1. True Christianity

Containing a Comprehensive Theology of the New Heaven and the New Church

The Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church

THE faith of the new heaven and the new church is stated here in both universal and specific forms to serve as the face of the work that follows, the doorway that allows entry into the temple, and the summary that in one way or another contains all the details to follow. I say "the faith of the new heaven and the new church" because heaven, where there are angels, and the church, in which there are people, act together like the inner and the outer levels in a human being. People in the church who love what is good because they believe what is true and who believe what is true because they love what is good are angels of heaven with regard to the inner levels of their minds. After death they come into heaven, and enjoy happiness there according to the relationship between their love and their faith. It is important to know that the new heaven that the Lord is establishing today has this faith as its face, doorway, and summary.

221. 5. The exteriors of the Temple in Jerusalem, as well, represented the types of good and truth that exist in the Word's literal meaning. The Temple represented heaven and the church just as the tabernacle did, although the Temple meant the heaven where the spiritual angels are, while the tabernacle meant the heaven where the heavenly angels are. Spiritual angels have wisdom because of the Word. Heavenly angels have love because of the Word.

The Lord himself teaches in John that in its highest meaning the Temple at Jerusalem stood for the Lord's divine-human manifestation:

"Break this temple in pieces and I will raise it in three days. " He was speaking of the temple of his body. (John 2:19, 21)

When something means the Lord it also means the Word, because he is the Word.

Since the interiors of the Temple represented the inner parts of heaven and the church, and the inner parts of the Word as well, its exteriors in turn represented and meant the outer parts of heaven and the church, and the outer parts of the Word as well, which belong to its literal meaning. We read of the exteriors of the Temple that they were built of whole, uncut stone, with cedar on the inside face; all the walls were carved on the inside with angel guardians, palm trees, and open flowers; and the floor was overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:7, 29-30). All these details stand for the outer parts of the Word, which are holy aspects of its literal meaning.

778. All individuals are their own love and their own understanding. Whatever they say and whatever they do carries with it an essence that is drawn from these two essential properties of their life. Therefore angels can recognize the nature of our unique essence on the basis of nothing more than a brief conversation with us. From hearing the tone of our voice angels sense what we love; and from hearing what we say, angels sense our level of understanding.

What makes this possible is that all people have two grand faculties of life within them: their will and their intellect. Their will is a vessel and a dwelling place for their love, and their intellect is a vessel and a dwelling place for their understanding. Therefore all that comes forth from people, whether in the form of actions or words, constitutes the people themselves; their words and actions are the people themselves.

[2] In a similar way, but on a much higher level, the Lord is divine love and divine wisdom, or divine goodness and divine truth. His will belongs to divine love, and his divine love belongs to his will; his intellect is divine wisdom, and divine wisdom is his intellect. The human form is a container for these qualities. These points enable us to see how the Lord is the Word.

On the other hand, people who are against the Word, that is, those who oppose the divine truth it contains and therefore oppose the Lord and his church, are their own evil and their own falsity. Both within their minds and in the manifestation of their minds in their bodies, meaning the things they say and do, this is their nature.