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.

(Посилання: 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.

(Посилання: 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)

115. Still, there is no understanding how the Lord is in an angel and an angel is in the Lord except through knowing what kind of union is involved. It is a union of the Lord with the angel and of the angel with the Lord, so it is a reciprocal union. On the angel's side, it is like this. Angels, like us, simply feel as though they participate in love and wisdom on their own, and therefore that love and wisdom are theirs, their very own. If they did not feel this way there would be no union, so the Lord would not be in them, nor they in the Lord. It cannot happen that the Lord is in any angels or people unless they, as subjects of his presence in love and wisdom, sense and feel this as their own. This enables them not only to accept but also to retain what they have accepted, and to love in response. This, then, is how angels become wise and remain wise. Can people decide to love God and their neighbor, can people decide to gain wisdom, unless they feel and sense that what they love, learn, and gain is their own? Can they retain anything in themselves otherwise? If it were not for this, then the inflowing love and wisdom would have no seat. They would flow right through without making any difference; and as a result angels would not be angels and people would not be human. They would be virtually lifeless.

It makes sense, then, that if there is to be union, there must be reciprocity.

3300. 'And the first came out, ruddy all over, like a hairy garment' ¹ means good constituting the life of natural truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming out' as being born, from the meaning of 'ruddy' as good constituting the life, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'a hairy garment' as the truth of the natural, also dealt with below. His being 'the first' means that in essence good is prior, as stated above in 3299. It is also called 'a hairy garment' so as to mean that good was clothed with truth as in a thin casing or body, as also stated above in 3299. In the Word 'a tunic' means nothing else in the internal sense than something that clothes another thing, and that also is why truths are compared to garments, 1073, 2576.

[2] The reason why 'ruddy' or 'red' means good constituting the life is that all good flows from love, and love itself is celestial and spiritual fire. Love is also compared to and actually called fire, see 933-936, as well as being compared to and actually called blood, 1001. Because both fire and blood are red, good that flows from love is meant by 'ruddy' and 'red', as may also be seen from the following places in the Word: In the prophecy of Jacob, who by then was Israel,

He will wash his clothing in wine and his garment in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be redder than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. Genesis 49:11-12.

This refers to Judah, who is used here to mean the Lord, as may be clear to anyone. 'Clothing' here and 'garment' are the Lord's Divine Natural. 'wine' and 'the blood of grapes' are the Divine Good and Divine Truth of the Natural - Divine Good being spoken of as 'eyes redder than wine', and Divine Truth as 'teeth whiter than milk'. It is the joining together of good and truth within the Natural that is described in this fashion.

[3] In Isaiah,

Who is this who is coming from Edom, red as to his clothing, and his clothes like his that treads in the winepress? Isaiah 63:1-2.

Here 'Edom' stands for the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Natural, as will be evident later on. 'Red as to clothing' is the good of truth, and 'clothes like his that treads in the winepress' the truth of good. In Jeremiah,

Her Nazirites were brighter than snow, they were whiter than milk. They were ruddier in body ² than rubies, polished like sapphire. ³ Lamentations 4:7.

'Nazirites' represented the Lord's Divine Human, in particular the Divine Natural, and so the good of the latter was represented by their being 'ruddier in body than rubies'.

[4] Because 'red' meant good, in particular the good of the natural, the Jewish Church - in which every single thing was representative of the Lord, and from this of His kingdom, and consequently of good and truth which are the source of the Lord's kingdom - was therefore commanded to have a covering for the tabernacle of red-rams' skins, Exodus 25:5; 26:14; 35:5-7, 23; 36:19. That Church was also commanded to prepare the water for making atonement from the ashes of the red heifer that had been burnt, Numbers 19:2 and following verses. Unless the colour red had been a sign of something heavenly in the Lord's kingdom, it would never have been commanded that the rams should be red and that the heifer should be red. The fact that they represented sacred things anyone acknowledges who considers the Word to be sacred. Because the colour red had that meaning, therefore also the coverings of the Tabernacle were interwoven with, and had loops made of, scarlet, purple, and violet yarn, Exodus 35:6.

[5] Seeing that almost everything also has a contrary sense, as often stated, so too has 'red'. In the contrary sense 'red' means evil that is the outcome of self-love, the reasons for this being that the desires belonging to self-love are compared to and actually called fire, 934 (end), 1297, 1527, 1528, 1861, 2446, and are likewise compared to and actually called blood, 374, 954, 1005. Consequently 'red' in the contrary sense means those things, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah said, Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow. Though they are red as crimson, ⁴ they will be as wool. Isaiah 1:18.

In Nahum,

The shields of the mighty men of Belial have been made red, the mighty men are in crimson!; enveloped in the fire of torches are the chariots on the day [of preparation]. Nahum 2:3.

In John,

Another sign appeared in heaven, Behold, a great fiery-red dragon having seven heads, and on his heads seven jewels. Revelation 12:3.

In the same book,

I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; to him a crown was given; he went out conquering and to conquer. Then there came out another horse, fiery-red; and he who sat on the horse was permitted to take peace away from the earth, and so that men would slay one another. Therefore to him was given a great sword. After that a black horse came out, and at length a pale horse, whose name is death. Revelation 6:2-8.

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