1621. As regards the skies which surround the blessed, which are attributable to the light because they are the product of that light, they are countless; and such is their beauty and loveliness that they defy description. There are adamantine skies which glitter in every smallest part, as if made of tiny spherical diamonds. There are skies that resemble the sparkling of every precious stone. There are skies that look like great pearls with light streaming through their centres and shot through with the brightest colours. There are skies aflame as if made of gold or of silver, even of diamond-like gold and silver. There are skies consisting of flowers varying in colour, but too small to be seen individually. Such, in their countless varieties, fill the heaven of little children. Indeed skies also manifest themselves there which seem to contain the shapes of little children at play, but too small to be seen individually and perceptible solely in the inner recesses of the mind. From these shapes little children gain the idea that everything around them is alive and shares in the Lord's life. This idea gives them a feeling of happiness in their inmost being. There are many more kinds of skies, for their varieties are countless and beyond description.

8439. 'Come near before Jehovah' means a state in which that influx is accepted and applied. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming near before Jehovah' as influx, dealt with in 8159, and therefore also acceptance, acceptance being the response to influx since the two answer to each other. To the extent that a person accepts influx from God he is said to come near before Him; nothing other than this is meant in the spiritual sense by 'coming near before Jehovah'. What enables a person to draw near Him is faith and love; and since both faith and love come from Jehovah, that is, from the Lord, drawing near Him is also the acceptance of goodness and truth flowing in from Him. The reason why applying is also meant is that receiving it has no value unless it is applied, that is to say, put to a useful purpose. For what flows in from God passes first into perception, which belongs to a person's understanding; from there it passes into his will, and after that into action, that is, into a good deed, which is the useful purpose, and in this reaches its goal. When this passage of goodness and truth from the Lord is complete, the goodness and truth become the person's own, for now they flow all the way through to the final level of order, that is, of the natural order, which all Divine influx heads towards. The person who has the Divine flowing all the way through him may be called a road of heaven. From all this it may now be seen that 'coming near before Jehovah' means a state in which that influx is accepted and put to use, here a state in which the good meant by 'manna' and the delight meant by 'selav' are accepted.