9594. 'And you shall make the dwelling-place' means the second or middle heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'the dwelling-place', when it refers to the Divine, as heaven - the middle or second heaven, strictly speaking. It is well known that there are three heavens, namely the inmost, middle, and lowest, or third, second, and first. All these heavens were represented by the tabernacle; the inmost or third heaven was represented by the ark where the Testimony was, the middle or second heaven by the dwelling-place where the table for the loaves of the Presence and the lampstand were, and the lowest or first heaven by the court. The reason why there are three heavens is that there are three degrees of life with the human being. (Human beings, who become angels after death, constitute heaven; angels have no other beginning, and the heavens spring from no other source.) The inmost degree of his life exists for the inmost heaven, the middle degree of life for the middle heaven, and the lowest for the lowest heaven. And because the human being is like this, or has been so formed, and heaven springs from the human race, there are three heavens.

[2] These degrees of life with a person are opened up in successive stages. The first degree is opened up by a life led in accord with what is right and fair, the second degree by a life in accord with the truths of faith drawn from the Word and with forms of the good of charity towards the neighbour that follow on from those truths, and the third degree by a life in accord with the good of mutual love and the good of love to the Lord. These virtues are the means by which those three degrees of life with a person, and so the three heavens with him, are opened up in successive stages. But it should be recognized that to the extent that a person departs from good in life and moves towards evil in life those degrees are closed, that is, the heavens with him are closed; for just as good in life opens them, so evil in life closes them. This being so, all who are steeped in evil are outside heaven, thus are in hell. It should also be recognized that with some people - since the heavens with a person are opened up in successive stages according to the good present in his life, as stated above - the first heaven and not the second is opened up; that with some others the second heaven and not the third is opened up; but that the third heaven is opened up solely with those governed by good in life springing from love to the Lord. For the human being is heaven in its smallest form, and has been created so as to conform to an image of heaven and of the world, see the places referred to in 9279.

[3] There is therefore an inmost heaven, represented by the ark of the Testimony, which was the subject in the previous chapter; a middle heaven, represented by the dwelling-place, which is the subject in the present chapter; and a lowest heaven, represented by the court, which is the subject in the next chapter. Heaven is called God's dwelling-place because what is Divine and the Lord's dwells there; for Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good is what makes heaven, indeed gives life to the angels there. And since the Lord dwells with angels in that which comes from Him, 9338 (end), heaven is called God's dwelling-place, and the actual Divine Truths emanating from Divine Good, which angels or angelic communities are recipients of, are called dwellings, as in David,

Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me, let them lead me to [Your] holy mountain and to Your dwellings, that I may go in to the altar of God, to God ... Psalms 43:3-4.

In the same author,

There is a river whose streams will make glad the city of God, the holy place of the dwellings of the Most High. Psalms 46:4.

In the same author,

Down to the ground ¹ they have profaned the dwelling-place of Your name. Psalms 74:7.

In the same author,

How lovely are Your dwellings, O Jehovah! Psalms 84:1.

[4] The fact that the Divine realities which emanate from the Lord's Divine Human are what are rightly called 'dwellings', as a result of which heaven itself is called 'the dwelling-place', is also clear in David,

He swore to Jehovah, he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob, Surely I will not give sleep to my eyes, until I find a place for Jehovah, the dwelling-places for the Mighty One of Jacob. Behold, we heard of Him in Ephrathah, we found Him in the fields of the wood. We will enter His dwelling-places. Psalms 132:2, 4-7.

'The Mighty One of Jacob' is the Lord's Divine Human, 6425. 'Ephrathah', where He was to be found, is Bethlehem where He was born, Genesis 35:19; 48:7; Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:5-6. 'The fields of the wood' are the forms of good composing the Church among gentiles.

[5] In Ezekiel,

They will dwell in the land which I gave to My servant Jacob. They will dwell in it, they [and their sons] and their sons' sons forever. And David My servant will be their prince forever. I will make with them a covenant of peace; it will be an eternal covenant with them. And I will set My sanctuary in their midst forever; so shall My dwelling-place be among them. Ezekiel 37:25-27.

'David, who will be their prince forever' stands for the Lord, 1888; 'the sanctuary' (sanctuarium) stands for the Lord's Divine Human, since He is the source of all holiness (sanctum), 3210, 9229, so that 'dwelling-place' stands for heaven and for the Church, where the Lord is.

[6] In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Behold, I will bring back the captivity ² of the tents of Jacob, and will have compassion on his dwellings, that the city may be built upon its mound. Jeremiah 30:18.

'Bringing back the captivity of the tents of Jacob' stands for restoring the external Church's forms of good and truths which had been destroyed, 'having compassion on his dwellings' for restoring the internal Church's truths, 'the city which was to be built upon its mound' for doctrinal teachings about the truth, 2449, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493.

