2. Before treating of the New Jerusalem and its doctrine, something shall be said of the New Heaven and the New Earth. In the small work on The Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon it was shown what is meant by the "first heaven and the first earth" which had passed away. After they had passed away, and thus after the Last Judgment had been accomplished, the new heaven was created, that is, formed by the Lord. This heaven was formed of all those who after the Lord's advent even to the present time, had lived a life of faith and charity; since they alone were forms of heaven. For the form of heaven, according to which all consociations and communications are there effected, is the form of Divine Truth from the Divine Good which proceeds from the Lord; and this form a man puts on as to his spirit by a life according to Divine Truth.

That the form of heaven is from this source, may be seen in the work Heaven and Hell 200-212; and that all angels are forms of heaven, in Heaven and Hell 51-58, 73-77. From this it may be known, of whom the new heaven was composed, and hence also what its quality is; namely, that it is altogether of one mind; for he, who lives a life of faith and charity, loves another as himself, and through love conjoins him to himself, and thus reciprocally and mutually, because love in the spiritual world is conjunction. When, therefore, all act alike, then from many, yea, from countless numbers consociated according to the form of heaven, there arises one mind, and there results, as it were, a one; for there is nothing which separates and divides, but everything conjoins and unites.

1413. 'To the land which I will cause you to see' means the spiritual and celestial things that were to be brought to view. This is clear from the meaning of 'a land', 662, 1066, and indeed from the meaning here of 'the land of Canaan' which represents the Lord's kingdom, as becomes clear from many places in the Word. For this reason the land of Canaan is called the Holy Land, and also the heavenly Canaan. And since it represented the Lord's kingdom, it also represented and meant the celestial and spiritual things that belong to the Lord's kingdom, and here those that belong to the Lord Himself.

8192. 'And the angel of God travelled on' means rearrangement by Divine Truth. This is clear from the meaning here of 'travelling on' as rearrangement, the reason why 'travelling on' means rearrangement being that the pillar of cloud, which was a group of angels, which had previously gone ahead of the children of Israel, now took itself round between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, thereby bringing darkness among the Egyptians and light among the children of Israel (since these conditions were arranged by the Lord, by means of the angel of God or the pillar travelling round and placing himself between the two camps, 'travelling' here means rearrangement); and from the meaning of 'the angel of God' as Divine Truth, which is likewise the meaning of 'God'. For in the Word when truth is the subject the name 'God' is used, but when good is the subject the name 'Jehovah' appears, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921, 4402, 7010, 7268, 7873.

[2] As regards 'angels', it should be recognized that in the Word they serve to mean the Lord, 1925, 3039, 4085, which is why the Lord Himself is called 'the angel', 6280, 6831. This being so, Divine Truth is meant by 'angels', for Divine Truth emanating from the Lord makes heaven. It therefore also makes the angels who constitute heaven, for they are angels in the measure that they receive Divine Truth coming from the Lord. This may also be recognized from the consideration that angels altogether refuse to entertain, indeed they loathe the idea of attributing to themselves any truth or goodness, since this is the Lord's with them. That also is why the Lord is said to be the All-in-all of heaven, and why those in heaven are said to be 'in the Lord'. By virtue of Divine Truth which they receive from the Lord angels are also called 'gods' in the Word, 4295, 7268; and the word for God in the original language is for this reason plural.

[3] In addition to all this it should be recognized that in the Word the singular 'angel' may be used when in fact very many are meant. That is so here, where the expression 'the angel of God' is used, meaning the pillar going before the children of Israel, which was composed of very many angels. The Word also refers to angels by name, such as Michael, Raphael, ¹ and others. People unacquainted with the internal sense of the Word think that Michael or Raphael is one particular angel who is chief among those who are with him. But none of these names is used in the Word to mean one particular angel; instead some actual function performed by angels is meant, and so also the Lord's Divine Nature in respect of that function.

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