9. IX. Those whose aim is to possess luxury and honours in the world and also in heaven, as well as those who aim at wealth and profit in the world and those who aim at a reputation for learning, do not see or find any real truth in the Word.

I was allowed to talk with many in the spiritual world, who had thought that they would shine like stars in heaven, because, so they said, they had treated the Word as holy, read it through many times, collected many passages from it and used them to prove the dogmas of their belief. So they had a reputation for learning in the world and they themselves together with others believed that they would be Michaels and Raphaels. But many of them were tested to see what love had made them study the Word, and it was discovered that for some it had been self-love, so that they would appear important in the world and be respected as leaders of the church; for some it was to get a reputation for learning and so be promoted to honours; for some it was to acquire wealth, and for some to become learned preachers. When finally they were examined to see whether they had learned any real truth from the Word, it was found that they knew nothing but what is obvious to anyone from its literal sense, and they knew no genuine truth which might serve inwardly for instruction. The reason for this was that their aims were themselves and the world, not the Lord and heaven. When these are their aims a person and his mind are confined to himself and the world, and he thinks constantly from his self, which is in thick darkness as regards everything in heaven. For a person's self is nothing but evil and the falsity it produces. So someone who in reading the Word regards himself, or honours or reputation or profit, cannot be withdrawn by the Lord from the self, and so be raised into the light of heaven; and consequently he cannot receive any influence from the Lord through heaven.

[2] I saw many such people, and each of them made all possible efforts to reach heaven, and they were admitted there. But on arrival they were examined to see if they knew anything of the truth the angels have, but they knew nothing but the bare words of the literal sense without any inner understanding of them. So in the eyes of the angels they looked stripped of their clothes and as if naked, and so they were sent down below. Some of them were deprived of intellectual sight in the light of heaven, and afterwards of their eyesight. Afterwards they were seized by violent pain in the heart, and were thus taken below. But the proud belief that they had deserved heaven lingered.

This is the fate of those who study the Word with the aim of acquiring honours, reputation and profit. But quite different is the fate of those who are led to study the Word by an affection for truth, or who in reading the Word take pleasure in truth for its own sake. Their aim is the love of God and the love of the neighbour, and they have life as their aim. All of these as lovers of truth receive influence from the Lord, seeing and finding real truths in the Word. For their intellects are enlightened, and this allows them to perceive the truths as if of themselves, though not really from themselves; and after death they are raised to heaven, where truth enjoys its own light, so becoming spiritual and angels.

307. I should like to use a few passages to show how heaven is united with us through the Word. The New Jerusalem is described in the Book of Revelation as follows:

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and the former heaven and former earth had passed away. And I saw the holy city Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven. The city was foursquare, its length equal to its breadth. And the angel measured the city with the reed at twelve thousand stadia; the length, breadth, and height were equal; and he measured its wall, 144 cubits, the measure of a human being, which was that of the angel. The construction of the wall was jasper, but the city itself was pure gold and like pure glass; and the foundation of the wall was decorated with every precious stone. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass. (Revelation 21:1-2, 16-18,)

People who read this understand it simply according to its literal meaning, namely that this visible sky and earth are going to perish and that a new heaven is going to be established, that on a new earth the holy city Jerusalem is going to descend, and that all its measurements will be as described. But the angels who are with us understand it very differently, understanding spiritually what we take in a natural sense.

[2] For them, the new heaven and the new earth mean a new church; the city Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven means its heavenly doctrine revealed by the Lord; its length, breadth, and height, which are equal at twelve thousand stadia, mean all the good and true elements of that doctrine grasped as a single whole; the wall means the truths that protect it; the measure of the wall being 144 cubits, which was the measure of a human being, that is, of the angel, means all those protective truths grasped as a single whole, and their quality; the twelve gates made of pearls mean introductory truths (pearls mean that kind of truth); the foundations of the wall that were of precious stones mean the acknowledgments on which that doctrine is based; and the gold like pure glass of which the city and its streets were made means the good of love that makes doctrine and its truths transparent. This is how angels understand all these things, so it is not the way we do. This is how our natural concepts are transformed into spiritual concepts among angels without their knowing anything about the literal meaning of the Word - about the new heaven and the new earth, for example, or the new city Jerusalem, its wall, the foundations of the wall, and its measurements. Still, the angels' thoughts form a unity with ours because they correspond. They form a single whole almost like the words of a speaker and the understanding of those words by a listener who is focused not on the words themselves but on understanding them. This may enable us to see how heaven is united to us through the Word.

[3] For another example from the Word,

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be a third for Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the middle of the land, whom Jehovah of hosts will bless, saying, "Blessed is my people Egypt, and the work of my hands Assyria, and my inheritance Israel." (Isaiah 19:23-25)

We can see how people on earth think and how angels think when they read this if we look at the literal meaning of the Word and at its inner meaning. We think, on the basis of its literal meaning, that Egypt and Assyria are going to be converted to God and received, and that they will become united to the Israelite nation. The angels, though, think on the basis of its inner meaning about people of the spiritual church, who are being described here in that inner meaning. Their spiritual level is Israel, their natural level is Egypt, and their rational level, which is the intermediate level, is Assyria. ¹ Still, these two meanings are one because they correspond. Consequently, when angels are thinking spiritually like this and we are thinking naturally the way we do, we are united almost like a soul and a body. The inner meaning of the Word is its soul, and the literal meaning is its body.

The Word is like this throughout; so we can see that it is a means of heaven's union with us and that the literal meaning serves as its basis and foundation.

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