and only a little relating to heaven and the church, thus much about earthly matters and little about ones having to do with heaven. On the other hand, when he know what these entities or their names symbolize, it enables him to return from error into the truth.
ttt[3] The same is the case when a person sees in the Word its frequent mention of gardens, groves, and forests, and the trees in them, such as olives, vines, cedars, poplars, and oaks, as well as the frequent mention of lambs, sheep, goats, calves, and oxen; and also of mountains, hills, and valleys, and the springs, rivers, and waters in them; and still more of the like. Someone who knows nothing of the Word’s spiritual meaning cannot help but believe that these are the only things meant. For he does not know that gardens, groves and forests mean wisdom, understanding and knowledge; that olives, vines, cedars, poplars and oaks mean the church’s celestial, spiritual, rational, natural and sensual goodness and truth; that lambs, sheep, goats, calves and oxen mean innocence, charity, and natural affection; that mountains, hills and valleys mean the higher, lower and lowest planes of the church; and that Egypt symbolizes knowledge, Assyria reason, Edom the natural component, Moab the adulteration of goodness, the sons of Ammon the adulteration of truth, Tyre and Sidon concepts of truth and goodness, and Gog outward worship without any internal worship.
However, when a person knows this, he is able then to see that the Word deals only with matters connected with heaven, and that the earthly expressions are simply the vessels in which these are contained.
ttt[4] But let an example from the Word illustrate this too. We read in the book of Psalms:
The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters; the God of glory causes it to thunder; Jehovah is upon the great waters.... The voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars..., Jehovah shatters the cedars of Lebanon, and makes them skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like the offspring of unicorns. The voice of Jehovah strikes like a flame of fire. The voice of Jehovah causes the wilderness to quake; (it) causes the wilderness of Kadesh to quake. The voice of Jehovah makes deer give birth, and strips the forests bare; but in His temple everyone says, “Glory!” (`Psalms 29bbb3-9`)
Someone who does not know that each and every word there is holy and Divine may say to himself, if he is a merely natural person, “What does it mean that Jehovah sits upon the waters, that He shatters cedars with His voice, that He makes them skip like a calf, and Lebanon like the offspring of unicorns, that He makes deer give birth?” And so on.
[5] That is because he does not know that in the spiritual sense these declarations describe the power of Divine truth or of the Word. For in that sense the voice of Jehovah, which in this case is thunder, means Divine truth or the Word in its power. The great waters on which Jehovah sits mean the falsities of the rational self. A calf and the offspring of unicorns mean the falsities of the natural and sensual self. A flame of fire means the affection accompanying falsity. A wilderness and the wilderness of Kadesh mean a church without any truth and one without any goodness. The deer which the voice of Jehovah causes to give birth mean gentiles possessing a natural goodness. And the forests which it strips bare mean the kinds of knowledge and concepts which the Word lays open to them. Consequently the passage says next, “in His temple everyone says, ‘Glory!’ ” which means that there are Divine truths in every constituent of the Word; for the temple symbolizes the Lord, and so also the Word, as well as heaven and the church, and glory symbolizes Divine truth.
It is apparent from this that there is no word in the passage that does not describe the Divine power of the Word against falsities of every kind in natural people, and the Divine power of reforming gentiles.
ppp9425#pid#19. The Word contains a still more interior sense, called celestial, which we said something about in no. `@@@6` above. But this sense is almost impossible to explicate, as it does not fall so much within the scope of the thought of the intellect as into the affection of the will.
The Word contains this still more interior sense, called celestial, because there emanates from the Lord Divine goodness and Divine truth — Divine goodness from His Divine love, and Divine truth from His Divine wisdom. Both are present in the Word, for the Word is a Divine emanation. And because both are present, therefore the Word gives life to people who read it reverently. However, we will say more on this subject in the section where we show that the constituents of the Word all contain a marriage of the Lord and the church, and so a marriage of goodness and truth.
ppp9424#pid#20. 4. The spiritual sense of the Word has been previously unknown. Every single thing found in nature corresponds to something spiritual. So, too, every single thing found in the human body. This is something we showed in the book `@@@Heaven and Hell 87-115`. But what correspondence is has been previously unknown, even though in very ancient times it was quite well known. For people who lived then, the study of correspondences was the supreme study, and so universal that all their manuscripts and books were written in terms of correspondences.
ttt[2] The book of Job, which is an ancient book, is full of correspondences.
Egyptian hieroglyphics, and also the fables of antiquity, were full of them too.
The ancient churches were all representative of things pertaining to heaven. Their rites and likewise their statutes, in accord with which their worship was instituted, consisted of nothing but correspondences.
So, too, everything connected with the church among the descendants of Jacob. Their whole burnt offerings and other sacrifices in their every particular were correspondent forms. Likewise the Tabernacle, with everything in it. And their feasts as well, such as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Feast of Firstfruits.
So also the priesthood of Aaron and the Levites, including the holy vestments of Aaron and his sons. And all the statutes and judgments as well which had to do with their worship and life.
ttt[3] And because Divine emanations in the world manifest themselves in correspondent forms, therefore the Word was written solely in terms of correspondences. Because the Lord spoke in accordance with His Divinity, He consequently spoke in terms of correspondences. For whatever emanates from the Divine, descends into such expressions in nature as correspond to their Divine origins, and these expressions then conceal within them the Divine contents called celestial and spiritual.
ppp9423#pid#21. I have been informed that people of the Most Ancient Church, which existed before the Flood, were of such a celestial nature that they spoke with angels in heaven, and that they were able to speak with them through correspondences. As a result, the state of their wisdom became such that whatever they saw on earth, they thought of it not only naturally, but at the same time spiritually too, thus thinking as well in conjunction with angels.
Moreover, I have been informed that Enoch, mentioned in `Genesis 5bbb21-24`, with his contemporaries, made a collection of correspondences from those earlier people’s utterances and transmitted a knowledge of them to their posterity. It came about as a consequence that a knowledge of correspondences was not only known in many Asiatic kingdoms, but also cultivated, especially in the land of Canaan, in Assyria, Chaldea, Syria, and Arabia, and in Tyre, Sidon, and Nineveh; and that it subsequently spread from the coastal areas into Greece —only in Greece it was turned into fables, as can be seen from the writings of the earliest peoples there.
ppp9422#pid#22. In the process of time, however, the representative forms of the church, which were correspondent forms, were turned into idolatrous ones, and also into magical ones, and of the Lord’s Divine providence a knowledge of correspondences was then gradually obliterated, and in the Israelite and Jewish nation totally lost and extinguished.
The worship of the latter church did indeed consist of nothing but correspondent forms, and so was representative of things having to do with heaven; but still the people did not know what anything symbolized. For they were an entirely natural people, and so were neither willing nor able to know anything of spiritual matters, nor anything therefore of correspondences.
ppp9421#pid#23. The idolatries of the nations in olden times drew their origin from a knowledge of correspondences, and this because everything appearing on the earth has a correspondence, thus not only trees, but also cattle and birds of every kind, as well as fish, and everything else. People of old who possessed a knowledge of correspondences made themselves images that corresponded to things having to do with heaven, and they delighted in them, because they symbolized such things as have to do to with heaven and consequently the church. Therefore they placed these images not only in their temples, but also in their homes, not as objects to be worshiped, but to remind them of the heavenly things they symbolized.
Thus in Egypt and elsewhere there were images of calves, oxen, and serpents, and of boys, older men, and maidens, because calves and oxen symbolized the affections and abilities of the natural self; serpents, the prudence of the sensual self; boys, innocence and charity; older men, wisdom; and maidens, affections for truth, and so on.
When a knowledge of correspondences was obliterated, the people’s posterity began to worship as holy, and finally as deities, the images and likenesses set up by their ancestors, because they found them in and around temples.
ttt[2] The case was the same among other nations, such as with Dagon among the Philistines at Ashdod, mentioned in `1 Samuel 5bbb1-12`. Its upper part had the likeness of a man, its lower part the likeness of a fish. This image was contrived because a man symbolizes intelligence, and a fish knowledge, which form a unit.
It was for this reason, too, that people of old worshiped in gardens and groves, in accordance with the trees there, and also on mountains and hills. For gardens and groves symbolize wisdom and understanding, and each tree some aspect of these. For example, an olive tree symbolizes the goodness of love; a vine, truth springing from that goodness; a cedar, rational goodness and truth; while a mountain symbolizes the highest heaven, and a hill a heaven below it.
ttt[3] A knowledge of correspondences remained among many eastern peoples to the time of the Lord’s advent, and this can be seen from the wise men from the east who came to the Lord when He was born. That is why a star went before them, and why they brought with them gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh (`Matthew 2bbb1-2`, `Matthew 2bbbccc9-11`). For the star that went before them symbolized a perception from heaven; gold, celestial goodness; frankincense, spiritual goodness; and myrrh, natural goodness. And all worship springs from these three.
ttt[4] But still no knowledge at all of correspondences existed in the Israelite and Jewish nations, even though all the components of their worship, and all the judgments and statutes given them through Moses, were nothing but correspondent forms and expressions. That is because they were at heart idolaters, and of such character that they were not even willing to know that anything connected with their worship symbolized something celestial and spiritual. For they wished all their holy forms and expressions to be holy in themselves and in connection with them. Consequently, if the celestial and spiritual contents were to have been disclosed to them, they would not only have rejected them, but would also have profaned them. Therefore heaven was so closed to them that they scarcely knew of the possibility of eternal life.
The reality of this is clearly apparent from the fact that they did not acknowledge the Lord, even though the whole of their sacred scripture prophesied of Him and foretold His advent. They rejected Him for the sole reason that He taught them about a heavenly kingdom and not an earthly one. For they wanted a Messiah who would exalt them above every other nation in the whole world, and not some Messiah who concerned Himself with their eternal salvation.
They furthermore maintain that the Word contains within it many secrets that they call mystical, although they do not wish to know that these secrets have do to with the Lord. However, they do wish to know when told that the secrets have to do with gold.
ppp9420#pid#24. A knowledge of correspondences, which makes the Word’s spiritual sense accessible, was not disclosed after those times because Christians in the primitive church were so very simple that it could not be disclosed to them; for if it had been disclosed, it would have been of no use to them, nor would they have understood it.
After that early period darkness arose over the entire Christian world owing to the rule of the papacy, and people under that dominion who confirmed themselves in its falsities were neither able nor willing to apprehend anything spiritual, and so neither anything of the correspondence of natural things in the Word with spiritual ones. For if they had been, they would have been forced to acknowledge that Peter does not mean Peter, but the Lord as a rock. They would also have been forced to acknowledge that the Word is Divine even to its inmost contents, and that a papal edict is of no account in comparison.
After the Reformation, however, because people began to make a distinction between faith and charity, and to worship God under the guise of three persons, thus three gods, whom they thought of as one, then the truths of heaven were hidden from them; and if they had been disclosed, the people would have falsified them and applied them to support faith alone, and not one of them to support charity and love. Thus they would also have closed heaven to themselves.
ppp9419#pid#25. The Lord has disclosed the Word’s spiritual sense at the present day because a doctrine of genuine truth has now been revealed. And this doctrine, and no other, accords with the Word’s spiritual sense.
This sense is moreover symbolized by the Lord’s appearing on the clouds of heaven with glory and power (`Matthew 24bbb30-31`), in a chapter dealing with the end of the age, meaning the ultimate end of the church.
An opening of the Word in respect to its spiritual sense was also promised in the book of Revelation. This sense is there meant by the white horse, and by the great supper to which all are summoned (`Revelation 19bbb11-18`).
The spiritual sense will for a long time not be acknowledged, and that solely because of people caught up in doctrinal falsities, especially falsities regarding the Lord, who therefore do not give entrance to truths. That is meant in the book of Revelation by the beast and the kings of the earth that were gathered to make war against Him who sat on the white horse (`Revelation 19bbb19`). The beast means Roman Catholics, as in chapter `Revelation ccc17bbb3` there, and the kings of the earth mean those Protestant Reformed who are caught up in doctrinal falsities.
ppp9418#pid#26. 5. The Word’s spiritual meaning is granted after this only to someone who possesses genuine truths from the Lord. The reason is this: because no one can see the spiritual meaning unless he is enabled to do so by the Lord alone, and unless he possesses genuine truths from Him. For the Word’s spiritual meaning deals with the Lord alone and His kingdom, and that sense is the one possessed by His angels in heaven. It is, indeed, His Divine truth there. It is possible for a person to violate that truth if he has a knowledge of correspondences and tries to use it to explore the Word’s spiritual meaning in accord with his own intelligence. Applying some of the correspondences he knows, he may twist its meaning and use it to confirm even falsity, which would be to do injury to Divine truth, and to heaven as well. If someone tries to lay open that sense on his own, therefore, and not from the Lord, heaven is closed, and when heaven is closed, a person either sees nothing, or he becomes spiritually irrational.
ttt[2] There is also another reason. Because the Lord teaches everyone by means of the Word, and teaches him in accordance with the truths the person already possesses and does not infuse new truths directly, therefore if the person is without any Divine truths, or if he possesses only a few truths and is caught up at the same time in falsities, it would be possible for him to use those falsities to falsify the truths — as is also commonly known to be the case with every heretic as regards just the Word’s literal sense.
Consequently, to keep people from entering into the Word’s spiritual meaning, or from twisting the genuine truth found in that sense, the Lord has set protections, meant in the Word by cherubim.
ttt[3] That protections have been set was represented to me in the following way:
I was given to see large purses, looking like sacks, which had stored away in them a great deal of silver. Since they were open, it seemed as if anyone might take some of the silver deposited in them, even to make off with it. However, next to the purses two angels were sitting as guards. The place where the purses rested looked like a manger in a stable. In the next room I saw modest maidens, together with a chaste wife. Near that room were two little children, and I heard it said they were not to be played with in a childish way, but wisely. Afterward a harlot appeared, then a horse lying dead.
4] On seeing these images I was informed that they represented the literal meaning of the Word, which has a spiritual meaning within. The large purses full of silver symbolized concepts of truth there in great abundance. The purses’ being open and yet guarded by angels symbolized that anyone might draw concepts of truth there, but that people should take care not to falsify the spiritual meaning, which contains only truths. The manger in the stable where the purses were sitting symbolized spiritual instruction for the intellect. (A manger has this symbolism, because a horse, which feeds from it, symbolizes the intellect.)
5] The modest maidens I saw in the next room symbolized affections for truth, and the chaste wife the conjunction of truth and good. The little children symbolized the innocence of the wisdom in it (they were angels from the third heaven, all of whom appear like little children). The harlot together with the dead horse symbolized the falsification of the Word by many people today, by which all understanding of the truth has been extinguished. (A harlot symbolizes falsification, and a dead horse no understanding of truth.)
ppp9417#pid#27. The Word’s Literal Sense Is the Foundation, Containing Vessel and Buttress of Its Spiritual and Celestial Meanings
Every Divine work has in it a first, intermediate, and final element, and the first one progresses through the intermediate one to the final one, and so takes form and endures. Thus the final element is the foundation. Moreover, the first element is present in the intermediate one, and present through the intermediate one in the final one. Thus the final element is the containing vessel. And because the final element is the containing vessel and foundation, it is also the buttress.
ppp9416#pid#28. An educated person sees that these three elements can be termed end, cause and effect, also being, becoming, and expression, and that the end is the being, the cause is the becoming, and the effect is the expression. He sees, too, that as a consequence, every complete entity has in it a trine comprising a first, intermediate, and final element, or an end, cause and effect, and also a being, a becoming, and an expression.
Seeing this, he also sees that every Divine work is complete and perfect in its final expression, and also that the whole of any trine is found in the final expression, because the prior elements are at the same time present in it.
ppp9415#pid#29. It is owing to this that the number three in the Word means, in the spiritual sense, something complete and perfect, and everything together. And because this is the symbolic meaning of the number, it is therefore employed in the Word whenever something of that sort is indicated, as in the following instances:
That Isaiah walked naked and barefoot three years (`Isaiah 20bbb3`).
