Capítulo 1 (EL CIELO): El Dios del Cielo es el Señor

2. Lo primero será saber quien es el Dios del cielo, puesto que de ello dependen las demás cosas. En el cielo entero sólo el Señor es reconocido por Dios del cielo y ningún otro. Allí dicen, como Él mismo enseñó:

Que Él es uno con el Padre; que el Padre es en Él y Él en el Padre; que quien ve a Él, ve al Padre y que todo lo Santo procede de Él (Juan 10:30, 38; 14:9-11; 16:13-15).

He hablado varias veces con los ángeles sobre este particular, y siempre han dicho, que en el cielo no se puede partir lo Divino en tres, porque saben y sienten que la Divinidad es única, y que es única en el Señor. También han dicho, que los de la iglesia que llegan del mundo, teniendo la idea de tres Divinidades (Divinas Personas), no pueden ser admitidos en el cielo, puesto que su pensamiento pasa continuamente de uno a otro, y allí no es permitido pensar tres y decir uno; porque cada uno en el cielo habla por el pensamiento, siendo así que allí el hablar es pensar, o sea el pensar es hablar, por lo cual los que en el mundo han dividido la Divinidad en tres, formándose separada idea de cada uno, y no habiéndolos reunido y concentrado en el Señor, no pueden ser recibidos, porque en el cielo tiene lugar una comunicación de todo pensamiento; por lo cual si allí entrase alguien que pensara tres y dijera uno, sería en seguida descubierto y rechazado. Pero hay que saber que todos aquellos que no han separado la verdad del bien, o sea la fe del amor, al ser instruidos en la otra vida, reciben el celestial concepto del Señor de que Él es el Dios del universo. Otra cosa sucede con los que han separado la fe de la vida, es decir, los que no han vivido conforme a los preceptos de la verdadera fe.

100. And hath explored them that say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars. That this signifies falsities also so far as they can be searched out, is evident from the signification of exploring, as being to inquire into and search out; and from the signification of apostles, as being those who teach the truths of the church, and, apart from persons, the truths themselves that are taught (concerning which we shall speak in what follows); and from the signification of not being apostles and being found liars, as being not truths but falsities; for a lie and liar signify what is false (see Arcana Coelestia 8908, 9248). From these and the preceding considerations it is evident, that by these words: "I know that thou canst not bear them that are evil, and hast explored them that say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars," is signified, that they reject evils, and also falsities, so far as they can be searched out. For in the things written to this church, those are treated of who are in the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good, thus in the knowledges (cognitiones) of such things as pertain to heaven and the church (as may be seen above, n. 93); therefore it is here first said concerning them, that they reject evils, and falsities also so far as they can be searched out; for it concerns those who are in the knowledges (cognitiones) of the holy things of the church, first to know in general what good and truth are, and also what evil and falsity; for upon this knowledge (cognitio) all other knowledges (cognitiones) are founded. (For this reason The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem first of all treats concerning good and truth, n.11-27, from which also it is clear what evil and falsity are.)

[2] The reason why by apostles are signified those who teach the truths of the church is, that they are called apostles from the fact of their being sent to teach and to preach concerning the Lord and concerning the bringing near of the kingdom of God by Him; thus the truths of the church, by which the Lord is known and the kingdom of God is brought near: the kingdom of God on earth is the church. It is therefore evident that by apostles, in the spiritual sense of the Word, are meant not the twelve apostles who were sent by the Lord to teach concerning Himself and His kingdom, but all those who are in the truth of the church, and, apart from persons, those truths in themselves. For in the Word it is customary to speak of persons; but those who are in its spiritual sense, as the angels are, think not at all of persons, but apart from them, therefore of things only. The reason of this also is, that it is material to think of persons, but spiritual to think without the idea of a person; as, for instance, wherever the disciples are named in the Word, and prophets, priests, kings, Jews, Israel, inhabitants of Zion and of Jerusalem, and so on.

[3] (The very names of persons and places are also changed into things with the angels, as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 768, 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888, 4310, 4442, 5225, 5095, 6516, 10216, 10282, 10329, 10432; and that the angels think apart from persons, n. 8343, 8985, 9007.) That the Lord's disciples were called apostles from the fact of their being sent to teach concerning Him and His kingdom, is clear in Luke:

Jesus sent His twelve disciples to preach the kingdom of God: and the apostles, when they returned, told him all that they had done; and He spake unto them of the kingdom of God (9:1, 2, 10, 11).

In the same:

"When it was day, Jesus called unto him his disciples; and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles" (6:13).

In the same:

"I will send unto them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute" (11:49).

They are called prophets and apostles, because by prophets, just as by apostles, are meant those who are sent to teach truths; but by prophets those who are in the Old Testament, and by apostles those who are in the New. (That prophets, in the Word, signify those who teach truths, and, apart from persons, the truths themselves, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 2534.) Because the twelve apostles signify the truths themselves of the church, therefore it is said, in the Apocalypse:

"The wall" of the New Jerusalem "had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (21:14).

(That by the New Jerusalem is meant the church as to doctrine, may be seen in the small work, The New Jerusalem and its Doctrine, n. 6: that by its wall are signified truths of doctrine for defence, see in the Arcana Coelestia 6411); that by the foundations of the wall are signified the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth, upon which doctrine is founded, n. 9643; that by twelve are signified all truths in the aggregate, n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913: hence it is clear why it is said that in the foundations of the wall were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.)