25. The angels in the Lord's heavenly kingdom far surpass the angels of the spiritual kingdom in regard to wisdom and splendor because they accept the Lord's divine nature on a deeper level. They live in love for him, and are therefore more intimately united to him. ¹ The reason for their excellence is that they have accepted divine truths directly into their lives and continue to do so, rather than taking them into memory and thought first, the way spiritual angels do. This means they have them engraved on their hearts and grasp them, virtually see them, within themselves. They never calculate whether or not they are true. ² They are like the people described in Jeremiah,

I will put my law in their mind and engrave it on their heart: no longer will one person teach a friend or a brother, saying, "Know Jehovah;" from the smallest to the greatest, they will know me. (Jeremiah 31:33-34)

In Isaiah, they are called "the people who have been taught by Jehovah" (Isaiah 54:13). In John 6:45-46, the Lord himself teaches that those who are taught by Jehovah are the ones who are taught by the Lord.

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1384. As to the first kind - the angelic, which consists in the angels perceiving what is true and good, perceiving what is from the Lord and what from self, and perceiving the source and nature of their own thoughts, speech, and actions when these spring from self - I have been allowed to talk to members ¹ of the Most Ancient Church about their perception. They said that from themselves they neither think nor are able to think anything at all, and that from themselves do not will anything at all, but that in every single thing which they think or will they perceive what comes from the Lord and what from some other source. They also perceive, they have said, not only how much comes from the Lord and how much seemingly from themselves, but also when it seemingly comes from themselves, where it in fact comes from. They in that case perceive which angels it comes from, what is the character of those angels, and what their thoughts are, down to the smallest difference. Thus they perceive what the influx is, and countless other things. Perceptions of this kind exist in great variety. With celestial angels in whom love to the Lord reigns there is a perception of good, and from this of every aspect of truth. And because good is the source of the truth they perceive, they do not entertain any talk about truth, still less any reasoning about it, but simply say, It is so; or, It is not so; whereas spiritual angels, who also have perception, though not such as celestial angels have, are disposed to talk about truth and good. All the same, spiritual angels do perceive these, although with differences, for there are countless varieties of this perception. Such varieties are directly related to their perceiving whether something flows from the Lord's will, or from His consent, or from His permission - these being quite distinct from one another.

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