That Jehovah called Samuel three times, that Samuel three times ran to Eli, and that Eli understood the third time (`1 Samuel 3bbb1-8`).
That David told Jonathan he would hide in the field three days; that Jonathan later shot three arrows to the side of the stone; and that David afterward bowed three times before Jonathan (`1 Samuel 20bbb5`, `1 Samuel 20bbbccc12-41`).
That Elijah stretched himself out on the widow’s son three times (`1 Kings 17bbb21`).
That Elijah ordered the people to pour water on the burnt offering three times (`1 Kings 18bbb34`).
That Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened (`Matthew 13bbb33`).
That Jesus told Peter he would deny Him three times (`Matthew 26bbb34`).
That the Lord three times said to Peter, “Do you love Me?” (`John 21bbb15-17`).
That Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights (`Jonah 1bbb17`).
That Jesus said they would destroy the Temple, and in three days He would rebuild it (`John 2bbb19`, `Matthew 26bbb61`).
That Jesus prayed three times in Gethsemane (`Matthew 26bbb39-44`).
That Jesus rose on the third day (`Matthew 28bbb1`)
And so on in many other places where three is mentioned. And it is mentioned wherever the subject is a finished and perfect work, because that is the symbolic meaning of the number.
ppp9414#pid#30. We premise these observations for the sake of those that follow, in order that they may be comprehended and understood; that it may now be seen at this point that the Word’s natural sense, which is its literal sense, is the foundation, containing vessel, and buttress of its spiritual and celestial senses.
ppp9413#pid#31. In nos. `@@@6` and `@@@19` above, we said that the Word has in it three levels of meaning, and that the celestial sense is its first level, the spiritual sense its intermediate level, and the natural sense its lowest level. From this a rational person may conclude that the Word’s first level, which is celestial, progresses through its intermediate level, which is spiritual, to its lowest level, which is natural, thus that its lowest level is the foundation. He may conclude as well that its first level, which is celestial, is present in its intermediate level, which is spiritual, and present through this in its lowest level, which is natural; and therefore that its lowest level, which is natural and is the Word’s literal sense, is the containing vessel. And because it is the containing vessel and foundation, that it is also the buttress.
ppp9412#pid#32. But it is impossible to say in a few words how these levels take form. They are also secrets possessed by angels in heaven, which we will lay open as far as possible in the treatises mentioned in the Preface to The Doctrine Regarding the Lord, which will be those of angelic wisdom regarding Divine Providence, regarding Divine Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Omniscience, regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, and regarding Life.
It is enough for now to make it possible for people to conclude from what we have said above that the Word — which is the Divine work for the salvation of the human race — in respect to its lowest sense, which is natural and called its literal sense, is the foundation, containing vessel, and buttress of the two interior senses.
ppp9411#pid#33. It follows from this that without its literal sense, the Word would be like a palace without a foundation, thus like a palace in the air and not on the ground, which would be no more than a shadow of it, one that would evaporate.
Again, without its literal sense the Word would be like a temple having in it many holy objects, with a sanctuary at its center, yet lacking a roof or walls to enclose it. Without these, or if these were to be removed, the temple’s holy objects might be stolen by thieves or desecrated by animals and birds, and so be dispersed.
ttt[2] The Word would by the same token be like the Tabernacle, containing in its inmost part the Ark of the Covenant, and in its central part the golden lampstand, the golden altar with incense on it, and the table with showbread on it, which were its holy objects, and yet lacking its outermost constituents, which were its curtains and veil.
Indeed, without its literal sense the Word would be like the human body without its coverings we call skins, and without its supportive framework we call bones. Without these, all its inner organs would fall apart.
It would also be like the heart and lungs in the chest without their covering called the pleura and without their protective framework called ribs. Or like the brain without its covering called the dura mater, and without its case, containing vessel, and buttress called the skull.
The case would be the same with the Word without its literal sense, which is why we are told in Isaiah that Jehovah “creates over all the glory a covering” (`Isaiah 4bbb5`).
ppp9410#pid#34. The case would be the same with the heavens where angels dwell, without the world where people dwell. The human race is their foundation, containing vessel and buttress, the Word being both among people and within them. For the heavens are all divided into two kingdoms, called the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. These two kingdoms rest on the natural kingdom inhabited by people. And so the case is likewise with the Word, which exists among people and within them.
That the angelic heavens have been distinguished into two kingdoms, celestial and spiritual, may be seen in the book `@@@Heaven and Hell 20-28`.
ppp9409#pid#35. As we showed in no. `@@@28`, the prophets of the Old Testament represented the Lord in relation to the Word, and consequently represented the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, and for that reason they were called sons of man. It follows from this that by the various hardships they suffered and bore, they represented the violence done by the Jews to the Word’s literal sense.
For instance, the prophet Isaiah put off the sackcloth from his loins and put off the sandals from his feet, and went naked and barefoot for three years (`Isaiah 20bbb2-3`).
The prophet Ezekiel likewise drew a barber’s razor over his head and beard, burned a third part of the hair in the midst of the city, struck another third part with a sword, scattered the remaining third part into the wind, bound a few of the hairs in the edges of his garment, and finally threw them into the midst of the fire and burned them (`Ezekiel 5bbb1-4`).
ttt[2] Because, as we said above, the prophets represented the Word and so symbolized the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, and because the head symbolizes wisdom from the Word, therefore the hair of the head and a beard symbolized the outmost expression of truth.
Because this is what they symbolized, therefore it was a sign of great mourning and also a great disgrace to make oneself bald or to be seen bald. It was for this reason and no other that the prophet shaved off the hair of his head and his beard, in order for him to represent by it the state of the Jewish church in relation to the Word. It was for this reason and no other that the forty-two she-bears tore apart the boys who called Elisha bald (`2 Kings 2bbb23-24`), inasmuch as the prophet represented the Word, as we said before, and baldness symbolized the Word without its outmost sense.
ttt[3] Nazirites represented the Lord in relation to the Word in its outmost expressions, as will be seen in no. `@@@49` in the next section. Therefore they were required to let their hair grow and not to shave any of it off. The word “Nazirite” in the Hebrew also means the hair.
The high priest, too, was required not to shave his head (`Leviticus 21bbb10`). Likewise those who were heads of families (`Leviticus 21bbb5`).
So it was that baldness was, for the people then, a great disgrace, as can be seen from the following:
On all their heads baldness, and every beard shaved. (`Isaiah 15bbb2`, cf. `Jeremiah 48bbb37`)
Shame on every face, and baldness on all their heads. (`Ezekiel 7bbb18`)
Every head made bald, and every shoulder shaved. (`Ezekiel 29bbb18`)
I will cause sackcloth to ascend upon all loins, and baldness on every head. (`Amos 8bbb10`)
Put on baldness and shave yourself for your precious children, and expand your baldness..., for they shall go from you.... (`Micah 1bbb16`)
To put on baldness here and expand it means, symbolically, to falsify the Word’s truths in its outmost expressions. When these are falsified, as they were by the Jews, the whole Word is destroyed. For the outmost expressions of the Word are its supports and underpinnings. Indeed, every single word supports and underpins its celestial and spiritual truths.
ttt[4] Because the hair of the head symbolizes truth in outmost expressions, therefore all those in the spiritual world who scorn the Word and falsify its literal sense appear bald, whereas those who honor and love it appear to have attractive hair.
On this subject, see also no. `@@@49` below.
ppp9408#pid#36. In its outmost or natural sense, namely its literal sense, the Word is symbolized also by the wall of the Holy Jerusalem, whose construction was jasper; by the foundations of the wall, which were precious stones; and also by the gates, which were pearls (`Revelation 19bbb18-21`). For Jerusalem symbolizes the church in respect to doctrine. But more on this subject in the next section.
It can now be seen from what we have presented that the Word’s literal sense, which is its natural sense, is the foundation, containing vessel, and buttress of its interior senses, which are its spiritual and celestial senses.
ppp9407#pid#37. In the Word’s Literal Sense, Divine Truth Is Present in Its Fullness, in Its Holiness, and in Its Power
In its literal sense the Word is in its fullness, in its holiness, and in its power, because, as we said in no. `@@@28` above, the two prior or interior senses, called spiritual and celestial, are present at the same time in the natural sense, which is the literal sense. But how they are present at the same time — this we must now briefly explain.
ppp9406#pid#38. We find in heaven and in the world sequential order and concurrent order. In sequential order one element follows and succeeds another, from the highest of them to the lowest. In concurrent order, however, one element is adjacent to another, from the inmost of them to the outmost.
Sequential order is like a column with vertical elements from highest to lowest, while concurrent order is like a coherent whole with concentric rings from the center to the surface.
We will now say how sequential order becomes, in the lowest element, concurrent order. It happens in this way: The highest elements in sequential order become the inmost ones in concurrent order, and the lowest elements in sequential order become the outmost ones in concurrent order. It is comparatively like a sinking column of vertical elements becoming a unified mass on a single plane.
ttt[2] In this way concurrent order is formed from a sequential one, and this is the case in each and every constituent of the natural world, and in each and every constituent of the spiritual world. For everywhere we find a first element, an intermediate element, and a final element. And the first element proceeds and progresses through the intermediate element to its final element.
Now in application to the Word: Its celestial, spiritual and natural constituents emanate from the Lord in sequential order, and in the final ones are present in concurrent order. Thus the Word’s celestial and spiritual senses are then present at the same time in its natural sense.
When this is understood, it can be seen how the Word’s natural sense, namely its literal sense, is the foundation, containing vessel, and buttress of its spiritual and celestial senses. It can be seen, too, how Divine goodness and Divine truth are present in the Word’s literal sense in their fullness, in their holiness, and in their power.
ppp9405#pid#39. It can be seen from this that the Word in its literal sense is the Word itself, inasmuch as that sense has within it spirit and life — the spiritual sense being its spirit, and the celestial sense its life.
It is as the Lord says: “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (`John 6bbb63`). The Lord spoke His words for the world’s comprehension, employing their natural meaning.
The spiritual and celestial senses are not the Word apart from the natural sense, the sense of the letter, as they would be like spirit and life without a body, and as said before in no. `@@@33`, like a palace lacking a foundation.
ppp9404#pid#40. The truths in the Word’s literal sense are in part not naked truths, but appearances of truth, and are seemingly images and metaphors taken from the kinds of things found in nature, thus which have been accommodated and suited to the comprehension of simple folk, and even to that of little children. However, because they are correspondent terms, they are the receptacles and abodes of genuine truth. They are like vessels enclosing such truths and containing them, like a crystal goblet filled with vintage wine, or like a silver dish containing tasty foodstuffs. Or they are like garments clothing them, as swaddling cloths clothe a baby, or a pretty dress a maiden. They are also like the facts known by the natural self, which embrace within them the perceptions of and affections for truth belonging to the spiritual self.
The naked truths themselves which are enclosed, contained, clothed and embraced are those found in the Word’s spiritual sense, and the naked goods are those found in its celestial sense.
ttt[2] But let us illustrate this with passages from the Word. Jesus said:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees...! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and intemperance. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. (`Matthew 23bbb25-26`)
The Lord spoke here in terms of outward objects that serve as containers, talking about a cup and dish, but a cup means wine, and wine the Word’s truth, and a dish means food, and food the Word’s goodness. To cleanse the inside of the cup and dish means to use the Word to purify one’s inner qualities, which are those of the will and thought, thus of one’s love and faith. That by this the outside would thus be clean means that thus one’s outward actions would be purified, which are one’s works and words, for these take their essence from the inner qualities.
ttt[3] Again Jesus said:
There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and entertained himself magnificently every day. And there was a certain poor man named Lazarus, who lay prostrate at his gate, full of sores.... (`Luke 16bbb19-20`)
Here, too, the Lord spoke in terms of natural objects which are correspondent ones and contain spiritual meanings. The rich man means the Jewish nation, called rich because they had a Word that contained spiritual riches. The purple and fine linen in which the rich man was clothed symbolize the Word’s goodness and truth, purple its goodness and fine linen its truth. Entertaining himself magnificently every day symbolizes that nation’s taking pleasure in possessing the Word and reading it. The poor man, Lazarus, means gentiles, who did not have the Word. Their being despised and rejected by the Jews is meant by Lazarus’ lying prostrate at the rich man’s gate, full of sores.
ttt[4] Gentiles are meant by Lazarus, because the Lord loved the gentiles, as the Lord loved the Lazarus whom He raised from the dead (`John 11bbb3`, `John 11bbbccc5`, `John 11bbbccc36`). And He calls Lazarus His friend (`John 11bbb11`), and Lazarus reclined at the table with the Lord (`John 12bbb2`).
From these two passages it is apparent that the truths and goods in the Word’s literal sense serve as containing vessels and clothing of the naked truth and goodness that lies within the Word’s spiritual and celestial senses.
ppp9403#pid#41. Since that is the nature of the Word in its literal sense, it follows that when people read the Word in a state of enlightenment from the Lord — people who possess Divine truths and a belief that the Word at its core has a holy Divinity within it, and still more, people who believe that that is the nature of the Word because of its spiritual and celestial senses — they see Divine truths with their natural sight. For the light of heaven, the light in which the Word’s spiritual sense exists, flows into the person’s natural sight, in which the Word’s literal sense exists, and enlightens the person’s intellectual faculty called reason, enabling him to see and acknowledge Divine truths, both where they are evident and where they lie concealed.
In some cases these truths flow in with the light of heaven even at times when the people are unaware of it.
ppp9402#pid#42. Since our Word in its inmost embrace is, owing to its celestial sense, like a flame that kindles, and since in its intermediate embrace it is, owing to its spiritual sense, like a light that enlightens, therefore the Word in its outmost embrace is, owing to its natural sense and the two inner senses it contains, like a ruby and a diamond — like a ruby because of the celestial flame, and like a diamond because of the spiritual light.
Because that is the nature of the Word in its literal sense as regards its transparence, therefore the Word in that sense is meant by the foundations of the wall of Jerusalem, by the Urim and Thummim in the ephod of Aaron, by the Garden of Eden in which the King of Tyre had been; and also by the curtains and veils of the Tabernacle, and by the outer arrangements of the Temple in Jerusalem. However, it is meant in its real glory by the Lord when He was transfigured.
ppp9401#pid#43. Truths in the Word’s literal sense are meant by the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem in `Revelation 21bbb0`. This follows from the fact that the New Jerusalem means a new church in respect to doctrine, as shown in `@@@The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord 62`, `@@@The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord ccc63`. Its wall, therefore, and the foundations of the wall, can only mean the outer component of the Word, which is its literal sense; for that is the origin of doctrine, and through doctrine, the church. Moreover, doctrine is like a wall which, with its foundations, surrounds a city and protects it.
