Apocalypse Explained #595
595. And the rainbow over his head.- That this signifies the interior things of the Word, is evident from the signification of a rainbow, as denoting the Divine Truth as it is in the spiritual sense of the Word, concerning which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of being over the head, as denoting what is interior; for "above" and "higher" signify within and interior, as is evident from this fact, that when mention is made of "interior," then "higher" is understood in heaven. For the heavens where the interior angels, or the interiorly wise are, appear also above the heavens where the exterior angels, or the exteriorly wise are. For this reason the three heavens are distinct one from another in regard to altitude, the inmost or third heaven appearing above the middle or second heaven, and this above the ultimate or first.
[2] The reason why higher signifies what is interior, is, that when higher and lower things are together, that is exist simultaneously, as in the head of man, they then co-exist in that order; so that those things which were above in successive order, become interior, and those which were below in successive order, become exterior, consequently higher signifies interior and lower exterior things. This may be illustrated by the idea of a surface (superficies), in the centre of which are purer, and in the peripheries denser things. Things superior and inferior form such a surface, when they become one, and constitute what is simultaneous. The signification of the angel encompassed with a cloud, spoken of above, is clear from these observations, since to be encompassed, for the same reason, and from the same idea, denotes to be from without and below.
[3] A rainbow signifies interior Divine Truth, as the Word is in the spiritual sense, because the light of heaven, like the light of the world, according to its incidence upon objects, and its modification therein, produces variegations of colours, and also rainbows; these also I have been permitted occasionally to see in the angelic heaven, as may be seen described in the Arcana Coelestia 1623-1625). But the rainbows which appear in the angelic heaven differ from the rainbows which appear in the world in this, that the rainbows of heaven are from a spiritual origin, whereas the rainbows of the world are from a natural origin. For the rainbows of heaven are from the light which proceeds from the Lord as the Sun, and because that Sun is in its essence the Divine Love of the Lord, and the light therefrom is Divine Truth, hence the variegations of light, which are seen as rainbows, are diversities of intelligence and wisdom with the angels. It is from this fact that rainbows there signify the form and beauty of spiritual Divine Truth; but the rainbows of the world are from a natural origin, that is from the sun of the world and its light, and are therefore only modifications and consequent variegations of light from the waters falling from a cloud. And since there are coloured appearances in the spiritual world similar to those in the natural world, and such appearances are correspondences, therefore the rainbows of the world signify the same as the rainbows of heaven, that is, spiritual Divine truths in their form and beauty. These truths are such as those of the Word in the spiritual sense.
[4] Similar things are signified by the rainbows in Ezekiel:
"Above the expanse that was over the head" of the cherubim "was the likeness of a throne as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as it were the appearance of a burning coal, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins and upward, but from the appearance of his loins and downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah" (1:26-28).
Since the cherubim signify providence and care in order that the Lord may not be approached except by means of the good of love, therefore there appeared a throne, and upon the throne the appearance of a man, and the throne signifies the entire heaven, and the man upon the throne, the Lord Himself. By the appearance of a burning coal, as the appearance of fire, from the appearance of his loins and upward, is signified celestial Divine Love, which reigns in the higher heavens; for the higher heavens are represented by the upper part of the body, from the loins upward, to which they correspond, for these heavens form that [part] in the Grand Man (Maximus Homo), which is heaven. Fire like a burning coal, signifies that love, and similarly the loins, for the loins correspond to the marriage of good and truth, in which those are who are in the higher heavens, therefore heaven is called a marriage, and the Lord is called the Bridegroom and Husband, while heaven and the church are called a bride and wife. That from his loins downward, he appeared as the brightness of fire, which was like a rainbow, signifies spiritual Divine Love, which reigns in the lower heavens, for the region of the body from the loins even to the soles of the feet corresponds to that love. And because that love proceeds from celestial Divine Love, it is called fire and its brightness, Divine Truth from the Divine Good of love being that which shines and presents the appearance of a rainbow. It is therefore evident, that the translucence of spiritual Divine Truth through natural Divine Truth, presents that appearance in the heavens, and is consequently signified by it, as stated above. But these things may be more clearly understood from what is stated in Heaven and Hell concerning heaven, that from the Divine Human of the Lord it has reference to one man (n. 59-86); concerning the correspondence of all things of heaven with all things of man (n. 87-102); and, in the Arcana Coelestia concerning the correspondence of the loins (n. 3021, 4280, 4462, 5060-5062).
[5] The signification of the bow in the cloud, or the rainbow, in the book of Genesis is similar:
"God said" to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living soul that is with you, unto the generations of an age; I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass that in beclouding myself with a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living soul in all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I see it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living soul in all flesh that is upon the earth" (9:12-17).
