335. Verse 11. And I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the animals, and the elders, signifies the acknowledgment and consequent glorification of the Lord by the angels of the lower heavens. This is evident from what has been said above (n. 322), namely, that they acknowledged and glorified the Lord in this order; first the angels of the higher heavens, then the angels of the lower heavens, and lastly those who are below the heavens; for "the four animals" and "the four and twenty elders" who first glorified signify the angels of the higher heavens (See above, n. 322), but these now mentioned, who were "round about the throne" and "round about the animals and the elders," mean the angels of the lower heavens; and by "every creature that is in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth and in the sea" (of which see just below, verse 13) those who are below the heavens are meant. That the angels of the lower heavens are here meant is clear also from this, that they are said to be "round about the throne, the animals, and the elders," and "round about" means in the Word what is in the remote borders, thus what is distant; but where heaven is treated of, it means what is distant in degree of intelligence and wisdom, thus what is below. For the heavens are higher and lower, differing from each other according to the reception of Divine truth and good, thus according to degrees of intelligence and wisdom. (But respecting the degrees according to which the heavens, and consequently the angels who are in them, are distant from each other, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 33, 34, 38, 39, 208, 209, 211, 425.) What is below in accordance with these degrees is what is signified by "round about;" in like manner also, elsewhere in the Word, "round about," "circuit," "afar," "distant," "uttermost parts," and the like, have a like signification.

208. One heaven is joined with another, or a society of one heaven with the society of another, by the Lord alone, both by direct and by mediate influx, directly from Himself, and mediately through the higher heavens in order into the lower. ¹ As the conjunction of the heavens by this inflowing is from the Lord alone there is a most careful precaution against any angel of a higher heaven looking down into a society of a lower heaven and talking with any one there; for the angel is thus immediately deprived of his intelligence and wisdom. The reason of this also shall be told. As there are three degrees of heaven, so each angel has three degrees of life, those in the inmost heaven having the third or inmost degree open, while the second and first degrees are closed; those in the middle heaven have the second degree opened and the first and third closed; and those in the lowest heaven have the first degree opened and the second and third closed. Consequently, as soon as an angel of the third heaven looks down into a society of the second heaven and talks with any one there his third degree is at once closed; and as his wisdom resides in that degree, if that is closed he is deprived of his wisdom, for he has none in the second or first degree. This is what is meant by the words of the Lord in Matthew:

He that is on the housetop, let him not go down to take what is in his house; and he that is in the field, let him not turn back to take his garment (Matthew 24:17-18).

And in Luke:

In that day he that shall be on the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away; and he that is in the field let him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife (Luke 17:31, 32).

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