[7] How the Lord dwells in the heavens may be seen from what has been shown previously regarding the Lord, that is to say, where it has been shown that the Lord's Divine Human is the Sun, the source of heat and light in the heavens. The heat radiating from the Lord as the Sun is love, while the light is faith. The Lord therefore dwells with those who receive from Him the good of love and the truth of faith, which are the heat and light of life; and how fully He is present depends on their degree of receptivity.

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9596. 'From fine twined linen and violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet' means the spiritual and celestial realities from which those truths are derived. This is clear from the meaning of 'fine twined linen' as truth from a celestial origin, dealt with in 9469; from the meaning of 'violet' as the celestial love of truth, dealt with in 9466; from the meaning of 'purple' as the celestial love of good, dealt with in 9467; and from the meaning of 'twice-dyed scarlet' as spiritual good or the good of truth, dealt with in 9468. Such is the order in which the spiritual and celestial realities, or the truths and forms of good, present with a person or an angel who is in the middle or second heaven follow one another. For truth from a celestial origin, meant by 'fine twined linen' comes first; then the love of or affection for truth, meant by 'violet'; after that the resulting love of or affection for good, meant by 'purple'; and finally spiritual good, meant by 'twice-dyed scarlet'.

[2] Because this is the order in which the spiritual and celestial realities follow one another 'fine twined linen' is here mentioned first; but in the case of the veil that hung between the dwelling-place and the ark, or between the holy place and the holy of holies, dealt with in verse 31 of the present chapter, it is mentioned last. The reason why 'fine twined linen' is mentioned last in the case of the veil is that 'the veil' means the intermediary uniting the inmost heaven to the middle heaven, and therefore within this intermediary it must come last, in order that - to link the two heavens - it may then be first in the second of them.

[3] But properly 'fine twined linen' means the understanding part of the mind as it exists with the spiritual man or with an angel in the Lord's spiritual heaven. The reason why the understanding part is meant by 'fine twined linen' is that with the spiritual man a new will part is implanted by the Lord within the understanding part of his mind, see 863, 875, 895, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113; and since the understanding part in the spiritual man is meant by 'fine twined linen', so too is spiritual truth meant. This is because all truth belongs to the understanding part, and all good to the will part, 3623, 9300; for the understanding part is the receiver (subjectum) or container and the truth is what belongs to it, and these two make one. From these considerations also it may be seen that the actual understanding part of the mind with those who belong to the Lord's spiritual kingdom is in the strict sense 'the dwelling-place', 9296, 9297, and that the spreading out of the curtains serves to describe it.

[4] From all this what 'spreading and stretching out the heavens' means in the following places may be recognized, such as in Isaiah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, spreads out the earth, gives breath ¹ to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it. Isaiah 42:5.

In the same prophet,

I am Jehovah who makes all things, stretches out the heavens Alone, [and] spreads out the earth by Myself. Isaiah 44:24.

In the same prophet,

It was I that made the earth and created man on it. It was I - My hands - that stretched out the heavens. Isaiah 45:12.

In Jeremiah,

... He who makes the earth by His power, prepares the world by His wisdom, and stretches out the heavens by His intelligence. Jeremiah 51:15.

In Zechariah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, and founds the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Zechariah 12:1.

[5] 'Stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' is plainly similar in meaning to stretching and spreading out a dwelling-place by the use of curtains. And by this is meant regenerating a person and thereby creating or forming a new understanding in which there is a new will, which is the spiritual person's actual heaven in which the Lord dwells with that person. The fact that the regeneration or the formation of a new understanding, and of a new will within it, and so of a new person, is what 'stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' means is evident from actual explanations provided in the places quoted above. For they speak of Him who gives breath to the people on the earth, and spirit to those who walk on it, and also of Him who forms the spirit of man within him. 'Heaven and earth' means the Church, internal and external, see 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535, and 'the earth' in general means the Lord's kingdom and the Church, 9334; and these meanings too are plainly apparent in those places. For if 'the earth' did not have that meaning what sense could be made of 'spreading out the earth' and 'founding the earth', or 'forming the spirit of man within him ² '?

[6] The fact that 'stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' here is similar in meaning to stretching and spreading out a dwelling-place by the use of curtains is clear from other places where the same idea is stated even more plainly, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:22.

In the same prophet,

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwelling-places. Isaiah 54:2.

And in David,

Jehovah covers Himself with light, as if with a garment; He stretches out the heavens as a curtain. Psalms 104:2.

These places also show what 'the expanse' or that which is spread out means in the first chapter of Genesis,

God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse, And God called the expanse Heaven. Genesis 1:6-8.

That first chapter describes the regeneration of a member of the celestial Church, 'the expanse' describing his new will and understanding. 'The waters under the expanse and those above the expanse' are the truths of the external man and those of the internal man. For the meaning of 'waters' as truths, see 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 8568, 9323.

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