He who does not know that in every part of the Word there is also a spiritual sense, may imagine that the bow in the cloud, called a rainbow, appears as a sign that the earth shall be no more destroyed by a flood, when yet that bow is from causes in nature, and is mediately produced when the rays of light from the sun strike upon the watery particles of rain from a cloud, it is therefore evident that there were also similar bows or rainbows before the flood. By the rainbows, therefore, which are seen by men on earth, from the correspondence between things spiritual and things natural, are understood the rainbows seen by the angels in the spiritual world, all of which exist from the light of heaven and its modification in the spiritual-natural sphere of that world, consequently from spiritual Divine Truth, and its translucence in natural Divine Truth; for all the light in heaven is spiritual, and is in its essence Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord. It is therefore evident that the bow in the cloud, or the rainbow, signifies spiritual Divine Truth, translucent through natural Divine Truth, and this translucence exists with those who are reformed or regenerated by the Lord by means of Divine Truth and a life according to it; the translucence itself also appears in the heavens as a rainbow. By the sign of a covenant is signified the presence and conjunction of the Lord with them, for a covenant denotes conjunction. This sign was given, because the flood, which then destroyed the human race, signified the deadly falsities of evil, by which the posterity of the Most Ancient Church perished; the restitution and establishment of a new church called the Ancient Church by Divine Truth conjoined to spiritual good, which in its essence is charity, is representatively shown by rainbows in heaven, and is therefore signified by rainbows in the world. As these words involve many interior things which cannot be briefly unfolded, they may be seen explained in detail in the Arcana Coelestia 1031-1059).
The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Teachings #4
4. On the subject of this new heaven, it is also important to know that it is distinct from the older heavens - the ones, that is, that existed before the Lord's Coming. Nevertheless, the newer are set in relation to the older in such a way that together they make one heaven.
The reason this new heaven is distinct from the older heavens is that the only body of teaching people of the earlier churches had was one of love and caring; they had no knowledge of any body of teaching about faith apart from love. 1 That is also why the earlier heavens form a higher level while the new heaven forms a level underneath them. The heavens are levels, one above the other. 2 On the highest level are the angels called "heavenly," most of whom come from the earliest church. 3 The people there are called "heavenly angels" because of their heavenly love, which is a love for the Lord. On the levels below them are the angels who are called "spiritual," most of whom come from the ancient church. The people there are called "spiritual angels" because of their spiritual love, which is a caring about their neighbor. Below them are the people who are devoted to doing the good that their faith calls for, people who had lived lives of faith. "Living a life of faith" is living by the teachings of one's church, and "living" includes both intending and acting.
Still, all these heavens make one heaven because of an indirect inflow and a direct inflow, both of which come from the Lord. 4 You may get a clearer picture of all this, though, from what has been presented in my work Heaven and Hell. See particularly the chapter there on the two kingdoms 5 into which the heavens are broadly distinguished (§§20-28), the chapter on the three heavens (§§29-40), and the information in the references assembled from Secrets of Heaven at the close of §603 on indirect and direct inflow. On the earliest church and the ancient church, see §46 of the booklet The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed .
Fußnoten:
1. Swedenborg attacks bodies of religious teachings that promote "faith apart from love" throughout his theological works, but his exact meaning is sometimes ambiguous, because the referent is twofold. His immediate referent is usually the doctrine of Martin Luther (1483-1546) commonly known as Sola Fide, or "By Faith Alone," the traditional rendering of the phrase. To Luther it was not so much the act of repentance that mattered, but faith in God through Christ, which would lead to a pouring down of grace. His aim in teaching this doctrine was partly to emphasize human incapacity and partly to counteract Catholic teachings, which held that works, or actions-specifically, the receiving of the sacraments (or the intention of receiving them), and notably those of baptism and penance-were necessary for forgiveness by God. Luther believed that it is too much even to say that repentance results in justification (our "setting ourselves right with God"); rather this is accomplished solely through faith in Christ's power to atone for our sins. Sola Fide remained the doctrinal cornerstone of the Lutheran tradition in which Swedenborg was raised nearly two centuries later, but ultimately Swedenborg rejected the theory of Christ's atonement on which Sola Fide was built. He severely criticized the spiritual complacency that resulted from dismissing good works (which he understood as loving actions toward one's neighbor rather than as the sacraments). However, Swedenborg also uses the term "body of teaching about faith apart from love" to refer to any religious system that privileges ritual performance or orthodox profession over living a life of caring for the neighbor: it is in this latter, wider sense that the term is being used here. Swedenborg sees the propensity toward crafting a theology of faith alone as something universal to humanity after the fall of the early churches, a temptation represented in the Bible by the Philistines:
