14. XIV. The Word in the heavens.

The Word exists in all the heavens, and it is read there as it is in the world, and sermons are based on it. For it is the Divine Truth which is the source of the angels' intelligence and wisdom. For without the Word no one knows anything about the Lord, love and faith, redemption, and all the other secrets of heavenly wisdom. In fact without the Word heaven would not exist, just as without the Word there would be no church in the world, so that there would be no linking with the Lord. I demonstrated above that natural theology is impossible without revelation, and in the Christian world without the Word. If it is not granted in the world, neither would it be granted after death. For the nature of a person's religious belief in the world dictates its nature after death, when he becomes a spirit. The whole of heaven is not made up of angels created before the world or at the same time as it, but of those who were people on earth, and were then angels inwardly. By means of the Word these in heaven acquire spiritual, that is, inner wisdom, because the Word there is spiritual.

[2] The Word in the Lord's spiritual kingdom is not the same as the Word in the world. In the world there is the natural Word, but in that kingdom there is a spiritual Word. The difference is like that between its natural and spiritual senses. The nature of the spiritual sense has been demonstrated at length in my Arcana Caelestia, where the whole contents of Genesis and Exodus have been explained in accordance with that sense. The difference is such that no word is the same. Things take the place of names, and likewise of numbers; the histories are replaced by matters concerning the church. The surprising thing is that, when an angel reads it, he is unaware that it is not the same as what he read in the Word while in the world. This is because he no longer has any natural ideas, since they are replaced with spiritual ones; and the natural and the spiritual are linked by correspondences into a kind of unity.

So when someone passes from the natural into the spiritual, it seems to him as if they were the same. In fact an angel does not know that he is wiser than he was in the world, though his wisdom is really so superior as to be comparatively indescribable. He is unable to recognise the difference, because in his spiritual state he knows nothing of the natural state, which he had in the world; and he is unable to compare and differentiate them, because he cannot return to his former state so as to make a comparison. Still an angel in heaven is constantly being brought to a higher degree of perfection in wisdom than he had in the world, because his affection for spiritual truth is purer. ¹

[3] However, the Word in the Lord's celestial kingdom is far superior and wiser than the Word in His spiritual kingdom. The difference is of the same kind as that which distinguishes the natural Word in the world from the spiritual Word, as has been stated. For that Word contains an inmost sense, called celestial, which in all its details refers to nothing but the Lord. In this Word the Lord is read in place of Jehovah, and of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and also the Lord is named in place of David, Moses, Elijah and the rest of the Prophets; and His divinity is distinguished by special marks. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and also the names of the Apostles, when read there, convey something about the Lord as regards the church; and so with all the rest. From this it became plain to me that the whole of the Sacred Scripture deals in its inmost sense with nothing but the Lord.

The difference which distinguishes the two Words, the spiritual and the celestial, is like that between thoughts, the province of the intellect, and affections, the province of the will. For the angels of the celestial kingdom are guided by love to the Lord and so affection for good; the angels of the spiritual kingdom are guided by faith in the Lord and so by perception of truth.

[4] Another difference between the celestial and spiritual Words is their script. The script of the spiritual Word is made up of letters resembling the printed letters of our world; but each letter has a meaning. If therefore you were to see that script, you would not understand a single word. For one letter succeeds another without a break, with dashes and dots above and below, since it is in accordance with spiritual speech, which has nothing in common with natural speech. The wiser angels are, the more they see of the inner secrets of their Word so written, more so than the simpler angels. What is stored there is plainly visible to the eyes of the wise, but not to the eyes of the simple. It is similar to what happens with our Word, but to a greater degree; here too the wise see more than the simple.

The script of the celestial Word, however, is made up of letters not known in the world. They are indeed alphabetical, but each one of them is composed of curved lines with serifs above and below, and there are small marks or dots in the letters, and also above and below them. I was told that the most ancient people on this earth had such a script. Some details agree with the Hebrew script, but not much. Such a script expresses the affections which make up a love; so it contains more secrets than they themselves can ever utter. They express these unutterable secrets which they perceive from their Word by means of representations. The wisdom hidden away in this Word surpasses the wisdom in the spiritual Word as a thousand does one.

[5] To make the difference between the three Words, the natural, the spiritual and the celestial, intelligible, let us take as an example the first chapters of Genesis, which deal with Adam, his wife and the Garden. ² In the natural Word which we have in this world there is a description of the creation of the world, the first creation of man, and the earthly pleasures and delights of man and the world. By the persons named following him up to the Flood are meant his descendants, and the numbers mean their ages. But in the spiritual Word the angels of the spiritual kingdom have, this is not what is meant. The first chapter is a description of the reform and regeneration of the people of the most ancient church; this too is called a new creation. The second chapter describes as the Garden the intelligence of the people of that church; Adam and his wife stand for the church itself, and their descendants down to the Flood describe the changes in the state of that church, up to the time when it came to an end and was finally destroyed by the Flood.

