354. "Come and see," signifies attention and perception. This is evident from the signification of "coming" when anything is presented to be seen, as being to give attention; for in a spiritual sense, "to come" means to draw near with the sight, thus to give attention; all attention also is a presence of the sight in the object. It is evident also from the signification of "to see," as being perception, for "to see" in the Word signifies to understand (See above, n. 11, 260); here it signifies to perceive, because this was out of the inmost heaven, since what comes out of the inmost heaven is perceived, but what comes out of the middle heaven is understood, for the reason that the inmost heaven is in the good of love, but the middle heaven is in the truths therefrom, and all perception is from good, and all understanding is from truths. (On this see above, n. 307; what perception is, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 140.)

7. Turning specifically to the body of teaching that now follows, it too comes from heaven because it comes from the spiritual meaning of the Word, and the spiritual meaning of the Word is the same as the body of teaching that is found in heaven. You see, there is a church in heaven just as there is on earth. That is, the Word is there, there is a body of teaching drawn from the Word, and there are church buildings there with sermons being delivered-all because there are both ecclesiastical and civil institutions there. In brief, the only difference between things in the heavens and things on earth is that everything in heaven is in a more perfect state because all the people there are spiritual, and spiritual realities are far more perfect than earthly ones. On the fact that this is what heaven is like, see my book Heaven and Hell throughout, especially the chapters on forms of government in heaven (§§213-220) and divine worship there (§§221-227).

This shows what it means when it says that a holy city, a New Jerusalem, was seen coming down from God out of heaven.

But I need to turn now to the actual teachings for this new church, which are called "heavenly" because they have been revealed to me from heaven. That is, after all, the reason for this book.