Respecting the wall of the New Jerusalem and its foundations, we read in the book of Revelation the following:
(The angel) measured (the city Jerusalem’s) wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, (which was) the measure of a person, that is, of an angel. (`Revelation 21bbb17`)
And the wall had twelve foundations, “adorned with all kinds of precious stones”:
The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. (`Revelation 21bbb19-20`)
The number 144 symbolizes all the truths and goods of the church drawn from the Word’s literal sense, and so does the number 12. A person symbolizes intelligence; an angel, Divine truth from which that intelligence originates; measuring, their character; the wall and its foundations, the Word’s literal sense; and precious stones, the Word’s truths and goods in their sequence, from which doctrine originates, and through doctrine, the church.
ppp9400#pid#44. Truths and goods in the Word’s literal sense are meant by the Urim and Thummim. The Urim and Thummim were placed on the ephod of Aaron, whose priesthood represented the Lord in respect to His Divine goodness and in respect to His work of salvation. Priestly vestments or holy garments represented Divine truth springing from Divine goodness. The ephod represented Divine truth in its outmost expression, thus the Word in its literal sense, for that is Divine truth in its outmost expression, as we said above. Consequently the twelve precious stones, bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, which were the Urim and Thummim, represented Divine truths springing from Divine goodness in their entirety.
ttt[2] Regarding the Urim and Thummim, we read in Exodus the following:
They shall make the ephod of gold, blue and purple, of scarlet double-dyed, and fine linen interwoven.... (Afterward) you shall make the breastpiece of judgment..., according to the workmanship of the ephod.... And you shall fill it with settings of stones, four rows of stones: ...a garnet, a topaz, and an emerald, the first row; ...a chrysoprase, a sapphire, and a diamond, the second row; a lazulite, an agate, and an amethyst, the third row; a beryl, a sardius, and a jasper, the fourth row.... These stones shall have the names of the sons of Israel..., like the engravings of a signet, each one with its own name, for the twelve tribes.... And Aaron shall bear (the Urim and Thummim) on the breastplate of judgment...over his heart, when he goes in...before Jehovah. (`Exodus 28bbb6`, `Exodus 28bbbccc15-21`, `Exodus 28bbbccc29-30`)
ttt[3] What Aaron’s vestments represented — his ephod, robe, tunic, turban, and sash — was explained in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven) in our treatment of this chapter. There we showed that the ephod represented Divine truth in its outmost expression; that the precious stones on it represented truths made translucent by goodness; that the twelve precious stones represented all outmost expressions of truth in succession made translucent by the goodness of love; that the twelve tribes of Israel represented everything having to do with the church; that the breastpiece represented Divine truth springing from Divine goodness; and that the Urim and Thummim represented the radiance in outmost expressions of Divine truth springing from Divine goodness. For Urim means a shining fire, and Thummim means, in angelic language, radiance, and in Hebrew, perfection. Answers, moreover, were given by variegations of the light, and at the same time by a tacit perception or by hearing a voice, and in other ways as well.
It can be seen from this that these precious stones also represented truths springing from goodness in the Word’s outmost sense. Nor were answers given from heaven by any other means, because in that sense the emanating Divinity is present in its fullness.
ttt[4] Precious stones and jewels symbolize Divine truths in their outmost expressions, the kind of truths found in the Word’s literal sense, and this has been made clearly apparent to me from the precious stones and jewels in the spiritual world possessed by angels and spirits there, whom I have seen wearing them, and which they also have in their jewelry cases. I have been given to know moreover that these precious stones and jewels correspond to truths in outmost expressions, indeed that they also exist and are visible because of those truths.
Because jewels and precious stones have this symbolism, therefore jewels were seen by John on the head of the dragon in `Revelation 12bbb3`, and on the horns of the beast in `Revelation 13bbb1`. And he saw precious stones on the harlot sitting on the scarlet beast in `Revelation 17bbb4`. These were seen on them because those figures symbolize people in the Christian world who possess the Word.
ppp9399#pid#45. Truths in the Word’s literal sense are meant by the precious stones in the Garden of Eden in which the King of Tyre is said in Ezekiel to have been. We read in Ezekiel:
...King of Tyre..., “You seal up (your) measure, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, chrysoprase, and emerald, and gold. (`Ezekiel 28bbb12-13`)
Tyre in the Word symbolizes concepts of truth and goodness. A king symbolizes the church’s truth. The Garden of Eden symbolizes wisdom and intelligence gained from the Word. Precious stones symbolize truths made translucent by goodness, the kind of truths found in the Word’s literal sense. And because these truths are symbolized by the precious stones, therefore they are called the king’s covering. That the literal sense covers over the inner constituents of the Word may be seen in the preceding section.
ppp9398#pid#46. The Word’s literal sense is symbolized by the curtains and veils of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle represented heaven and the church. Its form was therefore shown by Jehovah on Mount Sinai. Consequently everything in the Tabernacle — the lampstand, the golden altar for incense, and the table with showbread on it — represented and so symbolized the sanctities of heaven and the church. Moreover, the most holy place, where the Ark of the Covenant was, represented and so symbolized the inmost constituent of heaven and the church; and the Law itself, written on two tables of stone and contained in the ark, symbolized the Lord in relation to the Word.
Now because outward manifestations take their essence from inner components, and both of these from the inmost one, which in this case was the Law, therefore the holy qualities of the Word were also represented and symbolized by all the constituents of the Tabernacle.
It follows from this that the outmost constituents of the Tabernacle, which were its curtains and veils, thus its coverings and enclosures, symbolized the outmost constituents of the Word, which are the truths and goods of its literal sense.
ttt[2] Because they symbolized these outmost constituents, therefore the curtains and veils were made “of fine woven linen, and blue, purple, and scarlet double-dyed, with...cherubim” (`Exodus 26bbb1`, `Exodus 26bbbccc31`, `Exodus 26bbbccc36`).
What the Tabernacle and everything found in it represented and symbolized, in general and in particular, is something we explained in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), in our treatment of this chapter in Exodus. And we showed there that the curtains and veils represented the outer constituents of heaven and the church, thus also the outer constituents of the Word. We showed, too, that the linen, or fine linen, symbolized truth from a spiritual origin; the blue, truth from a celestial origin; the purple, celestial goodness; the scarlet double-dyed, spiritual goodness; and the cherubim, protections for the Word’s inner constituents.
ppp9397#pid#47. The outer constituents of the Temple in Jerusalem represented the outer constituents of the Word, which are those of its literal sense. That is because the Temple had the same representation as the Tabernacle, namely heaven and the church, and so also the Word.
That the Temple in Jerusalem symbolized the Lord’s Divine humanity is something the Lord Himself tells us in John:
Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.... But He was speaking of the temple of His body. (`John 2bbb19`, `John 2bbbccc21`)
And wherever the Lord is meant, the Word is meant as well, because the Lord embodies the Word.
Now because the inner constituents of the Temple represented the inner constituents of heaven and the church, thus also those of the Word, therefore its outer constituents represented and symbolized the outer constituents of heaven and the church, thus also those of the Word, which are those of its literal sense.
Regarding the outer constituents of the Temple, we read that they were built of whole, uncut stone, and inside of cedar; that all its walls within were carved with figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and that the floor was overlaid with gold (`1 Kings 6bbb7`, `1 Kings 6bbbccc18`, `1 Kings 6bbbccc29-30`). All of these particulars, too, symbolized the outer constituents of the Word, which are the holy ones of its literal sense.
ppp9396#pid#48. When the Lord was transfigured, He represented the Word in its glory. When the Lord was transfigured before Peter, James and John, we read that “His face shone like the sun, ” that “His garments became as white as the light, ” and that “Moses and Elijah appeared..., talking with Him.” Moreover, that “a bright cloud overshadowed” the disciples, and that they heard “a voice...out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son.... Hear Him!’ ” (`Matthew 17bbb1-5`).
I have been informed that the Lord then represented the Word. His face, which shone like the sun, represented His Divine goodness. His garments, which became as white as the light, represented His Divine truth. Moses and Elijah represented the narrative and prophetic portions of the Word — Moses the Word written by him, and in general the narrative portion of the Word, and Elijah the prophetic portion of the Word. The bright cloud that overshadowed the disciples represented the Word in its literal sense. That is why they heard a voice from it that said, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” For all utterances and answers from heaven are always made by means of outmost expressions such as are found in the Word’s literal sense, being made in fullness from the Lord.
ppp9395#pid#49. We have so far shown that the Word in its natural sense, the literal sense, is in its holiness and in its fullness. We must now say something about the Word’s being in that sense present also in its power.
The magnitude and nature of the power of Divine truth in heaven, as well as on earth, can be seen from what we said in the book `@@@Heaven and Hell 228-233`, about the power angels have in heaven.
The power of Divine truth is especially a power against falsities and evils, thus against the hells. One must fight against these by means of truths from the Word’s literal sense. It is also by means of the truths a person has that the Lord has the power to save him. For a person is reformed and regenerated by means of truths drawn from the Word’s literal sense, and he is then released from hell and introduced into heaven. This power is one that the Lord took on also in respect to His Divine humanity, after He had fulfilled everything in the Word, even to its outmost expressions. [2] That is why, when the Lord was about to fulfill the last of these by His suffering of the cross, He said to the chief priest,
“...hereafter you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the Power, coming on the clouds of heaven.” (`Matthew 26bbb64`, cf. `Mark 14bbb62`)
The Son of man is the Lord in relation to the Word. The clouds of heaven are the Word in its literal sense. Sitting at the right hand of God (as also in `Mark 16bbb19`) is omnipotence exercised by means of the Word.
The Lord’s power emanating from the outmost expressions of the Word was represented in the Jewish Church by Nazirites, and by Samson, of whom we are told that he was a Nazirite from his mother’s womb, and that his power lay in his hair. Nazirite or the state of being a Nazirite also means a person’s hair.
ttt[3] That Samson’s power lay in his hair, he himself declared, saying,
No razor has come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite...from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. (`Judges 16bbb17`)
It is impossible for anyone to know why the vow of a Nazirite, which means a person’s hair, was instituted, and why it is that Samson drew his power from his hair, unless he knows what the head symbolizes in the Word. The head symbolizes the wisdom of heaven, which angels and people have from the Lord by means of Divine truth. Therefore the hair of the head symbolizes the wisdom of heaven in outmost expressions, and also Divine truth in outmost expressions.
ttt[4] Because this is the symbolic meaning of the hair by its correspondence with the heavens, therefore it was a statute for Nazirites that they not shave the hair of their heads, because it was the consecration of God upon their heads (`Numbers 6bbb1-21`). And for the same reason it was also a statute that the high priest and his sons not shave their heads, lest they die, and wrath come upon the whole house of Israel (`Leviticus 10bbb6`).
ttt[5] Because the hair, on account of that symbolic meaning, which it had from its correspondence, was so holy, therefore the Son of man, that is, the Lord in relation to the Word, is described even in respect to His hair, that it was “like wool as white as snow” (`Revelation 1bbb14`). The Ancient of Days is described similarly (`Daniel 7bbb9`).
On this subject, see also something above in no. `@@@35`.
In sum, the power of Divine truth, or of the Word, lies in the literal sense, and that is because the Word is present there in its fullness, and because in that sense angels in both of the Lord’s kingdoms and people are together.
ppp9394#pid#50. The Church’s Doctrine Must Be Drawn from the Word’s Literal Sense and Verified by It
In the preceding section we showed that in its literal sense the Word is in its fullness, in its holiness, and in its power. And because the Lord embodies the Word — inasmuch as He is the totality of the Word — it follows that the Lord is most present in that sense, and that He teaches and enlightens a person in the light of it.
This, however, needs to be demonstrated according to the following outline:
1. The Word is not understood apart from doctrine.
2. Doctrine must be drawn from the Word’s literal sense.
3. However, Divine truth, of which doctrine ought to consist, is apparent only to people who are enlightened by the Lord.
ppp9393#pid#51. 1. The Word is not understood apart from doctrine. That is because the Word in its literal sense consists of nothing but correspondent forms, in order for spiritual and celestial concepts to be present in it at the same time, and for each word to be a containing vessel and buttress of those concepts. In some places in the literal sense, therefore, we find not naked truths, but truths clothed, which we call appearances of truth. Many of these truths, too, are accommodated to the comprehension of simple folk, who do not elevate their thoughts above the kinds of things they see before their eyes. And some of them seem to involve contradictions, even though there is no contradiction in the Word when seen in its true light.
Moreover, in some places in the Prophets, we find also collections of place names and the names of people from which it is impossible to elicit any meaning, as from those passages presented in no. `@@@15` above.
Since that is the nature of the Word in its literal sense, it can be seen therefore that it cannot be understood apart from doctrine.
ttt[2] But let instances serve to illustrate this:
We are told that Jehovah repents (`Exodus 32bbb12`, `Exodus 32bbbccc14`, `Jonah 3bbb9`, `Jonah ccc4bbb2`). We are also told that Jehovah does not repent (`Numbers 23bbb19`, `1 Samuel 15bbb29`). Without doctrine these declarations are not brought into accord.
We are told that Jehovah visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation (`Numbers 14bbb18`). And we are told that the father shall not die for the son, nor the son for the father, but everyone for his own sin (`Deuteronomy 24bbb16`). In the light of doctrine these declarations do not conflict, but are in harmony.
ttt[3] Jesus says,
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Everyone...who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (`Matthew 7bbb7-8`, cf. `Matthew ccc21bbb21-22`)
Without doctrine one might believe that everyone receives what he asks for. But doctrine teaches us to believe that a person is given whatever he asks for, not on his own, but in response to the Lord. For this, too, the Lord teaches:
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you will, and it shall be done for you. (`John 15bbb7`)
ttt[4] The Lord says,
Blessed are the poor, for (theirs) is the kingdom of God. (`Luke 6bbb20`)
Without doctrine one could think that heaven is for the poor and not for the rich. But doctrine teaches us that the poor in spirit are meant, for the Lord says,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (`Matthew 5bbb3`)
ttt[5] The Lord says,
Judge not, that you be not judged. ...with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. (`Matthew 7bbb1-2`, cf. `Luke 6bbb37`)
Without doctrine this injunction could be used to assert that one must not say of evil that it is evil, thus that one must not judge an evil person to be evil. But in the light of doctrine one is permitted to judge, only to do so justly. For the Lord says, “judge with righteous judgment” (`John 7bbb24`).
ttt[6] Jesus says,
...do not be called teacher; for one is your teacher, the Christ.... Do not call anyone on earth your father; for one...in heaven is your Father. And do not be called masters; for one is your master, the Christ. (`Matthew 23bbb8-10`)
Without doctrine it would not be lawful to call anyone teacher, father, or master. But we know from doctrine that it is lawful in a natural sense, but not in a spiritual sense.
ttt[7] Jesus said to His disciples,
...when the Son of man sits on the throne of His glory, you...will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (`Matthew 19bbb28`)
One could conclude from these words that the Lord’s disciples will also sit in judgment, when in fact they can judge no one. Doctrine, therefore, must reveal this mystery by showing that the Lord alone, who is omniscient and knows the hearts of all, will judge, and that His twelve disciples mean the church in respect to all the truths and goods it has from the Lord through the Word. Doctrine concludes from this that those truths and goods will judge everyone, in accordance with the Lord’s words in `John 3bbb17-18`, `John ccc12bbb47-48`.
ttt[8] Someone who reads the Word apart from doctrine does not know how the declarations made in the Prophets regarding the Jewish nation and Jerusalem hang together, that the church in that nation and its seat in that city will remain to eternity, as in the following places:
...Jehovah...will visit His flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as His glorious horse in battle. From him comes the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, and from him the bow of war.... (`Zechariah 10bbb3-4`, `Zechariah 10bbbccc6-7`)
...behold, I am coming to dwell in your midst.... And Jehovah will make Judah His inheritance..., and will again choose Jerusalem. (`Zechariah 2bbb10-12`)
It will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine, and the hills flow with milk.... But Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. (`Joel 3bbb18-20`)
Behold, the days are coming..., that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man..., when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.... And this is the covenant that I will make...: I will put My law among them, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (`Jeremiah 31bbb27`, `Jeremiah 31bbbccc31`, `Jeremiah 31bbbccc33`)
In that day ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” (`Zechariah 8bbb22-23`)
And so on elsewhere, as in `Isaiah 44bbb24`, `Isaiah 44bbbccc26`, `Isaiah ccc49bbb22-23`, `Isaiah ccc65bbb9`, `Isaiah ccc66bbb20`, `Isaiah 66bbbccc22`; `Jeremiah 3bbb18`, `Jeremiah ccc23bbb5`, `Jeremiah ccc50bbb19-20`; `Nahum 1bbb15`; `Malachi 3bbb4`. The subject in these places is the Lord’s advent, and the church’s then remaining to eternity.
ttt[9] The opposite, however, is said in a number of other places, of which we will cite only the following: I will hide My face from them, I will see what their posterity will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith.... I would have said, “I will cast them into the farthest corners, I will make the memory of them to cease from among men.” ....For they are a nation void of counsel, nor is there any understanding in them.... ...their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the venom of dragons, and the cruel poison of asps. Is this not laid up in store with Me, sealed up among My treasures? Vengeance is Mine, and retribution. (`Deuteronomy 32bbb20-35`)
This is said of that same nation. And the like elsewhere, as in `Isaiah 3bbb1-2`, `Isaiah 3bbbccc8`, `Isaiah ccc5bbb3-6`; `Deuteronomy 9bbb5-6`; `Matthew 12bbb39`, `Matthew ccc23bbb27-28`; `John 8bbb44`. And everywhere in Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
But these declarations that appear contradictory will be seen to be in harmony in the light of doctrine, which teaches that Israel and Judah in the Word do not mean Israel and Judah, but the church in both senses — in one sense that it has been destroyed, and in the other that the Lord is going to establish it.