But in the celestial Word possessed by the angels of the Lord's celestial kingdom, the first chapter describes the glorification of the Lord's Human; the Garden describes his Divine wisdom. Adam himself is understood to mean the Lord as regards the Divine itself and at the same time the Divine Human. His wife stands for the church, which since it has life from the Lord is called Eve from [the Hebrew word for] life. Adam says of her that she was to be his bone and his flesh, and [they should be] one flesh, because the church comes from the Lord, and is out of Him and with Him as if one. The names of the descendants of Adam describe the successive states by which the Lord was received by the people of that church and linked with them, until there was nothing at all received and so no linking.

[6] So when the first chapters in our Word are read by upright people, especially by boys and girls, and they feel joy at the state when everything was created and at the Garden, then these meanings are unfolded, and the spiritual angels understand them in accordance with their Word, and the celestial angels in accordance with theirs, without being aware that a person or a child is reading it. These meanings are unfolded in their due sequence because they correspond, and correspondences are from creation like this. This makes it plain what the Word is like in its depths, that is, it has three senses. The last is the natural one for men on earth; this deals mainly with worldly matters and where it deals with Divine matters, they are still described by the kind of things which the world contains. The middle sense is the spiritual one, which describes the kind of things which belong to the church. The inmost sense is the celestial one, which contains the kind of things which belong to the Lord. For the whole of nature is a theatre representing the Lord's kingdom; and the Lord's kingdom, heaven and the church, is a theatre representing the Lord Himself. For just as the Lord glorified His Human, so too He regenerates a person; and as He regenerates a person, so too did He create him.

[7] These facts may establish what the Word is like in its depths. The natural Word as possessed by the Christian part of the world contains within itself a spiritual and a celestial Word. For the spiritual sense of our Word is the Word in the heavens which make up the Lord's spiritual kingdom; and the celestial sense of our Word, its inmost sense, is the Word in the heavens which make up the Lord's celestial kingdom. Our Word therefore contains both the spiritual and the celestial Words; but the spiritual Word and the celestial Word do not contain the natural Word. The Word of our world is therefore the one most full of Divine wisdom, and consequently more holy than the Word of the heavens.

Footnotes:

1038. That 'this is the sign of the covenant' means a token of the Lord's presence in charity is clear from the meaning of 'a covenant' and of 'the sign of a covenant'. That the covenant means the Lord's presence in charity has been shown already at Chapter 6:18, and above at verse 9 of the present chapter; and that a covenant is the Lord's presence in love and charity is clear from the very nature of a covenant. The purpose of any covenant is conjunction, that is to say, its purpose is that people may live together in friendship or in love. This also is why marriage is called a covenant. The Lord's conjunction with man does not exist except in love and charity, for the Lord is love itself and mercy. He wills to save everyone and by His mighty power to draw them towards heaven, that is, towards Himself. From this anyone may know and conclude that it is impossible for anybody to be joined to the Lord except by means of that which He Himself is, that is, except by acting like Him, or becoming one with Him - that is to say, by loving the Lord in return, and loving the neighbour as oneself. In this way alone is conjunction brought about; this constitutes the very essence of a covenant. When conjunction results from this, it quite plainly follows that the Lord is present. The Lord is indeed present with each individual, but that presence is closer or more remote, all depending on how near the person is to love or distant from it.

[2] Since 'the covenant' is the conjunction of the Lord with man by means of love, or what amounts to the same, the Lord's presence with man in love and charity, the covenant itself is called in the Word 'a covenant of peace', for 'peace' means the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord's kingdom consists in mutual love, in which alone peace resides, as is said in Isaiah,

The mountains will depart and the hills be removed, but My mercy will not depart from you, and the covenant of My peace will not be removed, said Jehovah, the One who takes pity on you. Isaiah 54:10.

Here mercy, which is an attribute of love, is called 'a covenant of peace'.

In Ezekiel,

I will raise up over them one shepherd, and He will pasture them - My servant David. He will pasture them and He will be a shepherd to them. And I will make with them a covenant of peace. Ezekiel 34:23, 25.

Here 'David' is plainly used to mean the Lord, and His presence with a regenerate person is described by the words 'He will pasture them'.

[3] In the same prophet,

My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. And I will make with them a covenant of peace; it will be an eternal covenant with them. And I will bless ¹ them and cause them to multiply, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst for evermore. And I will be their God and they will be My people. Ezekiel 37:14, 16-17.

Here similarly the Lord is meant by David. Love is meant by the 'sanctuary in their midst', the Lord's presence and conjunction in love by the promise that 'He will be their God, and they will be His people', which is called 'a covenant of peace' and 'an eternal covenant'.

