THE NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE

ACCORDING TO WHAT HAS BEEN HEARD FROM HEAVEN

WITH AN INTRODUCTION CONCERNING THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)

9874. 'Enclosed in gold shall they be in their settings' means that all of them in general and each in particular must emanate from the good belonging to the love that is received from the Lord and shown to the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'gold' as the good of love, dealt with in 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 8932, 9490, 9510; and from the meaning of 'being enclosed in it in their settings' as emanating from that good. For every single stone was surrounded by and so enclosed in gold, and since 'gold' means the good of love what is enclosed means that which exists or emanates from that good. The like is meant in verse 11 of the present chapter by the sockets of gold which surrounded the two shoham stones placed on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod.

[2] The implications of all this are that the breastplate and its twelve stones represented every good and truth in the heavens and so represented all heaven, as shown above. Moreover not only the heavens but also every community in the heavens, indeed each angel within a community, is surrounded by a Divine sphere, which consists of Divine Good and Truth emanating from the Lord, see where this is dealt with in 9490-9492, 9498, 9499, 9534. And since the good and truth of this sphere is received by the angels, so also every single thing present with them emanates from there; for each angel is heaven in the smallest form it takes. The actual good emanating from the Lord is what the gold around the stones and enclosing them represents.

[3] The truth that this good is the good of love that is received from the Lord and shown to the Lord may be recognized from the consideration that all good belongs to love, for what a person loves he calls good and also feels to be such. From this it is evident that heavenly good is the good of love to the Lord, for this love is what joins angel and man to the Lord; through this love they are brought to Him and enjoy all the good of heaven. It is well known in the Church that this good comes from the Lord, for the teaching of the Church is that all good originates in God and none at all in oneself. From this it is evident that the good of love shown to the Lord must come from the Lord, and that good from any other source is not good.

6032. 'And was seen towards him' means perception. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' as understanding and discerning, dealt with in 2150, 3764, 4567, 4723, 5400, and as having faith, 1315, 1807, 3863, 3869, 4403-4421, 5400. As regards the meaning of 'seeing' as understanding and therefore perceiving, and also as having faith, it should be recognized that a person has two components constituting his life - SPIRITUAL LIGHT and SPIRITUAL HEAT. Spiritual light constitutes the life of his understanding, and spiritual heat the life of his will. By virtue of its very own origin spiritual light is Divine Truth flowing from the Lord's Divine Good and is therefore the truth of faith flowing from the good of charity, while spiritual heat by virtue of its very own origin is the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love and is therefore the good of celestial love or love to the Lord and the good of spiritual love or love towards the neighbour. As has been stated, these two constitute the entire life in a person.

[2] As regards spiritual light, this is related to a person's understanding in the way that natural light is related to his external sight. That is to say, so that the eye can function, light must exist which enables it to do so. When it exists the eye beholds in that light everything all round outside itself. The same is true of the intellectual power of the mind, which is a person's inner eye. So that this eye can function the light of heaven flowing from the Lord must exist, enabling it to do so. And when this eye functions with the aid of that light it too beholds things all round outside itself. But the objects it sees are spiritual ones - facts and truths. When however it does not have the aid of that light, a person's intellectual power of the mind or inner eye is like his external or physical eye when this is in darkness and cannot see anything. That is, it does not from factual knowledge behold any truth, or from truth behold any good. The light which enables the intellectual power of the mind to function is light indeed, a kind of light which is a thousand times brighter than midday light in the world, as I can testify since I have beheld it. In that light all the angels in heaven see things all round outside themselves, and in that same light they also behold and perceive the truths of faith and the essential nature of them. This now explains why in the spiritual sense 'seeing' means not only the understanding but also any of its activities, such as cogitation, reflection, observation, circumspection, and many others, as well as meaning not only faith but also anything constituting faith, such as truth, teaching drawn from the Word, and the like.

[3] As regards spiritual heat however, this is related to a person's will in the way natural heat is related to his body, in that the one imparts life to the other. But by virtue of its very origin - an origin that can be traced back to the Lord - spiritual heat is nothing other than Divine Love towards the entire human race and the reciprocation of that love by man, to Him and also towards the neighbour. And that heat is heat indeed; it blesses angels' bodies with warmth and at the same time blesses their inmost beings with love. This is the reason why 'heat', 'flame', and 'fire', when used in the genuine sense in the Word, mean things connected with love, such as affections for goodness and truth, and also goodness itself.