According to the Writings, the Ancient Church at its height was worldwide, and was exalted in its knowledge of the Lord, its knowledge of nature’s correspondences to the spiritual world, and its knowledge of how people could be loving and caring toward each other. It eventually fell as people started to put that knowledge ahead of the loves it was meant to serve, however, and as evil loves crept in people began twisting that knowledge to serve their evil desires.

Such twisted knowledge is represented here by the men at the door; it has enough truth left in it that they could recognize the truth represented by the door and attack it. We all know what this is like – there are few things more daunting than an argument loaded with facts and apparent truth but put to evil purposes.

But the Lord – represented by the angels – takes care of the threat. Blinding the men represents removing the truth from their ideas and filling them with falsity, with ideas as wrong as their desires were. In such a state they couldn’t even recognize the true ideas represented by the door.

On a personal level, when we reach the end of a state of temptation and the Lord brings us to a peaceful state, we’re able to recognize the insanity and evil intent of the thoughts and ideas that had so recently plagued us.

276. THE STATE OF INNOCENCE OF ANGELS IN HEAVEN.

What innocence is and its nature few in the world know, and those who are in evil know nothing about it. It is, indeed, visible to the eyes, as seen in the face, speech and movements, particularly of children; and yet what innocence is, and especially that it is that in which heaven is stored up in man is unknown. In making this known let us proceed in order, and consider first the innocence of childhood, then the innocence of wisdom, and lastly the state of heaven in regard to innocence.