The Writings offer a tremendous amount of material on angels. The book "Heaven and Hell" offers detailed discussions as it describes heaven; "Conjugial Love" has much to say about marriage and romantic love in heaven; "Divine Love and Wisdom" offers insight into how angels in their nature reflect the nature of the Lord. So we'll offer some basics here and recommend those books to those who want more detail.

(Referenser: Divine Love and Wisdom 231; Divine Providence 60-67)

Basically, the Writings say that if people in this life open themselves to the Lord, follow the Lord's teachings and let the Lord change their selfish desires into generous loves, they will go to heaven as angels after they die. If they don't, and instead embrace their selfishness, they will go to hell as evil spirits. The Writings also say that this is the only source of angels and evil spirits - they were all once people. There is no separately created race of angels, no fallen angel Lucifer who is now the Devil; that belief is based solely on a few lines of misinterpreted scripture.

This makes sense if you look at it logically. If the Lord could create beings that would live in love and harmony with him with no possibility of evil, why would He have bothered with us? Why not just make more of them? The fact is, such beings would not have any choice in their actions, making them no better than animals. And ultimately, if they were purely good then they would really just be extensions of the Lord, so in loving them He would be loving Himself. The reverse is true of the idea of Satan or "the" Devil. The Lord creates us from love so that he can love us, bring us to heaven and make us happy. For Satan to exist, the Lord would have had to create him, and it would be contrary to His essence to create something that was not intended for heaven, for joy, and for union with the Lord.

So angels were once people, who got to be angels by embracing the idea of being good and followed the Lord's teachings as best they could. The Writings make it clear these people can come from anywhere, from any religious background. Some churches may have doctrine that is closer to the truth than others, but the point of any religion is for people to desire to be good and try to be good using the tools they have.

When those people die, they go first to a place called the "world of spirits." There everyone who has recently died can learn about the Lord and spiritual life and prepare for heaven. There also, people's inner affections start showing on the surface; those who are ultimately evil start losing the ability to cover it up, and the love starts shining through for those who are ultimately good. As this continues and as people learn more, they naturally start congregating with others who have similar loves. This way evil people eventually take themselves to hell, where they can be with others who share their evil. Good people, on the other hand, can be prepared for heaven.

Two important things have to happen for us to truly enter fully into heaven. First, the Lord will push aside our remaining evil desires, so they cannot hurt us or tempt us anymore; angels are in a marvelous state of peace, with no active evil to trouble them. Second, we will each be led by the Lord to the perfect married partner, the one whose soul matches ours, the one we can love blissfully to eternity. All angels are married, because the marriage of a man and a woman represents the marriage of love and wisdom in the Lord, and also the marriage of the desire for good and understanding of truth in each of us. Because of this, we can only fully receive and return the Lord's love as married partners, and heaven is suffused with the sphere of marriage and the love of marriage.

The angelic couples will find their way to communities of other angels whose loves match their own, people with whom they can share the deepest friendships imaginable. They will have houses which reflect the character of their loves, and will be given work to do that springs from their loves and fills them with joy. Beyond that, their lives are much as life might be in this world, though free of sickness and aging and boredom and conflict. They have bodies that are human in form - no wings! - but a beauty in face and form that reflects the good loves they have inside. They eat and drink and laugh and sleep and have parties and games; all filled with the delight of mutual love.

The Writings tell us the work angels do is varied far beyond what we can imagine, though they only describe a few aspects. Among other things, angels care for people in this life, passing on to them true ideas and desires for good from the Lord. They also teach those in the World of Spirits, greet those who have just died, raise those who died as children, keep order in hell and do many other things.

We would finally note that there are three degrees of angelic life, based on the loves people embraced in this life. The first, lowest heaven, called the "natural heaven," is filled by those who are in the love of service. Angels there love to do what's right because they know it is right. The second, middle heaven, called the spiritual heaven, is filled by those who are in the love of the neighbor. Angels there love to engage their minds with spiritual questions to gain an ever-deeper understanding of how to be loving to one another. The third, highest heaven, known as celestial, is filled with those who are in love of the Lord Himself. From that love they have such innocence that they look like children, and they instantly perceive what is true, in all its variety, from the light of that love.

(Referenser: Apocalypse Revealed 818; Arcana Coelestia 228-233, 454, 1802, 2551, 2572 [3-4], 5470, 6872 [2-3], 8747, 9503 [1-3], 9814 [2], 10604 [2-4]; Conjugial Love 44 [6-10], 52; Divine Love and Wisdom 19, 63, 71, 115, 116, 202, Divine Love and Wisdom 321, 322, 334; Heaven and Hell 75, 133, 266, 267, 304, 311, 415)

321. We need to realize that to all outward appearances, the spiritual world is just like the physical world. You can see lands there, mountains, hills, valleys, plains, fields, lakes, rivers, and springs like the ones in our earthly world; everything, then, that belongs to the mineral kingdom. You can see parks as well, gardens, groves, and woods, with all kinds of trees and shrubs with their fruits and seeds, smaller plants, flowers, herbs, and grasses; everything, then, that belongs to the plant kingdom. You can see all kinds of animals, birds, and fish--everything that belongs to the animal kingdom. The people there are angels and spirits.