Other passages like these occur in the Word, which make clearly apparent that the Word is not understood apart from doctrine.
ppp9392#pid#52. It can be seen from this that people who read the Word apart from doctrine, or who do not acquire for themselves doctrine from the Word, are in darkness as regards any truth, and that their minds meander and are unsure, prone to error, and moreover are open to heresies, which they embrace if bias or authority favors them and their reputation is not endangered. For the Word is for them like a lampstand without light, and in the darkness they seem to see much, and yet see scarcely anything, inasmuch as doctrine alone is the lamp.
I have seen people of this character examined by angels and found to be able to affirm from the Word whatever they will, and to affirm whatever accords with their love and with the love of those whom they favor. I have also seen them stripped of their clothing, a sign that they were without truths. Garments in that world are truths.
ppp9391#pid#53. 2. Doctrine must be drawn from the Word’s literal sense and verified by it. That is because there and nowhere else is the Lord present with a person so as to enlighten him and teach him the church’s truths. The Lord also never does anything except in fullness, and the Word is in its fullness in its literal sense, as we showed above. It is because of this that doctrine must be drawn from the literal sense.
ppp9390#pid#54. Doctrine not only makes the Word understandable, but also to shine, so to speak, and that is because the Word is not understood apart from doctrine and is like a lampstand without any light, as we showed above. Doctrine is what makes the Word understandable, therefore, so as to be like a lampstand with its lamp lit. A person then sees much more than he saw before, and also understands what he had not understood before. Dark and conflicting passages he either does not see and passes on by, or sees and explains them so as to be in harmony with the doctrine.
The Word’s being viewed in the light of doctrine, and moreover explained in accordance with it, is something experience in the Christian world attests. For the Protestant Reformed all see the Word in the light of their doctrine and explain the Word in accordance with it. Roman Catholics likewise see the Word in the light of their doctrine and explain it in accordance with that doctrine. Indeed, Jews do the same. Consequently falsities are seen in the light of a false doctrine, and truths in the light of a true doctrine.
It is apparent, therefore, that a true doctrine is like a lamp shining in darkness, and like a signpost pointing the way.
Doctrine, however, must not only be drawn from the Word’s literal sense, but it must also be verified by it. For if not verified by it, doctrinal truth has the appearance of having only man’s intelligence in it, and not the Lord’s Divine wisdom, and in that case doctrine would be like a house in the air and not on the ground, thus one without its foundation.
ppp9389#pid#55. A doctrine of genuine truth can also be fully drawn from the Word’s literal sense. For the Word in that sense is like a person clothed, with his face exposed, and also his hands exposed. Everything pertaining to a person’s life, thus to his salvation, are there exposed, while everything else is clothed. In many places, too, where they are clothed, truths shine through, like a face through thin silk.
Moreover, as the Word’s truths are multiplied out of a love for them, and as they are set in order by that love, they shine through their clothing and are seen more and more clearly as a result. But this, too, is owing to doctrine.
ppp9388#pid#56. One may believe that a doctrine of genuine truth can be acquired by means of the Word’s spiritual sense, which is obtained through a knowledge of correspondences. But doctrine is not acquired by means of that sense, but is only illustrated and corroborated by it. For as we said in no. `@@@26` above, no one arrives at the spiritual sense through correspondences unless he first possesses genuine truths from doctrine. If he does not possess genuine truths first, a person may falsify the Word by applying some correspondences that he knows and connecting them and interpreting them to support something lodged in his mind from a preconceived premise.
In addition, the spiritual sense is granted to a person only by the Lord, and He protects it, as He protects heaven, inasmuch as heaven is present in it.
It is better, therefore, for a person to study the Word in its literal sense. That alone is the source of doctrine.
ppp9387#pid#57. 3. Genuine truth, of which doctrine ought to consist, is apparent in the Word’s literal sense only to people who are enlightened by the Lord. Enlightenment comes from the Lord alone, and it is found in people who love truths because they are true and apply them to useful life endeavors. Enlightenment in the Word is not found in others.
Enlightenment comes from the Lord alone because the Lord is present everywhere in the Word. The reason enlightenment is found in people who love truths because they are true and apply them to useful life endeavors is that they are in the Lord and have the Lord in them. For the Lord embodies His Divine truth. When this truth is loved because it is Divine truth — and it is loved when it is applied to useful endeavor — then the Lord is present in the person in that truth.
This, too, the Lord teaches in John:
In that day you will know that...you (are) in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, is he who loves Me.... ...and I will love him and manifest Myself to him...and (I) will come to him and make (My) home with him. (`John 14bbb20-21`, `John 14bbbccc23`)
And in Matthew:
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (`Matthew 5bbb8`)
These are the people who are enlightened when they read the Word, and with whom the Word shines and is translucent.
ppp9386#pid#58. The Word shines and is translucent with them because every particular in the Word contains in it a spiritual and celestial sense, and these senses exist in the light of heaven. Consequently the Lord flows through these senses and their light into the natural sense and its light in a person. As a result, the person acknowledges truth from an inner perception, and so sees it in his thought, and this whenever he is prompted by an affection for truth because it is true. For perception springs from affection, and thought from perception, and this produces the acknowledgment we call faith.
But we will say more on this subject in the next section on the conjunction of the Lord with a person by means of the Word.
ppp9385#pid#59. The first step for these people is to acquire for themselves doctrine from the Word’s literal sense. This lights a lamp for them for their further progress. Then after they have acquired some doctrine and have a lamp thus lit, they see the Word in its light.
People who do not acquire doctrine for themselves, however, first inquire whether the doctrine delivered by others and accepted by the general body accords with the Word. And to whatever accords they assent, and from whatever does not accord they dissent. In this way the doctrine becomes their own, and through doctrine their faith.
But this is the case only with people who are not distracted by worldly affairs and have the sight to see. If these people love truths because they are true and apply them to useful life endeavors, they are enlightened by the Lord. All others who live in some measure in accordance with truths can learn from them.
ppp9384#pid#60. The opposite is the case with people who read the Word in the light of a false religion’s doctrine, and still more with people who use the Word to defend that doctrine and have an eye then to their own glory and to the world’s riches. In their case the Word’s truth exists, so to speak, in the dark of night, and falsity in the light of day. They read something true, but do not see it, and if they see some shadow of it, they falsify it. These are the people of whom the Lord says that they have eyes but do not see, and ears but do not understand (`Matthew 13bbb14-15`). For nothing so blinds a person as his own self-interest and affirmation of falsity. A person’s self-interest is his love of self and his consequent conceit in his own intelligence. And an affirmation of falsity is thick darkness masquerading as light. Their light is a merely natural one, and their sight like that of one seeing apparitions in the dark.
ppp9383#pid#61. I have been granted to see many people after death who believed they would shine like stars in the sky, because, as they said, they had held the Word holy, read it often, took much from it, used it to affirm the dogmas of their faith, and because of that were celebrated in the world as learned. They believed that on that account they would be Michaels and Raphaels.
ttt[2] But many of them were examined to discover what love prompted them to study the Word, and some were found to have done so out of a love of self, in order to appear great in the world and be worshiped as leaders of the church, and some out of a love of the world, in order to gain riches. When they were examined to discover what they knew from the Word, they were found to know nothing of any genuine truth from it, but only the kind of truth that we call truth falsified, which in itself is false. Moreover, they were told that this was the case with them because they had themselves and the world as their goals — in other words, what they loved — and not the Lord or heaven. And when self and the world are the goals, then when people read the Word, their minds remain fixed on themselves and the world, and as a consequence they think continually in terms of their own self-interest, which is in darkness as regards anything having to do with heaven. A person in this state cannot be withdrawn by the Lord from his self-interest and so be raised into the light of heaven, and so neither can he receive any influx from the Lord through heaven.
ttt[3] I have also seen people like this admitted into heaven; but when they were found there to be without truths, they were cast down. Yet even so the conceit remained in them that they were deserving of heaven.
A different experience befell people who had studied the Word out of an affection to know the truth because it was true, and because it fostered useful life endeavors, not only their own, but also the neighbor’s. I have seen them raised into heaven and so into the light that surrounds Divine truth there, and they were raised at the same time into angelic wisdom, and into its felicity, which is eternal life.
ppp9382#pid#62. The Word’s Literal Sense Makes Possible a Conjunction with the Lord and Affiliation with Angels
The Word makes possible a conjunction with the Lord because the Word has the Lord as its only subject, and the Lord is as a consequence the totality of it, and is called the Word, as we showed in The Doctrine Regarding the Lord.
Conjunction lies in the literal sense because in that sense the Word is in its fullness, in its holiness, and in its power, as we showed in its own section above.
The conjunction is not apparent to a person, but it is present in his affection for truth and in his perception of truth, thus in the love of Divine truth and faith in that truth that he possesses.
ppp9381#pid#63. The literal sense makes possible an affiliation with angels in heaven because that sense has in it a spiritual sense and a celestial sense, and these are the senses that angels know — angels in the spiritual kingdom having the Word’s spiritual sense, and angels in the celestial kingdom having its celestial sense. These senses unfold from the Word’s natural sense, namely its literal sense, when a sincere person is intent on it. The unfolding is instantaneous, and accordingly also the affiliation.
ppp9380#pid#64. That spiritual angels have the Word’s spiritual sense, and celestial angels its celestial sense, has been made clear to me as the result of much experience.
I have been granted to perceive that whenever I have read the Word in its literal sense, a communication with the heavens has occurred, now with one society of them, now with another; and that what I have understood in accordance with the natural sense, spiritual angels have understood in accordance with its spiritual sense, and celestial angels in accordance with its celestial sense. And this in an instant.
Because I have perceived this communication several thousand times, I have been left with no doubt about it.
ttt[2] There are also some spirits below the heavens who abuse this communication. For they recite some passages from the Word’s literal sense and immediately observe and note the society with which the communication takes place. I have often witnessed and heard this also.
From these occurrences I have been given to know by personal experience that the Word in its literal sense makes possible a conjunction with the Lord and heaven.
Regarding this conjunction by means of the Word, see also what we presented in the book `@@@Heaven and Hell 303-310`.
ppp9379#pid#65. Now, however, we must also briefly say how the unfolding of these senses occurs. For this to be understood, it is necessary to recall what we said in nos. `@@@6` and `@@@38` above about sequential order and concurrent order, namely that the celestial, spiritual and natural realms follow in order, one after another, from the highest of them in heaven to the lowest in the world; that in the last realm, which is natural, these same things are present in concurrent order, one adjacent to another, from the inmost of them to the outmost; and that the successive celestial and spiritual senses of the Word are in the same way present at the same time in the natural sense.
When this is comprehended, it can to some extent be explained to the intellect how the two spiritual and celestial senses are unfolded from the natural sense when a person reads the Word. For a spiritual angel then summons up the spiritual sense, and a celestial angel summons up the celestial one. Nor can they do otherwise, for the meanings are of a like character and conform with their nature and essence.
ppp9378#pid#66. But let this be illustrated by analogies taken from the three kingdoms of nature, called the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms.
From the animal kingdom: When food has been turned into chyle, the blood vessels extract and produce from it their blood, the nerve fibers their fluid, and the substances from which the fibers originate their animal spirit.
From the plant kingdom: A tree rests with its trunk, branches, leaves and fruit upon its root system, and through its roots it draws and extracts from the ground its sap — a less refined sap for its trunk, branches and leaves, a purer one for the flesh of its fruit, and a still more refined one for the seeds within the fruit.
From the mineral kingdom: We find in some places in the ground’s embrace minerals infused with gold, silver and iron. From exhalations deep within the earth gold derives its element, silver its element, and iron its element.
ppp9377#pid#67. Now let this be illustrated by an example showing how spiritual angels draw out their sense and celestial angels their sense from the natural sense in the Word that people have. Take, for instance, five of the Ten Commandments:
The commandment to honor one’s father and mother: People interpret father and mother to mean their father and mother on earth, as well as all those who stand in place of their father and mother, and they interpret the commandment to honor them as meaning to hold them in honor and obey them.
Spiritual angels, on the other hand, interpret their father to mean the Lord, and their mother to mean the church, and that to honor them means to love them.
Celestial angels, however, interpret their father to mean the Lord’s Divine love, and their mother to mean His Divine wisdom, and that to honor them means to do good from Him.
ttt[2] The commandment not to steal: People interpret stealing to mean thieving, defrauding, and under some pretext robbing the neighbor of his goods.
Spiritual angels interpret stealing to mean using falsities and evils to deprive others of the truths of their faith and goods of charity.
And celestial angels interpret stealing to mean the attributing to themselves what is the Lord’s and claiming for themselves His righteousness and merit.
ttt[3] The commandment not to commit adultery: People interpret adultery to mean adultery, licentiousness, obscene behavior, lascivious speech, and filthy thoughts.
Spiritual angels interpret adultery to mean adulteration of the Word’s goods and falsifying its truths.
And celestial angels interpret adultery to mean denying the Lord’s Divinity and profaning the Word.
ttt[4] The commandment not to kill: People interpret killing to mean also hatred and longing to take revenge even to the point of murder.
Spiritual angels interpret killing to mean playing the part of a devil and murdering a person’s soul.
And celestial angels interpret killing to mean hatred of the Lord and everything having to do with the Lord.
ttt[5] The commandment not to bear false witness: People interpret bearing false witness to mean lying and slander.
Spiritual angels interpret bearing false witness to mean saying and persuading that falsity is truth and evil good, and vice versa.
And celestial angels interpret bearing false witness to mean blaspheming the Lord and the Word.
ttt[6] It can be seen from this how the spiritual and celestial senses are extracted and drawn from the Word’s natural sense, in which they reside. Moreover, what is remarkable, angels extract their meanings without knowing what the person is thinking. And yet the thoughts of angels and people are coupled together by correspondences, as end, cause and effect are. In fact ends are also found in the celestial kingdom, causes in the spiritual kingdom, and effects in the kingdom of nature. Such is their essential conjunction through correspondences from creation. This, then, is the reason for people’s affiliation with angels through the Word.
ppp9376#pid#68. Another reason for people’s affiliation with angels through the Word’s natural or literal sense is that every person has in him from creation three degrees of life — celestial, spiritual and natural. However, as long as he lives in the world a person is in the natural degree, and in the spiritual degree then to the extent he is governed by genuine truths, and in the celestial degree to the extent he lives a life in accordance with them. Yet it is still only after death that he enters actually into the spiritual or celestial degree.
But more on this subject elsewhere.
ppp9375#pid#69. It can be seen from this that spirit and life are present only in the Word, which makes possible a conjunction with the Lord and affiliation with angels. As the Lord teaches:
The words that I speak to you are spirit and life. (`John 6bbb63`)
The water that I shall give (you) will become...a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. (`John 4bbb14`)
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (`Matthew 4bbb4`)
...labor...for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man will give you.... (`John 6bbb27`)
ppp9374#pid#70. The Word Exists in All of the Heavens, and Is the Source of the Angels’ Wisdom
No one has known before that the Word exists in the heavens, nor could it have been known as long as the church remained unaware that angels and spirits are people, like people in the world, and that they have the same kinds of things that people do, in every respect, the sole difference being that angels and spirits are spiritual, and everything they have comes from a spiritual origin, while people in the world are natural, and everything they have comes from a natural origin. As long as this fact remained hidden, they could not know that the Word exists also in the heavens, and that angels read it there, and so do spirits below the heavens.
