10151. 'And the altar' means reception of what is Divine from the Lord in the higher heavens. This is clear from the meaning of 'sanctifying' as the reception of what is Divine from the Lord, dealt with above in 10149; and from the meaning of 'the altar' as that which was representative of the Lord in respect of Divine Good, dealt with in 9964, at this point in respect of Divine Good emanating from Him in the heavens where that Good is received, thus in the higher heavens. For these heavens receive the Lord as to His Divine Good, but the lower heavens receive the Lord as to His Divine Truth, in accord with what has been shown immediately above in 10150.

[2] It should be recognized that whatever served to represent the Lord Himself represented heaven also; for what is Divine, emanating from the Lord and received by angels, constitutes heaven. The angels themselves, as to what is properly their own, do not constitute heaven; only what is Divine, received by them from the Lord, does so. The truth of this may be recognized from the consideration that every one of them there acknowledges, believes, and also perceives that not a grain of good originates in themselves, only in the Lord, and that whatever originates in themselves is not good, so that - exactly as the Church teaches - everything good comes down from above. All this being so, it follows that what is Divine and the Lord's is what constitutes heavenly life among them, consequently constitutes heaven. All this goes to show how the idea that the Lord is the All in all of heaven should be understood, that the Lord dwells there in what is His own, and also that 'an angel' in the Word means some attribute that is the Lord's, ideas that have been the subject in various places in what has gone before.

[3] The situation is the same with regard to the Church. People there, as to what is properly their own, do not constitute the Church; only what is Divine, received by them from the Lord, does so. For no one there who fails to acknowledge and believe that the good of love and the truth of faith come entirely from God forms part of the Church, because he wishes to love God with what is his own and to believe in God with what is his own, which however no one is able to do. From this too it is evident that what is Divine and the Lord's constitutes the Church, just as it constitutes heaven. The Church furthermore is the Lord's heaven on earth, and therefore also the Lord is the All in all within the Church, just as He is in heaven, and dwells with people there in what is His own, just as He does with angels in heaven. Also, people of the Church who thus receive what is Divine and the Lord's in love and faith, they and no others, become angels of heaven after life in the world.

[4] That what is Divine and the Lord's constitutes His kingdom with a person, that is, heaven and the Church with him, is also the Lord's teaching in John,

The Spirit of truth will remain with you and will be in you. And you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. John 14:17, 20.

'The Spirit of truth' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, about which He says that it 'will remain with you'. After this He says that He is in the Father, they are in Him, and He is in them, meaning that they will be in what is Divine and the Lord's, and what is Divine and the Lord's will be in them, by which, it is evident, the Divine Human should be understood. Elsewhere in the same gospel He says,

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you cannot do anything. John 15:4-5.

10150. 'And I will sanctify the tent of meeting' means reception of the Lord in the lower heavens. This is clear from the meaning of 'sanctifying' as the reception of what is Divine and the Lord's, dealt with immediately above in 10149; and from the meaning of 'the tent of meeting' as the heavens, dealt with in 3478, 9457, 9481, 9485, 9963, the reason why the lower heavens are meant here being that the higher heavens are meant by 'the altar', see 10151 immediately below. What the lower heavens and the higher heavens are must be stated briefly here. The heavens are divided into two kingdoms, the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial kingdom comprises the higher heavens, and the spiritual kingdom the lower heavens. The intrinsic good of the celestial kingdom is the good of love to the Lord and the good of mutual love, whereas the intrinsic good of the spiritual kingdom is the good of charity towards the neighbour and the good of faith. The difference between these kingdoms is like that between the power of understanding and the power of will in the case of a person who has been regenerated, in general like the difference between goodness and truth. The nature of this difference may be recognized from what has been shown regarding those two kingdoms in the places referred to in 9277, also in what has been stated in 9543, 9688, 9992, 10005, 10068. The will furthermore is inmost in a person, being the person's true self, whereas the understanding lies adjacent and is subservient, and so is more external. What is more internal is also called higher, and what is more external is also called lower. For the correspondence of the celestial kingdom to the will and of the spiritual kingdom to the understanding with a person who has been regenerated, see 9835. All this shows what should be understood by the lower heavens and what by the higher heavens.