In the ancient church and after its time, "Philistines" referred to people who had little energy for learning how to live but a great deal of energy for learning theology. Eventually they even rejected life issues and acknowledged belief issues as those crucial to the church, detaching them from life. So they dismissed and erased doctrines concerning neighborly love, which formed the whole of the ancient church's theology. ( Secrets of Heaven 3412[2]; see further references in New Jerusalem 257:2)
On the notion of earlier churches, see note 28 below. For Swedenborg's discussion of faith, see New Jerusalem 108-122. He attacks justification by faith alone at many points in his works; the foundations for this criticism and rejection are laid as early as §§30-36in Secrets of Heaven. This treatment continues in Heaven and Hell 521-527, The Lord 18, and Marriage Love 523-529, right through to True Christianity, the final published work in his corpus, where it receives colorful commentary in §§355-361, 626-666, and elsewhere. There are dozens of similar passages in other volumes. Some of the more focused and extensive discussions of faith alone, or faith apart from love, may be found in Secrets of Heaven 4783, 4925, 8093; Faith 4 41-72; Divine Providence 114-117; and in the chapters of Revelation Unveiled expounding onRevelation 8-16 (§§386-716). On the connection of faith alone with blindness, or blind faith, see Faith 9, 46; Revelation Unveiled 914; Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a) §781. For more on faith separated from charitable (loving) works and its effect on the church specifically, see the passages from Secrets of Heaven listed in New Jerusalem 121[2] and Last Judgment 39[3]. For more on the content and context of the doctrine of Sola Fide see, for example, Strohl 2003; Wriedt 2003; Bertram 1985, 172-184. [DNG, RS, LSW, SS]
2. The three heavens described in this section are the upper or third heaven, also called the heavenly heaven; the middle or second heaven, also called the spiritual heaven; and the lower or first heaven, also called the earthly or natural heaven. These heavens can be pictured as levels one above the other or as distinct regions one within the other. (See Secrets of Heaven 9594; Heaven and Hell 29-40; Divine Love and Wisdom 202.) The three hells, which are an inverted and distorted mirror image of the three heavens, are the deepest hell opposite to the third heaven, the middle hell opposite to the second heaven, and the highest hell opposite to the first heaven (Heaven and Hell 542; Divine Love and Wisdom 275). For diagrams illustrating these relationships, see Woofenden and Rose 2008, 38; Lang 2000, 13, 21. [LSW]
3. The term "church" in Swedenborg's usage does not always denote a group of Christians (though it may do so) but very often refers instead to one of five major phases he assigns to the world's spiritual history. In general he calls the first phase the earliest church (from the creation story to the time of the Flood); the second the early, or ancient, church (from the Flood to the time of Moses, but with a second phase called the Hebrew church starting at the time of Eber); the third the Israelite or Jewish church (from Moses to the time of Christ); the fourth the Christian church (the Christian era up to 1757); and the fifth a new church represented by the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22 and seen as beginning in Swedenborg's own time and covering the rest of human spiritual history. In addition to the reference to further discussion that Swedenborg himself provides at the end of this section (that is, Last Judgment 46, which itself contains further references to the voluminous material on these churches in Secrets of Heaven), see the following: New Jerusalem 246-248; Divine Providence 328; True Christianity 760, 786; Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a) §948:3; and Heaven and Hell 115 327 (which contain brief overviews). Three particularly useful passages in Secrets of Heaven are §§1850, 10248:7, and 10355. See also notes 1 and 8 in Last Judgment 46. For an early use of the word church to refer to the Israelites, see Acts 7:38. [GFD, LHC, LSW]
4. "Inflow" is a one-way flow from one level or entity into another, having a direct effect on the lower or secondary level or entity (see note 5 in Last Judgment 9). Here Swedenborg mentions two distinct types of inflow: indirect inflow and direct inflow. Direct inflow proceeds from the Lord by an internal route into the souls of angels, spirits, and people on earth, and from there into the rest of their being. Indirect inflow proceeds from God through the various levels of the spiritual world (see note 2 in New Jerusalem 4). From there it influences angels, spirits, and people on earth in a more external way, through their spiritual and social environments, and for people on earth through their physical environment as well. In this case, the inflow is presumably a flow of goodness as spiritual heat and truth as spiritual light. For more on direct and indirect inflow, see New Jerusalem 23[8]; Secrets of Heaven 6058, 6063:2, 6472, 9682-9683; Heaven and Hell 296-297. For more on inflow in general, see New Jerusalem 277-278. [LSW]
5. The two kingdoms, or realms, of heaven mentioned here are the heavenly kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. These are occasionally identified with the heavenly and spiritual heavens outlined in note 2 in New Jerusalem 4 (as in True Christianity 195, 212), but are more commonly presented as distinct regions of heaven that stand side by side, as opposed to the three heavens, which are presented as horizontal levels "stacked" one on another. In general, the angels occupying the heavenly kingdom are motivated by love for the Lord, while the angels occupying the spiritual kingdom are motivated by love for the neighbor. For more on the two kingdoms of heaven, see Secrets of Heaven 3887-3889; Heaven and Hell 20-28, 95. [LSW]