However, lest this remain hidden forever, I have been given to be in the company of angels and spirits, to speak with them, and to see their surroundings, and afterward to report much of what I have heard and seen. This I have done in the book Heaven and Hell (London, 1758); and it can be seen from it that angels and spirits are people, and that they have in abundance everything that people in the world have.
That angels and spirits are people may be seen in the aforementioned book, `@@@Heaven and Hell 73-77` and `@@@Heaven and Hell ccc453-456`; that they have the same things as people have in the world, nos. `@@@Heaven and Hell ccc170-190`; that they also hold Divine worship and hear sermons in the temples they have, nos. `@@@Heaven and Hell ccc221-227`; and that they have written materials and also books, nos. `@@@Heaven and Hell ccc258-264`, including the Word, no. `@@@Heaven and Hell ccc259`.
ppp9373#pid#71. As regards the Word in heaven, it is written in the spiritual style of writing, which is quite different from any natural style. The spiritual style consists of nothing but letters, each of which carries a meaning, and there are diacritical marks over the letters which enhance the meaning.
The letters used by angels in the spiritual kingdom are similar to typographical letters in our world. But the letters used by angels in the celestial kingdom — each of which also carries a whole meaning — are similar to ancient Hebrew letters, being curved in various ways, with marks above and within them.
ttt[2] Because that is the nature of their writing, therefore their Word does not contain any names of the persons or places found in our Word, but instead of names it has expressions with symbolic meanings. For example, instead of Moses it has “historical Word.” Instead of Elijah it has “prophetic Word.” Instead of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob it has “the Lord in respect to His Divinity and Divine humanity.” Instead of Aaron it has “priesthood, ” instead of David “kingship, ” both as attributes of the Lord. Instead of the names of the twelve sons of Jacob, or of the tribes of Israel, it has various expressions having to do with heaven and the church. Similar expressions are used for the names of the Lord’s twelve disciples. Instead of Zion and Jerusalem, it has the church in relation to the Word and in relation to doctrine drawn from the Word. Instead of the land of Canaan it has the church itself. Instead of the cities there on each side of the Jordan it has various expressions having to do with the church and its doctrine. And so on with all the other names.
ttt[3] It is the same with numbers. These are not found in the Word in heaven, either, but instead it has expressions to which the numbers in our Word correspond.
It can be seen from this that the Word in heaven is one that corresponds to our Word, and thus that they are united. For they are united by the correspondences.
ppp9372#pid#72. Marvelously, the Word in the heavens is so written that simple folk understand it in a simple way, and the wise wisely. For there are diacritical points and marks over the letters, which, as we said, enhance the meaning. Simple folk pay no attention to these, neither do they know their meaning. But the wise attend to them, each in accordance with his wisdom, including those with the greatest wisdom.
A copy of the Word, transcribed by angels inspired by the Lord, is kept in a sacred repository in each of the larger societies in heaven, to keep it from being altered in some point elsewhere.
Our Word, indeed, is like the Word in heaven in this, that simple folk understand it in a simple way, and the wise wisely. But such is the case for another reason.
ppp9371#pid#73. Angels gain all their wisdom owing to the Word, as they themselves confess. For the more they understand the Word, the more light they have. The light in heaven is Divine wisdom, which to their eyes is light.
In the sacred repository where the copy of the Word is kept, the light is flaming and brilliant, surpassing any other degree of light surrounding it in heaven.
The reason is the same as that said above, that the Lord is present in the Word.
ppp9370#pid#74. The wisdom of celestial angels surpasses the wisdom of spiritual angels, almost as the wisdom of spiritual angels surpasses the wisdom of people, and this for the reason that celestial angels are prompted by the goodness of love received from the Lord, while spiritual angels are prompted by truths of wisdom received from the Lord. And wherever the goodness of love is found, wisdom resides there as well. On the other hand, where truths are found, no more wisdom resides there than the goodness of love accompanying them.
This is why the Word in the celestial kingdom is written differently than the Word in the spiritual kingdom. For the expressions in the Word in the celestial kingdom express goods of love, and the marks are affections, whereas the expressions in the Word in the spiritual kingdom express truths of wisdom, and the marks are perceptions.
ppp9369#pid#75. One may conclude from this the kind of wisdom that lies concealed in the Word that exists in the world. For concealed in it is all the wisdom of angels, which is beyond description. Indeed, the Word is the containing vessel of that wisdom. And a person comes into it after death if he is made an angel by the Lord through the Word.
ppp9368#pid#76. The Church Is Formed by the Word, and Its Character Is Such as Its Understanding of the Word
That the church is formed by the Word is not something to be doubted, for the Word is Divine truth itself (see nos. `@@@1-4`). The Word is the source of the church’s doctrine (nos. `@@@50-61`). And the Word makes possible a conjunction with the Lord (nos. `@@@62-69`).
But that it is an understanding of the Word that forms the church — this may be doubted, since there are people who believe they are part of the church because they possess the Word, read it or hear it from a preacher, and know something of its literal sense. But they do not know how this or that in the Word is to be understood, and some people place little value in it.
We must show here, therefore, that it is not the Word that forms the church, but people’s understanding of it, and that the character of the church is such as the understanding of the Word among the people in the church.
Confirmation of this is as follows:
ppp9367#pid#77. The Word is the Word according to a person’s understanding of it, that is, according to how it is understood. If it is not understood, the Word is indeed called the Word, but it is not the Word in the person.
The Word is the truth according to a person’s understanding of it, for the Word [in him] may not be the truth. Indeed, it may be falsified.
The Word is spirit and life according to a person’s understanding of it, for the letter without an understanding of it is lifeless.
Since a person possesses truth and life according to his understanding of the Word, he possesses faith and love also in accordance with that understanding; for truth is connected with faith, and love with life.
Now because the church is formed by faith and love and in accordance with these, it follows that the church is a church in consequence of its understanding of the Word and in accordance with that understanding — a noble church if it possesses genuine truths, an ignoble one if it is without genuine truths, and a destroyed one if it possesses falsified truths.
ppp9366#pid#78. Furthermore, the Lord is present in a person and conjoined with him through the Word, since the Lord embodies the Word and speaks in it as it were with the person. And because the Lord embodies Divine truth itself, so also does the Word embody it.
It is apparent from this that the Lord is present in a person and at the same time conjoined with him in accordance with his understanding of the Word, for it is in accordance with this that a person possesses truth and a resulting faith, as well as love and a resulting life.
The Lord is indeed present in a person by his reading of the Word, but He is conjoined with the person through his understanding of truth derived from the Word and in accordance with it. And the more conjoined the Lord is with the person, the more the person has the church in him.
The church exists in a person. The church around him is the church in all the other people who have the church in them. This is what the Lord meant when, to the Pharisees asking Him when the kingdom of God was coming, He said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (`Luke 17bbb21`). The kingdom of God there means the Lord and the church formed by Him.
ppp9365#pid#79. In many places in the Prophets the subject is an understanding of the Word when referring to the church, and the teaching is that the church exists only where the Word is rightly understood, and that the character of the church is such as the understanding of the Word among the people in the church.
Many places in the Prophets also describe the church that existed in the Israelite and Jewish nation, saying that it was entirely destroyed and ended by the people’s falsifying the sense and meaning of the Word. For nothing else destroys the church.
ttt[2] Ephraim in the Prophets describes both a true understanding of the Word and a false one, especially in Hosea, for Ephraim in the Word symbolizes the understanding of the Word in the church. And because an understanding of the Word is what forms the church, therefore Ephraim is called a “dear son” and “a pleasant child” (`Jeremiah 31bbb20`); the “firstborn” (`Jeremiah 31bbb9`); “the helmet” of Jehovah’s head (`Psalms 60bbb7`, `Psalms ccc108bbb8`); “a mighty man” (`Zechariah 10bbb7`); “fitted with the bow” (`Zechariah 9bbb13`). And the children of Ephraim are called “armed” and “shooters of the bow” (`Psalms 78bbb9`). A bow symbolizes doctrine from the Word battling against falsities.
Ephraim was also therefore shifted to Israel’s right hand and blessed, and taken in place of Reuben (`Genesis 48bbb5`, `Genesis 48bbbccc11`ff.).
And Ephraim, with his brother Manasseh, under the name of their father Joseph, was therefore praised above all the others by Moses in his blessing the children of Israel (`Deuteronomy 33bbb13-17`).
ttt[3] At the same time, the character of the church when any understanding of the Word has been lost is also described by Ephraim in the Prophets, especially in Hosea, as is apparent from the following:
...Israel and Ephraim shall stumble.... Ephraim shall be desolate.... Ephraim is oppressed and shaken in judgment.... ...I will be like a lion to Ephraim.... I...will seize them and go away; I will take them away and not rescue them. (`Hosea 5bbb5`, `Hosea 5bbbccc9`, `Hosea 5bbbccc11-14`)
O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? ...For your holiness is like a morning cloud, and like the falling morning dew it goes away. (`Hosea 6bbb4`)
ttt[4] They shall not dwell in Jehovah’s land, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and shall eat unclean food in Assyria. (`Hosea 9bbb3`)
Jehovah’s land is the church. Egypt is the factual knowledge of the natural man. Assyria is his resulting reasoning, by which the Word is falsified as regards any understanding of it. That is why we are told that Ephraim shall return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.
ttt[5] Ephraim feeds on the wind, and pursues the east wind; he daily increases lies and desolation. He makes a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried down into Egypt. (`Hosea 12bbb1`)
To feed on the wind, to pursue the east wind, and to increase lies and desolation is to falsify truths and so destroy the church.
ttt[6] The harlotry of Ephraim, too, has the same symbolic meaning. For harlotry symbolizes the falsifying of an understanding of the Word, that is, of its genuine truth. As in the following:
I know Ephraim..., (that he surely) has committed harlotry, (and) Israel is defiled. (`Hosea 5bbb3`)
I have seen a foul thing in the house of Israel: there Ephraim committed harlotry, (and) Israel is defiled. (`Hosea 6bbb10`)
Israel is the church, and Ephraim is its understanding of the Word, which forms the church and its character. That is why Ephraim is said to have committed harlotry and Israel to be defiled.
ttt[7] Since the church with the Jews was utterly destroyed by its falsifications of the Word, therefore regarding Ephraim we read the following:
...will I give you up, Ephraim? ...will I hand you over, Israel? ...like Admah? (Or) will I set you like Zeboiim? (`Hosea 11bbb8`)
Now because the prophet Hosea, from the first chapter to the last, has as his subject the falsification of the Word and its destruction of the church, and because harlotry symbolizes a falsification of the truth in it, therefore the prophet was commanded to represent the state of the church by taking himself a harlot as his woman and producing children by her (chapter `Hosea ccc1bbb0`), and a second time by taking an adulteress as his woman (chapter `Hosea ccc3bbb0`).
ttt[8] We have cited these passages to make it known from the Word and confirmed by it that the character of the church is such as the understanding of the Word in it: an excellent and precious church if its understanding is formed by genuine truths drawn from the Word, but a destroyed church, indeed a foul one, if its understanding is formed by truths falsified.
As confirmation that Ephraim symbolizes an understanding of the Word, and in an opposite sense that understanding falsified, and that the result is the destruction of the church, all the other passages dealing with Ephraim could be presented, such as `Hosea 4bbb17-18`, `Hosea ccc7bbb1`, `Hosea 7bbbccc11`, `Hosea ccc8bbb9`, `Hosea 8bbbccc11`, `Hosea ccc9bbb11-13`, `Hosea 9bbbccc16`, `Hosea ccc10bbb11`, `Hosea ccc11bbb3`, `Hosea ccc12bbb1`, `Hosea 12bbbccc8`, `Hosea 12bbbccc14`, `Hosea ccc13bbb1`, `Hosea 13bbbccc12`; `Isaiah 17bbb3`, `Isaiah ccc28bbb1`; `Jeremiah 4bbb15`, `Jeremiah ccc31bbb6`, `Jeremiah 31bbbccc18`, `Jeremiah ccc50bbb19`; `Ezekiel 37bbb16`, `Ezekiel ccc48bbb5`; `Obadiah 1bbb19`; `Zechariah 9bbb10`.
ppp9364#pid#80. Every Single Constituent of the Word Contains a Marriage of the Lord and the Church, and So a Marriage of Goodness and Truth
The idea that every single constituent of the Word contains a marriage of the Lord and the church, and so a marriage of goodness and truth, is something not seen previously, nor could it have been seen, because the Word’s spiritual sense was not disclosed before, and the marriage can only be seen by means of that sense. For lying concealed within the Word’s literal sense are two other senses, a spiritual one and a celestial one. In the spiritual sense expressions in the Word relate mainly to the church, and in the celestial sense, mainly to the Lord. In the spiritual sense they relate also to Divine truth, and in the celestial sense to Divine goodness. Hence the aforesaid marriage in the Word’s literal sense.
But this marriage is not apparent to anyone unless he knows from the Word’s spiritual and celestial senses the symbolic meanings of the words and names. For some words and names refer to goodness, and some to truth, and some encompass both. Without that knowledge, therefore, the aforesaid marriage in every constituent of the Word cannot be seen.
It is for this reason that this arcanum has not been disclosed previously.
ppp9363#pid#81. Because every single constituent of the Word contains such a marriage, we find therefore many times in the Word paired expressions which seem to be repetitious of the same idea. They are, however, not repetitious, but one expression relates to goodness and the other to truth, and the two taken together produce a combination of them so as to form a single concept. This, too, is what accounts for the Divinity of the Word and its holiness; for present in every Divine work is goodness combined with truth, and truth combined with goodness.
ppp9362#pid#82. We say that every constituent of the Word contains a marriage of the Lord and the church and so a marriage of goodness and truth, because wherever a marriage of the Lord and the church is found, present there also is a marriage of goodness and truth. Indeed, from the first springs the latter. For when the church or a person of the church is governed by truths, the Lord then flows into those truths with goodness and gives them life. Or in other words, when the church or a person of the church possesses intelligence as a result of truths, then the Lord flows through the goodness of love and charity into that intelligence and so infuses it with life.
ppp9361#pid#83. Every person has in him two faculties of life, called intellect and will. The intellect is the recipient vessel of truth and so of wisdom, while the will is the recipient vessel of goodness and so of love. The two must be united for a person to be a person of the church, and they are united when a person forms his intellect out of genuine truths, and this to all appearance as though of himself, and when his will is filled with the goodness of love, this by the Lord. The person consequently has a life of truth and a life of goodness — a life of truth in the intellect impelled by the will, and a life of goodness in the will in consequence of the intellect. This union is the marriage of truth and goodness in the person, and also the marriage of the Lord and the church in him.
But regarding this reciprocal union, which we here call a marriage, more will be seen in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Providence, Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, and Regarding Life.
ppp9360#pid#84. Readers who pay attention to it can see that we find in the Word paired expressions which seem to be repetitious of the same idea, such as brother and companion, poor and needy, devastation and desolation, empty and void, adversary and enemy, sin and iniquity, anger and wrath, nation and people, joy and gladness, mourning and weeping, justice (or righteousness) and judgment, and so on. These pairs seem to be synonyms, but in fact they are not, for the words brother, poor, devastation, empty, adversary, sin, anger, nation, joy, mourning, and justice (or righteousness) refer to goodness, and in an opposite sense to evil, whereas the words companion, needy, desolation, void, enemy, iniquity, wrath, people, gladness, weeping, and judgment refer to truth, and in an opposite sense to falsity. Still, it seems to the reader who does not know this arcanum that brother and companion, poor and needy, devastation and desolation, empty and void, and adversary and enemy have the same meaning, and likewise sin and iniquity, anger and wrath, nation and people, joy and gladness, mourning and weeping, justice (or righteousness) and judgment. And yet these do not have the same meaning, but by their combination come to have a united one.
ttt[2] We find in the Word many other combinations as well, such as fire and flame, gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone, bread and water, bread and wine, purple and fine linen, and so on, and this because fire, gold, bronze, wood, bread, and purple symbolize goodness, while flame, silver, iron, stone, water, wine and fine linen symbolize truth.
