343. Unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, signifies the Lord in respect to Divine good and to Divine truth. This is evident from what has been said and shown above n. 297, namely, that "throne" signifies heaven; "Him that sitteth upon the throne" Divine good proceeding, and "the Lamb" Divine truth proceeding, both of these filling the heavens and constituting them. Because Divine good proceeding from the Lord as a sun is received by the angels in His celestial kingdom, and Divine truth by the angels in the spiritual kingdom, therefore two are mentioned, namely, "He that sitteth upon the throne" and "the Lamb;" but in the internal sense, the two mean the Divine Proceeding from the Lord's Divine Human, which is Divine good united to Divine truth, while in the sense of the letter it is distinguished into two for the sake of reception. The Divine that constitutes heaven and gives to angels and men love, faith, wisdom, and intelligence, proceeds not immediately from the Lord's Divine Itself, but through His Divine Human, and this Divine that proceeds is the Holy Spirit (See above, n. 183).

[2] In this way it is to be understood what the doctrine of the church teaches, that the Son proceeds from the Father, and the Holy Spirit through the Son, also that the Lord's Divine and His Human are not two, but a single person or one Christ; for the Lord's Divine is that which assumed the Human, and for that reason He called it His Father; thus He did not call Father another Divine which is at this day worshiped as His Father in place of His own Divine. And the Divine Proceeding is what is called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, and the Paraclete; since this is the holy of the Spirit, or the holy Divine which the Spirit speaks, and not another Divine, which is worshiped as the third person of the Divinity. That this is so all can understand who are in any light of heaven. And yet it is declared in many places from the doctrine of the Trinity that was given by Athanasius, that the three are one. Let anyone examine himself when he says with the mouth that God is one, whether he does not think of three, when yet there is but one God, and the three names of the Divine are names of the one God. Athanasius, because he did not understand this, believed the three names to be three Gods, though one in essence.

[3] And yet they cannot be said to be one in essence when something is attributed to one and not to another, for thus the essence is divided; consequently a personal name is given to each essence. But they are one essence when the three are names of one person, namely, the Divine Itself, called the Father; the Divine Human, called the Son; and the Divine Proceeding, called the Holy Spirit (See The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 280-310). These things have been said to show that "He that sitteth upon the throne," and "the Lamb," do not mean two but one, namely, the Lord in respect to the Divine Proceeding.

4464. 'Only on this [condition] will we consent to you: If you will be as we are' means acceptance of their semblance of religion. This is clear from the meaning of 'consenting' as acceptance, and from the meaning of 'being as they are' as being interested only in external things and not in internal ones, for they would in that case have been as they were, see just above in 4459. There it was shown - in 4459 - what an interest only in external things is and what an interest in internal ones is. Here the reason why a person ought to be interested in internal ones is going to be stated. Anyone who reflects may see that man has communication with heaven by means of internal things, for the whole of heaven dwells within internal things. Unless a person is in heaven as regards his thoughts and affections, that is, as regards the thoughts in his understanding and the affections in his will, he cannot go to heaven after death, since he has no communication with it at all. During his lifetime a person secures that communication by means of truths in his understanding and goods in his will, and unless he secures it then he cannot do so subsequently, since his mind cannot be opened after death to interior things if it has not been opened to them during his lifetime.

[2] Man is not immediately conscious of the fact that a spiritual sphere surrounds him, the nature of which is determined by the life of his affections. That sphere the angels are able to perceive more clearly than any aroma reaching the keenest sense of smell in the world. If in his life he has been interested only in external things, that is to say, in the pleasures that are gained from hatred against the neighbour, from consequent revenge and cruelty, from committing adultery, from self-aggrandizement and consequent contempt for others, from unseen acts of robbery, from avarice, from deceit, and from luxuriousness, and other vices like these, the spiritual sphere which surrounds him is as offensive as the aroma in the world coming from dead bodies, dung, stinking refuse, and other things such as these. Anyone who has been leading a life like this takes that sphere with him after death; and being entirely surrounded by that sphere he cannot exist anywhere else than in hell where such spheres belong. Concerning spheres in the next life and their origins, see 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504-1519, 1695, 2401, 2489.

[3] People however who are interested in internal things - that is to say, who have taken delight in expressing good-will and charity towards the neighbour, and most of all who have found blessedness in love to the Lord - have a pleasing and lovely sphere surrounding them, which is the heavenly sphere itself; and for that reason they are in heaven. All the spheres which are perceived in the next life have their origin in the loves and in the affections deriving from those loves which have governed them. Such spheres have their origins as a consequence in their life, for their loves and affections derived from these loves constitute their life itself. And because they have their origins in their loves and affections derived from these they have their origins in the intentions and the ends in view which cause a person to will and to act in the way he does. For everyone has as his end in view that which he loves, and therefore a person's ends determine what his life is and constitute the essential nature of it; and this is the main source of the sphere around him. That sphere is perceived most perfectly in heaven the reason being that the sphere emanating from ends in view exists throughout the whole of heaven. These considerations show what someone is like whose interest is in internal things and what someone is like whose interest is in external ones, and why a person ought not to be interested only in external things but to be interested in internal ones also.

[4] But someone who is interested only in external things pays no attention to internal ones - no matter how skillful he may be in the conduct of public affairs and no matter how great a reputation he has earned for being learned - because he is the kind of person who does not believe in the existence of anything which he does not see with his eyes or feel by touch, and therefore does not believe in heaven or in hell. And if he were told that he was going to enter the next life immediately after death, where he will see, hear, speak, and enjoy a sense of touch more perfectly than when in the body he would reject it as an absurdity or sheer fantasy, when in actual fact that happens to be the truth. His reaction would be the same if anyone were to tell him that the soul or spirit which lives after death is the real person and not the body which he carries around in the world.

[5] From this it follows that those who are interested only in external things pay no attention at all to what is said concerning internal things, when yet it is these that make people blessed and happy in the kingdom which they are going to enter and in which they are going to live for ever. Such unbelief is present in most Christians, as I have been allowed to know from those to whom I have spoken who have entered the next life from the Christian world. For in the next life they are not able to conceal what they have thought since thoughts are laid completely bare there; nor are they able to conceal what ends they have had in view, that is, what they have loved, for this reveals itself through the sphere surrounding them.