Himmel sind himmlische und spirituelle Dinge. Folglich sind sie das Innerste, beides des Reiches des Herrn im Himmel und auf der Erde. Dies bezieht sich auch auf die Kirche und jeden einzelnen, der ein Königreich des Herrn oder eine "Kirche" ist. Folglich bezeichnen die Himmel alles, was mit Liebe und Nächstenliebe zu tun hat, und den darauf beruhenden Glauben, sowie alles, was die innere Anbetung betrifft. In gleicher Weise bezeichnen sie alles, was mit dem inneren Sinn des Wortes zu tun hat. All diese Dinge sind Himmel und werden 'Der Thron des Herrn' genannt. Die früheren Himmel, die vergangen sind", wie in Offenbarung 21:1 erwähnt, bezeichnen die Gesellschaften derer in der geistigen Welt, die nur äußerlich oder scheinbar gut waren.

(Odkazy: Die Offenbarung Erklärt 21, Die Offenbarung Erklärt 675; Himmlischen Geheimnissen 2162)

247. The ancient churches. The first and earliest church on this planet was the one described in the first chapters of Genesis; it was a heavenly church, the finest of them all: 607, 895, 920, 1121, 1122, 1123, 1124, 2896, 4493, 8891, 9942, 10545. What the people of the earliest church are like in heaven: 1114-1125. They live in the best light: 1116, 1117. There were several churches after the Flood, which are collectively referred to as "the ancient church": 1126, 1127, 1128, 1327, 10355 (which contain further discussion of these churches). The ancient church was spread across all the countries of the Middle East: 1238, 2385. What the people of the ancient church were like: 609, 895. The ancient church was a representative church; ¹ the symbols it used had been gathered together by certain people of the earliest church: 519, 521, 2896. There was a Word in the ancient church, but it has been lost: 2897. What the ancient church was like when it began to go into decline: 1128. The difference between the earliest church and the ancient church: 597, 607, 640, 641, 765, 784, 895, 4493. The earliest and ancient churches were present in the land of Canaan, and this is the source of the symbolism of its particular places: 3686, 4447, 4454. On the church that began with Eber and was called "the Hebrew church": 1238, 1241, 1343, 4516, 4517. The difference between the ancient church and the Hebrew church: 1343, 4874. The Hebrew nation began the practice of ritual sacrifices, a practice utterly unknown to the ancient churches: 1343. The inward aspects of the ancient churches agree with those of the Christian church, but the outward aspects do not: 3478, 4489, 4772, 4904, 10149. In the earliest church, revelation was direct; in the ancient church it came through correspondences; in the Jewish church it came by audible speech; and in the Christian church it came through the Word: 10355. The Lord was the God of the earliest church and was known as Jehovah: 1343, 6846. The Lord is heaven, and the Lord is the church: 4766, 10125, 10151, 10157. On the fact that the Lord's divine nature makes heaven, see Heaven and Hell 7-12, 78-86; so it also makes the church, since what makes heaven for us also makes the church, as stated earlier in these teachings [§§60, 241].

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