Similarly we are told that people are to love God with all their heart and with all their soul, and that God will create in a person a new heart and a new spirit. For the heart refers to the goodness of love, and the soul to truth springing from that goodness.
We also find words which, because they have to do with both goodness and truth, are used alone without being combined with any others.
But nothing of what we have said, and still more, is apparent except to angels, and to those who, when attending to the natural sense, attend also to the spiritual sense.
ppp9359#pid#85. To show from the Word that there are in it such paired expressions which seem to be repetitious of the same idea would be a tedious task, as it would take pages. However, in order to banish doubt, I would like to cite passages in which judgment and justice (or righteousness) are mentioned together, then passages in which nation and people are mentioned together, and then joy and gladness.
The following are passages in which judgment and justice (or righteousness) are mentioned together:
(The city) was full of judgment; righteousness spent the night.... (`Isaiah 1bbb21`)
Zion shall be redeemed in righteousness, and her former exiles in judgment. (`Isaiah 1bbb27`)
Let Jehovah Zebaoth be exalted in judgment, and God, the Holy One, shall be hallowed in righteousness. (`Isaiah 5bbb16`)
(He will sit) upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to...establish it with judgment and justice.... (`Isaiah 9bbb7`)
Let Jehovah be exalted, for He dwells on high, and He has filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. (`Isaiah 33bbb5`)
...said Jehovah: “Maintain judgment, and do righteousness; for My salvation is near..., that My righteousness may be revealed. (`Isaiah 56bbb1`)
...as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the judgment of their God. They will ask of Me the judgments of justice. (`Isaiah 58bbb2`)
...swear, “as Jehovah lives, ” ...in judgment, and in righteousness. (`Jeremiah 4bbb2`)
...let him who glories glory in this..., that...Jehovah...(exercises)...judgment and righteousness in the earth. (`Jeremiah 9bbb24`)
Execute judgment and righteousness.... Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness, and his upper rooms without judgment.... Did not your father...do judgment and righteousness? (And) then it was well with him. (`Jeremiah 22bbb3`, `Jeremiah 22bbbccc13`, `Jeremiah 22bbbccc15`)
...I will raise to David a righteous Branch, who shall reign...as a king, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. (`Jeremiah 23bbb5`, cf. `Jeremiah ccc33bbb15`)
If a man is just, who does judgment and justice.... (`Ezekiel 18bbb5`)
...if (the impious man) turns from his sin and does judgment and justice..., no mention...will be made against him; he has done judgment and justice; he shall surely live. (`Ezekiel 33bbb14`, `Ezekiel 33bbbccc16`, cf. `Ezekiel ccc33bbb19`)
I will betroth you to Me forever...in righteousness and judgment, and in mercy and compassion. (`Hosea 2bbb19`)
Judgment shall flow like water, and righteousness like a mighty torrent. (`Amos 5bbb24`)
...you have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. (`Amos 6bbb12`)
...(Jehovah) pleads my case and executes judgment for me, (and) brings me forth into the light, and I see His righteousness. (`Micah 7bbb9`)
O Jehovah, Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are a great ocean. (`Psalms 36bbb6`)
(Jehovah) shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as noonday. (`Psalms 37bbb6`)
(Jehovah) will judge Your people with righteousness, and Your wretched with judgment. (`Psalms 72bbb2`)
Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of Your throne. (`Psalms 89bbb14`)
...when I learn the judgments of Your rightousness.... Seven times a day I praise You, because of the judgments of Your righteousness. (`Psalms 119bbb7`, `Psalms 119bbbccc164`)
(Gad) administered the justice of Jehovah, and His judgment with Israel. (`Deuteronomy 33bbb21`)
(The Spirit of truth) will indict the world...of righteousness, and of judgment.... (`John 16bbb8`, `John 16bbbccc10`)
And so on elsewhere.
ttt[2] Judgment and justice are mentioned so frequently because judgment is predicated of truths, and justice or righteousness of goodness. To execute judgment and justice, therefore, also means to be prompted to do so by truth and by goodness.
Judgment is predicated of truth, and justice or righteousness of goodness, because the Lord’s government in the spiritual kingdom is said to be one of judgment, while the Lord’s government in the celestial kingdom is said to be one of righteousness. Regarding this, see the book `@@@Heaven and Hell 214`, `@@@Heaven and Hell ccc215`.
Because judgment is predicated of truth, in some places we find mention of truth and righteousness, or truth and justice, as in `Isaiah 11bbb5`, `Psalms 85bbb11`, and elsewhere.
ppp9358#pid#86. Repetitions seemingly of the same idea exist in the Word to express a marriage of goodness and truth, and this can be more clearly seen from passages in which nations and peoples are mentioned. Consider, for example, the following:
Woe to a sinful nation, to a people laden with iniquity.... (`Isaiah 1bbb4`)
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.... You have multiplied the nation.... (`Isaiah 9bbb2-3`)
...Assyria, the rod of My anger.... I will send him against a hypocritical nation; against the people of My wrath I will charge him.... (`Isaiah 10bbb5-6`)
It shall come to pass in that day that the nations shall seek the Root of Jesse, who shall stand as the people’s banner.... (`Isaiah 11bbb10`)
(Jehovah) who struck the people...with an incurable stroke, who ruled the nations in anger.... (`Isaiah 14bbb6`)
In that day, brought as a present to Jehovah Zebaoth will be a people torn and shaven, and...a nation measured and downtrodden.... (`Isaiah 18bbb7`)
...a mighty people will glorify You; the cities of powerful nations will fear You. (`Isaiah 25bbb3`)
(Jehovah) will swallow up...the covering...over all peoples, and the veil...over all nations. (`Isaiah 25bbb7`)
Come near, you nations..., and you peoples, pay attention! (`Isaiah 34bbb1`)
I (Jehovah) have called You...as a covenant for the people, as the light of the nations. (`Isaiah 42bbb6`)
Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people assemble. (`Isaiah 43bbb9`)
Behold, I will lift My hand toward the nations, and My banner toward the peoples. (`Isaiah 49bbb22`)
...I have given Him as a witness to the peoples, a prince and lawgiver to the nations. (`Isaiah 55bbb4`)
Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation will be raised from the farthest parts of the earth. (`Jeremiah 6bbb22`)
Nor will I cause you to hear the calumny of the nations anymore, nor bear the reproach of the peoples anymore.... (`Ezekiel 36bbb15`)
...all peoples, ...nations...will worship Him. (`Daniel 7bbb14`)
...lest the nations make a joke of them, and say among the peoples, “Where is their God?” (`Joel 2bbb17`)
The remnant of My people shall plunder them, and the residue of My nation shall possess them. (`Zephaniah 2bbb9`)
Many peoples and numerous nations shall come to seek Jehovah Zebaoth in Jerusalem.... (`Zechariah 8bbb22`)
...my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light for the revelation of the nations.... (`Luke 2bbb30-32`)
...You...have redeemed us...by Your blood, out of every...people and nation.... (`Revelation 5bbb9`)
You must prophesy again about peoples and nations.... (`Revelation 10bbb11`)
You shall make Me the head of the nations; a people I have not known shall serve me. (`Psalms 18bbb43`)
Jehovah renders the counsel of the nations ineffectual; He overturns the thoughts of the peoples. (`Psalms 33bbb10`)
You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. (`Psalms 44bbb14`)
(Jehovah) will subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet.... (Jehovah) has reigned over the nations.... Those willing of the peoples have gathered together.... (`Psalms 47bbb3`, `Psalms 47bbbccc8-9`)
The peoples shall confess You.... The nations shall be glad and exult. For You shall judge the peoples righteously, and guide the nations upon the earth. (`Psalms 67bbb3-5`)
Remember me, O Jehovah, with the favor You have toward Your people..., that I may...be glad in the joy of Your nations.... (`Psalms 106bbb4-5`)
And so on elsewhere.
ttt[2] Nations and peoples are mentioned together because nations mean people prompted by goodness, and in an opposite sense people prompted by evil, while peoples means people who are prompted by truths, and in an opposite sense people who are prompted by falsities.
People who belong to the Lord’s spiritual kingdom are therefore called peoples, while those who belong to the Lord’s celestial kingdom are called nations. For everyone in the spiritual kingdom is prompted by truths and so by wisdom, while everyone in the celestial kingdom is prompted by goodness and so by love.
ppp9357#pid#87. The case is the same with all other such instances. Take, for example, places where joy is mentioned and also gladness, as in the following:
Behold, joy and gladness, the slaying of oxen.... (`Isaiah 22bbb13`)
They shall obtain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (`Isaiah 35bbb10`, `Isaiah ccc51bbb11`)
...cut off...from the house of our God [are] joy and gladness. (`Joel 1bbb16`)
(Taken from them will be) the sound of joy and the sound of gladness.... (`Jeremiah 7bbb34`, `Jeremiah ccc25bbb10`)
...the fast of the tenth [month] shall be for the house of Judah an occasion of joy and gladness.... (`Zechariah 8bbb19`)
...that we may rejoice...all our days! Make us glad.... (`Psalms 90bbb14-15`)
Be glad in Jerusalem; rejoice in her.... (`Isaiah 66bbb10`)
Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom.... (`Lamentations 4bbb21`)
The heavens will be glad, the earth will rejoice. (`Psalms 96bbb11`)
(They) will make me hear joy and gladness.... (`Psalms 51bbb8`)
Joy and gladness will be found in (Zion), confession and the sound of singing. (`Isaiah 51bbb3`)
(There will be) gladness, and many will rejoice at His birth. (`Luke 1bbb14`)
I will cause to cease...the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. (`Jeremiah 7bbb34`, `Jeremiah ccc16bbb9`, cf. `Jeremiah ccc25bbb10`)
Again there shall be heard in this place...the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.... (`Jeremiah 33bbb10-11`)
And elsewhere.
ttt[2] Both joy and gladness are mentioned together because joy has to do with goodness and gladness with truth; or to put it another way, because joy is connected with love and gladness with wisdom. For joy is an expression of the heart, and gladness an expression of the soul; or to put it another way, joy is a matter of the will, and gladness of the intellect.
That a marriage of the Lord and the church is present in these expressions as well is apparent from the declaration, “the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride” (`Jeremiah 7bbb34`, `Jeremiah ccc16bbb9`, `Jeremiah ccc25bbb10`, `Jeremiah ccc33bbb10-11`), in which the Lord is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. That the Lord is the bridegroom may be seen in `Matthew 9bbb15`, `Mark 2bbb19-20`, and `Luke 5bbb34-35`; and that the church is the bride, in `Revelation 21bbb2`, `Revelation 21bbbccc9` and `Revelation ccc22bbb17`. That is why John the Baptist says of Jesus, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom” (`John 3bbb29`).
ppp9356#pid#88. To express the marriage of the Lord and the church, or in other words, to express the marriage of Divine goodness and Divine truth present in every particular of the Word, we find in many places the expressions Jehovah and God, or Jehovah and the Holy One of Israel, as though they were two entities, even though they are the same one. For Jehovah means the Lord in relation to Divine goodness, while God and the Holy One of Israel mean the Lord in relation to Divine truth.
The fact that Jehovah and God, or Jehovah and the Holy One of Israel, are mentioned in many places in the Word, and yet mean the same God, who is the Lord, may be seen in `@@@The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord 34`, `@@@The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord ccc38` and `@@@The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord ccc46`.
ppp9355#pid#89. Since a marriage of the Lord and the church is present in each and every particular of the Word, it can be seen that each and every particular of the Word has the Lord as its subject, as we demonstrated to begin with in `@@@The Doctrine Regarding the Lord 1-7`.
The Word also has the church as its subject, and the church likewise embodies the Lord; for the Lord teaches that a person of the church is in Him, and He in that person (`John 6bbb56`, `John ccc14bbb20-21`, `John ccc15bbb5`, `John 15bbbccc7`).
ppp9354#pid#90. Because we are dealing here with the Divinity and holiness of the Word, to what we have already said let me add a relevant narrative account.
I was once sent a little piece of paper from heaven with Hebrew letters on it, but letters written as they were among the ancient people. Today the letters are to some extent formed with straight lines, but among the most ancient peoples they were then rounded and had little hornlike strokes projecting upward. Angels who were with me then said they knew whole meanings from the letters alone, and that they knew the meanings chiefly from the curves of the lines and points of a letter. They then explained what some letters signified separately, and what in combination, saying that he (h), which was added to the names of Abram and Sarai, symbolized infinity and eternity.
The angels explained for me, moreover, the meaning of the Word in `Psalms 32bbb2` from just the letters or syllables alone, the gist of their meaning being that the Lord is merciful also to those who do evil.
ttt[2] They informed me that writing in the third heaven consists of no straight letters, but of letters variously curved, each of which has a meaning, and that the vowel points there serve to indicate the part of the pronunciation which corresponds to affection; that in that heaven they cannot pronounce the vowels i and e, but instead say y or eu; and they do use the vowels a, o, and u, because these vowels have a full sound. They also said they do not pronounce any of the consonants as hard, but as soft. This, they said, is the reason some Hebrew letters have a dot placed within them, to indicate [that they are pronounced as hard, but without a dot] that they are pronounced with a soft sound, saying that hardness in consonants is employed in the spiritual heaven, because there they are concerned with truths, and truth is capable of hardness, unlike the goodness that prompts angels of the celestial kingdom or third heaven.
They said, too, that the Word they have is written with curved letters having symbolic little hornlike projections and points.
It was apparent from this what is meant by the Lord’s saying, “Not one jot or one tittle will pass from the law till all is fulfilled, ” (`Matthew 5bbb18`). And, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one point of the law to fail” (`Luke 16bbb17`).
ppp9353#pid#91. Heresies May Be Seized On from the Word’s Literal Sense, But It Is Harmful to Affirm Them
We showed above that the Word cannot be understood apart from doctrine, and that doctrine serves as a lamp in whose light genuine truths may be seen. And the reason is that the Word was written solely in terms of correspondences. As a result, the Word contains many appearances of truth that are not naked truths, and much was accommodated to the comprehension of natural people, even of sensual people, yet at the same time it was written in such a way that simple people can understand it in simplicity, and wise people wisely.
Now because that is the nature of the Word, the appearances of truth, which are truths clothed, may be seized on as naked truths. And when these are affirmed, they become falsities.
People who do this, however, are people who believe themselves wiser than others, even though they are not wise. For it is the part of wisdom to see whether something is true before affirming it, and not to affirm whatever one pleases. People who do the latter are people who possess a talent for defending their affirmations and are caught up in a conceit in their own intelligence. But those who do the former are people who love truths, who are affected by them because they are true, and who apply them to useful life endeavors. For they are enlightened by the Lord and see truths in the light of those truths, in contrast to the first people who create their own enlightenment and see falsities also in the light of those falsities.
ppp9352#pid#92. The fact that appearances of truth, which are truths clothed, may be seized on from the Word as naked truths, and that when affirmed, they become falsities, may be seen from the many heresies that have existed in the Christian world, and which exist still.
Heresies themselves do not condemn people. An evil life does. And so do affirmations from the Word of the falsities found in any heresy and defended by the reasonings of the natural self.
Everyone, indeed, is born into the religion of his parents, is introduced into it from early childhood, and afterward holds to it, nor is he able to extricate himself from its falsities owing to his dealings in the world.
But to live an evil life, and to affirm falsities to the point that they destroy genuine truth — that is what condemns.
For someone who remains in his religion and believes in God, and in the case of Christianity believes in the Lord, considers the Word holy, and lives in accordance with the Ten Commandments religiously — such a one does not swear to falsities. Consequently, when he hears truths and in some measure perceives their truth, he is able to embrace them and so be extricated from falsities. Not so someone who has affirmed the falsities of his religion, for falsity once affirmed remains and cannot be rooted out. That is because once falsity is affirmed, it is as though the person has sworn to it, especially if it is connected with his self-love and consequent conceit in his own wisdom.
ppp9351#pid#93. I have spoken with some in the spiritual world who lived many centuries ago and confirmed themselves in the falsities of their religion, and I found that they remained steadfastly caught up in them.