In Malachi,

You will know that I have sent this command to you, that it may be My covenant with Levi, said Jehovah Zebaoth. My covenant was with him, [a covenant] of life ² and peace, and I have given them to him in fear, and he will fear Me. Malachi 2:4-5.

In the highest sense 'Levi' means the Lord, and from this the person who has love and charity; and this being so 'a covenant of life' and peace with Levi' means in love and charity.

[4] In Moses, in reference to Phinehas,

Behold, I am giving to him My covenant of peace, and it will be to him and his seed after him a covenant of eternal priesthood. Numbers 25:12-13.

Here 'Phinehas' is not used to mean Phinehas but the priesthood which he represented and which means love and what belongs to love, as does the entire priesthood of that Church. Everyone knows that the priesthood did not remain with Phinehas for ever.

In the same author,

Jehovah your God is God Himself, a faithful God who keeps a covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and who keep His commandments, to the thousandth generation. Deuteronomy 7:9, 12.

Here the Lord's presence with man in love is clearly meant by 'the covenant', for it is said to be 'with those who love Him and keep His commandments'.

[5] Because the covenant is the conjunction of the Lord with man by means of love, it follows that it is also achieved by means of all the things allied to love, which are the truths of faith and are called commandments. For all the commandments, indeed the Law and the Prophets, are based on that single law that men ought to love the Lord above all things and the neighbour as themselves. This is clear from the Lord's words in Matthew 22:35-40; Mark 12:28-34. This is also why the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written are called 'the tablets of the covenant'. Since a covenant or conjunction is achieved by means of the laws or commandments of love it was also achieved by means of the social laws introduced by the Lord into the Jewish Church, which are called 'testimonies', as well as by the religious observances commanded by the Lord, which are called 'statutes'. All of these are called [laws] of the covenant because they have regard to love and charity.

As is said of King Josiah,

The king stood upon the pillar, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep His commandments, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to establish the words of the covenant. 2 Kings 23:3.

[6] From these references it is now clear what a covenant is, and that the covenant is internal, for the conjunction of the Lord with man is achieved by means of internal things, and never by means of external things separated from internal. External things are merely images and representatives of those that are internal, as the action of a person is an image representative of his thought and will, and as a charitable act is an image representative of charity present within, in intention and mind. Thus all the religious observances of the Jewish Church were images representative of the Lord, and so of love and charity, and of all things deriving from these. It is by means of the internal things of a person therefore that the covenant or conjunction is achieved. External things are no more than signs of the covenant, which also is what they are called. That internal things are the means by which the covenant or conjunction is achieved is quite clear, as in Jeremiah,

Behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, when I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, for they rendered My covenant invalid. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put My law in the midst of them and will write it on their hearts. Jeremiah 31:31-33.

This refers to a new Church. It is plainly stated that the covenant itself is achieved by means of internal things, and indeed within conscience on which the Law is written, the whole of which Law, as stated, is that of love.

[7] That external things do not constitute the covenant unless internal things are joined to them and so through that union act as one and the same cause, but are merely 'signs of the covenant' by means of which, as by representative images, the Lord might be called to mind, is clear from the fact that the sabbath and circumcision are called 'signs' of the covenant. That the sabbath is so called is clear in Moses,

The children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout their generations, an eternal covenant. Between Me and the children of Israel this is a sign eternally. Exodus 31:16-17.

And that circumcision is called 'a sign of the covenant' is clear in the same author,

This is My covenant which you shall keep between Me and you and your seed after you. Every male among you is to be circumcised. And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. Genesis 17:10-11.

For the same reason also blood is called 'the blood of the covenant', Exodus 24:7-8.

[8] The chief reason why external religious ceremonies were called signs of the covenant was so that from them people might call interior things to mind, that is, the things meant by them. All the religious observances of the Jewish Church were nothing else. For this reason they were also called signs that would serve to remind the people of interior things - for example, the practice of binding the chief commandment on the hand and of wearing frontlets, as stated in Moses,

You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. And you shall bind these words as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. Deuteronomy 6:5, 8; 11:13, 18.

Because it means power 'the hand' here means the will, for power is an attribute of the will; while 'frontlets between the eyes' means the understanding. Thus 'a sign' means calling to mind the chief commandment, or epitome of the Law, that it may be constantly in the will and constantly in the thought, that is, that the Lord and love may be present within the whole will and the whole thought. Such is the presence of the Lord and from Him of mutual love existing with angels. That constant presence and the nature of it will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on. And in like manner here the statement, 'This is the sign of the covenant which I give between Me and you; I have given My bow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of the covenant', means no other sign than a token of the Lord's presence in charity, and so man's remembrance of Him. But in what way the bow in the cloud provides that token and so remembrance will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on.

Footnotes: