3699. 'And behold, a stairway set up on the earth' means a communication of lowest truth and of good derived from this truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'a stairway' as communication, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'the earth' as what is lowest, for immediately after this it is stated that its top reached to heaven, which is the highest point. From this it is evident that a stairway between earth and heaven, or what is lowest and what is highest, is communication. For it is the communication of lowest truth and of good derived from this truth that is meant by 'a stairway set up on the earth', as is evident from the fact that that degree of truth and of good derived from it, which 'Jacob' represents here, is the subject at this point in the internal sense.

[2] In the original language the word for a stairway is derived from a word meaning a pathway or highway, which is used in reference to truth, see 627, 2333. Furthermore when angels are discussing truth their discussion manifests itself representatively in the world of spirits as pathways, see 189, 3477. From this it is evident what 'a stairway' means, one end of which is set up on the earth while the other reaches up to heaven. That is to say, it means a communication of truth in the lowest place with truth in the highest place, a communication dealt with below. For there are lowest truths and goods and highest truths and goods, and degrees of them in between like a stairway, see 3691.

50. What the Most Ancient Church understood by 'the image of the Lord' exceeds everything one can say about it. Man is totally unaware of the fact that the Lord is governing him by means of angels and spirits, and that at least two spirits and two angels are present with everyone. By means of the spirits he is in communication with the world of spirits, and by means of the angels with heaven. Without this communication with the world of spirits by means of the spirits, and with heaven by means of the angels, and so by means of heaven with the Lord, a person cannot exist at all. His entire life depends upon that link, and if the spirits and angels were to withdraw he would perish instantly.

[2] As long as a person remains unregenerate he is governed in an entirely different way from when he is regenerate. As long as he is unregenerate, evil spirits reside with him, who have such dominion over him that angels, though present, can accomplish little more than simply distract him from plunging into utter evil and so divert him towards something good. Indeed they use his own unregenerate desires to divert him towards good, and his illusions of the senses to do so towards truth. At that point he is in communication with the world of spirits by means of the spirits who reside with him, but not in the same way with heaven, for the reason that evil spirits have dominion and angels simply forestall them.

[3] When however he is regenerate it is the angels who then have dominion, and they breathe into him every kind of good and truth, as well as a horror and dread of evils and falsifies. Angels do indeed lead, yet they are but servants, for it is the Lord alone who, by means of angels and spirits, governs a person. Now because this is done through the ministry of angels, it is said here, in the plural first of all, 'Let Us make man in Our image'. Yet because it is still He alone who rules and disposes, it is said in the following verse, in the singular, 'God created him in His image'. This the Lord also states plainly in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, He who formed you from the womb, I Jehovah make all things, stretching out the heavens Alone, spreading out the earth by Myself. Isaiah 44:24.

Angels themselves also profess that no power at all resides with themselves but that they act from the Lord alone.