I have also spoken with some there who were adherents of the same religion and thought as those others did, but who inwardly did not affirm its falsities, and I found that on being instructed by angels, they rejected the falsities and learned truths, and were saved, unlike the others.
Every person after death is instructed by angels, and those who see truths, and falsities in the light of those truths, are accepted. For everyone is given the ability after death to see truths spiritually. Those who have not confirmed themselves in falsities see truths, whereas those who have so confirmed themselves are unwilling to see truths, and if they do see them, they turn their backs on them, and then either deride them or falsify them.
ppp9350#pid#94. But let us illustrate this with an example. Many places in the Word attribute anger, wrath and vengeance to the Lord, and say that He punishes, casts into hell, tempts, and many other like things. Someone who believes this in simplicity, and for that reason fears God and takes care not to sin against Him, is, because of the simplicity of that belief, not condemned. But someone who affirms these ideas in himself to the point that he believes that anger, wrath, and vengeance, and thus such attributes as are connected with evil, are found in the Lord, and that anger, wrath and vengeance are what cause the Lord to punish people and cast them into hell — such a one is condemned, because he has destroyed genuine truth, namely, that the Lord is love itself, mercy itself, and goodness itself, and someone who has these attributes cannot be angry, wrathful, or vengeful.
The attribution of these characteristics to the Lord is due to the appearance. And the like is the case in many other instances.
ppp9349#pid#95. Many depictions in the literal sense are apparent truths that contain genuine truths concealed within them, and it is not harmful to think and speak in accordance with those apparent truths. However, it is harmful to affirm them to the point of destroying the genuine truth that lies concealed within. This, too, may be illustrated by an example found in nature, which I cite because something natural is more clearly instructive and convincing than something spiritual.
ttt[2] To our eyes it appears that every day the sun travels around the earth, and does so also once annually. For that reason it says in the Word that the sun rises and sets, that it causes morning, afternoon, evening and night, as well as the seasons of spring, summer, fall and winter, and thus days and years, even though the sun is stationary. For it is a sea of fire, and the earth revolves daily and travels about it annually.
A person who thinks in simplicity and ignorance that the sun travels around does not destroy the natural truth, namely, that the earth rotates daily about its axis and moves along its orbit annually.
On the other hand, someone who affirms as true the apparent motion of the sun and its course because of what it says in the Word, and does so with arguments originating from his natural self, weakens the truth, and also destroys it.
ttt[3] The idea that the sun moves is an apparent truth. The fact that it does not move is a genuine truth. Everyone may speak in accordance with the apparent truth, and also does speak so, but to think accordingly with conviction dulls the rational intellect and darkens it.
The case is the same with the stars in the sky. It is an apparent truth that they also travel about once daily, like the sun, which is why it is also said of the stars that they rise and set. But the genuine truth is that the stars are fixed, and the sky in which they appear is stationary. Still, everyone may speak in accordance with the appearance.
ppp9348#pid#96. We said that it is harmful to affirm the apparent truth of the Word to the point of destroying the genuine truth that lies concealed within, and that is because each and every particular in the Word’s literal sense communicates with heaven and opens it, in conformity with what we said in nos. `@@@62-69` above.
So then, when a person uses that sense to justify worldly loves in opposition to heavenly loves, the inner meaning of the Word is falsified. And as a result, when that outer meaning or literal sense, whose inner meaning is false, communicates with heaven, it then closes heaven. For the angels who are present in the Word’s inner meaning reject the falsified meaning.
It is apparent from this that inner falsity or truth falsified takes away communication with heaven and closes it.
This is why it is harmful to affirm some heretical falsity.
96. [repeated]. The Word is like a garden, one rightly called a heavenly paradise, which contains delights to the tongue and to the eye and nose — delights to the tongue in its fruits and delights to the eye and nose in its flowers — with trees of life at its center by gushing springs of water. But surrounding the garden is a forest of trees.
A person guided by Divine truths in accordance with doctrine resides in the center where the trees of life are and experiences in fact the delicacies and delights of the garden.
In contrast, a person not guided by truths in accordance with doctrine, but who focuses on the literal sense alone, resides on the periphery and sees only the forest and its trees.
But someone caught up in the doctrine of a false religion, who has affirmed in himself the falsity of it, resides not even in the forest, but in a sandy plain round about, devoid even of grass.
That such are the states after death of the people described is something we will establish in its proper place.
ppp9347#pid#97. It should be known, moreover, that the Word’s literal sense is a protection for the genuine truths that lie concealed within. The literal sense is a protection in that it can be turned this way and that and explained in accord with a person’s comprehension, and yet without the inner meaning’s being harmed or violated. For it does no harm if the Word’s literal sense is interpreted in one way by one person, and in another way by another person. But it does do harm if the Divine truths that lie concealed within are perverted; for this does violence to the Word.
This is guarded against by the literal sense. And it is guarded against among people who, owing to their religion, are caught up in falsities, but do not affirm those falsities, for they do not do any violence.
ttt[2] This protection is symbolized by cherubim in the Word, and described by them, too.
It is symbolized by the cherubim that were placed at the entrance to the garden of Eden after Adam and his wife were cast out, about which we read the following:
(When Jehovah God) drove out the man..., He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword turning hither and thither, to guard the way to the tree of life. (`Genesis 3bbb23-24`)
The cherubim symbolize protection. The way to the tree of life symbolizes an entryway to the Lord, which people have through the Word. The flaming sword turning hither and thither symbolizes Divine truth in outmost expressions, which, like the literal sense of the Word, can be turned in this way.
ttt[3] Protection is likewise meant by the cherubim of gold placed at the two ends of the mercy seat on top of the ark in the Tabernacle (`Exodus 25bbb18-21`). Because this is what the cherubim symbolized, therefore the Lord spoke with Moses from between them (`Exodus 25bbb22`, `Exodus ccc30bbb6`, `Exodus ccc33bbb9`, `Numbers 7bbb89`). It may be seen in nos. `@@@37-49` above that the Lord speaks with a person only in fullness, and that the Word in its literal sense is Divine truth in its fullness; thus the Lord accordingly spoke with Moses from between cherubim.
Nor is anything else symbolized by the cherubim on the curtains and veil of the Tabernacle (`Exodus 26bbb1`, `Exodus 26bbbccc31`). For the curtains and veil of the Tabernacle represented the outmost constituents of heaven and the church, and so also those of the Word (see no. `@@@46` above).
Nor is anything else symbolized by the cherubim inside the Temple in Jerusalem (`1 Kings 6bbb23-28`). And by the cherubim carved on the walls and doors of the Temple (`1 Kings 6bbb29`, `1 Kings 6bbbccc32`, `1 Kings 6bbbccc35`). Likewise by the cherubim in the new temple (`Ezekiel 41bbb18-20`). (See also no. `@@@47` above.)
ttt[4] Since cherubim symbolize a protection to keep the Lord, heaven, and the Divine truth contained in the Word from being approached directly, so that they must be approached indirectly through outmost expressions, therefore we are told regarding the king of Tyre the following:
You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering.... You, O cherub, spread out a covering.... I destroyed you, O covering cherub, in the midst of stones of fire. (`Ezekiel 28bbb12-14`, `Ezekiel 28bbbccc16`)
Tyre symbolizes the church with respect to its concepts of truth and goodness, and its king accordingly symbolizes the Word which contains and is the source of those concepts. It is apparent that the Word here is symbolized as it is in its outmost expression, namely its literal sense, and its protection by a cherub; for the text says, “You were the seal of perfection, ” “every precious stone was your covering, ” and “You, O cherub, spread out a covering, ” including as well the phrase, “O covering cherub.” The precious stones listed here also mean truths in the Word’s literal sense, as may be seen in no. `@@@45` above.
Since cherubim symbolize the outmost expression of Divine truth set as a protection, therefore we are told in the Psalms of David,
He bowed the heavens and came down..., and He rode upon a cherub.... (`Psalms 18bbb9-10`)
O Shepherd of Israel..., You who sit upon the cherubim, shine forth! (`Psalms 80bbb1`)
Jehovah...is seated upon the cherubim. (`Psalms 99bbb1`)
To ride upon cherubim, to sit on them and be seated on them, is to do so on the outmost sense of the Word.
ttt[5] Divine truth and its character are described in the Word by cherubim in the first and ninth chapters in Ezekiel, and in the tenth. But because no one can know what the particulars in the description of them symbolize, unless he is someone for whom the spiritual sense has been laid open, therefore I have had disclosed to me what everything said about the cherubim in the first chapter in Ezekiel symbolizes, which in brief is as follows:
Verse `Ezekiel 1bbbccc4`: The Divine atmosphere surrounding the Word is described.
Verse `Ezekiel 1bbbccc5`: This represented as having the likeness of a man.
Verse `Ezekiel 1bbbccc6`: Its conjunction with spiritual and celestial elements.
Verse `Ezekiel 1bbbccc7`: The nature of the natural component of the Word.
Verses `Ezekiel 1bbbccc8-9`: The spiritual and celestial components of the Word conjoined with its natural one; their character.
Verses `Ezekiel 1bbbccc10-11`: The Divine love accompanying the celestial, spiritual and natural goodness and truth present in the Word, separately and together.
Verse `Ezekiel 1bbbccc12`: They look in one direction.
Verses `Ezekiel 1bbbccc13-14`: The atmosphere of the Word emanating from the Lord’s Divine goodness and Divine truth, which give the Word life.
Verses `Ezekiel 1bbbccc15-21`: The doctrine of goodness and truth found in the Word and emanating from the Word.
Verses `Ezekiel 1bbbccc22-23`: The Divinity of the Lord above the Word and in it.
Verses `Ezekiel 1bbbccc24-25`: And emanating from it.
Verse `Ezekiel 1bbbccc26`: The Lord’s being above the heavens.
Verses `Ezekiel 1bbbccc27-28`: And His possessing Divine love and Divine wisdom.
I have, moreover, compared these summaries with the Word in heaven and found them to be in conformity with it.
ppp9346#pid#98. The Lord Came into the World to Fulfill Everything in the Word, and to Become as a Consequence Divine Truth, or the Word, Also in Outmost Expressions
That the Lord came into the world to fulfill everything in the Word may be seen in `@@@The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord 8-11`. That He became as a consequence Divine truth, or the Word, also in outmost expressions — this is what is meant by these words in John:
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as though of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (`John 1bbb14`)
To become flesh is to become the Word in outmost expressions.
What the Lord was like as the Word in outmost expressions — this He showed His disciples when He was transfigured (`Matthew 17bbb2`ff., `Mark 9bbb2`ff., `Luke 9bbb28`ff.). And we are told in Luke that Moses and Elijah appeared in glory. Moses and Elijah mean the Word, as may be seen in no. `@@@48` above.
The Lord is also described as the Word in outmost expressions by John in the book of Revelation, in chapter one, verses `Revelation 1bbbccc13-16`, where everything in the description of Him symbolizes the outmost expressions of Divine truth or of the Word.
The Lord, indeed, had embodied the Word before, but in its first origins. For we read:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. It was in the beginning with God. (`John 1bbb1-3`)
But when the Word became flesh, then the Lord became also the Word in outmost expressions. It is because of this that the Lord is called the First and the Last (`Revelation 1bbb8`, `Revelation 1bbbccc11`, `Revelation 1bbbccc17`, `Revelation ccc2bbb8`, `Revelation ccc21bbb6`, `Revelation ccc22bbb13`).
ppp9345#pid#99. As a result of the Lord’s becoming also the Word in outmost expressions, the state of the church was entirely changed. The churches prior to the Lord’s advent were all representational churches, and they could see only a shadow of Divine truth. But after the Lord’s advent into the world, a church was established by Him that saw Divine truth in a state of light. The difference is as the difference between evening and morning. The state of the church before His advent is also called evening [in the Word], while the state of the church after His advent is called morning.
Before His advent into the world the Lord was indeed present with people of the church, but indirectly through heaven. But ever since His advent into the world He is present with people of the church directly. For in the world He put on also a natural Divinity in which He is present with people.
The Lord’s glorification is a glorification of His humanity, the humanity He assumed in the world. And the Lord’s glorified humanity is His natural Divinity.
ppp9344#pid#100. In what way the Lord is the Word is something few people understand, for they think that it is possible indeed for the Lord to enlighten and teach a person by means of the Word, and yet not that He can for that reason be called the Word. But be it known that everyone embodies his own love, and so his own goodness and his own truth. A person would otherwise not be human, and nothing in him would be human.
It is because a person embodies his own goodness and own truth that angels and spirits are human. For every good and every truth emanating from the Lord is, in its form, human.
The Lord, however, is Divine goodness itself and Divine truth itself. Thus He is supremely human, on whose account every person is human.
That every Divine good and Divine truth is, in its form, human, may be seen in the book, `@@@Heaven and Hell 460`. And it will be seen still more clearly in treatises to follow, which will have as their subject Angelic Wisdom.
ppp9343#pid#101. Before the Current Word in the World Today, There Was a Word That Has Been Lost
Before the Word in the Israelite nation given through Moses and the Prophets, worship employing sacrifices was known, and people prophesied in the name of Jehovah, as can be seen from reports in the books of Moses.
That worship employing sacrifices was known: This can be seen from its being commanded to the children of Israel to overturn the altars of the gentiles, break in pieces their pillars, and cut down their groves (`Exodus 34bbb13`, `Deuteronomy 7bbb5`, `Deuteronomy ccc12bbb3`).
It can be seen from the time when Israel in Shittim began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab, that the daughters invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods, and especially that Israel joined itself to Baal-Peor, and Jehovah’s anger was inflamed therefore against Israel (`Numbers 25bbb1-3`).
It can also be seen from the altars that Balaam, who came from Syria, caused to be built, and from his sacrificing oxen and flocks (`Numbers 22bbb40`, `Numbers ccc23bbb1-2`, `Numbers 23bbbccc14`, `Numbers 23bbbccc29-30`).
ttt[2] That people prophesied in the name of Jehovah: This can be seen from the prophecies of Balaam (`Numbers 23bbb7-10`, `Numbers 23bbbccc18-24`, `Numbers ccc24bbb3-9`, `Numbers 24bbbccc15-24`). His prophesying concerning the Lord, that a Star would arise out of Jacob and a scepter out of Israel (`Numbers 24bbb17`). His prophesying in the name of Jehovah (`Numbers 22bbb13`, `Numbers 22bbbccc18`, `Numbers ccc23bbb3`, `Numbers 23bbbccc5`, `Numbers 23bbbccc8`, `Numbers 23bbbccc16`, `Numbers 23bbbccc26`, `Numbers ccc24bbb1`, `Numbers 24bbbccc13`). It is apparent from this that a Divine worship like the worship in the Israelite nation instituted by Moses existed among gentiles.
ttt[3] That such worship existed also before the time of Abram: A glimmer of this is reflected in Moses’ words in `Deuteronomy 32bbb7-8`. But it is still more plainly apparent from the action of Melchizedek, king of Salem, who brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram, and from Abram’s giving him tithes of everything (`Genesis 14bbb18-20`). Melchizedek, moreover, represented the Lord, for he is called the priest of God Most High (`Genesis 14bbb18`). Regarding the Lord, we are also told in the book of Psalms, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek” (`Psalms 110bbb4`). That is why Melchizedek brought out bread and wine as holy elements of the church, like the holy elements in the sacrament of Holy Supper, and why he could bless Abram, and why Abram gave him tithes of everything.
ppp9342#pid#102. That the Word among ancient peoples was written solely in terms of correspondences, but has since been lost, is something reported to me by angels in heaven. And I have been told that this Word is still preserved among them and used by the ancient peoples in that heaven who had that Word when they lived in the world.
Those ancient peoples, among whom that Word is still used in heaven, came partly from the land of Canaan and the lands surrounding it — Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Chaldea, Assyria, Egypt, Sidon, Tyre, and Nineveh — and the inhabitants of all those kingdoms practiced a representational worship and so possessed a knowledge of correspondences. The wisdom of that time flowed from that knowledge, and because of it they had an inner perception and communication with the heavens.