This is prefaced to let it be known that the whole spiritual world is just like the whole physical world, the sole difference being that things there are not static and stable the way they are in a physical world because there is nothing of nature there. Everything is spiritual.

9174. 'And when a man borrows something from his companion' means truth from a different stock. This is clear from the meaning of 'borrowing' as receiving truth from a source other than self, thus from a different stock. The reason why 'borrowing' or 'asking of another' has this meaning is that in the spiritual world the only forms of good asked of others or imparted by others are ones that belong to intelligence and wisdom. Many other forms, it is true, are presented to view, indeed countless others; but these are appearances arising from those that belong to intelligence and wisdom. From this it is evident that 'borrowing' means being taught by another and so receiving truths or knowledge of truth and good from a source other than self. But this matter needs further explanation. A person is said to receive truths from self when he deduces them from the truths already present with him, at which time he combines these already present with those he deduces. But when he does this he entertains no other truths than those which are subject to and accord with the same good; for good is what arranges truths into order and links them together. Good is like the soul in a person, and truths are like those things with which the soul clothes itself and through which it acts. Just as every single thing in a person derives its life from his soul, as is well known, so the truths of faith receive theirs from the good of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. If that good does not compose a person's soul but the good of self-love or of love of the world, the person is not a human being but a wild animal. Furthermore in the next life he looks in the light of heaven like a wild animal, though in his own light, which becomes thick darkness when the light of heaven enters in, he looks like a human being. It should be borne in mind however that it is the Lord who arranges truths to accord with the good of a person's life.

[2] But a person is said to receive truths from another source when he is taught by another. If they are not subject to and do not accord with the good that governs him they are, it is true, stored in his memory among factual knowledge, yet they do not become his, that is, part of his belief, because they spring from a different stock. These truths are the subject in the present verse and the one that follows it.

[3] When 'borrowing' and 'lending' are mentioned in the Word, receiving instruction and giving it in a spirit of charity and affection are meant, as in Matthew,

Give to everyone asking from you, and from him desiring to receive a loan from you, do not turn away. Matthew 5:42.

Here it is evident that 'asking' was not used to mean asking, for the words are 'give to everyone asking'; neither were 'desiring a loan' and 'receiving it' so used. For if a person gave to everyone who asked, and also to everyone desiring to receive a loan, he would be deprived of all his goods. But since the Lord spoke from the Divine, 'asking' and 'desiring a loan', and 'giving' and 'receiving a loan', were used to mean the communicating of heavenly goods, that is, of cognitions or knowledge of good and truth. The nature of this communication is such that the more an angel stirred by charity and affection imparts them to another, the more the general good flows into him from heaven, that is, from the Lord, 6478. Thus an angel who gives to him who asks is not deprived of goods but enriched with them. The like applies when a person stirred by charity and affection does good to another. But real charity consists in giving to good people, and mistaken charity consists in giving to bad people the things they ask for and desire, 8120, as accords with these words in David,

The wicked borrows and does not repay, whereas the righteous shows mercy and gives. Psalms 37:21.

In Luke,

If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks do you have? Rather, love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing from it; then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Highest. Luke 6:34-35.

[4] Here also 'lending' is used to mean being stirred by charity and affection to do good, thus to communicate the good things of heaven, and also to impart the good things of the world, yet to impart them with the good things of heaven in view. Charity and affection are present when good things are communicated without thought of reward, but charity and affection are absent when they are communicated with reward as the end in view, see 2373, 2400, 3816, 3956, 4943, 6388-6390, 6392, 6393, 6478, 8002. 'Loving enemies' and 'doing good' to bad people are aspects of charity and affection; but enemies are loved and good is done to them when they are given instruction and also when by suitable means they are corrected by them, 8121.

[5] The exercise of charity is also meant by 'lending' in Moses,

If you obey the voice of Jehovah and take care to do His commandments, you shall lend to many peoples, but you shall not borrow. Deuteronomy 28:1, 12.

'Lending to many peoples' means abounding in forms of good that belong to intelligence and wisdom and communicating them from that abundance, while 'not borrowing' means having no need of them from others, since all things are imparted to a person by the Lord. In David,

A good man who has mercy and lends will maintain his cause ¹ in judgement; for he will never be moved. Psalms 112:5-6.

'Having mercy and lending' is used to describe the state of those governed by real charity. A similar description occurs in Psalms 37:21, in addition to other places.

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