The 23rd Psalm is one of the best-known and most-loved literary works in the world, and it may well be the best poem ever written. It is also a fine example of the power of figurative language: We read deep things into the vision of ourselves as sheep, led to green pastures and good water by a kind shepherd. It’s empowering to feel the confidence to go fearlessly into the valley of the shadow of death, and to feel the love and caring of a table prepared by the Lord and a cup so full it overflows.

What people don’t know, however, is that this language actually has precise internal meanings, and that when we see them there is an even deeper beauty in the poem. That’s because what it actually describes is the path to heaven, and the fierce desire the Lord has to lead us there.

The first step is to let the Lord be our shepherd – to accept His teaching and His leadership. The green pastures and the still waters represent the things He will teach us for the journey. Then He begins working inside is, setting our spiritual lives in order, so that we desire to do what’s good and to love one another. That’s represented by restoring our souls and leading us in the paths of righteousness.

But we will still face challenges. We still live external lives, out in the world, and we are subject to desires that arise in those externals, in our bodily lives. That’s the valley of the shadow of death. But the rod and staff represent truth from the Lord on both external and internal levels, ideas that can defend us against those desires.

And if we keep following, the Lord will prepare a table for us – a place inside us that he can fill with love (the anointing oil) and wisdom (the overflowing cup). Thus transformed, we can enter heaven, with love for others (“goodness”) and love from the Lord (“mercy”) and can love and be loved to eternity.

One of many beautiful things about this is the fact that it is the Lord who really does all the work. In the whole text, the only action taken by the sheep is walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Other than that, they follow the Lord, trust the Lord, accept the blessings of the Lord. And that is really true! In external states (in the valley) we might seem to be doing the work ourselves, but internally, spiritually, we simply need to give ourselves to the Lord and let Him bless us.

The underlying idea here is that the Lord created us so that He could love us, in loving us wants us to be happy, knows that our greatest happiness will come from being conjoined to Him in heaven, and Himself wants nothing more than to be conjoined to us. So everything He does, in every moment of every day for every person on the face of the planet, is centered on the goal of getting that person to heaven. He wants each and every one of us in heaven more than we are capable of imagining. We just need to cooperate.

(Verweise: Apocalypse Explained 375 [34], 727 [2]; The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms 273)

202. Verses 7-13. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, These things saith He that is Holy, He that is True He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and no one shutteth, and shutteth and no one openeth: I know thy works; behold, I have given before thee an opened door, and no one is able to shut it; for thou hast some power, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name. Behold, I will give, from the synagogue of Satan, of those saying that they are Jews and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of My endurance, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation that is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly; hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown. He that overcometh I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out thence no more; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

7. "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write," signifies those of the church who are in the faith of charity (n. 203); "these things saith He that is Holy, He that is True," signifies from whom is that faith n. 204; "He that hath the key of David," signifies who has power by means of Divine truth (n. 205); "He that openeth and no one shutteth, and shutteth and no one openeth," signifies power to admit into heaven all who are in the faith of charity, and to remove from heaven all who are not n. 206.

8. "I know thy works," signifies the life of charity (n. 207); "behold, I have given before thee an opened door, and no one is able to shut it," signifies that they will be admitted into heaven, and that to no one of such a quality will it be refused (n. 208); "for thou hast some power, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name," signifies that they have power from the Lord against evils and falsities, in the measure in which they make truths from the Word to be of the life, and acknowledge the Divine of the Lord in His Human n. 209.

9. "Behold, I will give, from the synagogue of Satan," signifies those who are in the doctrine of faith alone, and in no charity (n. 210); "of those saying that they are Jews and are not, but do lie," signifies who believe themselves to be in truths, when yet they are in falsities (n. 211); "Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet," signifies the state of such after death, that they will be out of heaven, and are not to be admitted n. 212; "and to know that I have loved thee," signifies a consequent knowledge that the Lord is present in charity, and not in faith apart from charity (n. 213).

10. "Because thou hast kept the word of My endurance," signifies that they have lived according to the Lord's commandments (n. 214); "I also will keep thee in the hour of temptation that is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth," signifies the time of the last judgment, when there will be visitation upon those who are in the former heaven, and that they will then be saved (n. 215).

11. "Behold, I come quickly," signifies that this is certain (n. 216); "hold fast what thou hast," signifies steadfastness in the state of faith from charity even unto the end (n. 217); "that no one take thy crown," signifies lest intelligence should perish (n. 218).

12. "He that overcometh I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God," signifies that those who are steadfast will be in Divine truth in heaven (n. 219, 220); "and he shall go out thence no more," signifies that they shall be in it to eternity (n. 221); "and I will write upon him the name of My God," signifies their quality according to the Divine truth implanted in the life n. 222; "and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from My God," signifies the doctrine of the new church, which is in the heavens n. 223; "and My new name," signifies that they will also acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human (n. 224).

13. "He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches," signifies that he who understands should hearken to what Divine truth proceeding from the Lord teaches and says to those who are of His church (n. 225).