Those who had a more interior knowledge of the correspondences of that Word were called wise and intelligent, but later diviners and magi.
ttt[2] However, because that Word was full of correspondences which only remotely symbolized celestial and spiritual things, and many people consequently began to falsify it, therefore in the course of time, of the Lord’s Divine providence it vanished and finally was lost. And another Word, written in terms of correspondences not so remote, was given, and this through prophets among the children of Israel.
Still, this latter Word retained many names of places in the land of Canaan and in Asia round about, which had the same symbolic meanings as in the Ancient Word.
It was for this reason that Abram was commanded to go to that land, and that his posterity descended from Jacob was led into it.
ppp9341#pid#103. The existence of a Word among ancient peoples is clear also in the writings of Moses, who refers to it and quotes something from it in `Numbers 21bbb14-15`, `Numbers 21bbbccc27-30`; `Numbers ccc21bbb14-15`, `Numbers 21bbbccc27-30`. And the narrative portions of that Word were called The Wars of Jehovah, and the prophetic portions Oracles.
From the narrative portions of that Word Moses quoted the following:
Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah: “Waheb in Suphah, and the streams, the Arnon, and the channel of the streams which went down to the dwelling place of Ar and stops at the border of Moab.” (`Numbers 21bbb14-15`)
The wars of Jehovah in that book — as in ours — meant and described the Lord’s combats with hell and His victories over it, which would take place when He came into the world. These same combats are also meant and described in many places in the narrative portions of our Word—such as by the wars of Joshua with the nations of the land of Canaan, and by the wars of the judges and kings of Israel.
ttt[2] From the prophetic portions of the Ancient Word Moses quoted the following:
Therefore the Oracles say: “Go into Heshbon; the city of Sihon will be built and established. For a fire has gone out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it consumed Ar of Moab, the possessors of the heights of the Arnon. Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, O people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and given his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites. We finished them with arrows; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon. And we laid them waste as far as Nophah, which [reaches] even to Medeba.” (`Numbers 21bbb27-30`)
Translators render the source as “those who speak in proverbs, ” but they ought to be called Oracles or Prophetic Utterances, as can be seen from the meaning of the word moshalim in the original Hebrew, which means not only proverbs but also prophetic utterances—as in `Numbers 23bbb7`, `Numbers 23bbbccc18`, `Numbers ccc24bbb3`, `Numbers 24bbbccc15`. In each of these verses Balaam is said to have uttered his oracle, which was a prophetic one (prophetic, in fact, of the Lord). His oracle each time is called mashal, in the singular. Moreover, the words quoted by Moses in these verses are not proverbs, but prophecies.
ttt[3] That the Ancient Word was likewise Divine or Divinely inspired is apparent in Jeremiah, where almost the same words occur, namely:
...a fire has gone out from Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, which consumed the corner of Moab and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult. Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished! For your sons have been taken off into captivity, and your daughters into captivity. (`Jeremiah 48bbb45-46`)
In addition to these references, a prophetic book of the Ancient Word, called the Book of Jashar or Book of the Upright, is also cited by David and Joshua. By David:
David lamented...over Saul and over Jonathan..., and he wrote to teach the children of Judah [the Song of] the Bow; is it not written in the Book of Jasher? (`2 Samuel 1bbb17-18`)
And by Joshua:
...Joshua...said...: “Sun, stand still in Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." ...Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? (`Joshua 10bbb12-13`)
Moreover, I have been told that the first seven chapters of Genesis are found in the same Ancient Word, so completely that not the least word is missing.
ppp9340#pid#104. The Word Is the Means by Which Those Have Light Who Are Outside the Church and Do Not Have the Word
No conjunction with heaven is possible unless somewhere on earth there is a church which has the Word and where the Lord is consequently known, because the Lord is God of heaven and earth, and there is no salvation apart from the Lord.
It is enough for a church to exist that has the Word, even if it consists of relatively few people. The Lord is still everywhere present by means of the Word throughout the whole world; for by it heaven is conjoined with the human race. To be shown that the conjunction exists by means of the Word, see nos. `@@@62-69` above.
ppp9339#pid#105. We need to explain, however, how the presence of the Lord and heaven and conjunction with them is possible in all lands by means of the Word.
The whole of heaven is, in the Lord’s sight, like a single person. So, too, the church. To be shown that it also actually appears as a person, see the book `@@@Heaven and Hell 59-86`.
In that person, the church where the Word is read, and where the Lord is consequently known, is like the heart and lungs — the celestial kingdom being as though the heart, and the spiritual kingdom the lungs.
ttt[2] As the heart and lungs are the two founts of life in the human body, and all the rest of the organs and viscera subsist and have life from them, so also do all people in the world subsist and have life from the conjunction of the Lord and heaven with the church through the Word — all those who have any religion, who worship one God and live rightly, who are therefore included in that grand humanity, and who relate to its organs and viscera surrounding the thoracic cavity which contains the heart and lungs. For the Word in the church, even if possessed by relatively few, is life to all the rest from the Lord through heaven, as the organs and viscera of the entire body have life from the heart and lungs. They also have a similar communication.
ttt[3] This, too, is the reason that Christians among whom the Word is read constitute the breast of that grand humanity. They are also at the center of all, with Roman Catholics round about them. Around them are Muslims who acknowledge the Lord as a very great prophet and as the Son of God. After them come Africans. And the outmost periphery is composed of nations and peoples from Asia and the Indies. Regarding the arrangement of these peoples, something more may be seen in the short work `@@@The Last Judgment 48`.
All those who are in that grand humanity also face toward the middle where the Christians are.
ppp9338#pid#106. The greatest light is found in the middle where those Christians are who possess the Word, for light in the heavens is Divine truth emanating from the Lord as the sun there; and because the Word is that Divine truth, the greatest light is found where those people are who possess the Word.
From there as from its center, the light radiates out to all the surrounding areas, even to the outmost periphery. This is the source of the enlightenment of nations and peoples not in the church — also by means of the Word.
To be shown that the light in the heavens is Divine truth emanating from the Lord, and that the light makes possible the ability to understand, not only on the part of angels, but also on the part of people, see the book `@@@Heaven and Hell 126-140`.
ppp9337#pid#107. That such is the case throughout the whole of heaven may be concluded from a similar one in each society there, for every society in heaven is a heaven in smaller form, and is also like a person. The reality of this may be seen in the book `@@@Heaven and Hell 41-87`.
In every society in heaven, the angels who are at its center likewise relate to the heart and lungs, and they possess the greatest light. This light and its accompanying perception of truth radiate out in every direction from the center to the surrounding areas, thus to all the rest of the people in the society, and make possible their spiritual life.
I have been shown that when the people who were at the center, who formed the region of the heart and lungs and who therefore possessed the greatest light, were removed, those who lived round about were left in comparative darkness, and that they then had such a weak perception of truth as to have scarcely any. But as soon as those at the center returned, their light reappeared as before, and they recovered their former perception of truth.
ppp9336#pid#108. The same phenomenon can also be illustrated by the following experience:
I had with me African spirits from Ethiopia. One day their ears were opened so that they heard people singing one of the Psalms of David in a temple in this world. The spirits were moved with such delight by this that they began to sing along with them. But presently their ears were closed again, so that they no longer heard anything from there; and then they were affected with a still greater delight, because it was a spiritual delight. And at the same time they were filled with intelligence, because the Psalm had to do with the Lord and redemption. Their increased delight was owing to the fact that they were given a communication with the society in heaven which was in conjunction with those who were singing the Psalm in the world.
It was apparent from this experience and many others that a communication with the whole of heaven takes place by means of the Word.
It is for the same reason that, of the Lord’s Divine providence, there exists a universal commerce of the kingdoms of Europe, principally of those where the Word is read, with nations outside the church.
ppp9335#pid#109. A comparison may be drawn with the warmth and light of the world’s sun, which enable trees and bushes to grow, even those which are off to the side or under a cloud, provided the sun has risen and become visible in the world.
Such is the case with the light and warmth in heaven, radiating from the Lord as the sun, and the light is Divine truth, from which angels and people have all their intelligence and wisdom. So it is said regarding the Word that it was with God, and was God, that it enlightens every man coming into the world (`John 1bbb1`, `John 1bbbccc9`), and that the same light appears even in darkness (`John 1bbb5`).
ppp9334#pid#110. It can be seen from this that the Word found in Reformed or Protestant churches enlightens all nations and people by a spiritual communication. Also that the Lord provides that there always be in the world a church where the Word is read, and where the Lord is consequently known.
Therefore, when Roman Catholics had almost cast the Word aside, of the Lord’s Divine providence the Protestant Reformation took place, so that the Word was again received. And it was also provided that the Word be regarded as holy by a noble nation among the Catholic countries.
ppp9333#pid#111. Since without the Word no concept of the Lord is possible, thus no salvation, therefore when the Word in the Jewish nation was completely falsified and adulterated, and so made virtually non-existent, it pleased the Lord to descend from heaven, come into the world and fulfill the Word, and by doing so repair and restore it, so as to give light again to the inhabitants of the earth. In the Lord’s words:
The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has arisen. (`Matthew 4bbb16`, cf. `Isaiah 9bbb2`)
ppp9332#pid#112. Since it was foretold that at the end of the present church darkness would again arise, when the Lord was no longer known or acknowledged as the God of heaven and earth, and when faith was divorced from charity, therefore to keep a genuine understanding of the Word from perishing as a consequence, it has pleased the Lord to reveal now the spiritual sense of the Word and to show that the Word in that sense, and so in the natural sense, has the Lord and the church as its subject, and indeed these alone; and to do much else by which to restore the light of truth from the Word that has been almost extinguished.
ttt[2] That the light of truth would be almost extinguished at the end of the present church is something foretold in many places in the book of Revelation. It is also meant by these words of the Lord in Matthew:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then...they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with...glory and power. (`Matthew 24bbb39`, `Matthew 24bbbccc30`)
The sun there means the Lord in relation to love; the moon the Lord in relation to faith; the stars the Lord in relation to concepts of goodness and truth; the Son of man the Lord in relation to the Word; the clouds the literal sense of the Word; and glory the spiritual sense and its shining through in the literal sense.
ppp9331#pid#113. Through a good deal of experience I have been given to know that the Word is the means by which a person has a communication with heaven. When I read the Word from the first chapter of Isaiah to the last chapter of Malachi, and the Psalms of David, I was given to clearly perceive that each verse communicated with some society in heaven, and so the whole Word with the whole of heaven.
ppp9330#pid#114. Without the Word No One Would Have Any Knowledge of God, of Heaven and Hell, of Life after Death, and Still Less of the Lord
This follows as a general conclusion from everything we have already said and shown: That the Word is Divine truth itself (nos. `@@@1-4`). That the Word is the means of conjunction with angels in heaven (nos. `@@@62-69`). That the Word throughout contains a marriage of the Lord and the church and so a marriage of goodness and truth (nos. `@@@80-89`). That the character of a church is such as its understanding of the Word (nos. `@@@76-79`). That the Word exists also in the heavens and is the source from which angels have their wisdom (nos. `@@@70-75`). That it is by means of the Word that nations and peoples not in the church have spiritual light (nos. `@@@104-113`). And more as well.
One may conclude from this that without the Word no one would have any spiritual intelligence, which consists in having knowledge of God, of heaven and hell, and of life after death. And no one would have any knowledge at all of the Lord, and of faith in and love for Him, thus nothing of redemption, even though it is the means of salvation.
The Lord also says to His disciples, “Without Me you can do nothing” (`John 15bbb5`).
And John [the Baptist] says, “A man can gain nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven” (`John 3bbb27`).
ppp9329#pid#115. However, because there are some people who assert and have confirmed in themselves that people could have known of the existence of God without the Word, and also of heaven and hell, as well as something of whatever else the Word teaches, and because they consequently weaken the authority and sanctity of the Word, if not by what they say, still at heart, therefore we cannot deal with them from the Word, but in accord with their rational sight. For they do not believe in the Word, but in themselves.
Inquire in accord with your rational sight and you will find that everyone has in him two faculties of life, called his intellect and his will. You will also find that the intellect is subject to the will, and not the will to the intellect. For the intellect only informs and shows the way.
Inquire further and you will find that a person’s will is his native self, that regarded in itself it is nothing but evil, and that it produces falsity in the intellect.
ttt[2] When you discover this, you will see that of himself a person is unwilling to comprehend anything that does not accord with the native character of his will, and that it is impossible for him to do so unless he has some other impetus that causes him to see it.
Prompted by the native character of his will, a person is unwilling to comprehend anything that does not have to do with himself and the world. Anything higher than that is for him shrouded in darkness. So, for example, when he sees the sun, the moon and the stars, if by chance he were to think about their origin, he would be unable to think other than that they came into being by themselves. Could he possibly think more deeply than many of the learned in the world, who, even though they know from the Word of the creation of everything by God, still ascribe it to nature? What then would these same people have thought if they had known nothing from the Word?
ttt[3] Do you suppose that ancient philosophers such as Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, and others who wrote about the immortality of the soul arrived at this in the first place on their own? They did not. Rather they learned it from others by its being handed down from people who first knew about it from the Ancient Word.
Writers of natural theology do not derive anything of the kind on their own, either, but only confirm with rational arguments what they know from the church where the Word is found. There may even be some among them who confirm these things and yet do not believe them.
ppp9328#pid#116. I have been granted to see peoples born on islands who were rational as regards civic matters, but who knew nothing at all of God. In the spiritual world they look like apes and lead a life almost like that of apes. But because they were born human beings, and so into the ability to receive spiritual life, they are instructed by angels and given new life through concepts of God as a man.
What a person is like on his own is clearly apparent from people in hell, who have among them some clerics and learned who are unwilling even to hear of God and therefore cannot even mention God. I have seen them and spoken with them. And I have also spoken with some who responded with the fire of anger and wrath when they heard someone speaking about God.
ttt[2] Consider, then, what a person would be like if he was told nothing of God, when some people are as described who have heard about God, written about God, and preached about God. Many of the Jesuits are of that character.
They are of such a character because they are prompted by a will that is evil, and, as we said before, this steers the intellect and expels any truth that it has in it from the Word.
If people could have known on their own of the existence of God and life after death, why have they not known that a person remains a person after death? Why have they supposed that his soul or spirit is like a puff of wind or the ether, which has no eyes with which to see, or ears with which to hear, or mouth with which to speak, until it is united to and combines with its corpse and skeleton?
Imagine then a doctrine for use in worship hatched from rational sight alone. Would it not be people themselves who were worshiped, as has been the case from days of old and is the case today by those who know from the Word that God alone is to be worshiped? No other worship can come of a person’s native self, not even worship of the sun or moon.
ppp9327#pid#117. Religion has existed from ancient times, and the inhabitants of the world have everywhere known of the existence of God, and something of the life after death, not on their own or owing to their own acumen, but from the Ancient Word (as discussed above, nos. `@@@101-103` above), and later from the Israelite Word.
From these two sources religions have spread to southeast Asia and its islands, through Egypt and Ethiopia into African kingdoms, and from the maritime regions of Asia to Greece, and from there to Italy.
However, because the Word could be written only in representational terms, namely in terms of such things as are found in the world, which correspond to heavenly things and so symbolize them, therefore the religions of many nations were turned into idolatrous ones, and in Greece into myths, where Divine attributes and predicates became so many gods, over which the people set a supreme one that they called Jove, after the name Jehovah.
It is common knowledge that people had a concept of paradise, of the flood, of holy fire, and of the four ages, extending from the first, golden one to the final, iron one, which in the Word symbolize the four states of the church, as in `Daniel 2bbb31-35`.
People also know that the Muslim religion which followed, and which destroyed many peoples’ earlier religions, was derived from the Word of both Testaments.
ppp9326#pid#118. Finally I will mention what the character of those people becomes after death who ascribe everything to their own intelligence and little if anything to the Word. First they become as though drunk, later as though silly, and finally stupid, and they sit in darkness.
Let people beware, therefore, of such lunacy.