6417. Joseph is the son of a fruitful one. That this signifies the spiritual church, in the supreme sense the Lord as to the Divine spiritual, is evident from the representation of Joseph, as being in the supreme sense the Lord as to the Divine spiritual, in the internal sense the spiritual kingdom and the good of faith, and in the external sense fruitfulness and multiplication (see n. 3969, 3971); and because “Joseph” denotes the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth, he is called the “son of a fruitful one.” By “Joseph” is here described the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, and above by “Judah” His celestial kingdom; for there are two kingdoms which constitute heaven, the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial kingdom constitutes the inmost or third heaven; the spiritual kingdom, the middle or second heaven. To the spiritual kingdom the Lord appears as a moon; but to the celestial kingdom as a sun (n. 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 4060). It is said that by Joseph in the supreme sense is represented the Lord as to the Divine spiritual, but the case is this. The Lord is nothing else than Divine good; that which proceeds from His Divine good and flows into heaven, in His celestial kingdom is called the “Divine celestial,” and in His spiritual kingdom the “Divine spiritual;” thus the Divine celestial and the Divine spiritual are so called relatively to the receptions.

1521. CHAPTER 13.

CONCERNING THE LIGHT IN WHICH THE ANGELS LIVE.

That spirits and angels possess every sense, except taste, far more exquisitely and perfectly than man ever does, has been made manifest to me in many ways. They not only see one another and converse together-the angels with the greatest happiness from mutual love-but in that world there is more to see than men could believe to be possible; the world of spirits and the heavens are full of representatives such as were seen by the prophets, and of so wonderful a nature that if a person’s sight were but opened so that for a few hours he might behold them, he would be astounded. The light in heaven is such as to incredibly surpass even the midday light of our solar world. They however have no light from this world, because they are above or within the sphere of this light; but their light is from the Lord, who to them is a Sun. Even the midday light of this world is dense darkness to the angels; and when they have an opportunity to see it, it is as if they were looking at mere darkness, as I have been given to know by experience. This shows what a difference there is between the light of heaven and the light of this world.