17. We can tell from the Lord’s parables, which have a spiritual meaning in their very words, that when he was in the world he spoke in correspondences - that is, he was speaking in spiritual terms when he was naming earthly things. The parable of the ten young women may serve as an example. He said,

The kingdom of the heavens is like ten young women who took their lamps and went out to meet a bridegroom. Five of them were prudent and five were foolish. The foolish women took their lamps but brought no oil. The prudent women took oil in their lamps. When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. In the middle of the night there was a shout: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming! Go out to meet him.” At that, all the women woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish women said to the prudent ones, “Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.” The prudent women replied, “There might not be enough for us and for you. Go instead to the sellers and buy some for yourselves.” But while they were away buying some, the bridegroom arrived, and the women who were prepared went in with him to the wedding, and the door was closed. Later the other women came along and said, “Lord, Lord, open up for us.” But he answered and said, “I tell you truly, I do not know you.” (Matthew 25:1-12)

[2] Only people who know that there is such a thing as a spiritual meaning and what it is like will see that there is a spiritual meaning, and therefore something holy and divine, in the details of this parable. Spiritually understood, the kingdom of God means heaven and the church; the bridegroom means the Lord, the wedding means the marriage of the Lord with heaven and the church brought about by good actions that come from love and faith; the young women mean the people of the church, ten meaning all of them and five meaning some of them; the lamps mean truths we believe; the oil means a love for doing good; sleeping and waking mean our life in this world, which is earthly, and our life after death, which is spiritual; buying means gaining for ourselves; going to the sellers and buying oil means trying to gain from others after death a love for doing good. Since this could then no longer be done, even though they came to the door of the wedding room with their lamps and the oil they had bought they were told by the bridegroom, “I do not know you.” This is because after our life in this world we are still the same kinds of people we were when we were living in this world.

[3] We can see from this that the Lord spoke in pure correspondences; and this is because he was speaking from the divine nature that was within him and that was his own.

That the bridegroom means the Lord; the kingdom of the heavens means the church; the wedding means the marriage of the Lord with the church through good actions that come from love and faith; the young women mean the members of the church; ten means all and five means some; sleeping means an earthly state; buying means gaining for ourselves; the door means admission to heaven; and our not being known by the Lord means our not participating in his love - all this we can conclude on the basis of many passages from the prophetic Word, where these words have similar meanings.

It is because young women mean members of the church that it so often speaks of the virgin and daughter of Zion, of Jerusalem, and of Israel in the prophetic Word. It is because oil means good actions that are done out of love that all the holy utensils of the Israelite church were anointed with oil.

[4] It is much the same in other parables and in all the words that the Lord spoke and that are written in the Gospels. That is why the Lord said that his words were spirit and were life (John 6:63).

It is much the same with all the Lord’s miracles, which were divine acts, because they pointed to the various states in which the church was to be established by the Lord. For example, the blind receiving sight meant that people who had been in ignorance of what is true would be given understanding; the deaf being given hearing meant that people who had not listened to the Lord and the Word would heed and obey; the dead being revived meant that people who would otherwise perish spiritually would be brought to life, and so on. This is the meaning of the Lord’s answer to the disciples of John when they asked whether he was the one who was to come:

Tell John the things that you hear and see: the blind are seeing, and the lame are walking; lepers are being cleansed, and the deaf are hearing; the dead are rising again, and the poor are hearing the gospel. (Matthew 11:3-5)

All the miracles that are recounted in the Word have something in them that involves matters of the Lord, heaven, and the church. That is what makes them divine miracles and distinguishes them from wonders that are not divine.

These few examples are offered by way of illustrating what the spiritual meaning is and showing that it is present throughout the Word and in all its details.